Book picks similar to
The Loner by J.A. Johnstone


western
westerns
j-a-johnstone
fiction

Sidewinders


William W. Johnstone - 2008
    Now, the bestselling authors kick off a rollicking, dramatic new series--with the first novel about a pair of not-quite-over-the-hill drifters winding their way across the American west--mostly on the right side of the law. . .but sometimes, if the situation calls for it, on the wrong side. . . Meet Scratch Morton and Bo Creel, two amiable drifters and old pals. Veterans of cowboying, cattle drives, drunken brawls, and a couple of shoot-outs, Scratch and Bo are mostly honest and don't go looking for trouble--it's usually there when they wake up in the morning. Now, in remote Arizona Territory, they're caught up in a battle between two stagecoach lines. The owner of one, a beautiful widow, has gotten both Scratch and Bo hot and bothered--each trying to impress her as they fend off the opposing stage line trying to destroy her. But nothing is what it seems in this fight, and two tough sidewinders are riding straight into a trap.

The Goodnight Trail


Ralph Compton - 1992
    From the Trinity River brakes to Denver, they’ll battle endless miles of flooded rivers, parched desert, and whiskey-crazed Comanches. And come face-to-face with Judge Roy Bean and legendary gunslingers like Clay Allison. For McCaleb and his hard-riding crew, the drive is a fierce struggle against the perils of an untamed land. A fight to the finish where the brave reach glory—or die hard.

Dance on the Wind


Terry C. Johnston - 1995
    So late one night he snatches a squirrel gun and a handful of biscuits, flees into the woods, and doesn’t look back. From Louisville past the Chickasaw bluffs and the Natchez Trace all the way to New Orleans, he plunges into the rough-and-tumble life along the banks of the Mississippi: a volatile, violent country of boatmen and river bandits, knife fights and Indian raids, strong liquor and stronger women. Yet beyond the great river stretches the vast, unexplored expanse of the Great Plains. And it is here that young Titus will seek his future, and risk everything to seize it.

Texas Blood Feud


Dusty Richards - 2009
    Three generations who paid in blood and treasure. Children carried off by Comanche. A brother lost to war. Lives shattered. Chet Byrnes was trying to hold the ranch together through one more winter for one more cattle drive when he hanged three horse thieves this side of the Red River - and a blood feud erupted...A family wants revenge - no matter how just the hangings were. From attacks on the Byrnes clan to the killing of livestock, the feud leads to one vicious murder - and then another. But amidst the violence and pain, a man who has seen his youth slip by is about to get one last chance at life and love...If only Chet can end the war he started...If only he can survive this land and the killers who want him dead - at any price...

Panhandle


Brett Cogburn - 2012
    The Texas Panhandle of the late 1880s is the last great open range of American legend. Into that wild unknown country ride two young cowboys. Nate Reynolds is the scion of a well-to-do family who lit out for the Panhandle in search of adventure--and gold. Billy Champion is a devil-may-care ne'er-do-well with a stubborn streak and an eye for the ladies. Together they aim to rid this violent territory full of rustlers, horse thieves, and the rest of the devils who slaughter innocents with no remorse. But when these friends fall for the same green-eyed beauty, their brotherhood will be put to the test. For in a land where your fortunes can change at the cock of a hammer, a man has to stay on his guard if he's going to protect what's rightly his--and live to enjoy it. . .In his gritty, pounding debut novel, Brett Cogburn, author of Rooster: The Life and Times of the Real Rooster Cogburn, The Man Who Inspired True Grit, proves he's equal to the task of writing the next great American western.Some folks are just born to tell tall tales. Brett Cogburn was reared in Texas and the mountains of Southeastern Oklahoma. He was fortunate enough for many years to make his living from the back of a horse, where on cold mornings cowboys still straddled frisky broncs and dragged calves to the branding fire on the end of a rope from their saddlehorns. Growing up around ranches, livestock auctions, and backwoods hunting camps filled Brett's head with stories, and he never forgot a one. In his own words: "My grandfather taught me to ride a bucking horse, my mother gave me a love of reading, and my father taught me how to hunt my own meat and shoot straight. Cowboys are just as wild as they ever were, and I've been damn lucky to have known more than a few." The West is still teaching him how to write. Brett Cogburn lives in Oklahoma with his family.

The Loner


George G. Gilman - 1972
    This is the bloodiest and most violent story that ever erupted from our native territory. Here is mean, bone-chilling raw stuff, a compelling tale you'll never forget.His given name was Josiah Hedges, an innocent-enough monicker. But one look at the cruel set of his mouth and the icy penetration of his blue eyes and anyone would recognize pure danger in man's clothing. Now let's find out how this man lost his name and became known as Edge