In the classic western movie The Searchers Jeffrey Hunter plays a young man with a mission in his heart and a chip on his shoulder. The character might well have been modeled on eighteen-year-old Lee Thompson, a trail-hand on a mission of his own—to save his dad, Diehard Thompson, the aging sheriff of Wolf River, Montana. Old Diehard’s lost control of his town, and it seems every outcast and outlaw west of the Mississippi is on the prowl in Wolf River. Now Lee’s come all the way from Texas to stand up for his father, a man who hasn’t seen him since he was a boy and who doesn’t know him from Adam. Lee’s plan is a dangerous one–mix in with the desperadoes and risk death at their hand Under the Diehard Brand. But sometimes, the only way to restore the rule of law is to break it. Most of the Westerns published in the all-fiction magazines of the first half of the twentieth century were written by authors more familiar with the streets of New York than the cattle trails of Texas. Hubbard bucked the trend, and in the process changed the face of the Western adventure. He grew up in a time and a place where the Old West, though fading, still lived. His unique knowledge of the frontier, of its ways and its people, made him an authentic voice of this unique American experience. Also includes the Western adventures, Hoss Tamer, in which a circus horse trainer turned bronco buster has to figure a way to tame a gang of outlaws, and The Ghost Town Gun Ghost, the story of an old prospector who seems to have lost his wits; but is he crazy . . . or crazy like a fox? “Rife with action and adventure and laced with melodramatic undertones.” —Library Journal

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He’s handsome. He’s charming. He’s a total gentleman . . . and he’s totally outgunned and outnumbered. He’s Michael Patrick Obañon—a role that has Antonio Banderas written all over it. Obañon’s lost his inheritance—a 100,000-acre New Mexico spread—and he could lose his life if he’s not careful. A ruthless band of renegades have seized his land, and he’s determined to get it back.. Obañon’s got one secret weapon: his fierce intelligence. He can’t outshoot the outlaws, so he’ll have to find a way to outwit them. . . . Part Irish, part Mexican, Michael Patrick Obañon is as American as they come—crafty, confident, and cool under fire. It may be one man against the world, but before he’s done the world will know how the West will be won. In the 1930s a radio program, Writers and Readers, hosted by Bob de Haven, delivered news of the hottest authors of the day—interviewing the writers behind the stories. Here’s how he promoted an upcoming broadcast with L. Ron Hubbard: “He has placed in print a million and a half words. He is a quantity producer, well paid and in constant demand. He has outlined some valuable information on his lead novelette . . . Six-Gun Caballero.” It is an introduction to Hubbard that is as pertinent now as it was then. “Hubbard uses the traditional Western form to tell a challenging and unpredictable story, where the hero outwits his attackers instead of merely having to outshoot them. . . . so intelligent and suspenseful.” —SomebodyDies.com

Take the law into your own hands, and you risk losing your grip on everything else—including your life. Lee Weston—a young Paul Newman with a Colt revolver at his hip—is as good-looking as he is quick tempered, and he’s got a lot to be angry about. His father murdered, his family ranch torched, he goes gunning for Harvey Dodge—the man who he’s convinced is the killer—and it’s Lee who ends up on the wrong side of the law. Shot in a gunfight, on the run and running out of time, he holes up in a mountain hideout and waits for death to come find him. But he wakes up in the arms of a beautiful woman who has beat death to his door and nursed him back to life. She’s the first and only woman he has ever fallen for, and her name is Ellen Dodge—Harvey’s daughter. Can a great loss lead to a great love? Can the search for revenge lead to redemption? The answers lie in the wild heart of the Wild West—in Branded Outlaw. L. Ron Hubbard was so prolific, and his stories so much in demand, he occasionally had to publish under a pseudonym to ensure that his name wouldn’t appear twice in a single issue of a magazine. Thus did Branded Outlaw originally appear as being written by a writer named Barry Randolph. But as is clear from the action and authenticity of the story, it was Hubbard behind the curtain pulling the levers. This is one of sixteen westerns Hubbard wrote in 1938—all influenced by a foray into New Mexico to round out his research. His unsurpassed knowledge of the West originated in his years growing up—and riding on—the range. “Packs a ton of action and some priceless shootout scenes.” —EZReader.com

Long before Captain Jack Sparrow raised hell with the Pirates of the Caribbean, Tom Bristol sailed to hell and back Under the Black Ensign. That’s where the real adventure begins. Bristol’s had plenty of bad luck in his life. Press-ganged into serving aboard a British vessel, he’s felt the cruel captain’s lash on his back. Then, freed from his servitude by pirates, his good fortune immediately takes a bad turn . . . as the pirates accuse him of murder—and leave him to die on a deserted island. Now all he has left are a few drops of water, a gun, and just enough bullets to put himself out of his misery. But Bristol’s luck is about to change. Finding himself in the unexpected company of a fiery woman and a crafty crew, he unsheathes his sword, raises a pirate flag of his own, and sets off to make love and war on the open seas. In his early twenties, Hubbard led the two-and-a-half-month, five-thousand-mile Caribbean Motion Picture Expedition. He followed that with the West Indies Mineralogical Expedition near San Juan, Puerto Rico, in which he completed the island’s first mineralogical survey as an American territory. It was during these two journeys that Hubbard became an expert on the Caribbean’s colorful history—an expertise he drew on to write stories like Under the Black Ensign. “A riveting tale of sailing ships, piracy and the high seas.” —Midwest Book Review * A National Indie Excellence Award Winner

Bill Trevillian is as handsome as he is brave. Kip Lee is as beautiful as she is fearless. And they're both test pilots for rival companies. Put them together and sparks are bound to fly. With war raging in Europe, and both out to sell their planes to the Allies, the competition between Bill and Kip is fierce. But there's a new element in the mix: a deadly saboteur. People say all's fair in love and war, but the path from heated rivalry to heated romance could lead Bill and Kip to crash and burn.

Fortune hunter Billy Newman is not a man of great strength or physical courage. Like a young Johnny Depp, he gets by on his wit, wiles and good looks. And he’s had quite a good run—striking gold in the Philippines and buying his very own island in the South Seas. . . . But there’s trouble in paradise, and Billy’s in the thick of it. The island’s crops are failing. The island’s people are dying. And the island’s owner—Billy—is taking the heat. Why? Because he’s angered the 75-foot-tall big-boss god of the island. 75-foot tall? To Billy it’s a laughable superstition—until he finds out just how serious the islanders are. They’re out to sacrifice a beautiful young woman to the supposed god. The only way Billy can save her is to humor the locals and pretend to take the spirit on. But the joke may be on Billy…as he has to screw up some very real courage to face the very real Danger in the Dark. Hubbard lived on Guam in 1927, while his father was assigned to the US naval station there. In his journals he describes a local superstition: “the great cheese ghost” named Tadamona. He wrote that the devil had the shape of a man, attained the height of coconut trees and was the cause behind all sickness and disease. To dispel the superstition, Ron descended into Tadamona’s supposed abode, a great underground stream—an encounter reflected in Danger in the Dark. Includes the fantasy adventures The Room, in which Uncle Toby goes to his room, never to return, leaving it to his nephew to explore the magic and mystery of the place, and He Didn’t Like Cats, the story of one man’s feline phobia and the hauntingly high price he pays for it.

Embittered by past failures and broken dreams, American fighter pilot David Duane believes in but one cause—his own. Europe is at war, and he’ll fight it for a price, selling his deadly flying skills to the highest bidder. Just as Bogart came to Casablanca to escape his past, Duane has come to the icy white wastes of Scandinavia to wage a private war in the skies. But he’s about to take off on a flight and undertake an unforgettable journey—On Blazing Wings—to a place beyond the imagination . . . leading to a revelation that will open his eyes and his heart. In a world divided by war, Duane discovers that sometimes you have to make a choice, and that making the wrong one could cost him the woman he loves. . . . As a barnstorming pilot in the early days of aviation, Hubbard was dubbed “Flash” Hubbard by the aviation magazines of the day. His unique personal and pioneering knowledge of flight streaks across the page in novels like On Blazing Wings. “Expect twists and turns to the very end.” —Yahoo Voices * International Book Award Winner

Rediscover all the reasons you love Die Hard with this essential illustrated guide to the making of and impact of this quintessential action (and Christmas) flick! Fully loaded with John McClane sarcasm, Alan Rickman as a German terrorist, and Nakatomi Plaza blowing up on Christmas Eve, Die Hard is often cited as the film that took action blockbusters to the next level, but what has earned the film its fiercely devoted fan base? That's the question that Why We Love Die Hard seeks to answer. This is the first and only guide that combines entertaining information about the history and making of the film with a celebratory look at all the different aspects that have helped solidify Die Hard as a must-see film. A Die Hard lover's dream, this guide includes punchy illustrations paired alongside essays exploring the film's history, characters, unique film techniques, and the thematic elements that have helped this film become the beloved classic it is today.

"Sentenced to a French penal colony for killing an officer (in self-defense), American Dusty Colton flees the French Foreign Legion he so willingly joined and rushes headlong into a Berber tribal lair. To his horror, he discovers a captive American woman who's in the process of being whipped and tortured by the bandit leader. Despite the low odds of him winning out against the entire Berber tribe alone, Dusty can't leave the woman behind. Even if he figures out an escape from the camp, he still has to manage a way to get them both out of the country alive with both the Foreign Legion and the Berbers at their heels."--Front flap