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"Jason Manning s authentic take on the American West has earned him legions of fans. Now he s back with a brand-new Western set in the rough-and-tumble Texas frontier. Tis the season. . ." A LAWMAN PAST HIS PRIME Texas Ranger Bill Sayles rode scout for Sam Houston when he was no more than fifteen. These days the lawman s on the wrong side of three score years, and the glory days of the Rangers are on the wane. But Sayles still hits what he aims at and is not a man to cross. Ten days before Christmas in the harsh winter of 1876, Sayles arrives at the state prison in Huntsville to escort prisoner Jake Eddings on a furlough to his hometown, where his ten-year-old son is being laid to rest. a PRISONER PAST ALL HOPE In a desperate scheme to save his farm, Eddings took part in a stagecoach holdup in which the driver was killed.



About the Author

Jason Manning

JASON MANNING was born and continues to live in Texas. An avid reader and history buff from an early age, he favored the works of C.S. Forester, Jack London, Bret Harte, Ernest Haycox, John Steinbeck and William Faulkner. He started writing short stories when he was twelve. He is currently writing his 58th novel.His first book, Killer Gray, was published in 1979; he did not write his second novel, Gunsmoke on the Sierra Line, until ten years later; it was published in 1989 by Zebra Books. He wrote five more titles for Zebra, Revenge in Little Texas, Texas Helltown and Showdown at Seven Springs among them. From 1990 until 1996 he wrote fourteen novels for HarperCollins using the pseudonym "Hank Edwards," including Gun Glory, Lawless Land, Lady Outlaw and Steel Justice in The Judge series, and the stand-alones Ride for Rimfire, Thirteen Notches, Apache Sundown and Gray Warrior. He also wrote two other westerns for HarperCollins under the pen name "Dale Colter." Beginning in 1993, Dutton Signet began publishing Manning's longer historical/western novels, such as High Country, Green River Rendezvous, Flintlock, Promised Land, American Blood, The Black Jacks, The Marauders; the six Gordon Hawkes novels -- among them Mountain Massacre and Mountain Courage; and the six Barlow novels -- The Long Hunters, War Lovers and Apache Shadow among them. In addition, he wrote six westerns for St. Martin's Press -- the Ethan Payne trilogy (Frontier Road, Trail Town and Last Chance) , and the Westerners series of biographical novels: Gun Justice, The Outlaw Trail and Gunmaster. In November 2016 the western Christmas in the Lone Star State was published by St. Martin's Press. Manning's next frontier novel, Willow's Mountain, was published in 2017 and was followed by a western, The Town Killers in 2018. Lobo Riler, a novel about one of the last of the mountain men, appeared in early 2019. Manning is currently working on a series of early frontier novels revolving around a family caught up in the French & Indian War.As an historian, Manning has taught at Stephen F. Austin State University, Southern Illinois University, and Montgomery College in Texas. His website The Eighties Club is widely regarded as an excellent resource on the history and pop culture of the 1980s. He has been active in wildlife conservation with a particular interest in wolf recovery. And, most importantly, he is the father of three remarkable children -- Nick, Connor and Grace.



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