SPUR AWARD-WINNING AUTHOR ROD MILLER It is 1840. The fur trade has all but ended and trappers in Taos feel the pinch. With a band of Ute Indians, they follow the Old Spanish Trail to California to steal horses and mules, then return and reap the profits in Santa Fe. The unprecedented raid results in the theft of some 3,000 animals. Daniel Boone Pickens, a young man on the run from the law in Missouri and in search of a future, signs on for the adventure. Nooch, a young Ute, follows the leader of his band to prove his worth as a warrior. A young vaquero from California, Juan Medina, finds himself involved more from circumstance than choice. Along the trail, the young men forge bonds that surpass race and culture as they face hunger and thirst, fire and flood, bullet and blade. And together they grieve the deaths of more than a thousand of the stolen horses and mules on a mad dash across the dry and desolate Mojave Desert. Based on the real-life exploits of mountain men “Pegleg” Smith, “Old Bill” Williams, and Jim Beckwourth with Ute leader Wakara, A Thousand Dead Horses dramatizes conflicts in the evolving Old West.

"Based on a historic horse-stealing adventure, A Thousand Dead Horses dramatizes the violence and perils of the Old West. Young Daniel Boone Trewick flees a violent dispute in Missouri and joins a freighting outfit to Santa Fe. He meets mountain man Thomas L. "Pegleg" Smith and is invited to join an expedition to California to steal horses and mules. Juan Medina, a young vaquero on a California rancho, framed for a crime and in jail, is pressed into service in a posse pursuing the thieves and three thousand horses and mules stolen in coordinated raids. During the chase, a thousand horses die in the Mojave Desert. Circumstances throw Boone and Juan together, and they hatch a plan to turn stolen animals into a profitable future""--

When Elijah Blanco said his last words, he didn't realize he was about to be thrown into a competition to become one of the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse. But now the game is on, and Elijah and thousands of other dead riders soon learn there's much more to dying than any preacher could have guessed. Heaven has released a herd of unearthly ponies into the world of the living and beyond, and it's up to the dead riders to capture them if they want to save their souls from Hell. As the game heats up, Elijah and his horse Delilah find themselves joined by a futuristic woman with a computer-powered horse; an easy-going English biker in black leather; and a Roman soldier as bred for war as the horse he rides. Together they uncover a Divine conspiracy that puts the riders' immortal souls in greater danger than ever before. And when the dead start dying, Elijah begins to think the Apocalypse should be brought to Heaven instead.

People like to blame someone for problems. Many people blame the president, Congress, local school boards, administrators, or teachers for the shortfalls of the public school system. The problem is not that the educators and lawmakers aren't trying to improve the system; it's that they just haven't realized the proverbial horse is dead. If the basic system doesn't work, all the money and strategies and dedication in the world will not help unless the system itself is replaced. One of the most crucial things the system has failed to do is differentiate between equal educational opportunity for all and equal (or identical) education for all. Instead of trying to make everybody the same, an educational system must ensure equal rights for everyone while still allowing them to develop at their own rate and in their own way. Only then can we have the diversity, creativity, and ingenuity needed to compete in the world today. In this book. I explain why our system has failed (The Dead Horse) and what we can do about it (A New Horse).

The Romans believed that an artist's inspiration came from a spirit, called a genius, that lived in the walls of the artist's home. In her second book, Sierra DeMulder examines her childhood in a small town, heartache, loss, and the possibility of transcending suffering, aided by the voice of her own genius. His character appears throughout the book, providing charming commentary and biting insight on the young author's creative process and emotional path.

This collection is a fine balance of attitude and anecdote in the best essay writing tradition. The author muses on topics as diverse as God's gold swing and a triathalon involving horses, women and champagne. On Modern Medicine: Once a visit to a doctor involved examining you and prescribing treatment. Nowadays he will not touch you, and he assumes the guise of a simpleton. Present yourself with an axe in your skull and he will not hazard a guess as to the source of your discomfort until you have had X-rays, blood tests, cat scans, ultrasounds and exhausted the possibilities of every diagnostic machine within a hundred mile radius. On Language: Language came into being when the female arrived back earlier than expected from the berry picking expedition and found her partner with his head under the bear skin of the lady from the cave next door. Necessity is the mother of invention. He now has a need for language, without it he is dead meat. He has no hope. But if he can blurt out, "I was looking for your lost flintstone," or "It's an old folk remedy for migraine," or even "She made me do it." Then he has a chance, albeit a slim one. We didn't get where we are today without optimism. On the selling of women: Surely no one would argue that a man's house should come cheaper than his wife. When was the last time you saw a man walk away from a piece of real estate? Yet they abandon their wives all the time. The difference being the latter have no re-sale value. This delightful collection, beautifully written, will provoke thought and laughter at the same time.