A desperate stand… At age 42, Captain Ethan Brandish had finally given up his command of Fort Lowell, deep in the Apache territory of Arizona. He knew there had to be more to life than constantly battling rattlesnakes and renegades, and now he would find out what it was. But the vicious Apache leader Yellow Shirt had another fate in store for Brandish. He and a group of renegade warriors had attacked an isolated stage station and ridden off just before Brandish arrived on the scene. Even though he knew the Apaches were still out there - watching and waiting - Brandish couldn’t leave the few wounded survivors to die. He had to do what he could...even if it meant dying when Yellow Shirt came back.
Author
Douglas Hirt was born in Illinois, but heeding Horace Greeley's admonition to "Go west, young man", he headed to New Mexico at eighteen. Doug earned a Bachelor's degree from the College of Santa Fe and a Masters of Science degree from Eastern New Mexico University. During this time he spent several summers living in a tent in the desert near Carlsbad, New Mexico, conducting biological baseline surveys for the Department of Energy. Doug drew heavily from this "desert life" when writing his first novel, DEVIL'S WIND. In 1991 Doug's novel, A PASSAGE OF SEASONS, won the Colorado Authors' League Top Hand Award. His 1998 book, BRANDISH, and 1999 DEADWOOD, were finalists for the SPUR award given by the Western Writers of America. A short story writer, and the author of twenty-nine novels and one book of non fiction, Doug now makes his home in Colorado Springs with his wife Kathy and their two children, Rebecca and Derick. When not writing or traveling to research his novels, Doug enjoys collecting and restoring old English sports cars. Douglas Hirt is a "fabricator of armchair adventures" who also writes as Jason Elder and Doug Hawkins.
