Bøker av John T Wayne

Bobby Joe's life takes an unexpected turn when he witnesses a murder. While searching for the lost treasure del Diablo, Bobby Joe is stranded in an unforgiving desert environment when his last mule dies. With no alternative, he begins the grueling walk to water and safety.

During the Civil War, hundreds of boys were orphaned or abandoned, most ending up on the streets of St. Louis, where they became known as The Gaslight Boys. Duke John Robinson was such a boy. Kidnapped off the streets of St. Louis by Ol' Slantface, Duke makes his way home after a daring escape, initiated by Captain Grimes, to find as much or more trouble awaiting him there. His mother was dead, his father apparently abandoned them and his siblings were scattered. For a boy, not quite a man, the odds were insurmountable. Captain Franklin Starr, a neighbor started the trouble when he stole Duke's saddle and gear. Determined to get his belongings back, Duke begins an odyssey that finds him riding with Nathaniel Bowlin, better known as The Swamp Fox to defend their corner of the world from the encroaching Yankees and to stop Captain Starr. With no choice, Duke has to grow up fast as he eludes death on more than one occasion. When his father, mortally wounded, appears at the home place and accuses Captain Starr of an ambush, Duke, with the help of friends, searches for justice and retribution for his family.

Orphaned as a child, Le Roy Ware returns from the war to the home he grew up in. The couple that took him in died while he was away and the land and house is the only thing Le Roy has left in the world. Reconstruction is in full swing and the Yankees are taking every piece of land they can.

Mark Twain! Here is an icon of American literature, a national monument if you count all the national forests in Missouri which are dedicated to him, yet to date there is little written until now of his Civil War escapades with the Ralls County Rangers, or his career as a riverboat pilot from Hannibal. Saddled with a war nobody wanted except for a few powerful and wealthy families, two characters did not mature one bit and that is what makes Captain Grimes Unreconstructed such a treasure. From spying to stealing river boats and blowing up ironclads, the career of Captain Grimes would be considered a valiant one if you were fighting for the south. The Yankee's wanted his head on a platter, and in 1864 they captured the Confederate mail runner for a sixth time, but fate intervened and the Union was forced to release him. Several more attempts were made on his life, but he lived to be old and seasoned. He retired as a park ranger from Missouri and well, you know what happened to Mark Twain.

During the Civil War, twelve-year-old Dillon Childs's father joins the Confederacy and asks Reverend Jeremiah Culpepper to take Dillon and his six-year-old sister, Jenny, to St. Louis to live with their uncle. The uncle has also joined the Confederacy, leaving the two children alone and destitute in the huge city, where orphaned and abandoned children roam the streets. Dillon, scared for his little sister and what could happen to her, comes to the conclusion they would be better off alone, and sets out to walk back to their home on Current River. Along the way, they run into Lucifer Deal, who Dillon calls Ol'Slantface because of a disfigurement. Deal, a slave trader, has expanded his business to include young boys he can sell to ship's captains for free labor. Dillon learns Reverend Culpepper and Ol' Slantface are in cahoots and are holding the boys at Dillon's home. He finds a way to get Jenny to safety, but Culpepper, determined to be rid of Dillon and Ol'Slantface, ambush them as they come back from buying supplies. Dillon escapes, but from that point on, his life becomes a fight to survive. Knowing he'll never be safe until the Reverend is captured or dead, Dillon and Ol' Slantface join forces and along with a troop of soldiers, journey to a tropical island, brave the arid desert lands to bring a man to justice, if only Dillon can stay alive long enough to accomplish his goal. From 1861 - 1865 a storm rolled through our nation and in its wake left behind a path of death and destruction. Over 100,000 children lost everything they had come to know including both parents. This tragedy took place during the Civil War and sadly for years after; during a period known as Reconstruction. What became of those children? How were they instrumental in shaping the future of our society? These questions are answered in my series of books called, "The Gaslight Boys." Charles Dickens is credited with being the original Gaslight Boy, but there were many other Gaslight Children created by the war. The Gaslight Boys series brings to life the hardships, the conditions and individual struggles buried and/or forgotten by time.