Books with author Stephen Bland

Nathan's got a real job for the summer. He'll be helping Push-Bill Horn freight supplies to the booming, brawling mining town of 10, Nevada. However, his dog Tona's disastrous fight with a bobcat on the second trip out thrusts Nathan into a dilemma. He wants revenge. And he desperately wants to save Tona's life. Will he take Push-Bill's advice to do the kind thing and put Tona out of his misery?Then, later in a chilling face-off at gunpoint, Nathan confronts two bushwhackers intent on stealing his gold. He also meets new friends: the six Rialto sisters who are trying to made a go of a ranch by themselves. This complicates his relationship with his good friend, Leah.

Fourteen-year-old Alex Hopewell, oldest son of his widowed mother, believes he is responsible to take care of his family. But nothing is simple. His younger brother Cyrus shirks duties by trying to dream up new-fangled contraptions. A blonde-haired girl complicates his life. And some menacing gunmen hide a mysterious package at the family's bakery. When her husband is killed in a railroad accident, leaving no pension or provision for the future, Daisy Hopewell opens a bakery with her three sons and sells doughnuts in northern Utah Territory in 1869. With the help of friends in the Union Pacific Railroad, Daisy secures a great location for her bakery at Promontory Point. Everyone converging on the Utah plains knows that when the Union Pacific and the Central Pacific Railroad lines join, history as well as fortunes will be made. Will that include the Hopewells too?

Nathan T. Riggins traveled West alone and across the Nevada desert by stagecoach. He searched for his parents after his grandparents died while caring for him. When he finally arrived in Willow Creek, he panicked as he hurried from one empty building to the next. Where was everyone? How could everybody in a whole town just disappear?In the deserted Post Office, bags of unopened mail lay everywhere. With increasing dread, he looked through the stacks of letters. There it was--his own letter to his parents telling them he was coming. No wonder they hadn't waited for him. Now what should he do? Why wasn't God taking better care of him?Soon he comes face to face with one danger after another--Indians, a masked gunman, a blinding sandstorm, a rattlesnake. Again and again, a strange dog who seemed to adopt him came to his rescue. But where are his parents?

Retta Barre has never met a hero, except for the ones she reads around in her books. She does know they're strong and courageous. And handsome and pretty. Everything she's not. Her world doesn't expect much from her anyway. She's just a plain-looking 12-year-old who's more stubborn than brave. She owes what little strength she has to her dull daily chores on the Oregon trail. And yet, when her friends are missing, Retta doesn't think twice. She heads out to help them. She has no idea the danger that's about to come her way. She'll have to face her fears and act like the heroes she reads about in her novels.

It's summer in Galena, Nevada. Everyone is leaving town for good! After the harshest winter on record and the shutdown of the Shiloh Gold mine, Nathan and his friends watch as businesses board up and houses empty. Rumor has it that even their school may close. Who will be the next to move away? When the bank is robbed, Nathan and Leah get their answer. It's not one they'd have chosen. In facing the loss of his friends, Nathan discovers what makes a town feel like home. Finally, in a deserted hotel, Nathan and Leah come face-to-face with the bank robbers. They encounter the most frightening showdown of their lives.

For only a dollar, Thunder is a terrific bargain. But what does a boy do with a dangerous 2,500-pound buffalo that can break out of any corral ever built? Nathan Riggins has to find some way to keep Thunder from killing someone or being killed. He finally decides to donate his buffalo to the Carson City Zoo. But getting him there will be a problem. Thunder has already destroyed one rail car and damaged the train's engine. The railroad refuses to ship him again. The answer comes in a surprising way.

Retta Barre's not the first 12-year-old girl to travel the Oregon Trail. And she won't be the last. But for something that's supposed to be the grandest adventure of her life, the long, slow days sure are dull. Thick dust, irritating bugs, and picking up buffalo chips are not the stuff of the action-packed penny novels she loves to read. When things change in Retta's life, they change fast. A simple trip into the prairie brings both adventure and big time trouble. Soon Retta is the talk of the wagon train and her friends don't want to miss her next caper. To be sure, she won't let them down.

Along the border in Texas, a deadly firefight claims the lives of two Border Patrol agents.On a highway in suburban Virginia, a bomb blast targets the director of the CIA.From the halls of power in D.C., secrets reach out, signing the death warrants of those who uncover them. . . For CIA paramilitary Harry Nichols, deceit has become a way of life. Fifteen years in the Clandestine Service have left him weary, recovering from a devastating betrayal. Little does he know. . .the betrayals have only begun.With CIA Director David Lay missing and presumed dead, Nichols finds himself tasked with protecting Lay’s estranged daughter—and hunted by an ex-Spetsnaz kill team.His only mission is to keep her safe. Her only desire is to find the man who ordered her father’s murder.For him, she becomes the only motivation to leave behind the life of violence he's known, but only his talent for violence can save them now. . .Pursued by an unknown enemy, their danger will draw them together, even as her quest for truth plunges them both into the abyss.But as their world turns upside down—as a Pakistani terrorist prepares to attack an American city— even as everything once sure turns to quicksand, one thing becomes breathtakingly clear.All that stands between them and the truth is an American President willing to bury his secrets. . .one enemy at a time.

Nathan's got a real job for the summer. He'll be helping Push-Bill Horn freight supplies to the booming, brawling mining town of 10, Nevada. However, his dog Tona's disastrous fight with a bobcat on the second trip out thrusts Nathan into a dilemma. He wants revenge. And he desperately wants to save Tona's life. Will he take Push-Bill's advice to do the kind thing and put Tona out of his misery? Then, later in a chilling face-off at gunpoint, Nathan confronts two bushwhackers intent on stealing his gold. He also meets new friends: the six Rialto sisters who are trying to made a go of a ranch by themselves. This complicates his relationship with his good friend, Leah.

Retta Barre has faced a dizzying prairie storm, a stubborn buffalo, and a murderous Indian twice. But that's nothing compared to what happens when her family is left alone in the middle of the prairie. One life-threatening danger after another and Retta's in the middle of them all. Some might think she's just a plain looking 12-year-old from Ohio. With her buckskin dress, moccasins, and sun-tanned face, others see an Indian girl. And some of her friends consider her a heroine. But after Retta encounters horse thieves, prairie pirates, and an army troop, she'll definitely be the undisputed Princess of the Prairie.

Retta Barre's not the first 12-year-old girl to travel the Oregon Trail. And she won't be the last. But for something that's supposed to be the grandest adventure of her life, the long, slow days sure are dull. Thick dust, irritating bugs, and picking up buffalo chips are not the stuff of the action-packed penny novels she loves to read. When things change in Retta's life, they change fast. A simple trip into the prairie brings both adventure and big time trouble. Soon Retta is the talk of the wagon train and her friends don't want to miss her next caper. To be sure, she won't let them down.