​THE CREED SERIES
A TEXAS CREED
ISBN-9780910937313 TRADE PAPERBACK
ISBN-9780910937054 KINDLE
​
Glengarry Plantation. A house divided by war.
Clete Slater returns from war to find his home occupied by Federal soldiers and his sister engaged to a Yankee.
Disinherited and disowned he has no choice except to live by the words that have served his family generation after generation, Now he will make the family creed A TEXAS CREED.
TEXAS PAYBACK
​ISBN-13: 978-0910937320 TRADE PAPERBACK
ISBN-13: 978-0-910937-13-9 KINDLE
​
​TEXAS PAYBACK The Civil War was hell for Captain Clete Slater, a forgotten hero of the Confederacy, and the Texas Reconstruction's even worse. His Texas home-town is overrun with carpetbaggers and bluecoats. He's hunted by the law for a crime he didn't commit. He rides south to Mexico with a new name, Slate Creed, to hide his real identity. Riding across the Rio Grande, Creed expects to find frontier justice for the real culprits - a murderous gang of bandits who killed his brother. Instead he finds another country torn apart by its own civil war. And Creed must choose which battle he wants to fight: Mexico's or his own.
TEXAS POWDERKEG
​ISBN-9780910937337 TRADE PAPERBACK
ISBN-9780910937238 KINDLE
​THE HEART OF A REBEL…The war didn’t end at Appomattox-not for men like Slate Creed. His beloved Texas is swarming with bluecoats and carpetbaggers. Riding into Victoria, Creed finds himself caught in a standoff between the angry townfolk and the company of Union soldiers sent to occupy the town.
Now Creed has to choose—between Northern law and Southern loyalty…
​
Based on actual records, this exciting epic series captures the post-war West as you’ve never seen it before-the explosive story of a town held hostage by Northern corruption…and the one man who dared to fight back. Hallettsville, Texas and many of the characters and events depicted in this series are real.
​
CLETE SLATER – A forgotten confederate hero, he’s changed his name to Slate Creed, but nothing could disguise his fiery passion for justice.
​
COLONEL BENJAMIN HILL – For this old soldier, the Civil War would never end – not until the South was victorious and the black man was in chains.
​
THE GOLIHAR BROTHERS – Once Creed’s bitterest enemies, they were staunch allies in a land where a man always needed someone to watch his back.
​
CATHERINE RAMSDALE – A wild Texan beauty, she was as explosive as Rebel gunpowder – and just as dangerous.
​
COLONEL ISACC ROSE – He hid behind the authority of his uniform to work his own sadistic will – to capture and lynch Slate Creed.
​
SERGEANT MARCUS JONES – As a black man he hated the Rebs as much as anyone. But as a Union soldier he was sworn to uphold the law for blacks as well as whites.​​​​​
KENTUCKY PRIDE
ISBN-9780910937467 TRADE PAPERBACK
ISBN-9780910937458 KINDLE
​
​ Following the trail of his brother’s killers, Slate Creed, wanted by the bluecoats for a crime he didn’t commit, leaves his family, his girl and his ravaged
Texas town, Hallettsville behind. His quest takes him to the gambling dens of New Orleans and into the arms of the devious Charlotte Beaujeu. Along the way, he meets young Scott Houchin who is returning to his Kentucky home after recovering his stolen Thoroughbred. Creed learns of a gambler’s scheme to steal the colt and appoints himself guardian of Scott and the racehorse. Creed encounters danger from New Orleans to Mammoth Cave as he attempts to foil the plot to purloin the valuable steed.
KENTUCKY PRIDE: Episode 4 in the continuing saga of the Texas fugitive slate creed.
MISSOURI GUNS
ISBN-13: 978-0-910937-58-0 TRADE PAPER& KINDLE EDITION
RIDING INTO THE WHIRLWIND
When the Civil War ended, Slate Creed’s toughest battle hadn’t even begun. First they drove him from his Texas home for a crime he didn’t commit. A crooked federal marshal with an itchy trigger finger started dogging his trail. And now, on a manhunt Missouri to find the renegades who framed him, he’s headed straight into a deadly snare: a ruthless scheme plotted by none other than Jesse James.
If James has his way, Creed will soon be tightening the noose around his neck…
Based on actual records, this exciting epic series captures the postwar West as you’ve never seen it before – the explosive story of a town held hostage by Northern corruption…and the one man who dared to fight back. Hallettsville, Texas and many of the characters and events depicted in this series are real.
A JOURNEY BEGINS
"You'll probably be wanting fresh water," said McGuire, "so you might as well go on into the center of town to the well ... Then take the left fork past Stidham's store, and you should find yourself a decent place soon after that. Go too much farther, and you'll be among the Indians and the coloreds. You won't want that, of course. Not with your daughters being with you."
"Thank you, Sergeant," said Thayer abruptly...Come on children, let's be going." He offered the reins to Nimbus back to Creed and the reins to Payday to Drake.
"Good luck to you, Reverend," said McGuire. "I wish you a safe journey."
"Thank you, Sergeant," said Thayer. He snapped the lines over the mules, and the wagon lurched
forward.
As the second wagon passed him, McGuire repeated his good wishes to Tyler and Louise, and then he did the same when Creed and Little Bee rode by him. They, in turn, bid him a forced but polite farewell.
As soon as McGuire and his men were well behind them, Creed said, "What do you make of those men back there, Little Bee?"
"Including the sergeant?" asked Little Bee. "Sure, him, too." "Horses' asses," said the boy succinctly.
Creed laughed and said, "You got that right."
Based on actual records, this exciting epic series captures the postwar West as you've never seen it before—the explosive story of a town held hostage by Northern corruption...and the one man who dared to fight back. Hallettsville, Texas, and many of the characters and events depicted in this series are real.
HONOR...OR
SURVIVAL?
It was Martha Doak's last wish—and it may lead Slate Creed to his last showdown. Creed promised the half-blood squaw that he'd see her son Little Bee safe and sound to his uncle in the Choctaw Nation. Trouble is, the trip will take him through some of the meanest badland settlements the Nations have to offer-towns where Little Bee's kind isn't wanted—and the rebel Creed is. As murderous bushwhackers stalk their trail, the boy and Creed live by quick wits, cold steel, and an unbreakable pact...
​
But this time, will the Texas rebel's pact break him?
Based on actual records, this exciting epic series captures the postwar West as you've never seen it before—the explosive story of a town held hostage by Northern corruption...and the one man who dared to fight back. Hallettsville, Texas, and many of the characters and events depicted in this series are real.
THE PRICE
OF HONOR
Slate Creed wants only one thing now that the Civil War is over—his good name back. The last thing he wants is more trouble—but it just won't stop dogging his trail. First of all, there's his old pal Clay Allison, who's found himself a romantic rival in none other than Cole Younger of the notorious Younger clan. But even more dangerous is a band of hostile Comanche...
​
And this time, Creed's luck just may run out.
​
​
​
TENSE MOMENTS
​
Creed glared at the swell's hand, noting a gold and rhinestone ring. He shifted his view to the fellow's face: blue eyes, a wisp of brown mustache, pale complexion, and a sneer of arrogance. Creed judged the fellow to be close to reaching his majority, although not quite there yet. He wrenched his arm free.
"The girl said 'No comprendo,' friend. Or don't you understand Mex?''
With iron in his eyes and ice in his voice, Creed said, "Yo entiendes español muy bueno, muchacho. ¿Y tu? ¿Cuanto sabes tu, cabron?''
The swell's upper lip quivered in anger. Men close to them ceased their conversations…
"What are you mister?" the swell finally managed to stutter. "Some sort of wise ass?"
Creed's Choctaw ancestry came to the fore as be allowed his features to go stony, while his left hand unbuttoned his coat. "You may apologize for that remark, sir," he said....
​
A HUNTED MAN
On the run since the Civil War, Slate Creed sees a chance to clear his name when he finds Marshall Quade—the man who helped to frame him. The hard part will be getting him back to Texas to tell the tale...especially when a trumped-up charge of murder threatens to put both their necks in a noose.
FAIR WARNING
Creed stayed motionless as he glared at Olsen and said, "I wouldn't do it, if I was you, Sergeant."
​
Olsen stopped, grinned viciously, put his hands on his knees, bent over, and said, "You wouldn't do what, Reb?"
​
"I wouldn't kick me like you were thinking of doing. Because I'd be afraid…if I was you that is…that I'd break your leg, if you tried to kick me."
​
The smile vanished from Olsen's face. He straightened up, shifted his feet, and swung a foot at Creed's ribs. It never got there…
​
THE END OF THE ROAD
Creed has a signed confession in his hand—the confession that will finally clear his name. With his nephew and sister-in-law he's headed to Texas. But his trail is fraught with danger...and it won't do Creed much good to regain his reputation if he loses his life in the process...
​
​
REAL HISTORY
Every western historian has heard of Judge Isaac Parker, the famous hanging judge of the federal court at Fort Smith, Arkansas, in the 1880s, but ask those same historians to name one judge who preceded Parker in that post and few, if any, could name one. Few could pinpoint the year when the court was moved from Van Buren, Arkansas, to Fort Smith.
As in all the books of the Creed Series, a vast majority of the characters were real people, and they are portrayed as accurately as possible.
​
Also, all geographical features mentioned in the story are accurately detailed for the time period. This includes towns and other historical places.
The expository details of the characters are real history, and the history of Van Buren, Crawford County, the Indian nations, and the state of Arkansas is depicted as accurately as the existing records will allow.
For additional reading, the author recommends Fort Smith, Little Gibraltar on the Arkansas by Edwin C. Bearss and A.M. Gibson; Law West of Fort Smith by Glenn Shirley; and Old Cattle Brands and Lost Trails by Ivan Denton.
THE QUEST BEGINS
Creed cleared his throat and jumped into the conversation. "I hadn't thought about Mr. Peterson being buried away from his people," he said. "Has anybody sent word to his family yet?"
"No, I don't believe so," said Mrs. Chapman. "Unless Marshal Hays or Sheriff Whitesides sent them a telegram about it. Of course, it was in the newspaper that he'd been killed trying to escape from the jail. I suppose folks up that way will read all about it once the newspapers reach them."
"That's no way for parents to find out that their son has been killed," said Creed. "Someone ought to tell them personally. That's the way it should be done."
"Well, who's gonna do that?" asked Mrs. Nance. "I mean, nobody around here is gonna ride all the way up to Bentonville to tell some strangers that their son was killed breaking out of jail."
"Somebody should," said Mrs. Chapman.
"Yes, I agree," said Creed. "Since I'll be going that way tomorrow, I suppose I can do it." Another thought occurred to him. Barth can wait a little longer, he told himself. "In fact, I think I'll see if something can't be done about getting Mr. Peterson buried among his own people."
Mrs. Nance and Mrs. Chapman exchanged looks but said nothing.
Creed ate his chicken and dumpling soup in silence.
