Mustang

 

A Novel of World War II

by John J. Dwyer
Cover: Mustang
Editions:Audiobook, ebook, Hardcover, Paperback
View on Goodreads

Climb into the cockpit with Dust Bowl farm boy Lance Roark as he arrives in England commanding a B-17 Flying Fortress at the height of World War II. A prologue, 2017’s Will Rogers Medallion Gold Medal winner, Shortgrass, set the stage for young Lance as he made the crucial decision following the bombing of Pearl Harbor to depart from the pacifist doctrine of his Mennonite upbringing and go to war. Now, still cheerful and pious, he and his best friend, famed Oklahoma Sooner Waddy Young, tackle a new opponent—history’s most fearsome air armada, the German Luftwaffe, which has bested every other force that has dared confront them.

Audacious, cool under fire, and a born aviator, Lance piles up the missions and decorations and somehow survives to complete his tour of duty—barely. Even as he gains renown as a relentless air warrior, though, his lifelong faith is shaken as the body count of those around him mounts. Driven by a desire for vengeance against his enemies, he turns down service back Stateside to return to battle in one of America’s sensational new P-51 Mustang fighter planes.

As the greatest aerial war in history rages in the skies over bleeding Europe, Lance hits a low-point in his life just as a terrifying new adversary appears to challenge him. Pushed to the breaking point, he will need every bit of skill and experience he can muster in an unforgettable showdown over Dresden in the war’s most legendary air raid. (312 pages)

Published:
Publisher: Hat Creek
Genres:
Historical
Tags:
World War II novels, WWII novels

About the Author

John J. Dwyer

John J. Dwyer is longtime Adjunct Professor of History and Ethics at Southern Nazarene University. He is former History Chair at a classical college preparatory school, newspaper publisher, and radio host. His books include the non-fiction historical narrative The War Between the States: America’s Uncivil War and the novel When the Bluebonnets Come, both from Bluebonnet Press; the historical novels Stonewall and Robert E. Lee from Broadman & Holman Publishers; the two-book historical narrative The Oklahomans: The Story of Oklahoma and Its People from Red River Press, and the upcoming Shortgrass sequel, Mustang from Galway Press. John is a native Texan who grew up in Oklahoma. He graduated with a journalism degree from the University of Oklahoma, did post-graduate studies in history at OU, and earned his masters degree from Dallas Theological Seminary. He lives with Grace, his wife of 29 years. They have one daughter, Katie, and one grandson, Luke.

Other Books By John J. Dwyer

Recommended Posts

Vaquero Padre

The Epic Journey of Eusebio Francisco Kino
In the heart of the 17th century, a young Jesuit’s brush with death sparked a vow that would change the course of history.
When eighteen-year-old Eusebio Francisco Kino recovered from a grave illness, he credited his healing to Saint Francis Xavier—and promised to follow his patron’s path to the missions of China. But God had other plans.
Ordained and sent west to New Spain, Padre Kino would spend the next three decades carving a legacy across the untamed northern frontier. From the rugged coast of California to the desert lands of Pimería Alta, he brought not only the word of God, but the tools for survival—introducing cattle ranching and wheat cultivation to native communities. As peacemaker and protector, he stood between the Spanish crown and the people he served, navigating colonial politics, Apache resistance, and the harsh terrain of the Southwest.
A brilliant mathematician, cartographer, and explorer, Kino’s maps redrew the boundaries of the continent, proving that California was not an island, but firmly connected to the land he so loved.
Vaquero Padre brings to vivid life the remarkable journey of a man of faith, science, and unshakable purpose—told as he himself might have shared it.

 

Cold Powder Vengeance

Black powder burns hot. Revenge doesn’t.
In 1875, Judiah Stone wants nothing more than to bury the war and live in peace, farming his homestead in the Dakota Territory with his beautiful wife. But when a gang of killers sheds her blood and leaves him for dead, peace dies with her.
Most men would wait on the law. Not this one.
Armed with a Henry rifle and a fire in his gut, he rides west—tracking the men to Deadwood, where greed and blood soak the Black Hills. Sioux warriors, brutal storms, and a cold-eyed shootist all try to end him along the way.
But the truth isn’t what it seems. The real killer is closer than he ever imagined—and in a courtroom where justice is bought, he brings his own sentence.
Cold Powder Vengeance is a brutal tale of frontier retribution, where the only sure things are a six-gun and the grave.

 

Comancheria

You can’t outrun a curse. You ride through it.
Texas Ranger Buck Dallas was meant to die. Cursed by the Comanche witch doctor, Twisted Root, he falls with the sun and claws out of the dirt at dawn—half man, half memory, bound to a promise he can’t forget.
With fellow Ranger Lane Newsome at his side, Buck rides a haunted trail across a hollow frontier—one stripped of mercy, scarred by blood, and hunted by things older than men. Their mission: find a missing girl named River and deliver a pregnant woman to a hidden spring that may be salvation… or something far worse.
As the riders press deeper into Comancheria, they’re joined by mystics, mercenaries, and broken souls—each with something to lose, and none guaranteed to survive. Between the bullets and the curses, between the land and the dead, redemption may be the only thing worth dying for.
From New York Times bestselling author Reavis Z. Wortham, Comancheria is a gritty, unrelenting vision of the West—dark, mythic, and rising from the grave.