Desperate Warrior

 

Days of War, Days of Peace

W. Michael Farmer
Desperate Warrior by W. Michael Farmer
Part of the Chato's Chiricahua Apache Legacy series:
Editions:ebook, Hardcover, Paperback

In the untamed pages of history, the saga of Pedes-klinje—known to the Mexicans as the relentless Chato—blazes a trail through the blood-soaked annals of the Apache wars. From 1877, his name was etched in the fiery heart of battle—a figure brimming with ferocity, hunger for power, and a disdain for peace with the white invaders.

As the trusted lieutenant of the infamous Chircauhua chief Geronimo, Chato's days are painted in the hues of raid and revolt until personal tragedy strikes in 1883 when his wife and children are taken into slavery in Mexico. Betting on General George Crook’s influence to retrieve his kin, Chato strikes a deal to aid the U.S. Army in maintaining peace on the Fort Apache Reservation. But when Geronimo denounces him as a traitor and departs, all hope for Chato’s family flees with him. Forsaken by his former brothers-in-arms, Chato vows to hunt down the renegades himself, becoming a beacon of the Chiricahua peace faction clinging to reservation life in the process.

Desperate Warrior is an epic journey of resilience, honor, and the relentless pursuit of justice. Steeped in the rich tapestry of Apache history, Will Rogers Medallion-winning author W. Michael Farmer weaves a riveting portrait of one of the most enigmatic figures in American history, capturing the essence of a warrior's heart and the indomitable spirit of his people.

About the Author

W. Michael Farmer

W. Michael Farmer combines ten-plus years of research into nineteenth-century Apache history and culture with Southwest-living experience to fill his stories with a genuine sense of time and place. A retired Ph.D. physicist, his scientific research has included measurement of atmospheric aerosols with laser-based instruments, and he has published a two-volume reference book on atmospheric effects on remote sensing. He has also written short stories for anthologies and award-winning essays. His first novel, Hombrecito's War, won a Western Writers of America Spur Finalist Award for Best First Novel in 2006. His novels telling the story of the Mescalero Apaches  Killer of Witches, The Life and Times of Yellow Boy, Mescalero Apache, Book 1 and Blood of the Devil, Book 2 won Will Rogers Medallion Awards and were New Mexico–Arizona Book Awards Finalists in 2016 and 2018. Mariana’s Knight, The Revenge of Henry Fountain won the 2017 New Mexico–Arizona Book Award for Historical Fiction and Blood of the Devil, Book 2 was a finalist. Apacheria, True Stories of Apache Culture, 1860-1920 won the 2018 New Mexico–Arizona Book Award for History-Other and was recognized as the 2018 New Mexico Book of the Year and as a top twenty book about the southwest by the Pima County Library system. In 2019 Knight’s Odyssey, Knight of the Tiger, and Apacheria won Will Rogers Gold Medallion Awards.

Other Books By W. Michael Farmer

Stand-Alone Books

Series: Chato's Chiricahua Apache Legacy

Series: Legends of the Desert

Series: The Apache Kid Chronicles

Series: The Life and Times of Yellow Boy, Mescalero Apache

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.

 

Leave A Comment