The Defiance

Part of the Shawnee series:

Editions:ebook, Paperback

Where law is scarce and betrayal runs deep, courage is the only currency.

In the lawless hills of California’s gold country, survival is a daily gamble and trust is a rare commodity. Victor Garand, a weary teacher turned fortune-seeker, stumbles into the sunbaked settlement of Colinas de Oro with nothing but hope and desperation. When a chance encounter with the enigmatic Zoltan Hirsch offers him a partnership in a secret gold mine, Victor is thrust into a world of ambition, betrayal, and violence. As the mine’s riches are revealed, so too are the darker sides of human nature—greed, paranoia, and the thirst for power.

Meanwhile, Pinkerton agent Rhiann Swayze and reformed outlaw Lon Pearce chase their own redemption across the rugged frontier, only to be swept into a deadly web of kidnapping, forced labor, and rebellion. With lives hanging in the balance and justice nowhere in sight, alliances are forged and broken in the shadow of The Defiance mine.

Will courage and love be enough to overcome the brutality of men driven mad by gold? Or will the hills claim more souls before the dust settles?

Gritty, authentic, and pulse-pounding, The Defiance is a classic Western tale of survival, vengeance, and the unbreakable spirit of those who dare to stand against the odds.

Published: December 23, 2025

Publisher: Hat Creek

Genres:

Historical, Western

Tags:

About the Author

Bob Giel

Bob Giel was born in New York City and now lives in New Jersey. Throughout his life, he has spent time in the East and Midwest, but has never resided in any area that could be termed the West, a bit strange for someone who writes Westerns. However, having loved the Western Genre since he was a kid, he has absorbed so much of the period through books, movies and TV that he feels as if he has been there. The colors, sounds and images stay vividly enough in his mind that he can believe he has experienced them.

The grit and the determination of the people who carved a way of life out of the frontier have helped shape the way Bob lives his life. Because of that era, he keeps his word, he finishes what he starts and he is a true friend. While he was always interested in writing, life got in the way, that is, until he retired. With the decks cleared, he began writing and never looked back.

Other Books By Bob Giel

Stand-Alone Books

Sorted First to Last

A Crow to Pluck

Series: Shawnee

Sorted First to Last

Lawless Frontier

On the lawless frontier of the late 19th century, Fort Smith, Arkansas, was the last stop before Indian Territory—a land crawling with outlaws, fugitives, and desperate men who thought the badge held no power. They were all wrong.
Judge Isaac C. Parker, the legendary “Hanging Judge,” was appointed to bring order to the most violent criminal jurisdiction in America—and he needed enforcers willing to ride straight into hell. The Deputy U.S. Marshals who answered that call became legends—men like Bass Reeves, Heck Thomas, and countless others whose names have been lost to history. Armed with a badge, a fast horse, and unshakable determination, they tracked murderers, thieves, and desperados across 74,000 miles of untamed wilderness.
Award-winning author and historian Velda Brotherton brings their stories to life in Lawless Frontier, an essential tribute to the men and women who rode for the judge—and for justice—in the wildest reaches of America. The book features a foreword by New York Times bestselling author and retired Chief Deputy U.S. Marshal Marc Cameron, offering unique perspective from one of the modern West’s most respected lawmen.

Land of the Blind

When justice is blind, vengeance sees clearly.
Marion Tullos hunts men—the kind who traffic in flesh, steal innocence, and leave devastation in their wake. She brings them to justice or delivers judgment. The choice is theirs.
Marion and her battle-scarred uncle, Lummy Tullos, follow a trail of terror carved deep across the Western landscape. Every town, every saloon, every shadowed road brings them closer to a single name whispered with dread: The Buyer. Ruthless and untouchable, he is the one-eyed man who has made himself king in a land of the blind.
Once a victim herself, Marion knows all too well the cost of letting evil go unchallenged. But vengeance is only part of the fight. Every mile tests her courage, every confrontation threatens to drag her into darkness, and every choice could cost her the one thing she has never allowed herself…. hope.
Fast, fierce, and relentless, Will Rogers Medallion-winning author Anthony Wood delivers an unflinching story of one woman’s quest to strike down those who prey on the innocent. In a world that has lost its sight, Marion Tullos is the reckoning.

They Came for Blood

When the past comes for blood, you either draw first or die trying.
Tom Callahan was once the government’s deadliest secret—a lethal gun-for-hire leading a team of assassins no one knew existed. Now those days are long gone. Or so he thought.
Now an aging cowboy trying to keep his ranch alive, Callahan wants nothing more than peace… and a sliver of forgiveness. But when word reaches him that his wife and son—long believed dead—may still be alive, that peace turns to dust.
From railroad corruption to a secret slave trade, outlaw towns to Washington’s back rooms, every mile drags Callahan deeper into the rot of the nation he once served. Hunted, framed, and haunted by the men he used to ride with, he’s forced to become the one thing he swore he’d never be again—a killer.
In a world built on blood, there’s no clean way out. To save his family, Callahan will have to face the ghosts of his past—and decide if redemption is worth the price in bodies.
New York Times bestselling author M. William Phelps delivers a brutal, timely, and cinematic Western thriller where the trail to the truth runs red and redemption rides a pale horse.

Roan & Weatherford