Apache Mex by Chestcat Thomas A Western Story of A Son's Vow to Avenge His Mother...

[Her mother and Rushing
Water] decided that it would
be best if she left without
ever letting the tribe
know what had happened
to her...

It was in the early dawn of the morning, the water was cool in the creek as an Apache squaw bathed in the nude, her hair glistening as the sun peeped over the horizon...
Suddenly Rushing Water heard a noise behind her, as she looked over her shoulder of long black glistening hair expecting to see a rabbit, she instead saw two Mexicans smiling at her with their eyes open wide as if in the state of surprise or shock...
She was at the center of the creed and started to wade as fast as she could to the east bank where she entered the creek every morning...
Rushing Waterf felt her hair being yanked as her head fell back...she struggled but without success as she was snatched up backwards by her hair and waist being pulled across the Mexican's horse, Rushing Water was screaming but knew that her screams could not be heard...
As the months slowly passed on Falling Star noticed that Rushing Water was with child, and explained to her that Apache Chief Jumping Wolf would not allow a marriage between her and his son Rolling Mountain, and by her silence of what happened to her the chief would think that she had broken the sacred marriage promise vow and ban her from the tribe without food, or any skins to keep warm in the soon to come winter cold...

~~~

Apache Mex

By Chestcat Thomas

Reading the authors Introduction, I was reminded of how my brother, too, loved westerns and I was also a fan for several of them. Have Gun Will Travel was my favorite. Of course, the star who played Paladin was the reason for me...LOL  Even then I was more interested in stories that were unique... and I enjoyed his moving where he was needed, of course with his gun... And, Apache Mex by Thomas Chestcat is indeed unique...and memorable..

It's the lack of the simple pleasures
of life which is so vastly dissipating
out society. Let's get back to the
basics of fictional story telling...
~~~

But it wasn't the author's reminiscing of shared TV programs, but rather, the reason he chose to write a western, like his idol Louis L'Amour--and who has not read at least one of his many novels!? Here's a little about what Chestcat had to say: 

 "L'Amour, a writer who intrigued his readers without the use of sexual exploitation, without the use of vulgarity, his stories were written for all audiences, young and old, people of all colors could enjoy his plots, always eager for more..."

Chestcat Thomas has the right idea, in my opinion. Sure, there were always good and bad in westerns... but there was also loyalty... And when something happened that deserved revenge, it wasn't hard to find those who would stick together to fight for right... Yeah, sure, there were still lots of shooting and dying, but, in the end, most folks felt like what had happened was what needed to happen... How many of us can say that about most wars, street killings, or sex trafficking, or murder for hire, or drug lords? 

Chestcat Thomas is a true storyteller who presents readers with a short, original story that sends us right back to the days when we joyously played "cowboys and indians..." not knowing, ever, the real horror of what really happened... and isn't that what fiction is all about? Escaping into a world of pretend???

Rushing Water was lucky to find an old abandoned stage coach station about 30 miles from her tribe. She immediately started in cleaning and making it as cozy as she could, which was fortunate for she found a door in the floor! Obviously nobody had touched it since the clear attack on the building full of holes.
"She smiled for the first time she had left her people..." There was everything there that she would need to make it through the winter...

               

Her half-breed son was
given a half-breed name...

By the size of him she knew
that one day he would grow
to be a very huge man.
~~~

Soon after, Rushing Water gave birth to a boy papoose during the Indian summer of 1851. There were plenty of clothes that had been left behind and she converted many to prepare for her son...

The shabby building had now become her and her son's home...

She named her little boy Apache Mex since she knew that her child was not worthy enough to have a whole Apache name--he was not pureblood... Her half-breed son was given a half-breed name...

They had lived alone for eight winters when Apache Mex found a wolf pup wandering out of his den. He quickly took out a grass sack from his back pocket and covered the puppy, then quickly retreated before the mother returned.

He was happy and eager to show his new pet to Rushing Water, as he danced from side to side, Apache Mex heard a gunshot coming from the clearing in front of him where he and his mother lived. He started a fast trot and heard seven more shots as he approached the edge of woods where the clearing and his home was. There were eight horses but only three men on three horses were spotted by Apache Mex. He smelled trouble and ran as fast as he could toward the station, noticed five other men coming out of the station laughing with bottles of whiskey turned up to their mouths. Apache Mex was nearly out of breath and his fast pace had slowed to a sluggish walk. As the men climbed up on their horses, Rushing Water stepped out of the station and fired a slug into one of the men who fell over sideways off hiw horse. She fired a second slug into the leg of another rider who spun around and fired his pistol. Rushing Water fell back flat on the rotted out porch of the station.

When the riders saw apache Mex coming, the one which Rushing Water shot in the leg stopped and rode back to meet him, pulled his rifle from his scabbard and said, "Indian Boy, join your mother..." The man who sat on the horse looked like a ghost, had long white hair and a white beard that practically covered his whole face, he had fire red eyes and wore all white clothes.

~~~

Once again luck was with him. His wolf puppy woke him, licking the blood on his forehead... Apache Mex was able to talk to his mother before she died. She told him to find his way back to her tribe, that they would take him in... He buried his mother and returned home, tying the horse that had belonged to the only man who'd died.  When he went back inside he found a medallion with MALCHOX written on it. He swore to avenge his mother's death or die trying...

Apache Mex jumped in front of the
gun and grabbed the barrel while
pointing with his left hand to the
wolf and to himself, saying,
"Ruter, Ruter..."
~~~

He named his pup Ruter and he prepared for their future. Knowing what had happened when his mother left her tribe and would have been banned otherwise, he decided not to follow his mother's guidance and set off himself...especially with his wolf friend... He was on his own for nine years. Ruter was now huge and broad shouldered, who did most of the hard work in hunting for food... They had traveled all around the area but had always returned to the station. But his time out they headed toward the southwest part of Texas and saw a large farm house with an old man and boy on he porch... Meantime, Ruter had gone after a deer and the old man saw the large wolfe shaking the doe...and sent the boy for his gun...

Got to tell you--this is just the beginning! Apache Mex has one goal--to avenge his mother, but, along the way, he happens to meet a young Indian maiden called Midnight Gold...

And the action has barely begun...

But...as remarkable as this story is, there are many, many issues that needed to be edited. From that standpoint only, I cannot recommend it wholeheartedly, but I've talked with the author via email and I truly feel that this story is worth your consideration. I've already suggested that the author make an audio version--I've heard him read an excerpt and know that I would surely love to hear it coming from him with the emotion and love he feels coming through.  On this one, you decide, but please don't get it and then it poor ratings. The story itself does not deserve it... I'm going with a 3 for those who care about ranks, which I don't...LOL

GABixlerReviews

"Those who dare to fail miserably can achieve greatly." --John f. Kennedy

About the Author
I'm a Native of Louisiana, who loves hunting, fishing, horseback riding, swimming in the Amite River [see pic], and Darlington Creek. My favorite childhood game was playing cowboys and indians, my favorite television shows were westerns, my favorite novels were westerns mostly written by Louis L'Amour. I love to write although it may be fiction, western fiction is a part of me. I grew up in a medium size family having one brother, and one sister, our father died when I was about one year old, therefore, I was only raised by my mother.

The Ruby Moon-Houldson I Knew... Memories of a Friend...

Many times an abused or troubled
child will not find saving grace in
their midst--not at home, not at school,
not in their neighborhood. They may
have to dream a little, look beyond
their nightmare, look to another source
of strength (whether it be real or not)
and reach for heroes who are...
more than angels...
--Foreword

Ruby's trilogy shared about the
abuse she and her siblings received
in their childhood...
Ruby was able to find words from
characters of a TV program to help
her make it through it all...
~~~

It was 2005 that I first started reading Ruby... I was doing a little more than reviewing at that time, so I was reading her manuscript of the first book in the More Than Angels series,

There was one thing I immediately noticed about the book. I became so curious that I wrote and asked her if I was right... She wrote back and told me I was the only one that had ever caught on to the reference...  For some reason, perhaps that one, we began a bonding friendship... This series still holds my heart as my favorite books, mainly because she shared so much about the content of the books as well as more personal background info with me. 

Knowing that background, I still cannot accept how Ruby died...  that the publicity picture here might be the last I will see of her... 

UPDATED: Homicide victim identified
by Sheriff as Ruby Moon-Houldson

When I woke up this morning and immediately thought of her, tears slid down my face. I found that the anger from yesterday when an online friend on hers had written to me at Amazon, had somehow disappeared and I wanted to go ahead and write my thoughts about what a special woman she was... 

She came to visit me a few years ago... I was a little shy, meeting such a prolific writer, even though we had been corresponding for a number of years by then... But she was such an outgoing woman, a caring, loving woman, that there was simply no way her manner would reflect all of her accomplishments--and there were many. We had lunch together and then all she wanted was to drive around and see where I lived...and we did stop to tour the Albert Gallatin home near Pt. Marion and New Geneva, PA. where I once lived... I remember I felt like she was my daughter when she wrote and told me she'd just received her PhD...

Then she sent me the manuscript of her last novel... She had never hired editors because she

wanted to write what she wanted to write...But I did become her personal proofreader for most of her later books, doing my review prior to their being published and "bragging" that I was releasing the exclusive first review...LOL... I was silly back when I first started to blog and am quite amazed when I think about how it has changed... and Ruby was part of that growth for me... She had asked me to review her entire Guardian Series as I was able. I had gotten so pulled in that I couldn't wait until she had the next one done.

But I was unable to finish working with her on Closing Argument.  I got too personally involved as she was struggling to take care of her husband, at the same time they were working on a book that he was so excited about... He wanted her to plan for a future without him that would provide as much happiness that he had known as her husband... 

Me? I kept trying to insert "feelings" for her husband...and I realized that I could not imagine writing about the life he wanted for her after he had died... 

And yet, I couldn't wait to read the final published version...  And, now, that book is also her last book before she died...  Ruby always included in her books the songs she listened to while writing to inspire her... This is one of those--Twist of Fate-- How sad that the new beginning her husband wanted for her will now never come...

Ruby and I had a shared love for all things Star Trek. Many of you may know that she got involved with the whole Trekkie life, including writing a number of books on the original series. I've made a Page of the majority of my or Ruby's articles here on Book Readers Heaven. When I was first starting out, I had more time and Ruby spent a month here during the time I was reading many of her books from the Guardian Series... Of that series I wrote:

The Guardian series is a sensuous escape into the fantasy world of the ages. I am thoroughly hooked! When I read the More Than Angels books, I declared Moon-Houldson a must-read author. However, the Guardian series, in an entirely different genre, forces, yes, forces me to consider this author a Creative Genius! Book reviews cannot begin to describe the fascinating complexity, compelling storyline and sensuality of these stories. While based upon well-researched somehow familiar magical stories, each idea from Moon-Houldson is unique but totally interwoven into an intricate tale that becomes a reality into which readers invariably fall! Building suspense through character development and constantly more exciting and seemingly impossible challenges is almost magically done through brilliant writing! The Guardian series demands to be consumed!

One article she shared at that time I've highlighted on the page...it is her sharing of her feelings with her role model from Star Trek when he died... You may want to read it, even if you don't want to learn more about her books. She also kept me up on all the Star Trek news...LOL...sometimes I felt like I was in the inner circle as well, as she would share gossip about the various characters that I had so loved...

Other than her books on Star Trek characters and nonfiction, all of Ruby's books were about good over evil... She loved science fiction and her Guardian series was more "far out" than I'd ever read... Yet it was molded on the life of a family...Two powerful angels who had come to earth to save the world... Her family kept growing, their love kept spreading out into the earth... It was only when she went into the second generation of the family that I started to suggest some editorial issues. I didn't have to say much, just enough for her to accept what I'd suggested and start making changes... She trusted me... and that was a powerful emotion for me, given what I had experienced at work during my last few years... It seemed we needed each other in different ways, but we both grew to love each other as dear friends...

All one has to do is read her bio and know that she was a brilliant woman. But it was her personal attributes that drew people to her, to love her.... She was always writing about what she was doing in the neighborhood, even to opening up her writing space for tours!

The fantasy world is going to miss her as an author, especially those who got to know her at Trekkie conventions and other activities... But, I'm going to miss her not only as a wonderful author, but a truly beautiful friend who had become important in my life...even though we only met and hugged once... It is so natural to ask... Why? Why did this happen? I don't know... The only thing I do know is that Ruby has always been and is, now, totally "Sheltered in the Arms of God"... sung by the author, Dottie Rambo... 

Related articles

• Indiana author found dead in home
• Investigators still at the crime scene near Linton
• Police confirm name in Linton death investigation
• Ruby Moon-Houldson's Latest in Guardian Series Now Out in EBook...
• Latest From Ruby Moon-Houldson, Closing Argument, Based on Her Personal Story...
• Guardians of Immortal Night - Pre-Publication Review of Next Book in Series!

The Harbinger...Reading and Sharing...

I WAS STANDING BEHIND the bench and to the right.
“You returned,” said the prophet, without any movement of his head, but still maintaining his gaze into the distance. He couldn’t possibly have seen me, but he knew I was there. It was something I could never get used to…being with someone you felt could, at any given time, see through you. “Why?” he asked, still gazing toward the waters. “Why did you return?” “Because,” I replied, “you’re the only one who can give me the answer.” 
“To what?” he asked.
“To the problem.” 
“To what problem?”
“To the problem of you.” “I’m the only one who can answer the problem of me?” he said with a hint of playfulness in his voice. “I don’t know, Nouriel; it sounds like a paradox to me.” 
“Am I wrong?” I asked.
“No,” he replied. “You’re not wrong.” I joined him on the bench. It was only then that he broke his gaze to look at me. “But are you ready?” he asked. 
“For…?”
“The answer.” 
“I hope so.” “Then let’s begin. You’re a journalist; did you bring a notepad or a recording device?” 
“A recording device.” 
“Good,” he said. “I thought you would have. Turn it on.” 

~~~

No other nation had been called into being

 for the will of God or dedicated to His

 purposes from conception. No other

 people had been given a covenant. But the

 covenant had a condition. If they followed

 the ways of God, they would become the most

 blessed of nations. But if they fell

 away and turned against His ways, then their

 blessings would be removed and replaced

 by calamity, as they did, and as it was.”

~~~

 

I realized something last week that I should have been immediately aware of...but just got too enthusiastic in sharing... Anyway, I realized that ultimately I could be in violation of copyright, so I'm thinking of options right now... My guess is that I will need to stop at about the same part of the book that I would have for my reviews... which is the early part of the story... more on that later...

This last week, I read a story that is based upon an apparently popular TV program. In it, the writers picked out a variety of issues to merge with a much older story. One of the selections was the Book of Revelation with particular emphasis on the Four Horsemen... It's interesting, isn't it, that no matter what religion, if any, you may follow, the fear of the end of the world is always used for "scary" tales of horror.

Many years ago when I was young and first read about the end times, I decided, in faith, that I would "be taken" before that happened... Now, as I grow old and have seen what has happened in our world, it is not so clear any more. So many stories use this as a basis upon which to write thrillers, horror books, and movies...

And yet, I can still get excited about the "possibility" just as I did when I heard the author talking on Television... This book has not taken a portion of one book and thrown it into another them... It is straight forward, based upon specific documentation... 'Nuf said about that.

The prophet started off by talking about a similar situation happening in an ancient country long ago... We all know that country, don't we?

Nouriel quickly asked why they would have turned away... Ahhh, but is that really a question he had not already thought about? Maybe. Many, many in the United States, have been asking that for many years...  His response was quite specific, but not unexpected:

“It’s a mystery,” said the prophet, “a kind of spiritual amnesia. When it began, they were still using God’s name, but with less and less meaning behind it. Then they started merging Him, confusing Him with the gods of the nations. And then they began turning against Him—subtly at first, then outright, then brazenly—driving Him out of their national life and bringing in idols to fill the void. The land became covered with idols and altars to foreign gods. They rejected their covenant, abandoned their standards, and exchanged the values they had always lived by for those they had never known—spirituality for sensuality, holiness for profanity, and righteousness for self-interest. They cut themselves off from the faith on which their nation had been established and became strangers to God. And as for their most innocent, their little children, they offered them up as sacrifices.”
“Literally?” I asked. “They literally killed their own children?”
“On the altars of Baal and Molech, their newfound gods. That’s how far they descended. Everything was now upside down. What they had once known as right, they now saw as outdated, intolerant, and immoral. And what they had once known as immoral, they now championed and celebrated as sacred. They had transformed themselves into the enemies of the God they had once worshiped and the faith they had once followed, until the very mention of His name was banned from their public squares.

~~~

Say what you will, but other than the reference to Baal and Molech, this entire excerpt, could be said about the United States... At least in my opinion... And for the reference to the gods having sacrificial children being given... Hey, that's not nearly as dreadful to consider as the horrendous loss of our young to human slavery to sexual deviants. Sold for the love of money by those who have no god...to those who have no god...

To me, it started when they took prayer out of schools, but again that's just my opinion. 

And then it was explained that because of this ancient country's action, their hedge of protection that had been surrounding the country was taken...in 732 B.C... He went on to explain that it was necessary to refer to the past so that he could show how it was happening...again...

"Because unless you understand what happened then, you'll never understand what’s happening now.”
“Now? So it’s some kind of key?” 
“A key for the appointed time, for the word to be given and for the message to go forth, but not for an ancient nation.”
“Then for what…for what nation?” 
He was silent. 
I asked him again, “Then for what nation?” It was only then that he voiced it.
 “America,” he said. “Now for America.”
...“So it’s the appointed time for America? For a mystery to be revealed and a message to be given to America?”
 “Yes.”
                                                                 ~~~

Now, I have to quickly say, this is almost like "I told you so," but it's really not. Recently I had a period of time that had once happened to me before... In the wink of an eye, I could not feel the presence of His Spirit... Fear and loss overcame me, as it had done before. But when it happened, I didn't remember that last time, I was just quite aware I was... alone...

Was this my own warning of what it is like when God's protective "hedge" is withdrawn? Perhaps... I can only tell you that I worked very hard until His Spirit returned and filled me. I know it is a difficult time for everybody, but for those that have already completely rejected faith of any kind... to those who capture and sell children for money to those who enslave them and worse... will this new message ever reach you?

Sorry, I was going to try to keep personal opinion out of this as much as possible... but, Hey, I live in America... Somebody's got to let the message be known...


GABixlerReviews

Related articles

• 'Harbinger' author says loss of 'Tree of Hope' a warning
• U.S. leaders hail 'The Harbinger' message
• 'The speech you were never supposed to see'
• A Story with a True Theme and Warning to America
• Episode # 156 - Best-Sellling Author of The Harbinger, Rabbi Jonathan Cahn
•