Rick Miller

Saddle up for an adventure with a young dream named Sam, as he battles through the darkness to realize his life-changing mission. With the help of a knight, Sir Persistence, Sam faces a risky journey through the Forest of The Glooming. While there, he must overcome the dreadful Sir Problem and his naughty plans to keep Sam from reaching the Village of Reality. Through twists and turns, walls and tunnels, readers will gallop through this story to discover how a brave little dream can become reality.

Saddle up for an adventure with a young dream named Sam, as he battles through the darkness to realize his life-changing mission. With the help of a knight, Sir Persistence, Sam faces a risky journey through the Forest of The Glooming. While there, he must overcome the dreadful Sir Problem and his naughty plans to keep Sam from reaching the Village of Reality. Through twists and turns, walls and tunnels, readers will gallop through this story to discover how a brave little dream can become reality.

Saddle up for an adventure with a young dream named Sam, as he battles through the darkness to realize his life-changing mission. With the help of a knight, Sir Persistence, Sam faces a risky journey through the Forest of The Glooming. While there, he must overcome the dreadful Sir Problem and his naughty plans to keep Sam from reaching the Village of Reality. Through twists and turns, walls and tunnels, readers will gallop through this story to discover how a brave little dream can become reality.

Although there has been a vast amount of information gathered on the history of the Earth, there are still many things that have yet to be discovered. To help spread more knowledge on the physical and biological history among our population, Miller outlines some of this information. This book discusses alternative explanations for Earth's history that will motivate you to learn more information. About the Author: Dr. Rick Miller began his career in geology by taking a summer course in Physical Geology at UCLA, however, this was by accident. It ended up becoming one of his passions and lifetime career. Miller received a BS, MS, and PhD in Geology. He became a teacher and researcher at California State University Northridge and San Diego State University. Since retiring in 2001, Miller has continued to teach for various community organizations. He has published numerous scientific articles and co-authored a college-level book on Historical Geology.

Luke Short perfected his skills as a gambler in locations that included Leadville, Tombstone, Dodge City, and Fort Worth. In 1883, in what became known as the “Dodge City War,” he banded together with Wyatt Earp, Bat Masterson, and others to protect his ownership interests in the Long Branch Saloon - an event commemorated by the famous “Dodge City Peace Commission” photograph.During his lifetime, Luke Short became one of the best known sporting men in the United States, and one of the wealthiest. The irony is that Luke Short is best remembered for being the winning gunfighter in two of the most celebrated showdowns in Old West history: the shootout with Charlie Storms in Tombstone, Arizona, and the showdown against Jim Courtright in Fort Worth, Texas. He would have hated that.

In 1874, the Texas legislature created the Frontier Battalion, the first formal, budgeted organization as an arm of state government of what historically had been periodic groups loosely referred to as Texas Rangers. Initially created to combat the menace of repeated raids of Indians from the north and from Mexico into frontier counties, the Battalion was led by an unusual choice: a frail, humorless Confederate veteran from Navarro County, John B. Jones. Under Jones’s leadership, the Battalion grew in sophistication, moving from Indian fighting to capturing Texas’s bad men, such as John Wesley Hardin and Sam Bass. Established during the unsettled time of Reconstruction, the Rangers effectively filled a local law enforcement void until competency was returned to local sheriffs’ and marshals’ offices.Numerous books cover individual Texas Rangers of note, but only a few have dealt with the overall history of the Rangers, and, strangely, none about Jones specifically. For the first time, author Rick Miller presents the story of the Frontier Battalion as seen through the eyes of its commander, John B. Jones, during his administration from 1874 to 1881, relating its history—both good and bad—chronologically, in depth, and in context. Highlighted are repeated budget and funding problems, developing standards of conduct, personalities and their interaction, mission focus and strategies against Indian war parties and outlaws, and coping with politics and bureaucracy. Miller covers all the major activities of the Battalion in the field that created and ultimately enhanced the legend of the Texas Rangers. Jones’s personal life is revealed, as well as his role in shaping the policies and activities of the Frontier Battalion.Based largely on primary documents, especially the actual correspondence generated by the various actors in the Battalion’s drama that best tell the tale, this book is a major contribution to understanding the early development and growth of what became the institution celebrated in legend today. And John B. Jones at last has a definitive biography that recognizes him as one of the most important men who actually laid the groundwork for that legend.

William Preston 'Bill' Longley (1851-1878), though born into a strong Christian family, turned bad during Reconstruction in Texas, much like other young boys of that time, including the deadlyJohn Wesley Hardin. He went on a murderous rampage over the last few years of his life, shotgunning Wilson Anderson in retribution for Anderson's killing of a relative; killing George Thomas in McLennan County; and shooting William 'Lou' Shroyer in a running gunfight.Longley even killed the Reverend William R. Lay while Lay was milking a cow. Once he was arrested in 1877, and subsequently sentenced to hang,his name became known statewide as an outlaw and a murderer. Through a series of 'autobiographical' letters written from jail while awaiting the hangman, Longley created and reveled in his self-centeredimage as a fearsome, deadly gunfighter - the equal, if not the superior, of the vaunted Hardin. Declaring himself the 'worst outlaw' in Texas, the story that he created became the basis for his historical legacy, unfortunately relied on and repeated over and over by previous biographers, but all wrong. In truth, Bill Longley was not the daring figure that he attempted to paint. Rick Miller's thorough research shows that he was, instead, a braggart who exaggerated greatly his feats as a gunman. The murders that could be credited to him were generally nothing more than cowardly assassinations. Bloody Bill Longley was first published in a limited edition in 1996. Miller separates fact from fancy, attempting to prove or disprove Longley's many claims of bloodshed. Since the time of the first edition, diligent research has located and identified the outlaw's body, the absence of which was a longstanding myth in itself. This revised edition includes that part of the Longley story, as well asseveral new items of information that have since come to light.