From the master of the Western comes a novel full of romance and adventure.
Adam Laret-big, young, and headstrong-ran from Ehrenberg to the banks of the Rio Colorado. He was blindly fleeing his scheming, gambling brother and the woman Guerd stole from him. But Adam's escape wasn't complete until Guerd, in the company of a sheriff, hunted him down. Then Adam committed the ultimate crime. With the mark of Cain upon him-he traveled into the desert to atone for his sins.
In a vast, harsh world of heat and beauty, of stealthy creatures and gnawing starvation, Adam faced death and madmen, Indians and strangers who lived where life was impossible. But nothing he did-no act of courage, righteousness, or violence-washed Adam clean. Until he met a woman and made a choice: to fight his way back to civilization, the most dangerous place of all.
Pearl Zane Grey was born on 31st January 1872, in Zanesville, Ohio. From an early age, he was intrigued by history, fishing, baseball, and writing. Grey was an avid reader of adventure stories, consuming dime store novels by the dozen. By age fifteen he had written his first story; 'Jim of the Cave'. His father, a difficult man, tore it to shreds and then beat him.A keen fisherman and with dreams of playing in the major leagues Grey was spotted by a baseball scout and received offers from colleges.He enrolled at the University of Pennsylvania to study dentistry. Naturally arriving on a scholarship really meant you had to be able to play. And he could, though in the end as a practical career move he resolved that dentistry was the way forward. Grey set up his dental practice in New York as Dr. Zane Grey in 1896. But with ambitions to be a writer in a city with so many publishers evenings were set aside for writing.His first magazine article, about one of his fishing expeditions was published in 1902. It was not until 1910 that he wrote his first Western, 'The Heritage of the Desert'. It was a breakthrough title and quickly became a bestseller. His themes of Manifest Destiny, the conquest of the Old West, and men wrestling with elemental conditions were the hallmarks of his career. Two years later Grey produced his all-time best-seller 'The Riders of the Purple Sage', with its publication he became a household name. During the crash and subsequent depression of the 1930s, the publishing industry was hard. Sales fell. But Grey was astute. He had avoided the Stock Market, he was still writing and popular and continued to earn royalty income. In all he wrote over 90 books including some on fishing and baseball. He was also selling stories to film companies as Hollywood was eager to exploit popular culture.On 23rd October 1939 Zane Grey died of heart failure at his home in Altadena, California. He was 67.
A western adventure becomes a journey of expiation and redemption.
Adam flees to the desert to save his life, and discovers the need to save his soul. In the searing heat of Death Valley, lonely land of prospectors and hermits, he confronts his baser instincts as he struggles to survive, striving to rise above them.
Wanderer of the Wasteland is Zane Grey's most personal novel: a thinly veiled autobiography written in remarkably poetic language. Filled with colorful characters, and vibrant descriptions of the southwestern desert landscape he so loved, this is the story of one man's internal battle to save his better self, or die trying.
This book describes Zane Grey's hair-raising tales of fishing in shark-infested Pacific waters.
Tales of Tahitian Waters describes Grey's fishing expeditions to the Tahitian Islands during 1928, 1929, and 1930, in which he claims to be the first big-game fisherman to fish these waters.
He came to this area after having passed nearby on his other fishing trips. Hearing accounts of there being marlin that were thirty feet long and sharks that measured fifty feet in length, he became determined to pursue these fish and add to his many fishing records. It was here where he describes catching a marlin weighing 1,040 pounds, and the catch was recorded as the first 1,000-pound fish ever caught.
In Tales of Tahitian Waters, Grey says that these were the most difficult waters he had ever fished. Yet he claims a special affection for these waters, and he visited them numerous times afterward.
Zane Grey, known mainly for his Western fiction and for his own personal adventures exploring the rugged West, was also a prolific fisherman. Once his income from the Westerns gave him free time to explore the world's oceans, he devoted an average of 300 days a year to fishing, according to his son Loren. Besides the waters of southern California, Florida, and Nova Scotia, he went deep-sea fishing off the coasts of Australia, New Zealand, and Tahiti, with many return trips to his favorite spots. He pioneered the fishing of sailfish, and he established numerous world records along the way.
He wrote many articles for international sporting magazines highlighting the uniqueness of New Zealand fishing, among other places. Tales from a Fisherman's Log includes notes Zane Grey made while in the midst of exploring his favorite pastime.
This is a story about an inquisitive little fish whose mother gave him orders to remain at home while she went away in search of food. But Finspot could not resist temptation. He had to take a look at the area surrounding his home in the coral.
The result of his disobedience was more trouble than he had bargained for-and some very narrow escapes. He barely made it home.
Based on some of Zane Grey's own real-life adventures exploring the rugged West with professional guides, including the Grand Canyon area, he here tells the story of hunters with their hounds that go to the rim of the Grand Canyon in hopes of capturing mountain lions alive. This is one of Zane Grey's stories that is especially appealing to young listeners.
Zane Grey wrote about the West and lived it as well. Tales of Lonely Trails is a collection of true travel tales describing his explorations of uninhabited areas of the West, much of it on pack horses with a guide.
Here are descriptions of his hunting, camping, and exploring trips in the wild and desolate parts of the West, including Arizona territory, Colorado, Death Valley, the Tonto Basin, the Grand Canyon, and more. These adventures gave him the first-hard experience that he later used in writing his descriptions of the landscape and characters of his Western novels.
When not writing his famous Western novels, Zane Grey was an insatiable angler. Tales of Southern Rivers recounts his tales of fishing in the Gulf of Mexico, the Florida Keys, the Everglades, and on remote rivers in the jungles of Mexico. With many of these venues being some of today's most popular saltwater fly-fishing destinations, no one will want to miss these highly entertaining and informative stories. Armchair fishing will never be the same.
Zane Grey, America's master storyteller of the old West, was a passionate angler. He fished as many as three hundred days of the year. This collection, first published in 1925, describes his fishing adventures in exotic locales throughout the Pacific region.
These stories capture the drama and excitement that Grey experienced in being the first person to fish many waters?from the Galapagos Islands to Cabo San Lucas?and in being the first to catch and document many new species of fish. No lover of Zane Grey storytelling will want to miss these real-life adventures.
The Los Angeles Times listed Tales of Fishing Virgin Seas as one of the best nonfiction books of 2000.
New Zealand is one of the "hot" fly-fishing spots in the world today, known for brilliant, crystal clear rivers. Zane Grey's account of his adventure in New Zealand conjures up images of huge and mythic trout. In Tales of the Angler's Eldorado, he describes fishing these now legendary streams as well as his pursuit of huge swordfish off the coast of the New Zealand shores. It's both a fishing story and adventure story from one of America's favorite storytellers.
"There is always something wonderful about a new fishing adventure trip-for a single day, or for a week, or for months. The enchantment never palls...Fishing is like Jason's quest for the Golden Fleece."-Zane Grey, from Tales of the Angler's Eldorado, New Zealand
Zane Grey fished up to three hundred days of the year. But, with all that time on the water, there was nothing more exciting or more compelling than the really big fish?the giants of the sea.
In Zane Grey's day, blue fin tuna were pursued with harpoons and sometimes are even today. There is the story of a swordfish that was hooked at 10:30 in the morning and played until 11:30 that night?only to ...!
Tales of Swordfish and Tuna will dazzle and thrill any fishing heart.
