[The Long-Knives 06] • Apache Gold

Guns blazed and blood spilled on the hot Arizona sand when the Apache warriors exploded from their ambush and fell upon Sergeant Terry O’Callan’s squad of blue-coated troopers. This wasn’t the first time O’Callan had traded hot lead with Chief Halcon’s braves—and as his troopers raised sabers and broke through the Apache ranks, he knew it wouldn’t be his last.

Halcon burned with a fierce hatred for the pony soldiers that rode from Fort Dawson, and vowed to take the scalp of every round-eye in the territory. And when gold is discovered on Apache land and an army of bloodthirsty prospectors armed with guns and dynamite surround the Indian village, it’s Halcon’s revenge against blood-crazed greed … until the brassy notes of CHARGE echo off the hills—and O’Callan must ride to glory or death for peace on the new frontier.

Patrick Andrews was born in Oklahoma in 1936 into a family of pioneers who participated in its growth from the Indian Territory and Oklahoma Territory to statehood. His father’s family were homesteaders and his mother's cattle ranchers. Consequently, he is among the last generation of American writers who had contacts with those people from the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Patrick’s wife Julie says he both speaks and writes with an Oklahoma accent.

He is an ex-paratrooper, having served in the 82nd Airborne Division in the active army and the 12th Special Forces Group in the army reserves. Patrick began his writing career after leaving the army. He and his better half presently reside in southern California. He has a son Bill, who is an ex-paratrooper and a probation officer, and two grandchildren.

Among his many books, Piccadilly Publishing is pleased to be reissuing ebook editions as mini-series and stand alones, including: The Long-Knives, The Dragoons, Texas Trails, Indian Territory.

Of Mark K. Roberts, Patrick says, "I first met Mark when we were schoolboys in Wichita, Kansas right after World War II. Mark and I hit it off right away. We both liked to read adventure books and go to the movies on Saturday afternoons to watch westerns.

"Later, as we grew older, our interest in literature turned to typing up adventure stories and passing them back and forth to each other. Most of these were westerns since my family had pioneered in Oklahoma and his in Kansas. As our devotion to writing grew stronger as we exchanged occasional letters. I enlisted in the Army and volunteered to be a paratrooper while Mark joined the California National Guard. When I was discharged from the service, Mark invited me out to San Diego to share an apartment and start some serious writing.

"After that we saw each other only occasionally. However, we got together in one of our old watering holes for some drinking and jawing. Mark brought up the subject of us writing a western together. Great idea and it would be fun! We decided to make it a cavalry novel since we both had military service experience and our family lore supplied us with a lot of knowledge about cattle ranches and homesteads. The result was APACHE GOLD and we had no trouble selling it to Kensington Publishers.

"In the 1990s Mark inherited some property back in Kansas where his great-grandparents homesteaded and he moved back to the prairie country. But thanks to e-mail, Mark and I got back in touch. But it was not a happy occasion. One of the first things he wrote was, "Well, Patrick, I'm afraid I'm not the healthiest man in Dodge." As the weeks passed, his e-mail activity slowed then stopped. I called the local sheriff and asked him to check on Mark. The next day the lawman called back and said he'd gone to his house and found he had passed away.