"Deadwood Days" ends the Toby Ryker trilogy of historical fiction. Ryker and the David Stewart family sell their ranch in Wyoming and relocate to Deadwood, Dakota Territory, the famous gold camp and former residence of Wild Bill Hickok, now deceased. David and Matthew Stewart, father and son, take over the operation of Ryker's Potato Creek Mine which he has generously left to them in his will, since he has no family of his own. Ida Mae Stewart, David's wife, decides to establish a home school for the benefit of Deadwood's young. Their two youngest children, Laura and Pauly, neither of whom is of age, come along for the ride. Ryker, who suffers from heart failure, goes about the task of clearing his name with the law before he goes belly-up. Ryker has a warrant against him for shooting the murderer of his wife and child many years ago. Dying with a bad ticker is bad enough, but also dying as a wanted man really sticks in his craw. Throughout the story, Ryker and the Stewarts have many adventures. Issues such as capital punishment by hanging, holdups, shootouts, and the devestating effects of the plague, all part of living on the early frontier, are explored. This character-driven novel features the citizens of early Deadwood, both historical and fictional, and is enjoyable reading for all age groups. The style is one of warmth and humor and people just being themselves, much like the Little House on the Prairie books. "Steven Ulmen is a new writer with promise. "Deadwood Days" shows he is on the right track." Elmer Kelton, voted all-time best western writer by the Western Writers of America. If you liked Little House on the Prairie, you'll enjoy Deadwood Days. Makes a great gift.

"On the morning of Monday, August 18th, 1862, as if a volcano filled with lava and blood had suddenly discharged its contents upon the earth, the Sioux massacre burst upon the breast of Minnesota, terrific and unexampled, covering her soil with the blood of her children, and, amid horrors of devastation and death, spreading anguish and consternation on every side. The very hour when, dreaming of "Peace and Safety," sudden destruction came." - Memoir of Henry Hastings Sibley. "Toby Ryker, chief scout of the Sixth Minnesota, is a red-headed, half white-half Chippewa man. Living life to the brim, he would rather ride the prairies than plough them. But his Sioux neighbors, despairing a life of near starvation and broken treaties, rise up like a prairie whirlwind in September 1862. They mercilessly ravage the frontier, killing more than 1,000 settlers on Indian lands in the greatest storm of death rivaled only by the Civil War battles decimating the South. Ryker must remain loyal to the army, aid his Indian kinsman or just stand aside. When the outgunned Sioux surrender, Ryker is left with still one more bitter duty. Somehow he must find words to comfort the sorrowing wives of the 38 warriors who are condemned to hang." True West Magazine - May 2009. "A novel of clashing cultures fought out in the closing decades of the 19th century, this is western historical fiction at its best and recommended for personal reading lists and community library collections." -- Midwest Book Review, Oregon, Wisconsin, USA December 2008 "Steven M. Ulmen deftly blends elements of the traditional western novel with sound historical research to create a fast-moving and strikingly rich account of one of the West's most overlooked events: the 1862 Sioux Uprising in Minnesota." Johnny D. Boggs, three-time Spur Award winning author of NORTHFIELD and CAMP FORD.

A cocky, wise-cracking young Juvenile Probation Officer battles troubled lives and senseless deaths as he establishes a career and finds adventure friendship, romance and a new home in Hawkins County. Although fictionalized, this bittersweet story is based on actual people and events on a small, rural county. But "Hawkins County" is more than a corrections casework study. It is a trip back to the 1970's, and it's all here - the movies, the TV shows, the tunes, the jokes, the humor, the heartache, Vietnam - all the elements that influenced our lives during the era. "Hawkins County" is for baby boomers, Vietnam veterans, law enforcement officials, social workers, youth counselors, probation officers - yes, even juvenile delinquents and others who have found themselves on the wrong side of the law - and everyone else who savors a nostalgic story about life as it happened during the 1970's.