Category: What Happened Instead
Episode inspired stories.
Broken Ballad – The Last Gunfight (by AC1830)
Summary: What if the final gunfight that killed Ed Payson took a different turn and set the main players on different paths? A WHI for Broken Ballad.
Rating: T, Word Count: 2676
Sunday School Lessons (by BettyHT)
Summary: Hoss gets a job teaching unruly boys in Sunday School, but his best student or at least the one most affected by his teaching is not in his class. There are beneficial unintended consequences no one could have predicted.
Rating = PG Word count = 2674
The Search (by Monette)
Summary: Adam is accused of things he didn’t do. When he finds a strange message left behind in Virginia City, he starts out on a quest to save his identity.
Rating PG. Word count 14,248
Broken Bonds (by BettyHT)
SUMMARY: The story is the WHI for She Walks In Beauty to answer the question of what might have happened if Regan stayed and she and Hoss married. That decision would not only affect her and Hoss but Adam and the rest of the family as well. Here is one version of what those effects might be.
Rating = T Word Count = 33,467
A Dish Served Cold (by Questfan)
Summary: A somewhat AU What Happened Instead for The First Born. While New Orleans had brought Marie into Ben’s life, it was also a breeding ground for lies, whispered rumours, family disputes and long-held hatred. It has long been said that revenge is a dish that is best served cold.
Rating: T
Word Count: 63028
A Rose By Any Other Name (by McFair_58)
Summary: The ending of the pilot has always bothered me. Would Alphaeus Troy and the mine owners really have given up that easily? What if the fight in China town had ended differently and Little Joe never made that dinner date with Lotta Crabtree…?
Rated: PG-13
Word Count: 21,226
Freedom’s Just Another Word (by AC1830)
Summary: A WHI for A House Divided. “Father against son, brother against brother. A house divided against itself cannot not stand.” What if Adam did leave in order to keep peace in the family? This is a journey of healing for the Cartwright family and some newfound friends.
Rating = T, Word Count = 14415
The Scales of Justice (by Questfan)
Summary: Written for the 2018 Missing Man Challenge – Add Adam into an episode as if he has always been there. I have chosen an episode from Season 12:6, Gideon the Good.
Rated: T Word Count: 8,148
Not Too Old A Fool To Change (by Hart4Ben)
Summary: A WHI for A Home For Jamie, screen play written by Jean Holloway. This piece primarily covers the gap between Jamie rescuing his grandfather and the final scene of the episode.
Rating: K+ Word Count: 3933
Searching for Life (by AC1830)
Summary: When Ben and Inger left her brother Gunnar in Illinois (Inger, My Love), he was searching for his purpose in life, heading to the Canadian gold fields. The Last Viking showed he maintained his wild side. But how would his life have turned out if he had listened to his sister’s words? A WHI for The Last Viking.
Written for the Bonanza Brand 2018 Ancestry Challenge – Several relatives of the Cartwrights have turned up from time to time. Are there more and what effect do they have on the Cartwrights?
Rating – K+, WC – 5547
