Category: Prequel
Any time before the episode, A Rose for Lotta
The Stamp Effect (by Cheaux)
Summary: Lesson plans have real-life implications during Miss Jones’ absence.
Rating: G 3,410 words
Written for the Bonanza Brand Advent Calendar
Peace on Earth (by AC1830)
Summary: Christmas candles, a cranky baby, and a neglected Cartwright all add up to one special Christmas.
Rating: G 2,420 words
Written for the 2024 Bonanza Brand Advent Calendar
What He Wanted for Christmas (by DJK)
Summary: Ben wants to indulge Adam by giving him the one present he requested, but wherever does one buy a battery for a thirteen-year-old?
Rating: G 2,325 words
Written for the 2024 Bonanza Brand Advent Calendar
A New Friend (by AC1830)
Summary: One of the Cartwrights gets a big surprise for his birthday. Written for Dan Blocker’s Birthday. Rating: G, Word Count: 2294 A New Friend A horse is a thing of beauty – head raised proudly, mane and tail flying in the wind as it parades around. It’s enough…
The Ugliest Christmas Ornament (by DJK)
Summary: Little Joe thinks an ornament is too ugly for the Cartwright tree. Adam has the opposite opinion in this slice-of-life vignette.
Rating: G 610 words
No Deal (by BettyHT)
Summary: This is a prequel with Adam home from college at about 23, Hoss at about age 17, and Joe at about age 11. Returning from a trip to Sacramento, Adam has two disturbing encounters, one with someone he thought could be a friend and another with outlaws. Then he has another one with his father. The rest of the story develops from those until the issues can be resolved.
Rating – T Word Count – 32,154
All Hallows’ Harvest (by Heather-Chrysalis)
Summary: Something evil lurks in a cornfield on the Ponderosa and unleashes terror on the Cartwright family. What is it?
Rated T Wordcount: 8, 070
We All Need A Backup Sometimes (by DJK)
Canon refers to Ben leaving the Ponderosa for a time after Marie’s death. This story presents a possibility for how Adam managed during this time. (This is an Old Ned story.)
Conversations Along the Trail (by DJK)
This is a compilation of five vignettes that take place on Ben Cartwright’s trip West.
Rating: K+ Words: 2274
Adam and the Chocolate Bookworm (by Heather-Chrysalis)
Summary: Chocolate, poetry, and Adam…what more could you want for a Winter’s tale. Adam is in his final year at Harvard and visits Boston where he meets a very special young lady. WIP title: A Season of Chocolate and Poetry.
Rated: T Wordcount: 59, 991
The Homecoming (By Missjudy)
Summary: Instead of excitement and joy over Adam’s imminent return from school in Boston, unexpected emotions and personal fears leave the Cartwrights struggling in their welcome. This story is comprised of chapters told from a family member’s POV.
Rating: G
Words: 26442
Saint Adam and The Blackburn Medal (by DJK)
Adam’s last weeks at college back East have him dealing with accolades, accusations, rivals, revenge, and possible expulsion.
Rating: Teen for mature references Word count: 7,942
Discernment: Lessons Taught – Lessons Learned (by Missjudy)
Summary: This prequel is set a few weeks before Adam’s departure for school. A simple request to pick up Little Joe from a neighbor’s home where the little boy is playing, ends up bringing Adam into a world of confusion over what’s going on with the wife of his father’s oldest friend.
This is the first of 2 prequels, the first taking place in the weeks before Adam left for college, and the second story showing his return. Both take a fun, yet serious look at how the Cartwright family faces problems.
Rating: K Word Count: 26419
No April’s Fool (by DJK)
Summary: It was just an April Fool’s Day prank gone wrong.
Rating: General Word count: 897 This was written in response to a forum challenge.
Growing Up in Different Times (by Harpistforhim)
Summary: When Joe goes through old memories, it dawns on him that he hadn’t considered how different his oldest brother’s childhood was from his own. With the help of a few old trunks of treasures, Joe learns more about Adam’s past and how, despite their distinct upbringings, they both share a history that will forever be intertwined.
Word Count: 2,820 Rating: G
Parties and Pickles (by BettyHT)
Summary: Marie wants a party, but it doesn’t end as she hoped. However, the man who caused the party to end finds his plans don’t go well at all either.
Rating T Word count 2,698
Finding His Way Home (by Michele B)
Summary: Whether on land or sea, the North Star offered guidance to a young dreamer. Now it offers comfort and points to home for another young dreamer.
Rating: G, Word Count: 4676
Adam’s Heart (by nappajackie)
Summary: Faced with the trials of heart failure, young Adam Cartwright embarks on a journey of courage and resilience, drawing on the memories of the mother he never knew and the solidarity of his loving family to confront his limitations and cherish every moment of life. Rating: K+ Word Count:…
Adam’s Lost Love (by Ponderosa Pines)
Summary: Jess, George, and Sally left the people they loved, including the Cartwrights. After six long years, Jess has returned to Virginia City, running from the man who forced them out of their homes in the first place: her own father. What will happen when she meets Adam again? Will the memories of their past come rushing back, or will they be forced to face a future without each other?
Rating: K+ Word Count: 22,507
Rite of Passage (by napajackie)
Summary: Adam finds himself in a different world as he faces a rite of passage.
Rating: G
Words: 8,650
Sterling and Bright (by BluewindFarm)
Summary: It might be white outside, but inside? Being a day like no other, was an understatement; and long after the sun had set Ben Cartwright was almost ready to declare that all three of his sons would be receiving lumps of coal in their Christmas stockings.
Rating: G
Words: 2,350
Written for the Bonanza Brand 2023 Advent Calendar.
Silent as the Snow (by mcfair_58)
Summary: With Little Joe, following his heart often leads to trouble.
Rating: G
Words: 2,050
Written for the 2023 Bonanza Advent Calendar
On the Way West (by wx4rmk)
Summary: Though many people choose to write a story for the Advent Calendar, members are free to choose how they wish to respond to their prompt.
Drawn for the Bonanza Brand 2023 Advent Calendar.
Good Farmers (by mcfair_58)
Summary: Adam intended to introduce his youngest brother to good literature, but you know Little Joe – instead of culture, he found trouble!
Rating: G
Words: 4,500
Written for the Bonanza Brand 2023 Advent Calendar
Pine Tree Challenge (by BettyHT)
Summary: Another prequel, but Little Joe is eleven in this one, Hoss is seventeen, and Adam is twenty-three. Climbing that pine tree is again key to the story, but it is what happens after that which is most significant.
Rating: T Word count: 5, 575
Pine Tree (by BettyHT)
Summary: This is a prequel in which Little Joe has a daring adventure that becomes a scary ordeal for his family. Hopefully, this will be the first in a series of stories featuring the pine tree, and each will be separated by several years for the family.
Rating: PG Word count: 3,212
Boys Will Be Boys (by Michele B)
Summary: Seventeen year old Hoss gets entrusted to collect the payroll from the bank and get home. Simple as that, or is it?
Rating: G, Word Count: 11,298
Little Joe’s “Grand Swing” (by Michele B)
Summary: After watching The Grand Swing with Jamie, and seeing Hoss and Joe’s names on the tree, I started imagining what escapades would have led to them taking the “swing” with Ben. I’m not sure about Hoss yet, but I had no trouble conjuring up Little Joe’s mess!
Rating: G, Word Count: 23,137
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