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Summary: Adam tells how Little Joe’s nickname really came about.
Rated: T WC 9800
Nathan Kincaid #1 – Fire in the Sky – by JennyG
Summary: Hoss is the only Cartwright at home when Nathan Kincaid mounts an attack.
Rating: T 8,925 words
Nathan Kincaid #2 – Saving Jessica – by JennyG
Summary: Part of the Nathan Kincaid series and written for the 2005 Convention Anthology.
Rating: T 7,550 words
Nathan Kincaid #3 – The White Shark – by JennyG
Summary: Ben finds trouble haunting him in the business world. Another in the Nathan Kincaid series.
Rating: T 6,775 words
Nathan Kincaid #4 – Anyone Who Fights one of Us – by JennyG
Summary: Adam returns home after long years away to find many changes along with some fond and familiar things. A story in the Nathan Kincaid series.
Rating: T 5,830 words
Summary: Adam’s grandfather writes, leaving him with a difficult choice to make. My first Bonanza story written back in 1999.
Rating: K+ 33,460 words
Summary: Traces the progress of Joe’s natural affinity with horses.
Rated: K 6,700 words
Summary: In preparing for Christmas, being naughty or nice is all a matter of perception.
Written for the 2019 Advent Calendar
Rating: G
Word Count: 1,990
Summary: A WHN for Firstborn and my submission for the May Literary Challenge. Relations between Ben and Joe have become tense.
Rated: K+ Word Count: 2284
Summary: Joe must enter a burning building to save Hoss.
Rated: T 2,140 words
Negotiation Strategies – by patina
Summary: Originally published in the 2009 Convention Anthology. Sometimes a game of chess requires more than concentration on the game itself.
Rating: K+ Word Count=2370
Neighbors and Friends – by PSW
Summary: A missing child brings together the Coffees and the Cartwrights, as well as a young Dr. Paul Martin.
Rating: K+ WC: 28,370
Summary: Did Little Joe really see what he thought he saw? Adam can’t believe the implications of Joe’s revelation.
Rating: T 7,645
Summary: Why did Adam disappear from the Ponderosa, never to return again? Maybe it happened like this….
Rating: T Word count: 19, 450
Nemesis – by VRON
Summary: Adam and Joe find themselves in the wrong place at the wrong time.
Rating and Reader Alerts: PG (violence) Words: 39,145
Summary: An argument with Hoss spills over to encompass Adam, and is Joe deeply hurt. When tragedy strikes, the brothers rue the harsh words they exchanged. And just when it seems things can’t get any worse, they do.
9,995 words Rated: T
Never Again #1 – by HarpistforHim
Summary: Ben’s guilt-ridden slump during the Prime of Life unearths painful memories for his oldest son. Despite this, the boys try their hardest to meet the contract deadline on their own. In the end, it’s up to Hoss to make sure his older brother gets back on the right track again. A WHIB/WHN for The Prime of Life.
Rating: G Word Count: 7,380
Never Again #2 – A Father’s Promise – by HarpistforHim
Summary: Following the events of the Prime of Life, Ben thinks everything has returned to normal… until his oldest son comes to him with open wounds Ben thought had long been healed. The missing conversation between Adam and Ben from my story “Never Again.”
Word count: 3,370 Rating: G
Never Ending Song (The) – by the Giggly Sisters
Summary: As Adam entertains the Cartwrights with his singing, Joe is consumed with jealousy and a long-hidden secret is finally revealed.
Rated: K+ WC 1700
Never Fool with a Horse’s Tassel – by pbeaking
Summary: Adam and Hoss get into a mess of trouble when Adam invents something to help him with a daily chore. Please read this little story to see how I incorporated the five words needed to meet this challenge: medieval, tassel, commence,
Rating: K WC 1800
Never Forgotten – by BluewindFarm
Summary: A most important day in the life of young Little Joe, and he feels neglected.
Rating: K / 2,075 words
Never Frighten the Cat by McFair
Summary: Ben comes home to a comic crisis creating by who else – his youngest son! Can he help him before the boy is buried alive?
Word count: 1746 Rated: G
Never Quote Me the Odds – by McFair
Summary: Ben Cartwright had thought the worst thing that could happen was that his son, Hoss, was shot in back by mistake. But like the other time Hoss was shot – by Red Twilight – Little Joe was in danger too. His brother could be dying and Joe is nowhere in sight. What’s going on?
Rated PG – references to drunkeness Word Count – 4406
Never Submit or Yield – by BettyHT
Summary: This is a series that starts with an unusual story –Never To Submit Or Yield is a story of struggle and overcoming great difficulties and how and why Adam left the Ponderosa. –Awake, Arise, Or Be Forever Fallen is a story of Adam falling in love with a woman who has lived through similar trauma. As their relationship develops, clues to the conspiracy begin to emerge. –Torn tells of how Adam is pressured by his family to go on a cattle drive to reestablish his role, but Joe has to adjust too so there is some friction, and there is trouble from others who want to take advantage of the situation. Luckily, Candy is there to help out.–Melinda Returns is a short story in which she tries to manipulate things with Grace who is about to deliver her child. There is closure. –Epilogue.
Rating: T Word count: 50,040
Summary: From the Pinecone No 4 challenge this story grew into a WHN for The Truckee Strip. Some Joe suffering again, but it’s what I like best!
Rated: K+ Word Count: 2272
Never Too Old to Learn – by DebbieB
Summary: Both Adam and Joe learn that you’re never too old to learn something new after an accident leaves Joe mortally wounded and his older brother feeling guilty.
Rated: G 18,160 words
Never Under a Pale Moon – by Sierras
Summary: Little Joe takes out a girl who’s family recently moved from New York. Can he help her to find good in Nevada? And what does a pale moon have to do with anything?
Rating: K+ Word count: 2116
Never, Ever Mess with His…? – by AC1830
Summary: Why is Adam in the dirt at Hoss’ feet? Hoss is not going to like the answer.
Rating – K, WC – 823
SUMMARY: A prequel story in which a fishing trip by two young brothers is the catalyst for an important father/son conversation.
Rating = pg Word count = 2533
Summary: Joe makes a new friend
Rated: K+ 8,540 words
New Year’s Eve Shenanigans – by ljlover2001
Summary: Ten year old Little Joe attends a New Year’s Eve party in town with his family and manages to get into trouble – quelle surprise!
Rated: K 2,025 words
New Year’s Traditions – by Sibylle
Summary: Roy Coffee helps not only Ben in his grief.
Rating: G Words: 2.500
Written for the Bonanza Brand 2023 Advent Calendar
Next BIG Bonanza (The) — a REALLY Lost Episode – by Robin
Summary: It’s better than the General Store or the Mercantile.
Rating: T 1,740 words
Night After “Death at Dawn” (The) – by debpet
Summary: A brief WHN for the episode ‘Death at Dawn”
Rated: K+ WC 1600
Night Before Christmas (The) – by freyakendra
Summary: The boys have some childish fun in a poem that borrows from the original.
Rating: K 430 words
Night Before Christmas (The) – by Questfan
Summary: The Cartwrights share their most fervent Christmas wishes.
Rating: G Words: 2,610
Written for Bonanza Brand 2023 Advent Calendar
Night Before Christmas (The) – by Rona
Summary: Here’s the Christmas story. It’s short, but fun.
2,760 words Rated: T
Summary: Based on actual events, the Ponderosa is invaded with a group of train robbers.
Rated: PG 10,000 words
Synopsis: A young Adam is determined to take part in guarding his father’s new herd of cattle. But is determination enough?
Rating: G (1,025 words)
Night in the Rain – by AdamsMyHero w
Summary: Adam rides off miserable, believing he’s killed his father.
Rating: T 6,400 words
Summary: Adam is surprised with a little night music. A story for the Halloween season.
Rated: K+ Word count: 1471
This story was written for the 2017 Advent Calendar – Day 5
Summary: Christmas invitations extend beyond the borders of the Ponderosa.
Rating: G 2,800 words
Night of the Sword – by southplains
Summary: Danger in the form of a vengeful general invades the Ponderosa.
Rated: T 8500 words
Summary: Young Adam has an encounter while out on a night ride.
Rated: T Word count: 2719
Summary: A seemingly quiet night turns into a tragedy.
Rated: K+ 8,700 words
Summary: Tragedy strikes on the Ponderosa, leaving Joe brutally attacked and his date killed
Rating: T 25,215 words
Summary: In 1871, Chicago will suffer a tragedy due to Mrs. O’Leary’s cow; tonight Benson’s Crossing offers aid to a tragedy cause by a few cows.
Rating: T 12,060 words
Summary: Strange things are afoot on the Ponderosa in these three after-dark comic vignettes.
Rating: K 1,040 words
Summary: Not everything that shuffles in the night is a bad omen.
Rating: K 1,210 words
Summary: Musings of Deputy Clem Foster on his city and the Cartwrights.
Rated: K+ Word Count: 1238
Nightmare from New Orleans (The) – by Yakee818
Summary: Left home alone despite Adam’s misgivings. Little Joe is brutally attacked.
Rated: T WC 17,000
Summary: Ten-year-old Joe is tired of Adam treating him like a…well, like a kid. Enter Nightshade, Adam’s powerful and temperamental horse. What follows involves not only Joe and Adam, but some new Paiute friends and a revelation about Roy’s past.
Rated: K+ WC 16,000
Nine-Tenths of the Law – by NancyL.
Summary: It’s time for the boys to head out onto the Ponderosa, performing chores that could take them away for a few weeks.
Rating: PG (4,325 words)
Summary: It was just an April Fool’s Day prank gone wrong.
Rating: General Word count: 897
Summary: The Cartwrights are out on the trail.
Rated: K 700 words
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
No Flash in the Pan – by Cowgirl8
Summary: It’s about the boy’s while Ben is out of Town. There is foreshadowing. And we weren’t supposed to have blood and Gore so nothing gruesome in this story.
Rated: K+ 1,545 words
No Good Deed Goes Unpunished – by patina
Summary: The Widow Jenkins got more than she bargained for when Ben sent his sons out to help with a few chores. Written in response to a writing challenge to use “They all took several steps forward, stunned by what they done” as the first sentence and “His lips moved as if he was chewing the words he was holding back” as the last sentence.
Rating: K Word Count=2175
Summary: Life changes when the Cartwrights return home find the folks in Virginia City scared of those offering ‘protection’.
Rating: T 23,380 words
No Love without Forgiveness, No Forgiveness withoug Love – by pbeaking
Summary: Have you ever wanted something so badly that you’d do anything to get it? Let’s just say Little Joe and his best friend Mitch find out the hard way that sometimes finders keepers end up being finders weepers. Contains reference to corporal punishment.
Rating: K+ 4,485 words
No Man Wants to be Bossed – by Robin
Summary: An excerpt from “Frozen in Time.”
Rating: K+ Word Count: 2907
Summary: A “what happened next” version for “Caution: Easter Bunny Crossing,” partially from Joe’s perspective. Warning: it gives away part of the ending for a “Lost Episode.”
Rated: K+ WC 11,000
Summary: WHIB for The Crucible. When Adam realizes he’s in the act of killing Peter Kane, he’s horrified that he’s finally lost control and proved his tormentor right. As he makes his escape, he’s reminded that two men left him in the desert to die, too. Just who is the better man?
Rating: T Word Count=3617
Summary: A WHN for The Hayburner. Hoss tells what Adam did to him after the race.
Rating: K Word Count=1461
No Question About It – by Gillian
Summary: This is a pre-Inger story. Ben, with four-year-old Adam in tow, takes a job on a farm but he is offered something he never expected.
Rating: G 11,200 words
Summary: My response to the Challenge. Joe tells a lie to protect Pa, but will Adam let it alone?
Rated: K+ WC 8800
No Shovel Needed – by Justafan
Summary: Once again, Little Joe finds himself facing the music. Hoss and Adam are amused by the current situation, although Ben thinks it is no laughing matter. Sometimes, the Cartwrights can dig a very deep hole without using a shovel.
No Such Thing as a Civil War – by storm
Summary: What if two brothers left the Ponderosa to fight in the burgeoning war between the States?
Rated: K+ WC 2200
Summary: When hop Sing faces a difficult Christmas season, he discovers the true value of time.
Rating: G 1,835 words
Written for the 2024 Bonanza Brand Advent Calendar
No Way Back – by Jules / J7339
Summary: Joe Cartwright thinks he is coming to help someone, but finds himself needing help getting back to reality.
Rating: G Word Count: 1001
Summary: What starts out as an ordinary day in town soon takes an unexpected turn.
5,505 words Rated: T
No Winning – by the Tahoe Ladies
Summary: A casual question ties Ben in knots.
Rating: K+ 1,060 words
No, Nothing, and Not – by BettyHT
Summary: On his return after many years, Adam makes a very bad decision but doesn’t know how bad it is until too late. It affects his whole family but especially Joe, and all struggle with what to do.
In the second part, as Christmas nears, Joe remembers the tragedy in his life. There are other problems and near tragedy. When Christmas arrives, Joe and his family have to find a way to be thankful for what they have and accept what they have lost.
The third part is the next Christmas and the problem of what to get the family that has everything.
In the fourth part, there’s a plan to get the Ponderosa for its timber, gold, and silver by an evil man who tries to force the deal when Ben says no to his offer, but he didn’t know what he was going to be facing once he made those Cartwrights upset.
WC = 82,382 Rating = T
Nod or a Wink – by Writing Woman
Summary: Hoss struggles to understand why a woman is gunned down on the streets of Virginia City. An expanded version of a Pinecone challenge.
Rated: T WC 750
Summary: Adam va vivre un Nöël qu’il n’oubliera pas.
Rated: MA 3,000 words
None Were the Lovingest – by DJK
Summary: Ben and Little Joe discuss his father’s three wives.
Rated: K Word count: 658
Summary: A deserted town and strange happenings. Will the boys survive the night?
Rating: T 1,820 words
Not a Day Goes By – by Arrenall
Summary: When the unthinkable happens, those left behind must find a way to get on with life.
Rating: T 4,433 words
Not a Normal Day – by frasrgrl
Summary: Not a typical day on the Ponderosa.
Rated: K
Not a Political Man – by faust
Summary: Yet another discussion with Adam prompts Joe into doing something rash and potentially life-threatening—and into thinking more about politics than he ever wanted to.
2,600 words, rated K 2,605 words
Summary: A story for those who are willing to accept an Alternate Universe version of some of the Bonanza story. In this case, it is the story of Ben and Marie and the story of Adam in the prequel years with Adam’s backstory drastically altered.
Rating: PG Word count: 15,477
Not Forgotten #2 – Captive Hearts – by BettyHT
Summary: AU continuation in which Adam has found his dream but lost some of it too. He finds his way back west to rebuild both his dream and his connection to his past.
Rating T Word Count = 25,444
Not Guilty: Part One, Justice Denied – by BettyHT
Summary: Joe makes a serious mistake and Adam agrees to help him fix things only to find that he puts himself into a greater problem as others make too many mistakes as well. Adam needs more help than Joe did, but that help is slow in arriving.
Rating: T Word count: 35,315
Not Guilty: Part Two, Justice Delayed – by BettyHT
Summary: After more than five years since Adam was forced to leave, his family has a lot of questions, but it will take time and some luck to get the answers they want, and then they may find they don’t like all the answers either.
Rating: T Word Count: 41,355
Not Guilty: Part Three, Moving Forward – by BettyHT Summary: Adam gets involved in two cases for the government, but his new career leads to his father having some very bad luck. The whole family has to come together to resolve the issues.
Rating – T Word count – 15,685
Not Guilty: Part Four, The Dogs – by BettyHT
Summary: In the last of the series, the story is all about Adam, Hoss, and Joe. There’s a hunting trip with their dogs, a hero who emerges after a case of mistaken identity, and then the plot for their sweet revenge. Some of this material was originally in the previous story, but when I edited it out, I saved it to create this story. You may notice how it overlaps part of what happened in that story.
Rating: T Word Count: 10,703
Summary: Ben receives devastating news and only has one plea.
Rating: K+ 1,920 words
Summary: “…Joseph, if you don’t have the dad-blamedest luck of anyone I ever saw—”.
Rated: K+ 1,625 words
Not Such a Stranger – by debpet
Summary: A stranger arrives in town and his surprising connection to one of the Cartwrights’ closest friends leads to complications for all involved.
Rated: K+ WC 14,000
Not Til We Find Him – by Patina
Summary:. A missing son, a father’s search. A WHIB and WHI for The Crucible.
Rating: T Word Count: 5,353
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
Not Without My Son – by sklamb
Summary: A fresh look at certain events of Episode 94 The Crucible which didn’t in some parts of the multiverse quite follow the televised script….
Rated: T WC 1800
Nothing but the Truth – by SusanG
Summary: On the precipice of an Indian uprising; can Ben prevent the unimaginable?
Rating: T 23,200 words