Most Recent: Who Would Miss Me – posted 3/47/2026 see summary below
Summary: On the occasion of Mark Twain’s death, Adam tells his grandson of a Hoss/Joe escapade, how he learned about it, and how he felt about it.
Rating: PG Word count: 1,142
Summary: A story to try to answer questions left unanswered in The Crucible, it begins with Adam’s attempt to leave Kane’s camp at night. The first part is a WHIB and then it will be a WHN when Adam is rescued and has to answer some questions to himself and to his family trying to understand what happened and make sense of it.
Rating: – T WC = 13,659
Summary: An unexpected visitor stirs up confusion when Adam keeps a promise.
Written for the 2017 Advent Calendar
Rating: T (2,400 words)
A Christmas Surprise Times Two – by BettyHT
Summary: The Cartwright sons all have wishes for Christmas, and none of them get exactly what they want, but one of them especially gets something he never expected.
Rating: T Word count: 4,280
A Confederacy of Dunces #1 – by BettyHT
SUMMARY: A pinecone expansion that grew exponentially, this story follows Adam on a journey where he takes action to support his convictions but ends up finding out his father was mostly correct in his assessment of the War.
rating = T word count = 16,590
A Confederacy of Dunces #2 – All the Lies I Tell Myself – by BettyHT
SUMMARY: A sequel to A Confederacy of Dunces, this story is about Adam settling into life back on the Ponderosa and adjusting to his limitations. A man from Joe’s past shows up though with a plot that involves all the Cartwrights and complicates everything.
Rating = T Word count = 11,208
A Confederacy of Dunces #3 – Only One Returns – by BettyHT
SUMMARY: This story takes the family on a dangerous ride. Gunmen want to make a reputation by gunning down the fastest Cartwright, but he’s not willing to fight. They decide on a way to draw him out while another brother faces personal tragedy that makes him examine what he’s doing with his life.
Rating: T Word count: 12,774
A Confederacy of Dunces #4 – Franklin was Right – by BettyHT
SUMMARY: a continuation of the Confederacy of Dunces series, this story is about Adam adjusting to his role in life. Although there are skills he has that are admired by many, Adam faces situations in which he wants the skills he no longer has. His family is there to back him up until he makes the adjustment.
Rating = T Word count = 12,726
A Cream Colored Coat – by BettyHT
Summary: Judging a man by appearances isn’t wise especially when it’s Adam Cartwright.
Rating: PG Word count: 1,102
A Daring Adventure Begins in the Heart – by Betty HT
Summary: When Adam meets Presha, sparks fly but interest grows too setting off a chain of events that affect both Adam and Hoss. The story was posted on another site as two stories that overlapped: Christmas Comes Only Once a Year, and Baby Blues. Those stories have been combined, edited, and expanded slightly.
Rating: T Word count: 52,542
A Degree In Engineering Can Be Deadly – by BettyHT
Summary: Written for the Thinking Man Challenge. Adam’s education gets him into a dangerous situation when bank robbers decide he’s the man they need to send into a mine and retrieve their loot from a bank robbery. One big problem, the mine tunnel is partially collapsed from an earthquake.
Rating: = PG WC = 3865
Summary: A Double Life starts with a story of Adam doing a favor for a friend that becomes a career choice as Adam strikes out from the Ponderosa on a new career that is a cover for a second more dangerous career. The second part is By Crooked Paths in which someone is leaking the details of Adam’s secret life which allows those who seek vengeance to find him.
Rating: T Word count: 72,460
A Dream or a Nightmare – by BettyHT
Summary: Adam has been gone for seven years but a letter promising his return is followed by nothing except worry and trouble.
Rating: T Word count: 8,708
A Father’s Work Is Never Done – by BettyHT
Summary: A series of vignettes about Ben’s role as father to three sons. There’s a mixture of humor, concern, anger, regret, and joy so it’s much like the emotions any parent might feel at various times with their children.
Rating: PG WC = 9395
A Few Quiet Beers with God – by BettyHT
Summary: This is a WHN for Triangle. Adam has been so quiet he is almost silent. On a trip to town following his older brother, Hoss discovers the reason for the silence.
Rating: PG Word count: 1152
A Fight and Trouble Series #1 – A Fight You Do Not Want – by BettyHT
A light drama with quite a bit of humor in the last chapters, the story focus is on Adam but all members of the family as well as Jamie and Candy play significant roles in the telling of this story. There are two OCs too who are necessary to move the story forward. There is a Part 2 which is a short follow-up story.
Rating: T Word count: 20,302
A Fight and Trouble Series #2 – Trouble Comes Looking – by BettyHT
Summary: The story is set five years later than A Fight You Do Not Want, and Adam has to recover from a tragedy and find a way to move his life forward. He has made some terrible mistakes in doing that and has to figure out how to make his life better.
Rating T and Word count 28,726
Summary: How do the three Cartwright sons react to the plight of a young woman who needs a Man of Steel? The issue arises when Joe brings home the ad from The Soiled Dove Society.
Rating: = MA word count = 2130 This is a sexually explicit story. If that offends you in any way, do not continue to the story.
Summary: After a cattle drive, Adam gets sick, and when Ben starts getting some of the same symptoms, Joe finds that he has to be the one making the decisions on the journey home. It’s a tough job especially because the outlaws trailing them think they have the money from the cattle drive with them. Joe has to come up with a plan or two to get them out of all these problems and save their lives.
Rating = T WC = 12,477
SUMMARY: This began as a Pinecone but I couldn’t fit it all in there so here is the rest of the story — Little Joe Cartwright finds that having skill with a pistol and a fast draw isn’t the same as being good in a gunfight, and he has second thoughts about whether he should have gotten himself into such a predicament.
rating = T word count = 1156
A Journey Revisited – by BettyHT
Summary: The trouble over Regan Miller leads to a frank discussion between Hoss and Adam and a trip to find Inger’s grave. Trouble happens along the way as the two brothers rebuild their relationship. WHN for She Walks In Beauty and somewhat for A Journey Remembered. It’s a mostly lighthearted tale and ends with a meaningful Christmas gift.
Rating: = T WC = 11,500
A Letter to Dickens – by BettyHT
Summary: Loosely based on the Advent 2025 stories of BettyHT and AC1830 as well as the work of Charles Dickens. Many years after Abel writes to Adam about how Elizabeth’s spirit influenced him to change, Adam pitches a story idea to Dickens.
Rating: PG Word count: 932
Summary: A short silly discussion about what’s wrong with Bonanza. It’s meant to be a light-hearted story and not to be taken seriously.
rating = T word count = 865
A Peaceful Easy Feeling – By BettyHT
Summary: Joe finds an ingenious way to settle a dispute with Adam, and they are both happy with the result.
Rating: PG Word count: 1009
A Ponderosa Pine for Christmas – by BettyHT
Summary: Adam goes to Tennessee on business but finds personal concerns outweigh business considerations. A light romantic adventure. WC =10,935
Rating: = PG13
A Promise by Ring Nose – by BettyHT
Summary: This is a prequel but not by much. It is an attempt to give background for “The Paiute War” episode and answer some questions. Why had Young Wolf developed animosity toward Adam? Why did Ring Nose agree to come back with Ben knowing he would be jailed or hanged for what had happened? Why was Wilson so intent on getting revenge on the Paiute and Adam?
Rating: = T WC = 17,962
Summary: It’s an Adam has left the Ponderosa for adventure and finds a romance story, but like any Adam story, there are always complications. Adam is in Boston pursuing a dream, but there are obstacles including corruption, pressure, and conflict. He does gain friends who will be his allies and more. T 17,022
Summary: A poker game leads to some dire problems for Adam, but with the family members helping, a solution is found for those problems and for the ones that led up to that situation.
Rating: T Word count: 11,327
Adam and the Saloon Gals – by BettyHT
Summary: This is a series of four stories that can each stand alone, but follow chronologically. Angela’s Story — Acting in a wholly uncharacteristic way, Adam meets a saloon girl on a trip and begins to fall in love, but will the Cartwright Curse strike again? Who Are You? — What would happen if you lost some of your short-term memory and it never came back? Adam has to deal with it in this story, and Angela suffers too even as the family tries to help both of them. Travels and Travails — Adam and Angela travel to Arizona to see her family and must face problems that emerge because of her past and new issues. Helen and Hoss – A Hoss story although all the other family members are included. Helen Layton returns. That Hoss will be hurt again is what his family fears, but then they have a series of problems to face as they seek a happy ending.
Rating: T Word count: 71,173
Adam Just and Aida – by BettyHT
Summary: Sexually explicit sections in the story that explains why Adam has been gone from the Ponderosa for eight years. It is Adam centric but the other Cartwrights have significant parts in the story as well.
WC = 36250 Rating: MA
Adam Just and Aida stories – by BettyHT
Summary: Four Adam and Aida stories; sequels to Adam Just and Aida. The first, Hallucinations, pits Adam against a sinister and clever enemy. The second is meeting between Adam and Aida’s family. The third is a Christmas story in which things just don’t go as planned. The fourth is a story of what happens when some seek to deceive and others make mistakes; Candy also has a romance in that one.
Rating: = T WC = 60,527
Adam Knows a Secret – by BettyHT
Camp In the Pines 2015 challenge story. Adam holds a secret but can’t tell because of injuries so it is up to his brothers and father to try work out who hurt him, why, what they might do next, but most importantly, how to stop them. It’s his youngest brother who proves to be invaluable in working out what they have to do until the oldest can recover enough to tell them what he knows.
Rating: = T WC = 13,018
Adam Through The Ages – by BettyHT
Summary: A series of stories about Adam after college from ages twenty-three to twenty-right and then from thirty-five to forty with troubles within the family as well as against outsiders who want something from the Cartwrights. The chapters follow one another but each one could stand on its own as a complete story.
WC = 218,113 Rating: = T
Adam’s Birthday Stories – by BettyHT
Summary: A series of stories about Adam’s birthdays from his thirty-first through his thirty-fifth. It is meant to be light-hearted with a little romance. There is a switch in POV from Adam, to Ben, to Hoss, to Joe, to all throughout the story to see the same events from different perspectives, and to examine the relationship among the brothers as well as to examine Ben’s thought processes too.
Rating: PG Word count: 13,999
SUMMARY: Adam is suffering from a mysterious malady, and his days are growing short. Hoss gives Joe a clue to solve the mystery, but what Joe discovers is a horror. Most appropriate for the Halloween season.
rating = T word count = 1438
Affair Series (The) #1 – Twisted Affair – by BettyHT
Summary: In San Francisco, Adam found someone, but that relationship will be threatened by what happens at home. Hoss has landed the Ponderosa in deep financial trouble whcih may doom Adam’s new relationship before it has a chance to develop. If you like twists and turns, you’ll find them in this story.
rating = T word count = 19,913
Affair Series (The) #2 – A Devious Affair – by BettyHT
Summary: A sequel to A Twisted Affair, this story shows how Adam faces a complex plot against him that gets more dangerous as each step fails to achieve its objective.
Rating: T Word count: 12,184
Affair Series (The) #3 – A Monetary Affair – by BettyHT
Summary: Juliette will be off her game in this story due to her condition, and yet things will work out far better than she wants them to work out. You’ll have to read it to understand that. It’s a much more light-hearted story than the previous two, and only the weather is the villain, and well, lady luck plays a role too.
Rating: T Word count: 8676
Adventures of Adam and Tanner (The) – by BettyHT
SUMMARY: After years in the east, Adam gets a notice that he has a son. The circumstances of his son’s upbringing to that point lead to some difficult situations but some rewarding ones too. Certainly his life becomes more interesting. Published on some sites as two separate stories: Savage Son, and Learning.
Rating: T Word Count: 20,836
After the Kissing Booth – by BettyHT
Summary: In a noble deed, Joe talks Adam into the annual kissing booth not knowing what will result, but hoping for the best.
Rating: PG Words 5153
Almost Lost Two #1 – by BettyHT
SUMMARY: The story is set after Hoss’ death when Adam is reunited with his family, and Adam and Joe have to reconnect which uncovers what could have been a second tragedy for the family. There is limited description of the barbaric practices used in insane asylums in the 1800s in some states.
Rating = T Word Count = 3851
Almost Lost Two #2 – A Piece of the Puzzle – by BettyHT
SUMMARY: In this one, someone who wants to destroy Ben Cartwright decides to take advantage of Adam believing that his recent past makes him the weak link in the Cartwrights.
Rating = T Word count = 19,687
Almost Lost Two #3 – Exposed – by BettyHT
SUMMARY: In seeking justice against those who put him in the asylum, Adam ends up suffering again. Concludes the series that began with Almost Lost Two and continued with A Piece of the Puzzle.
Rating: T Word Count = 10,398
Summary: What if the doctor wasn’t able to do the surgery? Ben recalls conversations he has had with Hoss and the best of his middle son’s attributes.
Rating: PG Word count: 1243
Summary: Little Joe wants a solo hunting trip, but he won’t be as alone as he thinks he is when he gets his grand adventure. Story features Joe but Ben and Adam have prominent roles too.
Rating: = T WC = 1346
An Excellent Plan – by BettyHT
Summary: A guest on the Ponderosa finds her time monopolized with activities planned by Adam and Joe. Hoss comes up with a plan to change all of that.
Rating: = PG WC = 1455
Summary: This is number twelve in the Traci series. A question Adam and Traci have to face is having lost one child, there is the possibility of losing another as their son begins to assert some independence. They must tread a fine line between responsible parenting and smothering, and don’t do that very well at first.
Rating: PG Word count: 7,923
And His Heart Grew a Little Bit Larger – by BettyHT
Summary: Hoot tries to teach the Cartwrights a lesson but learns more than he ever expected. This is a prequel Christmas story. Rating: PG Word count: 2,295
And Johnny Got His Gun – by BettyHT
SUMMARY: An expansion of a pinecone challenge from Bonanza Brand, this is the story of a boy who makes a terrible choice and has to live with the consequences, but he isn’t the only one.
Rating = T Word count = 1941
And the Living Is Easy – by BettyHT
Summary: A little light summertime story about Adam who isn’t happy with the way his summer is going until he’s faced with robbery and jail. It turns out better than that sounds.
Rating: PG Word Count: 3978
Anne #1 – Opportunity – by BettyHT
Summary: A tragedy in Arizona, mistaken identification of a dying man, and financial troubles for the Ponderosa are the beginnings of a rift between Adam and his father.
Rating: T Word count: 25,789
Anne #2 – Bridges – by Betty HT
Summary: Refuge in Australia becomes a chance for Adam to change into the man he wants to be, but there are those who become obstacles to his success. At home, Ben is pushed into change too when Hoss and Joe force him to face some truth he would rather deny. Eventually events bring the two together to see if they can reconcile.
Rating : T Word Count: 24,206
Anne #3 – Circles (by BettyHT)
Summary: The third Adam and Anne story has clues about her long lost brothers, trouble with a counterfeiting ring Adam is investigating in his new job for the Treasury Department, and a threat to kill one of the Cartwrights, and all of those are tied together.
Rating: T WC = 11,299
Summary: Adam meets a feisty young woman who thinks that arguing means that you care. It’s a tempestuous relationship at times, but loyalty, honesty, courage, and love are the cornerstones of the foundation that supports them through many crises. Although the story is centered on the Adam and Annie relationship, the rest of the family is important to the story and there are changes for all of them too including romances.
Rating: = T word count = 155,709
Another Sand Creek? – by BettyHT
Summary: In the Christmas season, Ben sends Adam on a short mission to the Paiute but that errand embroils his son in tragedy.
Rating: = T WC = 6457
Another Stranger in Town #1 – by BettyHT
SUMMARY: This is the crossover story for the August 2018 challenge — Adam goes to Dodge City and meets the cast of Gunsmoke in a WHN for the episode of that series, A Stranger In Town.
rating = T word count = 8046
Another Stranger in Town #2 – Silver-Haired Stranger in Town – by BettyHT
SUMMARY: My BoNaNo entry. Ben is the visitor to Dodge City this time and is carrying a message from Dave Reeves.
Rating: PG Word Count: 7482
SUMMARY: What if you lost nine years of your most recent memory and it never came back? What if you had memories that could hurt people if you got them back so they wanted you dead? But you don’t remember who those people are or what it is that they fear you will remember?
Rating: T Word Count: 20,397
Summary: Adam fails in a task that haunts him, but the aftermath is haunting to everyone because no one can understand what happens next.
Rating: PG Words: 2,128
SUMMARY: In this story, Adam has returned home but is not sure of what to do and if he should stay. It’s a romance, but a bumpy one as there are detours involving all consuming work, tragedy, and life threatening trouble that will fully engage his mind and his heart until he has found his place and his future.
rating = T word count = 27599
At Odds #2 – Masquerade – by BettyHT
SUMMARY: A set of new projects brings with it a set of new problems, new partners, and a dangerous foe. The story continues the adventures of Adam and Kitty that started in At Odds.
rating = T word count = 13, 986
Summary: WHN for My Brother’s Keeper. After the accident in which Adam shot Joe, Adam suffers guilt that affects every aspect of his life until Joe comes up with a way to fix that.
Rating: PG Word count: 1,680
Bean-O Was His Name-O – by BettyHT
Summary: This story is a little history of gambling for a good cause in Virginia City with Hoss playing a starring role.
Rating: PG Word count: 1,082
SUMMARY: Lonely and disillusioned, Adam returns after years away, but he doesn’t find what he had hoped would be there. He seeks to change his life but needs to discover a way to do that.
Rating: PG Word Count: 5449
SUMMARY: What is kindness? Kindness can get you into a relationship that is toxic not only to you but to others. There can be serious consequences to being kind.
Rating: = T Word count = 3556
Believe in Love – He Rode Back to Her – by BettyHT
Summary: This is both an AU and a WHI for The Search providing an alternate ending for the episode. The first part of the story is directly from the episode and then the story continues with new material.
Rating: PG Word count: 2405
Summary: An accident caused by Little Joe, and a prank by all three brothers leads to an unexpected result for Ben.
Rating: PG WC 4649
Ben’s Burden of Guilt – by BettyHT
Summary: After hearing Hoss’ reaction to an Easter sermon, Ben is consumed by thoughts of responsibility for past tragedies. It is when his sons finally return home from a trail drive that they are able to ease his burden and help him to let go of the weight of that guilt and find the source of their father’s current turmoil.
Rating: = T WC = 5116
Bessie Sue’s Proposal – by BettyHT
Summary: Every leap year, on February 29, traditionally, a woman may ask a man to marry. This is the story of Bessie Sue’s decision to do that and how important family can be.
Rating: — K WC = 1212
Summary: A task gone wrong leads to a discussion and a bet among the brothers.
Rating: PG Word count: 1,194
SUMMARY: Part of the story is a prequel and part is in the canon era as what happened many years earlier spurs Ben to an action which then has to be explained to his younger sons.
Rating: T Word Count: 2555
Summary: A strange, unusual, and perhaps a bit weird out-of-this-world tale featuring Adam and explaining some Bonanza events but doing so with a supernatural twist.
PG 18,319
Blue Dress Enchantment – by BettyHT
SUMMARY: Trying to find shelter from a storm, the Cartwright brothers find another type of excitement at Smoky Joe’s Saloon that almost snares one of them forever.
Rating = T Word Count = 2640
Born For Adversity – by BettyHT
Summary: There’s lots of shocking trouble for Adam right from the start, but there is also a plan for revenge, subterfuge, false identities, fraud, financial difficulties for Ben and the Ponderosa, stunning developments for the family to absorb, and then a climatic confrontation between two villainous siblings and the Cartwright family.
Rating: = T WC = 40,705
Summary: Consequences from an incident on a trip taken by Adam and Joe years earlier embroils the brothers in a tense drama, and kindness shown in that earlier effort is the source of their only hope of survival.
Rating: = T WC = 25,319
Summary: Adam has been gone for six years and for four of those years, Ben has not heard from him. His last letter said he was coming home and that he had a surprise. Then Candy drops a huge bombshell during a casual conversation that leads to a trip to Texas and the beginning of much turmoil for the family.
Rating: = T WC = 24,969
Breaking the Bonds of Winter – by BettyHT
Summary: the brothers break through the usual limits to have spring adventures and forget winter doldrums by visiting those they met in Springtime. Rating: PG Word count: 9,940
Summary: Hot weather and no rain create serious problems for the Ponderosa, but a renegade band on the run brings the worst trouble of all for a member of the family.
rating = T WC = 20,237
Brenda #2 – Second Chances – by BettyHT
Summary: The story follows the Heat Wave story and includes a flashback segment as well as taking the story forward as Adam deals with regrets he has in his life. He goes to meet a woman he had known about ten years earlier, and their first meeting is the subject of that flashback.
Rating = T WC = 21,833 Nicknames BJ and Beej used with permission
Brenda #3 – Everybody Makes Mistakes
Summary: Joe and Adam have a series of altercations that have significant consequences for them and their families until they work out their differences and both make changes in their lives. (Recently I realized I never posted the last three stories in this series.)
Rating: T WC: 30,906
Brenda #4 – The Lord Is My Judge – by BettyHT
Summary: A kind action by Ben as a young man has unintended consequences for him and his family many years later. The family has to pull together to solve the mystery and prevent any more tragedy.
Rating: T Word count: 17,044
Brenda #5 – Dear Friends and Christmas Gifts – by BettyHT
Summary: The last story in this series starts with some informative letters between Adam’s wife and Joe’s wife but progresses into a Christmas visit in which important changes occur for all the brothers.
Rating: T WC: 18,845
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
Brothers and Thanksgiving – by BettyHT
Summary: While Hoss and Joe chase an elusive turkey, Adam remembers an earlier Thanksgiving when Ben was away and there was a storm raging outside and turmoil inside among the brothers until the two intersected.
Rating: = K WC = 3631
Summary: Adam has an embarrassing misadventure he would rather not discuss, and his father has a reason to support him in that decision. The two do share their information with each other however.
Rating: = T WC = 3969
Summary: Adam meets a shy boy on the stage and then helps guide him when he must face decisions after traumatic events and revelations. The boy has a secret that others want, but even he doesn’t know what that secret is.
Rating: T Word Count: 9907
Summary: it may start out looking like a serious story, but it’s a fun brothers’ story using songwriting as the major method of the two-against-one scenario and vice versa.
Rating: T Word count: 2197
Can’t Smile Without Her – by BettyHT
SUMMARY: A WHN for The Hopefuls, this is a scene in which Hoss and Adam talk about an incident in Placerville. The actions Adam took there were because, although Regina was gone, her effect on him was still being felt. Rating:
PG. Word count: 1208
Can’t They See Me? – by BettyHT
Summary: After a tragedy, who died, and who is still living? How did some survive? What makes a hero?
Rating: T Word count: 2,415
Summary: Attacked by rustlers, Candy and Adam have some time to talk as they try to work their way out of their predicament. Candy talks about the Cartwrights.
Rating — PG WC — 1544
Carson Encounters – by BettyHT
Summary: A crossover story that is unusual in that it is Bonanza and an original story blended together. A young woman in the Carson Valley encounters the Cartwrights and develops a long-term relationship with Adam. Life in the early era is harsh and the story reflects that and is realistic in its portrayals of daily life and the violence of the west.
Rating: T Word count: 10,546
Summary: Gone for many years, two men make their way back to the Ponderosa and the family that misses them. They don’t know each other, but they end up in a critical situation that brings them close together and that leads to many changes for all.
Rating = T WC = 42,544
Cat Series #2 – Keep the Home Fires Burning – by BettyHT
Summary: Joe’s troubles are addressed as he and Ben leave on an extended trip to spend time together so that Joe can face his losses with the man best able to help him come to terms with them. That leaves Hoss and Adam to run the ranch with Candy’s help. There are plenty of fires to put out, some literal and some figurative, as the three find themselves overworked and stressed by the challenges they face.
Rating = T WC = 24,181
SUMMARY: Caught in an ambush, three brothers have a chance to show what’s in their hearts and take on different roles than the usual. The outlaws aren’t going to be easily defeated and rescue isn’t as near as they hoped.
Rating: T Word count = 6282
Summary: It seems that not one plan that Adam has seems to go the way he intends until he learns to accept that sometimes you follow plans and sometimes random events take you places you never thought you would go.
Rating: T Word Count: 28,513
Charity Series #1 – Fractured – by BettyHT
Summary: WHB to the Bitter Water episode. This is the backstory that explains how Adam ended his relationship with Virginia Keith, why there was tension in his friendship with Todd McCarren, and why Lem Keith disliked Adam so much. Charity is introduced in this story and will be part of a series of stories featuring her as the main OC.
rating = T WC = 18586
Charity Series #2 – Wounded Hearts – by BettyHT
Summary: A mysterious corporation threatens the Ponderosa and the other ranches in the Comstock area. There are shootings, kidnappings, and threats from unknown assailants, and Lem Keith’s daughter’s anger at Adam for perceived wrongs make for a complicated scenario.
Rating = T and WC = 23,448
Charity Series #3 – Trust Me – by BettyHT
Summary: With the Ponderosa in severe financial difficulties, Adam makes a rash and perhaps foolish decision to save his father’s dream when he takes a job and it could be the worst decision he’s ever made. He needs his family, Charity, and friends to save him from it.
Rating T 22,820 words
Charity Series #4 — Let’s Do It! – by BettyHT
Summary: There are obstacles to Adam and Charity getting married, but Adam finds a solution after overcoming those problems and seeing no other way to calm the waters. There is a budding romance for Hoss too as the story develops.
rating = T WC = 15,839
Charity Series #5 — Dreams and Challenges – by BettyHT
Summary: Now that Adam and Charity are married, they face challenges in work and in family relationships. They have dreams of a family and a home too, and they have to adjust those dreams to the reality of events over which they have no control.
rating = T WC = 22,140
Charity Series #6 — Sticks and Stones – by BettyHT
Summary: It’s Adam and Charity again but five years later. Adam’s son and Hoss’ son have a new playmate who has a secret, and it’s one that will cause a major change in the Cartwrights’ lives and in his. There are other secrets that are revealed as the story unfolds, and each one requires a response.
Rating = T WC = 31,520
Children Shall Lead (The) (by BettyHT)
Summary: This is a prequel about how Ben found the spot for the Ponderosa, but it is told as a story about Adam and Hoss and how they met Young Wolf. There is also some insight into how Adam developed into the man he became.
Rating: PG Word count: 4057
Choices and Risks – by BettyHT
Summary: Seeing injustice, Adam has to act, but his actions and the consequences from them pull his family into that quest too. In the end, all of them make choices knowing the risks involved.
Rating: T Word count: 14,366
Choosing #1 – Choosing Blue – by BettyHT
Summary: Adam and Joe go to War, but it’s not your usual brother against brother Civil War story. There’s not much about war, but there is spying, romance with a little help from a brother, a tale of revenge, and suffering among other things.
Rating: T Word count: 15,777
Choosing #2 – Choosing Sides – by BettyHT
Summary: The family has to deal with sabotage and assault without knowing the source or the purpose. Working together, they defend themselves against a plot hatched by men from their past who form an unlikely alliance against them.
Rating: T Word count: 17,610
Christmas Tree Surprise (The) – by BettyHT
Summary: Written for the 2016 Bonanza Brand Advent Calendar
Rating: K 2,480 words
SUMMARY: Joe is hurt and wonders if the dream he had was a dream because it seemed so real. It’s the kind of thing he rather wishes might be true, but then again, could this really be?
Rating = T Word count = 1450
Confessions by the Campfire – by BettyHT
Summary: Sitting in near darkness around a campfire can help men reveal thoughts and feelings to each other that they otherwise would conceal. The Cartwrights are like that.
Rating: PG Word count: 1,817
Summary: It’s a dastardly plot involving trickery, attempted murder, false accusations, and more, but the Cartwrights will work together even letting Joe lead the planning to defeat the villains.
Rating: T Word count: 11,924
Summary: Adam has been gone and the family has lost touch with him. On the eve of Joe’s wedding, each of them will be thinking about their family.
Rating = G WC = 4901
Summary: This is a prequel in which Little Joe should learn some lessons about telling the truth and doing what is right, but does he? Sadly, Little Joe has a habit of only learning the hard way.
Rating: PG Word Count: 1,535
Dance #1 – The Dance – by BettyHT
Summary: Adam meets a lady with clumsiness issues but other attributes he finds attractive and that make him act out of character; Hoss meets a woman very different from himself but the two bring out the best in each other; Joe’s romance is the one with more obstacles but those cause him to finally accept what a mature relationship is.
Rating: T Word count: 38,221
Dance #2 -Children of the Dance – by BettyHT
Summary: First there were the romances and then the natural next step although there are some events and problems as not all goes smoothly because these are Cartwright romances and marriages,
Rating: T Word count: 14,157
Dance #3 – Dancing Bear – by BettyHT
Summary: It is five years later, and there are children to bring to school, to teach lessons and guide, and to protect and the rest of the family dynamic to withstand because it’s never easy on the Ponderosa as the brothers learn to be fathers.
Rating: T Word count: 14,908
Dang, He Smells Good – by BettyHT
Summary: Three women and one man. How is Adam supposed to choose when all three want him, but he can only romance one. Who will he choose? You get to choose for him.
rating = T WC = 1632
Summary: Joe leaves home after doing something he thinks is unforgivable. His family misses him and wants him to come home, and when he does, there is a surprising turn of events for Joe.
Rating = T WC = 5813
Summary: A young lady has an evening with Adam that is more a fantasy. She writes down everything she can think of to write down to preserve the details. Minor grammatical errors are fitting for the character and should not interfere with reading the story. MA 2,629
Summary: Joe gets himself in a bit of trouble involving a romance and a jealous husband, but Adam is implicated in it too. The entire story is told by messages mostly between the family and Adam. Some reading between the lines is necessary because these are men communicating in writing so not all will be said directly.
Rating: T Word count: 2,856
Summary: After a question posed by Ben, Adam reflects on why he has been in so many dangerous situations. There are numerous references to Bonanza episodes.
Rating: PG Word count: 1,423
SUMMARY: Joe comes up with a scheme to solve Hoss’ romantic troubles and acquires a treasure map too, but the schemes about Adam have the most significant consequences. Edited in more material to the last chapter.
rating = T word count = 15,925
Summary: A woman attempts some romantic deceit and fraud with two Cartwright brothers, but it turns out to be even more devious than that. Her actions tear at the fabric of the family and open other issues which leads to great changes for one of them.
Rating: T Word Count: 28,025
Dime Novel #1 – Question – by BettyHT
SUMMARY: Little Joe finishes a dime novel, and in his enthusiasm to share it with his family, he stirs a philosophical discussion and reflection on a deep moral issue.
Rating: T Word Count: 1086
Dime Novel #2 – Disaster – by BettyHT
Summary: Little Joe Cartwright loves dime novels with all the action and adventure, and that becomes the center of his latest ‘brilliant’ scheme that has the usual unintended and unfortunate consequences.
Rating: T Word count: 10,599
SUMMARY: One son is in terrible trouble, but Ben doesn’t know which one. One by one, they come home until there is only one missing.
Rating: PG Word Count: 2443
Does He Like Women? – by BettyHT
Summary: Joe’s lady friend has a question about Adam and Joe hatches a scheme to give her the answer, but there are complications.
Rating = PG WC = 1857
Summary: An old storyteller tells tales of the family to Hoss and give a refrain for each Cartwright and why they have it, and one story sets off an explosive change in the family.
Rating T words 5525
Summary: WHI for Death at Dawn in which the plot by Bryant is more complex than simply trying to save Farmer Perkins. Adam’s apparent failure to save his father as well as other events shake his confidence in his abilities, and it will take several crises and support from his family for him to regain his self-confidence. A big thank you to Sylvia for the story idea.
Rating = T WC = 38683
Doppelganger: The Return (by BettyHT)
Summary: A troublesome spirit invades the Ponderosa and all the family hopes he will be gone on All Saints Day.
Rating PG WC 1341
SUMMARY: This started as a pinecone, Cousin Bette, but needed closure. This is it. Adam met a beautiful woman and the romance progressed rapidly. But was it too rapid, and what else was going on?
Rating = T Word count = 1667
Summary: in Bustin’ Loose — Broken Dreams, Adam leaves the shambles of his dream in Boston to take an entirely different direction for his life in Colorado but doesn’t tell his family what he is doing. Meanwhile, Joe has a romance. In a Dream Catcher, Adam’s former fiancé creates trouble for him but the solution is one that no one anticipated. In By Chance To Dream, a troublemaker, a gang, and babies on the way complicate life for the family.
Rating: T Word count: 65,898
Summary: This is a prequel story in which the brothers have a discussion before Adam leaves for college.
Rating: PG Word count: 1,325
SUMMARY: Sitting in a campsite in the dark, two brothers can share what might be difficult to admit in other circumstances and perhaps say more than might be prudent to divulge. This is an expanded pinecone.
Rating = T word count = 1047
Ellie and the Lost Years – by BettyHT
Summary: There are two stories here. The Lost Years is a WHI for the last seasons of Bonanza: Hoss is missing, Adam has been found, and he is coming home. This is what happened to them, and what will happen with Ben, Joe, Candy, and Jamie. Heart of Ice is a continuation of the Adam and Ellie story with more of an emphasis on Adam’s darker memories and what happens when he remembers those.
Rating: T Word count: 58,319
Summary: The family wonders what is going on with Adam. They are alternately worried, wondering, and upset with him. There are many possibilities but no one suspects the real reason for his behavior until it is nearly too late. He’s going to need his family to survive this mess.
rating = T word count = 11,749
Summary: Often, Adam and Joe butted heads over the issues of the Civil War. After Appomattox and the assassination of Lincoln, it is time for them to resolve their differences.
Rating T Word count 2,685
Summary: This begins as a story of family conflict: first it is a WHI for The Lady from Baltimore with Joe and Adam at odds and how they will repair their relationship and what changes will happen for the Cs especially Adam who meets a new friend who is significant in the future of his life. Then it is a WHI for She Walks In Beauty as Adam and Hoss are at odds. It continues as a WHN then as there are further developments for Adam in the third part of the story because of conflict with his father and his own dissatisfaction with his life that drives him to make decisions.
Rating: T Word count: 36,620
SUMMARY: Adam’s life changed to a darker tone one night when he and a young lady shared some apples. Now Little Joe likes those same apples and Adam wants to protect him but can’t tell him the whole story. You can read it here though.
Rating = PG Word count = 2135
Faith, Hope, and Love – by BettyHT
Summary: At the center of the story is a tragedy (based on a historical event) that leads Adam into a romance and into an adventure. The results of both will determine his future on the Ponderosa.
Rating: T Word count: 13,614
Family is of the Heart – by BettyHT
SUMMARY: The Cartwright brothers do not resemble each other. Many have remarked upon that, but there is a good reason for them looking so different from each other–they had different mothers and more. However, they are still brothers because there is something more important than who is present at your birth. The family learns to accept that principle.
Rating = T Word count = 21,656
Father and Son Escape – by BettyHT
Summary: Ben is insulted and enlists Hoss in an effort to get even with the man who insulted him. Hoss is at first reluctant but finds he has as much fun as his father in the quest to get even.
PG 1,147
SUMMARY: Ben has a frank discussion with his sons about their relationship and the future after some changes have taken place. It seems an appropriate story to post in the week before Father’s Day. This is an expanded version of a pinecone.
Rating = PG Word count = 1167
Summary: No one pulls a prank on a Cartwright brother and gets away with it. When it’s another Cartwright brother or two, it means ‘war’ or a series of pranks meant to exact revenge until no one can make those scales of justice balance out.
Rating: PG Word Count: 3,383
First Comes Marriage – by BettyHT
Summary: It’s a romantic farce as Ben goes to talk to the new school teacher to deliver an invitation to dinner. Things get very complicated very quickly with an unexpected consequence you might expect in a farce.
PG 1,701
First Kiss – Book 1: Adam – by BettyHT
Summary: The first in a series of four stories, this one features Adam ensnared in a number of difficult situations as his brothers try to help by playing matchmaker for him. It doesn’t go well of course as romance should never be attempted by a team.
Rating = T Word count = 17,959
First Kiss – Book 2: Hoss – by BettyHT
SUMMARY: This is the second story in the First Kiss series and features Hoss, but Adam plays an important role in the story too. The story jumps ahead a bit in time answering a few questions from the first story and setting the stage for more to happen. It’s time for Hoss to have a romance as he felt especially lonely after Adam and Anita began theirs.
Rating = T Word Count = 11,510
First Kiss – Book 3: Joe and Ben – by BettyHT
SUMMARY: The third story in the First Kiss series has Joe still scheming. Of course Ben won’t scheme, but that doesn’t mean he won’t be affected by the schemes Joe has hatched. The story of Adam and Anita continues first as the catalyst for a scheme and then as a crisis envelops the two.
Rating = T Word count = 23,409
First Kiss Again – Book Four – by BettyHT
SUMMARY: This is the fourth story in the First Kiss series: a cattle drive, a horse sale, the desert, outlaws, a desert rat, and all sorts of trouble for the family in this one before it all gets sorted out.
Rating = T Word count = 20517
First Ponderosa Thanksgiving (The) – by BettyHT
Summary: The celebration is held in the true spirit of the holiday as proclaimed by President Lincoln, but there is melancholy too.
Rating: PG Word count: 1,692
First Things First – by BettyHT
Summary: Joe is surprised at the observations that Candy has about Adam’s return to the family, but a string of events shows that Candy is correct even though there is far more going on than he guessed too.
Rating: T Word count: 17,498
Summary: To find justice after a tragedy, Adam and Joe employ unusual and perhaps morally and ethically questionable methods.
Rating: T Word count: 1,276
SUMMARY: Adam does things for a reason. When he takes on corruption in San Francisco, he may find he has tackled too much for not a good enough reason, but his brothers get involved too. However one of them may not survive the fight to take down a corrupt villain.
Rating: T Word Count: 15,115
Summary: A broken plate and a dropped plate lead to lessons learned.
WC = 1090 Rating = PG
Summary: With all his sons home, Ben wanted to spend time with them. Inevitably, stories were told, and the main beneficiary of those was Jamie who learned so much about his family and about life.
Rating: T Word count: 11,420
SUMMARY: One man faces execution for a crime he didn’t commit, another suffers a terrible beating, and Proud Mary is at the center of the controversy but can’t help. The whole family will have to work together to untangle the mystery, but the question is whether it will be in time to prevent tragedy. That depends on how much Adam can remember.
Rating = T Word count = 4632
Fretting About Fundraising – by BettyHT
SUMMARY: It’s time to raise money for the church, and the ladies have an idea about how Ben and Adam can help with that. However, as you would expect, things don’t work out as planned.
Rating: PG Word Count: 1194
Friendship Among Brothers – by BettyHT
Summary: This is a prequel story, but not by much, in which Little Joe is growing up and getting advice and guidance about being a man from Hoss and Adam, but a little introspection helps too.
Rating: T Word count: 2,867
SUMMARY: Joe asks Adam what the weird thing is that he has brought home. Adam says it is art. Hop Sing claims it is much more than that. Another tale for the Halloween season.
Rating = T Word count = 3394
Summary: The family has a house guest for a week who doesn’t act at all as they expected. Hoss thought he would have a friend, but their guest chose to attach to another family member.
Rating: PG Word count: 2,212
Ghost at Devil’s Gate – by BettyHT
Summary: Adam is recruited to do some dangerous work, but isn’t briefed fully on what the dangers are. Predictably, he gets in more trouble than he could have imagined, but the help he expected doesn’t come. The opposite is true. When he can, he sets out on a quest to find out why.
Rating: T Word count: 15,798
Ghostly Miracle – by BettyHT S
ummary: It started as an October pinecone, but I couldn’t stop. A little bit spooky but nothing to keep you up at night — probably.
Rating: PG Word count: 1430
Girl with the Dragon Tatoo (The) – by BettyHT
Summary: Little Joe has a feeling someone has been watching and following him. Then chilling words from Hop Sing give him some idea who it is but he has to wait to find out the reason why.
Rating: T Word count: 1,445
Summary: Little Joe asks a simple question and gets a long and almost unbelievable story from Adam in response.
Rating: PG Word count: 1,113
Summary: A prequel story with LJ at thirteen, Hoss at nineteen, and Adam at twenty-five. In the first part, Little Joe decides to be good for three weeks as a gift to his father which sets off a chain of events while Adam decides to ride a couple of difficult horses that sets off a different chain of events. Everything comes together as does the family in time for a Christmas celebration. The second part of the story is a WHB for The Quality of Mercy and features Seth in a prominent role.
rating = T 26,563
Grandmother Cartwright and the Vampire Curse – by BettyHT
Summary: Some haunting family history comes back to create problems for the Cartwrights until the true nature of the evil can be dug up. The theme fits the Halloween season, but this is not a spooky story.
Rating: T Word Count: 5,217
Halloween Campfire Stories – by BettyHT
Summary: What is there to do on a dark and rainy evening on a fall cattle drive than to tell spooky stories to entertain each other. Some have humor, some have mystery, and some have a bit of a fright factor.
rating = T WC = 11,760
Hangtown Nightmares – by BettyHT
Summary: Appropriate to the Halloween season, Adam has nightmares from a troubling experience he had while visiting Placerville. It affects his relationships with his family, but the nature of the dreams means he cannot discuss them with his family and must face the issue alone. Although there is nothing specific, there are implications of sexual behavior so this is a warning if that offends you.
Rating = R/Mature Word count = 1888
Summary: Hoss has an otherworldly experience after a dangerous man has an angry and violent outburst against his father putting other members of the family at risk too.
Rating: PG Word count: 1043
Haunting (The) #1 – by BettyHT
SUMMARY: It sounds like a Halloween story and there is a ghost story involved, but it is more a story of Adam coming to terms with his lost dreams and making a decision on his future.
Rating = T Word Count = 18559
Haunting (The) #2 – Broken – by BettyHT
SUMMARY: In this one, there is a darker tone as Adam and Savannah have to face a villainous foe who will stop at nothing to get a major part of the Ponderosa for the timber there.
Rating = T Word count = 11,947
Haunting (The) #3 – Christmas Story – by BettyHT
SUMMARY: This is, as the title suggests though, a lighter story set on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day focusing mostly on Adam and his wife, Savannah, and children, Owen and Eva, although Adam’s father and brothers play roles in the drama as well.
Rating: PG Word count = 4496
Hauntings and Nightmares – by BettyHT
Summary: This is a prequel in which Adam returns from college, and Little Joe has bad dreams and bad friends which turn out to be a terrible combination. Trouble on the Ponderosa combines with that to cause a combustible situation and Little Joe is the key to resolving the complex web as he learns some important lessons. It is the key to resolving a problem years later as well.
Rating = T 21,071
Summary: In this prequel, Ben tries for a romantic interlude, but the weather and hay fever conspire against him.
Rating: PG Word Count: 1,619
Hijacking a Family – by BettyHT
Summary: Hop Sing plays the pivotal role in this story about bringing a family member back where he belongs despite his resistance.
Rating: PG Word count: 1,143
Summary: There’s a guest on the Ponderosa who is very taken with Adam, but she’s only three years old. It’s a Christmas story so there’s trouble but a warm fuzzy ending.
Rating: PG Word count: 1,181
Summary: The first Christmas after Hoss is gone is difficult for everyone even with Adam there.
Rating: PG Word count: 1223
Hope, Trust, and Faith – by BettyHT
Summary: A trip to help an old friend and confronting an old nemesis propels Adam to make a decision that alters the course of his life. No would have anticipated the twists of fate in store for him once he decided to pursue goals that had only been dreams.
Rating: T Word count: 34055
Summary: In The Hopefuls, Adam and Regina had been in love, but circumstances drove them apart. She kept a secret, and five years later, it will cause dramatic changes in Adam’s life. First part of the story is based in part on the episode The Hopefuls.
40,282 words. Rating: Teen.
Summary: The story focuses on Hoss when one of his brothers is badly wounded. Hoss has to care for him to save his life and then sets out to apprehend those who did it. Which brother is it? Not saying as the story is a Hoss centric.
WC = 6034 Rating = T mostly for violence and language.
Hot #1 – I Was Hot – by BettyHT
Summary: This is a prequel in which Marie’s grand gala for the ladies of the area is interrupted by a son in a most shocking way as two other sons cavort elsewhere. The family has to pull together to fix this mess.
Rating: PG Word count: 1470
Hot #2 – She Was Hot – by BettyHT
Summary: This is a sequel to “I Was Hot” and is Marie’s response to her toddler son’s interruption of what had been planned as her grand party. However, a suggestion that she take the story and own it becomes her plan and this is the story of her execution of that plan.
Rating: PG Word count: 1747
If Horses Could Talk – by BettyHT
Summary: It’s almost Christmas Eve, and the horses on the Ponderosa have something important to tell the Cartwrights.
Rating: G Word count: 1,356
Summary: My entry for the Ancestry Challenge. Ben has had three wives and they all had relatives, many of whom he never knew. One shows up with a selfish ulterior motive focused on one son.
Rating = T Word count = 8308
Impasse #2 – A Necessary Sham – by BettyHT
Summary: The fate of the Paiute in Nevada hangs on the testimony of Adam Cartwright and what he remembers and is willing to tell about the attack on Egan Station.
rating = T word count = 17044
Impasse #3 – An Unnecessary Deception – by BettyHT
Summary: This story brings together Everett/Rett Stoddard from the Impasse story and Sophie/Sierra from the A Necessary Sham story into a drama of settling old problems and dealing with new intrigue as well as dealing with Adam’s dissatisfaction with his life on the Ponderosa. It’s a lot to do in six chapters so the story is fast paced.
rating = T word count = 14949
Impasse #4 – Lessons – by BettyHT
Summary: A lighthearted story which follows An Unnecessary Deception, this is set almost seven years later and Adam has left the Sandwich Islands with his family and moved back to America. First stop is the Ponderosa where Ben and his younger brothers are getting acquainted with the newest members of the family, and as usual, things don’t go smoothly.
Rating = K+ Word count = 2366
‘Summary: It’s complicated, and that’s what the villains are counting on: they hope that no one would believe anyone would concoct something so complex. It’s up to the Cartwrights to prove them wrong or they are going to pay a heavy price.
Rating: T Word count: 9,230
Irae Series #1 – Garden Party – by BettyHT
Summary: Inspired by some Ricky Nelson songs, this story begins with Adam arriving home disillusioned and cynical after many years away. At a party thrown by his father to celebrate his return, he meets someone who begins to change his attitude and will change his future as soon as he allows it. Adam changes her life too although there are some who do their best to try to prevent the two from being together.
rating = T WC = 35,173
Irae Series #2 – Wearing a Frown – by BettyHT
Summary: The story continues with the characters of the Garden Party and begins with Adam and Joe at odds, but that doesn’t last as they adjust to the needs of each other and then have to rely on each other to survive in a difficult situation. They will need their family and others to escape their predicament and return home.
rating = T WC = 24,120
Irae Series #3 – Hi Ya, Sweetheart – by BettyHT
Summary: This is a continuation of the Garden Party and Wearing a Frown stories with the same characters, but this is a much lighter story with humor especially with Adam’s son Lake and with romances for Ben and Hoss too although there are complications of course.
rating = T WC = 31,583
It’s a Bad Day, or Not #1 – by BettyHT
SUMMARY: Adam has had some difficulties with women, and it doesn’t seem to stop. When there are more incidents, he’s ready to give up on romance, but sometimes the darkest days can turn out to have unintended consequences that a man can learn to appreciate. Added the second Adam and Monica story, Not Always, to this one. Adam makes some serious mistakes in trying to extricate himself from trouble until he turns to his family for help.
Rating = T Word count = 22,989
It’s a Bad Day, or Not #2 – Cheryl – by BettyHT
SUMMARY: A romance that starts out rocky for Adam and Monica. Soon though those issues are resolved, but events take the romance in an entirely unexpected direction.
Rating = T Word count = 15262
Summary: a prequel story with Adam at 26, Hoss at 20, and Joe at 14 on a trip to capture some wild horses when wind, earth, and water elements create havoc with their plans.
Rating: PG Word count: 10,815
Summary: After some problems at home, Adam sets off on what his father expects to be a one or two year absence, but circumstances take Adam to many countries and eventually to refuge far from home for years before it is safe for him to return. However there’s danger at home as well.
Rating = T WC = 102,217
Summary: Ben stops by to visit with an old friend on the occasion of a big change mmarin the family. It’s a combination of some Pinecone challenges on Bonanza Brand and an April Fool’s challenge on another site with a story line to pull them all together.
rating = T word count = 3298
SUMMARY: Joe has talked Hoss into another scheme although for a good cause, and Ben confronts Roy about it in this sometimes serious, sometimes flippant story.
rating = pg word count = 1064
Joe Cartwright, Junior Detective
Summary: Little Joe Cartwright was born curious. He unfortunately was also devious and prone to avoiding work whenever possible. In possession of other traits that could work to his advantage or against him, Little Joe Cartwright could have been the greatest outlaw in the west. However, he grew up in the right family and learned to use his powers for good. That was especially important in the life of his oldest brother a short time after Adam returned home from college.
Rated: T Word Count: 9020
Just the Way They Are – by BettyHT
Summary: Prequel. After Adam returns to the Ponderosa from college, Joe harbors a lot of jealousy of Adam and it colors all of his interactions with his oldest brother. The trip home from a cattle drive and a series of unfortunate events will begin healing the rift between the brothers.
WC = 8613 Rating: T
Summary: Ben Cartwright has strict rules about no animals in the house, and except for guests, only one person can break that rule.
Rating: PG Word count: 1852
Summary: Story by story, Kate becomes more and more involved in Adam’s life first acting as his nurse several times when he is injured as he faces troubles, and then as his love interest. She has an unhappy past though which Adam has to unravel to win her heart, and then they face heartache as well as joy together. Each chapter is a story that can stand by itself.
WC = 98,813 Rating — T
SUMMARY: This is my Chaps and Spurs entry for April. The topic is temporary insanity which was introduced in that era and tried out as a defense at a fictional trial in Virginia City. The jury is going to have to deal with a complex issue so the call goes out for better educated citizens, and guess who gets tapped for jury duty?
Rating: PG Word count = 1678
Lake Incident (The) – by BettyHT
Summary: Ben isn’t happy with how two sons decided to deal with a third who did something they didn’t like. He’s even more unhappy with the third though.
Rating: PG Word count: 1,259
Summary: Joe has an emotional talk with Hoss and reviews his memories of the events that led to Adam’s departure from the Ponderosa. Written for the 2018 Ponderosa Paddlewheel Poker Tournament.
Rated: T 3,890 words
Leah Series #1 – One Step at a Time – by BettyHT
Summary: A simple accident and later a brawl in a saloon have devastating consequences. A new friend will make all the difference in the outcome.
Rating = T WC = 41875
Leah Series #2 – One Step Back – by BettyHT
Summary: Adam and Leah have to work out their differences, and there are those who want to make trouble for them as well as for the whole family. The trouble escalates with one problem after another.
Rating = T WC = 19,639
Leah Series #3 – One Plus One – by BettyHT
Summary: Ben wants to drive cattle to Salt Lake City, but Adam and Hoss object creating some tension in the family. Adam is working hard at building a house and trying to keep up with his ranch duties. Meanwhile Leah is facing some unpleasantness with women in town who are talking about her unfavorably.
Rating = T WC 29,984
Leah Series #4 – Guilt Trap – by BettyHT
Summary: Adam is hurt, Hoss is missing, and Ben faces fraud charges in court. The enemy is quickly identified, but the fight against them is the stuff of nightmares as so much that can go wrong, does go wrong.
Rating = T WC = 25309
Leaning on the Taffrail – by BettyHT
Summary: After some years of reflection, Captain Abel Stoddard decides to change his ways and make some amends. Two things that he knows he must do are to mend the relationship with his son-in-law, and he must create a communication link to his young grandchild. Two Christmas letters are how he begins the process.
Rating PG Word count 1497
Summary: During the Christmas season, six-year-old Little Joe learns the importance of a letter and the impact it can have. He learns too about consequences, and learns both lessons well. Years later, the importance of a letter is still strong.
rating = K word count = 2593
Letters and Lessons – by BettyHT
Summary: In this prequel story, Little Joe is growing up, and one thing Ben strives to teach him is empathy and the importance of family.
Rating: PG Word count: 1.048
Summary: In Illinois, Ben has more trouble with McWhorter and loses someone dear to him because of it. Story follows a different path but eventually the whole family will be together on the Ponderosa. It may take some time for that to happen however. It’s based on a story idea suggested by a reader. Thank you, Sylvia, for the story idea that got me started.
Rating – PG13 WC = 36301
Light in the Forest (The) – by BettyHT
Summary: There’s a mysterious spooky light, a mesmerized older brother, a worried Hoss who has heard some stories from Hop Sing that give him reason to worry, and a bad situation that Ben has to handle.
Rating: T word count: 2185
Little Joe and the Punch Bowl – by BettyHT
Summary: Joe just doesn’t do well when he visits that punch bowl too often. The first chapter is a story told mostly in Joe’s dialogue and Joe’s thoughts. The second is narration from Joe’s POV.
rating = PG WC = 2394
Long and Dusty Road – by BettyHT
Summary: Adam works with Roy against a notorious outlaw gang, but the whole family gets involved in the drama. Water, the lack of it, and a water trough are all part of the story.
Rating: T Word count: 5,994
Lost in a Storm Grizzly Tale – by BettyHT
Summary: Returning home from a camping/hunting trip in this prequel, the brothers bond by teaching Little Joe how to manage the truth without making false statements to their father.
Rating: T Word count: 1,339
Love v Indifference Lesson (The) – by BettyHT
Summary: In this prequel, Little Joe is upset and has a lesson to learn that the opposite of love is not hate and that caring can mean criticism and advice as well as help. But don’t expect a magical transformation. He’s still Little Joe.
Rating: PG Word count: 1566
Lydia Series #1 – How Do I Tell Him – by BettyHT
Summary: Adam suffers the consequences of a man trying to get revenge on Joe, but it’s the secrets that are revealed in the aftermath of that which cause Adam to temporarily leave the Ponderosa to heal emotionally as well as physically. His sojourn leads him to discoveries and opportunities as well as danger that helps him understand what happened.
Rating = T WC = 29,938
Lydia Series #2 – Cliffhanger – by BettyHT
Summary: Follows the How Do I Tell Him story in which Adam married Lydia and brought her back to the Ponderosa. Now there are several things happening that the couple must face, and the question is whether that will make their love stronger or create problems in their relationship. For the family, there is a jealous young man who creates more trouble.
rating = T word count = 18,888
Magic of Christmas (The) – by BettyHT
Summary: When Hoss needs a romantic poem, he and Joe search Adam’s room where they find something wondrous that truly brings magic to Christmas.
Rating: G Words: 4,806
Written for the Bonanza Brand 2023 Advent Calendar
Summary: Ever wonder about the unresolved feelings Adam may have had for Margarita? This is what happened next, years later, because of those feelings and any she may have had.
Rating: T Word count: 9304
Summary: Adam is home for a short visit and goes with Joe, Jamie, and Candy on what is supposed to be a short hunting trip. Things get complicated when Joe goes to a nearby town to replenish their supplies. The four men learn important things about each other as a result. Originally a Man In Black challenge but completed for the Better Late Than Never Challenge.
Rating: T Word count: 4,183
Summary: Expanding on four pinecones, I put together a story that takes place after Hoss has died although much of the story features Hoss in memories Ben has before the story switches to the time immediately after his death. Although that sounds quite sad, the end result is to try to take something of great sorrow and find the silver lining in that dark cloud.
Rating = T Word count = 3597
Men are Still Boys – by BettyHT
Summary: This is a set of five stories that are not related except in showing that men are still boys in many ways whether it is what they do, say, aspire to be, or the mistakes they can make. A short summary precedes each story.
Rating: T Word count: 6,995
Summary: Prequel stories set in the time shortly after the family has lost Marie and in the pre-Christmas season. Little Joe is sad and there are a couple of ways that Adam finds to bring him out of that sorrow. One his father isn’t entirely pleased to see but the other is amazing.
Rating: K+ 1,620 words
MIB’s Story as Told by Hoss (The) – by BettyHT
Summary: People wonder why Adam wears all-black clothing and there’s a story or two to explain why at least according to Hoss who has found a way to make that curiosity work to his benefit.
Rating: T Word count: 1,238
Summary: Ben witnessed a robbery and murder. Threats to his life have caused him to go into hiding until the trial, but it is Adam who suffers the consequences as accomplices of the accused set out to find Ben’s location by questioning Adam who finds that his mind is his only weapon against their relentless brutal inquisition.
Rating T Word count 4,354
Summary: Respecting the wishes of a hero who wished his actions to remain unknown except to his community, a newspaperman writes the story of those actions to be included in the man’s eulogy when it should become necessary.
Rating: PG Word count: 2,360
Mis-Everything #1 – by BettyHT
Summary: Adam has trouble finding success on his terms and returns home. His family worries about him because of his strange responses to situations. There’s a lot they don’t know and there are surprises for them and Adam.
PG 12,968
Mis-Everything #2 – Brandy – By BettyHT
Summary: What appears to be a juicy scandal has the gossips joyful, but it’s not what they think. The real story is far more interesting. That romance works out far better than Joe’s tragic one that brings Adam full circle in facing a demon from his past.
PG 16,643
Miss Liberty Valance – byBettyHT
Summary: On a trip to Cheyenne, Adam expects to meet a gunfighter but instead is surprised to meet someone who eventually becomes a part of the Cartwright clan.
Rating: PG Word count: 1,491
Summary: On a trip via muddy roads, Adam gets to know a feisty young woman, and their verbal jousting begins but doesn’t stop there. However there are numerous twists and turns in this story with the rest of the family getting involved too, some in a good way, and some not so good.
Rating: T Word Count: 20,439
SUMMARY: On a trip to catch mustangs, Adam learns about breaking horses from an unlikely source.
Rating: PG Word count = 1142
My Angel Went to Heaven Today – by BettyHT
Summary: a poem about Ben’s life from Boston to the Ponderosa and his family there.
Rating: PG Word Count: 540
My Name Is Moses Lincoln – by BettyHT
Summary: This is my March 2019 Chaps and Spurs entry. The words to be used are massacre, reconstruction, sewing, citizen, and oversight. A new hand at the Ponderosa stirs Joe’s suspicions but what he learns is not what he expected and is far more profound and life-changing too.
Rating: PG Word Count: 1669
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: 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: 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, 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
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: Because of a misunderstanding, Ben offers Adam as an escort for Clementine Hawkins’ niece for a week starting on a Sunday. Things quickly get difficult for Adam until there’s a problem with potential lifetime consequences. Remorseful, Ben steps in to help his son out of that one, and then helps Adam get some revenge on his brothers too. It’s all in good fun, or mostly it is.
rating = T word count = 4146
Summary: Repair and reconstruction of an old stable on the Ponderosa is necessary to keep a memory and a hope alive for the family and leads to some stories that pull the family closer together.
Rating: G Word Count: 1567
Summary: This is a series featuring Adam but with significant roles played by Hoss, Joe, and Ben. Each story can stand alone, but features the same OCs and they tell a progressive story as well.–On Borrowed Time— There are conflicting accounts of what happened in a gunfight, and the family of the man killed won’t believe Adam. –On the Run— about five years later, Adam faces accusations and a tragic loss, and has to flee. –On Edge— Adam and Elaine get to know each other but it’s complicated by Elaine’s disapproving father, and court fights too. –On Top of the Mountain— There are ups and downs in Adam’s romance and Hoss gets to be romantic too.
Rating: T Word count: 111,885
On the Shores of the Lake – by BettyHT
Summary: Five vignettes of family life tied in some way to the shore of Lake Tahoe. The first four are prequel stories.
PG 5,345
On the Trail and More – by BettyHT
Summary: Joe asks a question about Christmas that leads Adam to tell a story about coming West, and then there are more stories about Christmas with Marie and Elizabeth.
Rating: PG Word Count: 5,126
Only a Brother Can Know – by BettyHT
SUMMARY: Adam is back, but he and Joe are at odds. Ben is surprised to find out why, but the big surprise is in what the brothers reveal in their conversation.
rating = T word count = 1238
Summary: In this prequel story, a young Hoss gets talked into something that has unpleasant consequences, but they are not the ones he expected.
Rating: PG Word count: 1909
Only the Truth Can Fix This – by BettyHT
Summary: A ‘guest’ at the Ponderosa reveals a secret that Adam had warned his father would inevitably be found out. The family has to deal with the aftermath of the cruel truth.
Rating: T Word count: 12,471
Summary: This is my entry for the Missing Man Challenge. The episode is The Other Son and Adam has been added to the story line. The rest of the story of moving the nitroglycerin across the mountains remains intact.
rating = T word count = 7768
Outlaw Brother (The) – by BettyHT
Summary: Adam finds himself in dire straits and needs help to extricate himself, but he has to flee to avoid worse trouble. He makes a friend but manipulation takes from him something he had hoped never to lose even though he gains something he had desired. His family worries about him and wonders if he will keep his promise to come home one day.
Rating = T WC = 25,590
Painful Truth (The) – by BettyHT
Summary: The Ponderosa is in crisis and the family asks Adam to come home to help, but that sets in motion a plot that leads to tragedy and loss and surprises too with the two drifters who showed up on the ranch.
22,010 T
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
SUMMARY: Joe is quite the talker especially when it involves finding a way to avoid work, but it is more difficult when his father is right there. He’s clever enough though to find a way that even his father appreciates.
Rating: PG Word Count: 1321
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
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 Loss and Gains – by BettyHT
Summary: This is the third and last installment in this series. Ben does his best to make amends for what went wrong, but Joe has a plan too. Only time will tell which will be more effective.
T 7,071
Summary: There are times when one of the Cartwright ends up playing the game of romance even when he hadn’t planned on it and didn’t want to play, but it gets even more complicated when a brother wants to play too.
rating = T word count = 3369
Polka Dots and Tears – by BettyHT
SUMMARY: Delayed on a trip home from Sacramento to the point that his family searched for him, Adam suddenly appears on the Ponderosa but wounded and wearing clothing clearly not his. Joe is the one to find him but has no answers only questions for the unconscious man. A quest for answers will lead to a variety of trouble for family members.
Rating: T Word Count: 13,797
Prank or Not (The) – by BettyHT
Summary: Joe and Hoss do enjoy scheming for fun at Adam’s expense, but as with many of Joe’s schemes, there are unintended consequences.
Rating: T Word count: 1,257
ummary: Adam helps a friend whose spouse was wrongly convicted and executed. The song was the inspiration but has nothing to do with the story itself. Published elsewhere as Deadly Conspiring in a shorter version.
Rating: PG Word count: 3,183
Summary: These are some of Adam’s brooding thoughts about events before he left the Ponderosa. It’s a rather dark tone in the story. I wrote this many years ago, and I must have been in that kind of mood.
PG 4,150
Reborn on a Birthday – by BettyHT
Summary: Heading out on a hunting trip that Adam had requested for his birthday, the family runs into a lot more trouble than expected when they find signs of rustlers working on the Ponderosa.
Rating: T Word count: 2,919
Summary: There’s murder and mayhem in Virginia City and the limited evidence points toward an unlikely suspect. The gruesome deeds occur off scene for it is the aftermath that matters most.
rating = T. word count = 7497
Red Night #2 – I’m Telling You Now – by BettyHT
Summary: This is the sequel to Red Night that can probably stand alone but may read more easily if you have read the first story. Answers to the questions left hanging in the first story are woven into this one which is about five years later.
Rating = T word count = 18,147
Red Night #3 – Understanding – by BettyHT
Summary: This story continues the saga that began with Red Night and continued with I’m Telling You Now. It is several years later and Adam has sent a message that he will be visiting the Ponderosa. There are many questions his family has for him and they would like answers such as what has happened to his marriage and why is he traveling so much. Jamie figures prominently in this story. rating = T word count = 27,250
Summary: A lighthearted story to wrap up some of the story lines that began in Understanding. Issues of adoption and attachment as well as relationships in a marriage marred by tragedy and emotional turmoil are addressed but in an upbeat way and with humor in some parts.
rating = T word count = 10,049
SUMMARY: Adam is back, but will he stay, and what happened to him while he was gone that he won’t talk about? His family has more questions than answers, but Adam isn’t one to talk until he’s ready or has no choice.
rating = T word count = 26,557
Summary: Sometimes one has to face the past in order to move forward. Even with help, that can be a trap if the people in your past aren’t ready to move on too. The first story is an expansion of the January 1, 2023 Bonanza Brand Pinecone. The second story tells more of the early struggles of the family and what resulted from those.
Rating: PG Word count: 6,053
SUMMARY: For the first time, the four Cartwright brothers meet. It’s a time to get to know one another and for the older brothers to share stories with Jamie so that he can better understand the family members including their father.
Rating: T Word count = 3273
Summary: A prequel that is an alternate reality in which Adam was taken by Indians in the attack that cost Inger her life and eventually is reunited with his family, but the reunion is rocky. Edited version of a previously published story.
Rating = T WC = 54,773
Summary: It’s December of 1864 and Joe is conscripted, but Adam goes in his place. It is a tumultuous ten months and that scripture reading that seemed so ominous seems to come true. This is my NaNo novel for 2015 and just barely made the minimum number of words at 53,434 and that’s why there’s that little romance at the end. It’s a little lightness too in a story that has a lot of darkness in it.
Rating = T 53,465 words
Summary: Adam meets a man by coincidence on several trips, but eventually, it is by design and leads to a new direction in his life.
Rating: T Word count: 21,713
Ride and Thoughts (The) – by BettyHT
Summary: What was Adam thinking as not only Bill Enders challenged his story, but his family, friends, and townspeople all doubted his version of events leading up to Toby being murdered? A companion piece for the episode, it makes sense only if you are familiar with The Ride.
Rating: PG Word count: 2,105
Summary: In this prequel, Little Joe is moving from childhood to adulthood and has mixed feelings about how to react to his older brother who is facing the task of how to fit back into the ranch he left as a boy to go to college but returned as a man who is still the boss’ son.
rating = T WC = 14,378
Summary: Hoss wants Maude, but she and Adam develop an unlikely relationship. Eventually Hoss benefits from the couple’s relationship in a way no one could ever have predicted but only after they experience a series of adventures.
Rating: PG Word count: 24,152
Romance #2 – Greta – by BettyHT
Summary: It’s short, but it’s Hoss’ turn for romance. If you read Maude and wondered about Greta, the answers should be here. If you haven’t read Maude, it’s probably not necessary to enjoy this short story.
Rating: PG Word count: 2624
Rosalie Series #1 – Four Corners, #2 – Dreams, #3 – Turbulence and Trouble – by BettyHT
Summary: The story starts with a horse race as the three Cartwright brothers take on a challenge, but the story continues with romances, tragedy, heartache, an abduction that takes Adam to Australia, and troubles at home until all the issues can be resolved
Rating = T WC = 81,104
Rosalie Series #4 – Date Night – by BettyHT
Summary: Adam hopes to have a wonderful night with a special lady in this light romantic story.
2,365 words Rating = T
Rosalie Series #5 – Witch’s Sham – by BettyHT
Summary: A family moves into the Virginia City area intent on causing trouble that will allow them to gain riches or so they believe. They do everything that they can to make that come true, but when they attack Adam Cartwright, things don’t work out the way that they hoped because they find that you can’t win when you come up against the Cartwright family.
rating = T WC = 23,554
Sacrifice – by BettyHT
Summary: Adam thinks he will have to make a sacrifice to improve his relationship with his younger brother, but it is Joe who ends up doing that for all the right reasons.
Rating: T Word count: 15,443
Sadie Hawkins Dance – by BettyHT
Summary: After serving coffee and pie, a young lady opens up to Adam about the Sadie Hawkins Dance and serves up reasons too why he hasn’t been asked. Honesty and trust help develop the relationship even though her family doesn’t like the pairing.
Rating: PG Word count: 10,835
SUMMARY: Sheriff Roy Coffee played Santa for a benefit and noticed the Cartwrights weren’t there. When he found out why and went to the ranch, he found out how important a role Santa can play in giving a gift of his wisdom.
Rating = PG Word count = 2740
Summary: A prequel story — Ever wonder how Adam got that little scar on his lip? This story tries to explain. Then — the same story except from Ben’s POV.
Rating T Word count 3,647
Sasquatch Fraternity (The ) – by BettyHT
Summary: Like any legend, it’s something that no one believe unless they’re one of the lucky ones who experienced it too. But for Joe, the problem is how to explain the unexplainable to others without becoming the subject of ridicule.
Rating: PG Word Count: 1955
Summary: This is a prequel story in which twenty-four-year-old Adam brings home eighteen-year-old Hoss after a Saturday night in town when the large brother has consumed too many beers.
Rating: PG Word count: 1,123
Secrets, and Ben Wants to Know – by BettyHT
Summary: Ben has a difficult time getting the answers to some questions about his sons’ activities. This is a light-hearted story but does deal with some adult themes.
Rating: T Word count: 1,805
Selina #1 – Fighting His Demons – by BettyHT
Summary: Adam has been disappointed so often by friends and in romance that it is not surprising that he has lost faith in human nature. Naturally prone to moodiness and introspection, Adam has a disposition that only gets worse until he decides he needs to make a drastic change to free himself from that unpleasant past.
Rating: T Word count: 23,082
Selina #2 – Revelation and Resolution – by BettyHT
Summary: Second in the Adam and Selina series, this is a short story about love and expectations that features conversations among brothers especially one between Adam and Hoss.
Rating = T Word Count = 2106
Selina #3 – Birthright (by BettyHT)
Summary: In this third story of Adam and Selina, a painful memory from Adam’s past becomes a problem in his life twenty-four years later threatening his family, his business, and his future.
Rating: T Word Count: 14,052
Selina #4 – A Promist Kept – by BettyHT
Summary: This is the fourth Adam and Selina story, and it has a darker tone as Adam is embroiled in a plot against him which he misinterprets the danger which is nearly a disaster until many rally to help him. The villain is someone he knows but hoped never to see again.
Rating = T Word count = 15137
SUMMARY: A prequel with Joe at fifteen, this started as a pinecone and has been expanded. Little Joe faces a crisis when an important rule is ignored. He needs his family to face the results of that sad decision. There are lessons to be learned but the whole family works together, and all will learn from one tragic mistake.
rating = T word count = 1290
Summary: A WHIB for the Lady From Baltimore. It’s the story of their night after Joe confronts Adam and the next day when the Bannings leave the Ponderosa.
Rating T Words 1655
Settling Accounts – by BettyHT
Summary: The family is surprised by the charges brought against Adam in Carson City. Ben assumes innocence is their best defense, but their foe has laid an elaborate but flawed trap.
Rating: PG Word count: 14,229
Shadows #1 – A Shadow Calling – by BettyHT
Summary: Adam and Joe are having nightmares about Hoss and don’t know what they mean. Too late, one brother understands the message that was sent. It’s a WHI for the end of the series.
Rating: T Word count: 6,705
Shadows #2 – A Shadow Returns – Marauders – by BettyHT
Summary: A tragic experience from a decade earlier has consequences for the Cartwright family and triggers memories and fears until the threat is faced. It is a story within a story, and both tales are told.
T 12.736
Summary: Ben has to accept that his youngest is growing up. His older sons help him and Little Joe make that transition with one very important lesson that Little Joe has to learn from Adam and Hoss.
Rating = PG WC = 1153
Summary: This is a prequel in which Adam is at odds with Ben and with Hoss because of events that occur and words that are spoken in anger. A master manipulator is at work and needs to be stopped before things get any worse.
Rating = T WC = 13,369
Summary: Hoss and Adam give Little Joe some shooting lessons, but the ones he learns from experience teach him that those first lessons were the best he ever had.
Rating: PG Word count: 2,194
Summary: In a fight at the end of a cattle drive, Adam suffers a minor injury, but it is the words of his opponent that wound him the most. He sets out on a quest to test those words because of the doubts they have raised about his perception of himself and about his vision of his future.
Rating: T Word Count: 25,106
Summary: In this story written in three acts, Adam’s involvement with a young woman leads to discord within his family and when that is resolved in the first part chapters 1-6 , he leaves on a journey that affects him greatly in the second part 7-13 . He will need his family once more to face the future in the third part 14-17 .
rating T WC = 46,215
Summary: A prequel story in which Joe finds there are consequences for telling lies and getting even, and how you pay the price for those sooner or later, but will it change his way of thinking?
Rating: PG Word count: 1,316
SUMMARY: Adam needs to find the source of happiness before he can be happy. It is a struggle though as he has to work through a number of issues to get to that point.
Rating = T Word count = 30,312
SUMMARY: This started with a pinecone and has been expanded to have all four of the family members involved in conversations with another about love. Each learns and passes on that wisdom.
rating = T word count = 1923
Stage Coach Journal – by BettyHT
Rating: T Word count: 3,478
SUMMARY: Father and son have a quiet talk in a special place and find that the past left an impact that affects decisions that have to be made.
Rating = PG Word Count = 1673
Stories and Memories – by BettyHT
Summary: This is a sequel to Painful Truth with the same OCs. It is about sharing family stories and memories to pull members closer together by having a shared past.
PG 3,152
SUMMARY: The family had waited a long time for Adam to come home, but when he was there, not all went as planned or as Ben had hoped.
rating = T word count = 2521
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
Summary: A long-awaited Christmas present arrives on the Ponderosa
Rating G
Written for the Bonanza Brand Advent Calendar
That Sad Birthday – by BettyHT
Summary: It’s always a question as to how to commemorate the birthdays of those one has lost. For the Cartwrights, those days were days to celebrate and remember the best of each loved one no longer with them. Then they faced the most devastating loss of all, and the tradition seemed inadequate.
PG Word count = 3,601
Things You Don’t Choose (The) – by BettyHT
Summary: Based on the episode The Wild One, Hoss has to explain the aftermath of his confrontation with Leif to his family and why it occurred. They’re especially interested after seeing the condition of the main room when they arrive home.
Rating: PG Word Count: 1,127
Summary: In this prequel story, Little Joe’s prank leads to anger and harsh words, but the consequences don’t end there.
Rating: PG Word count: 1,237
Summary: It’s an Adam returns story, and he brings two with him. He brings a bit of trouble too and some changes, but he’s got the family on his side, well, after some issues from the past that have to get cleared away first.
WC = 13577 rating = T
Summary: A year after Laura’s treachery with Will, Adam is still feeling the effects from that and the fall from the house he was building for her. He is melancholy and then a tragedy sends him on a quest for justice that turns into something more.
rating = T WC = 21,134
Three Stories for Halloween – by BettyHT
ummary: Oration on My Life’s Work – one of the Cartwrights in the mode of a self-appointed avenging angel and working hard to make sure no one knows his choice of a second job. Old Stage Station – otherworldly goings-on for Joe and Adam in an eerie and chilling mystery that almost sends one brother home without the other. On Living the Nightmare – Ben has trouble accepting his sons’ choices for wives; numerous references to ladies featured in Bonanza episodes.
rating = T word count = 4,874
Summary: The difference between romantic love and romancing is illustrated by the experiences of two brothers.
Rating: PG Word count: 1,618
Summary: It began with a massage and started a romance for Adam that continued through 57 chapters in 9 stories. The whole family is involved in the story with more Hoss than the others. Hoss has a serious romance in this one too. The OC’s family is also part of the story but it doesn’t get too complicated. It begins with a Massage and continues with a variety of other subjects. There are romance, family squabbles, hurt and comfort, trouble with the Paiute, intrigue, adventure, and drama,
Rating: T Word count: 104,138
Traci Series # 2 – A Triangle – by BettHT
Summary: Hoss renews the family friendship with the Maxim family from Arizona, but that brings up some painful memories and trouble as well as some possibilities especially for Adam.
Rating: T Word Count: 19,803
Traci Series # 2 – A Triangle – by BettHT
Summary: Hoss renews the family friendship with the Maxim family from Arizona, but that brings up some painful memories and trouble as well as some possibilities especially for Adam.
Rating: T Word Count: 19,803
Traci Series # 3 – Another Angle – by BettyHT
Summary: Adam’s trip to Arizona to bring his fiance home as his wife, but first he has to resolve trouble with the Apache when the Army is unable to help him.
Rating: T Word Count: 12,468
Traci Series # 4 – A New Angle – by BettyHT
Summary: There’s a cattle drive, a worried father-in-law, a romance for Hoss, and Will and Laura come back in a mess which Ben has to help resolve.
Rating: T Word Count: 12,824
Traci Series # 5 – A Trust Troken and Fixed – by BettyHT
Summary: There’s trouble in relationships, a bank robbery, and an illness which somehow work out to resolve some family issues.
Rating: T Word Count: 7,623
Traci Series # 6 – I Still Love You – by BettyHT
Summary: Roy and Mary Coffee help Ben see his role as a father more clearly.
Rating: T Word Count: 3,414
Traci Series # 7 – The Black Egg – by BettyHT
Summary: Adam and Traci try to find peace by living in Boston but they find that it can’t erase the losses they’ve suffered.
Rating: T Word Count: 14,151
Traci Series # 8 – Another Guise – by BettyHT
Summary: There are some who want to disrupt the Ponderosa operations and will use any means to do so. Adam is the first target, but he and Joe wonder who else in the family is in the crosshairs and why. It’s a family drama as they all have to do their best to figure out the mystery villains.
Rating: T Word Count: 18,955
Traci Series # 9 – Runaways – by BettyHT
Summary: In this one, three boys from a CA reform school end up hiding on the Ponderosa and the family is caught up in their drama as the trouble that made them run away follows them to Nevada.
Rating: T Word Count: 20,512
Traci Series #10 – A Boy and His Horse – by BettyHT
Summary: Adam has to teach his son some difficult lessons when his son finds a valuable horse trapped in some barbed wire.
Rating: T Word Count: 15,038
Traci Series #11 – Frogs and Other Stuff – by BettyHT
Summary: Adam, Hoss, and Joe get a better understanding of the kinds of problems their father faced as they were growing up.
Rating: T Word Count: 9,755
Traci Series #12 – An Island – by BettyHT
Summary: A question Adam and Traci have to face is having lost one child, there is the possibility of losing another as their son begins to assert some independence. They must tread a fine line between responsible parenting and smothering, and don’t do that very well at first.
Rating: PG Word count: 7,923
Trapper John series- by BettyHT
Summary:
–Trapper John — Hoss meets a man in the mountains whose life intersects with the Cartwrights a number of times.
–Suspicion — Adam’s relationship with Delphine leads to a disastrous turn of events and to Adam leaving, but he meets someone important in France, and on his return, he meets
–Trapper John. –Belladonna — Murder and what to do about the murderer are at the center of the story. A threat to Adam’s family brings the situation to a crisis.
Rating: T Word count: 60,463
Truth Series #1 – Truth Be Told – by BettyHT
Summary: The death of Marie and what led to it trigger years of difficulties for Adam Cartwright and his family building the Ponderosa but with trouble holding the family together. The truth can let them move forward but it takes a long time before Ben admits it.
WC = 61660 rating = T
Truth Series #2 – Truth Is What You Make It – by BettyHT
Summary: Adam finds himself in a predicament and needs his family to help him. It lets him recapture the trust he needed to feel that he was truly at home.
Rating = T WC = 19808
Truth Series #3 – Matchmaking and More Truth – by BettyHT
Summary: The first two stories in the series featured Adam, but this one showcases all the brothers in lighter story of what they can do to build their father’s dream and their own.
Rating: T Word Count: 14,525
Truth Series #4 – Half-Truths and Omissions – by BettyHT
Summary: in the last story in the series, Belle and Adam further develop their relationship, but most of the story is the mystery of Ben’s illness and how his sons react to it.
Rating: PG Word count: 6,650
Summary: Adam had a fall at work, but things got worse until he had to give up his job and move back to the Ponderosa. There he tells his family the news. No one wants to accept it, and they keep trying to find a better answer. A French doctor offers hope, but Adam is reluctant to accept that things will go his way. The ending here is different than that in the story as published elsewhere.
Rating T Word count 16,377
Twelve-Year Old Gunman (The) – By BettyHT
Summary: How do you get a sixteen-year-old son or a younger brother to be careful with their first pistol? You tell them the story of the oldest son and brother and his first pistol to teach them as well as make them willing to follow the rules. Written on another site as a challenge to use cowboy lingo in a story; definitions are at the end of the story.
Rating: PG Word count: 6,749
You Can Always Check In – by BettyHT
Summary: in a hotel in a small town in California, Adam has an unsettling experience where a woman years earlier suffered a great tragedy.
Rating: T Word count: 1485
Your Son is a Man – by BettyHT
Summary: Hoss takes a stand with his father, but it takes a serious accident for Ben to fully accept what his son told him.
Rating: PG Word count: 8,168
Valentine Romance – by BettyHT
Summary: Adam met Meredith when she was a young girl and a friend of Joe’s. When he sees her again, she is a beautiful woman with a sad, dark secret. Love, romance, finding out her secret, and dealing with her past make up the rest of the story.
Rating — teen. Word count — 30,371 words
Very Series #1 – Adam’s Very Bad Week – by BettyHT
Summary: After the Lotta Crabtree encounter, Little Joe is angry with Adam and events increase that as well as his jealousy. Adam is angry and acts accordingly. Ben and Hoss do their best to calm the waters but it takes a crisis to bring the brothers back together again.
WC = 15,286 Rating = T
Very Series #2 – Very Bad and Then Very Good – by BettyHT
Summary: Adam has a lot of things go wrong for him on the Ponderosa causing him to leave. His travels and accomplishments are fulfilling, but despite all the people he meets, he longs for his home and family. Note: This posting contains two stories.
WC = 62739 rating = T
Very Series #3 – Very Much a Cartwright – by BettyHT
Summary: Adam has a new wife who has much to learn about him, about the Ponderosa, and about being a Cartwright, but it turns out that she’s a great learner as she and Adam face a number of difficulties. Story follows Very Bad and Then Very Good.
Rating = T WC = 18676
Vine #1 – Cold Fingers Around My Throat – by BettyHT
Summary: A story within a story with a prequel in the main story. Little Joe had a nasty prank played on him when he was ten, and fourteen years later, a similar situation is playing out again. He blamed Adam the first time, but he doesn’t know who to blame the second time.
Rating: T Word count: 3009
Vine #2 – Cold Vine – by BettyHT
Summary: Follows Cold Fingers Around My Throat and answers some of the questions left unanswered at the end of that scary story and moves the story along a bit further as the family fights evil.
Rating: T Word count: 3,277
Vine #3 – Cold Hearts, Warm Hearts – by BettyHT
Summary: The third story in the Vine series answers the last question of who sent the vine, but there is also an examination of Marie’s background to explain the motivation for that act. The story may not make sense in every part unless you have read the first two stories in the series.
Rating: T Word count: 5,865
Virginia Series #1 – Never Too Late To Say You’re Sorry – by BettyHT
Summary: Adam has been gone from the Ponderosa for ten years. His family knows little of his life but then Ben decides it’s time for at least a visit. There’s a backstory to explain Adam leaving, and flashbacks to explain his personal life, and then the reunion and the results of that as old grievances are aired and new relationships are forged.
Rating = T WC = 34,246
Virginia Series #2 – Like Father, Like Son – by BettyHT
Summary: Adam’s son Garrett finds that he has some experiences much like his father had as a youth, and Adam can help him with those because of it. The story follows the Never Too Late To Say You’re Sorry story, and has the same OCs.
WC =15,282 rating = T
Visits #1 – A Visit – by BettyHT
Summary: A somewhat metaphysical explanation of what happened to Adam after he left the Ponderosa in a story set in the time period immediately after the death of Hoss. Though the story is about what happened to Adam, Joe is the central character.
Rating: G Word count: 1640
Visits #2 – Another Visit – by BettyHT
Summary: This story follows A Visit and probably makes more sense if you read that one first. Joe receives a second visit but this one follows the tragedy with Alice and after Joe has returned home. Although the material is still serious in nature, the story is in a much lighter tone than the previous one.
Rating: G Word Count: 1477
Visits #3 – Angelic Visit – by BettyHT
Summary: This is the third and final part of the Visit series. In this story, the focus is on Ben who has had suspicions of what has been happening and those are confirmed and a revelation is made that explains why he knew. Joe and Candy are also part of this story.
Rating: G WC: 1,986
Walk a Mile in His Shoes – by BettyHT
Summary: A set of letters from one brother to another shows how understanding can develop when love is strong.
Rating: PG Word count: 1,607
Wanderlust and Consequences – by BettyHT
Summary: A NaNoWriMo entry, this story begins when Ben and Adam traveled west and built the Ponderosa and Hoss and Joe joined the family and Inger and Marie are there as well. Then as an adult, Adam traveled to help Hop Sing on a quest, and he finds adventure and love before returning. There is a surprise too in the last chapters that ties the story back to the prequel beginning of the story.
Rating: T Word Count: 102,898
Summary: My entry for the Camp In the Pines 2018, the story grew from a pinecone about wasps attacking. If you read it, you will find the ending familiar. The rest of the story is a backstory for how that came to be. This is mostly a Hoss story but all members of the family play roles in the story. rating =T word count = 6643
We Done Our Share – by BettyHT
SUMMARY: My entry for the March 2018 poetry challenge — It’s a little discussion among the brothers about loves lost which is spoken in three voices.
rating = PG13 word count = 282
Weather Vane(The) #1 – aka Looking to Heaven – by BettyHT
Summary: Grief, a misunderstood statement, and a heartfelt wish collide with unexpected consequences in this prequel.
Written for the 2018 Advent Calendar
Rating: G 2,620 words
Weather Vane (The) #2 – Coming Home – by BettyHT
Summary: This is a sequel to the Advent story about the weather vane. It is not necessary to read that one first but it might make it easier to understand some small parts if you are familiar with the first story. The healing power of that weather vane continues to work, this time on Adam.
Rating: PG Word count: 3075
Summary: A Christmas story in which Adam finds that cheating yourself isn’t as bad as one might think especially with the family he has.
Rating: PG Word count: 1,270
What Would Adam Do? – by BettyHT
Summary: On the occasion of Mark Twain’s death, Adam tells his grandson a story that Mark told him about Adam’s brothers.
rating: K+ WC = 1091
While There’s Still Time – (by BettyHT)
Summary: Adam gets some bad news but decides to use those circumstances to do a good deed. That whole situation turns out to be far more complicated and dangerous than he had imagined until it affects his whole family.
Rating: T Word count: 18,031
Who Would Miss Me – by BettyHT
Summary: Adam left home to pursue a dream but it didn’t work out. Returning wasn’t an option so he chose a different course that eventually brought him home during a crisis. Adam and Candy are the most prominently featured characters.
Rating: PG Word count: 15,594
Will I Get Any Taller? – By BettyHT
Summary: Twelve-year-old Little Joe Cartwright looks at his big brothers and is impatient to be as tall as they are and wants so much to break horses, but then he asks that most important question and gets an answer he definitely didn’t expect. It’s another of those tall tales his brother can tell so well.
Rating: PG Word count: 1,236
Will it Ever Stop Snowing – (by BettyHT)
Summary: I didn’t think I would have a Christmas story this year, but I found two old story prompts in a folder and used them. The first two paragraphs of this story are those prompts with a few alterations, and the rest of the story is mine. A snowstorm leads to some changes for two families.
Rating: PG Word count: 5409
Winter Tales #1 – Bird Hunt (by BettyHT)
Summary: Hungry for something other than beef for dinner, Hoss gets his family to go on a bird hunt, but Adam ends up in a difficult situation as a result. This is the first of three stories about the family in which winter is the setting and hunting is the theme.
Rating: PG WC: 4,153
Winter Tales #2 – House Hunt (by BettyHT)
Summary: Retaliation for a prank leads to revenge and a mystery which relieves some of the boredom of a long snowy winter.
Rating: PG Word Count: 3,079
Winter Tales #3 – Scavenger Hunt – by BettyHT
Summary: Joe has a plan to bring some excitement into a dull winter but Joe’s plans have a way of bringing unintended consequences. Nothing new there but again the family has something to say about what happens.
Rating: PG Word Count: 2,506
Wooing of Abigail Jones as Told by Hoss – by BettyHT
Summary: A spoof. All is not as it seems in this version of the story.
PG 1,808
Worst Thing (The) – by BettyHT
Summary: A story for Father’s Day as the sons discuss Ben and the worst things he has ever done to them, and the conversation leads to an entirely different conclusion.
Rating = K+ WC = 1053
Summary: There are many ways of believing whether it is in the spirits of Halloween, in Santa, in promises and dreams, or in each other. The story is about how believing has an impact on the Cartwright family.
Rating: PG Word count: 3,581
SUMMARY: When witnessing a crime, Adam can’t act, and then after the fact, he can’t help the posse and he can’t tell what he knows. Those things give people the wrong impression, but eventually put him in great danger too. The whole family will have to work together to resolve the problem.
rating = T word count = 10,705
Yellow #2 – Can Love Change Everything? – by BettyHT
SUMMARY: In this sequel to Yellow, Adam finds that getting Jason and Mariette as well as their gang to court for justice was not the end of the problem for him. Though the system worked as it should, a plot still develops against him for revenge, and he’ll need his family and others to avoid what is planned.
rating = T word count = 14, 498
You Can Always Check In – by BettyHT
Summary: in a hotel in a small town in California, Adam has an unsettling experience where a woman years earlier suffered a great tragedy.
Rating: T Word count: 1485
You Have To Ask the Right Man – by BettyHT
Summary: New hands play practical jokes that become increasingly a problem and their justification doesn’t sit well with Joe after Adam gets hurt. Response to October Chaps and Spurs challenge.
rating = T WC = 2870
Your Son is a Man – by BettyHT
Summary: Hoss takes a stand with his father, but it takes a serious accident for Ben to fully accept what his son told him.
Rating: PG Word count: 8,168
Yuma & Yuma: Lost and Found – by BettyHT
SUMMARY: In Yuma, while attempting to fix a mistake that Joe made, Adam makes one far worse and with greater consequences for his future. Eventually his family will be drawn into it too and with lessons learned, they will face the problems. Edited to add a second story, Yuma: Lost and Found — it is a companion piece to the first part with the story told from Anne’s POV.
Rating = T Word count = 44,158
