Don Coldsmith

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Don Coldsmith's Latest Book

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  • Bibliography:
    39 Books (2 Series)
  • First Book:
    January 1975
  • Latest Book:
    February 2008
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Full Series List in Order

Spanish Bit

1 - Trail of the Spanish Bit (Jun-1980)
2 - The Elk-Dog Heritage (Jun-1982)
3 - Follow the Wind (Feb-1983)
4 - Buffalo Medicine (Dec-2004)
5 - Man of the Shadows (Dec-1983)
6 - Daughter of the Eagle (Jul-1984)
7 - Moon of Thunder (Jan-1985)
8 - Sacred Hills (Jun-1985)
9 - Pale Star (Feb-1986)
10 - River of Swans (Sep-1986)
11 - Return to the River (Sep-1987)
12 - The Medicine Knife (Mar-1988)
13 - The Flower In The Mountains (Aug-1988)
14 - Trail From Taos (Apr-1989)
15 - Song of the Rock (Sep-1989)
16 - Fort De Chastaigne (Mar-1990)
17 - Quest for the White Bull (Oct-1990)
18 - Return of the Spanish (Apr-1991)
19 - Bride of the Morning Star (Oct-1991)
20 - Walks in the Sun (Mar-1992)
21 - Thunderstick (May-1993)
22 - Track of the Bear (Apr-1994)
23 - Child of the Dead (Feb-1995)
24 - Bearer of the Pipe (Aug-1995)
25 - Medicine Hat (Sep-1997)
26 - The Lost Band (Apr-2000)
27 - Raven Mocker (Mar-2001)
28 - Moon of Madness (Feb-2008)

Spanish Bit Super

Changing Wind (Mar-1990)
The Traveler (Feb-1991)
World of Silence (Mar-1992)

Multi-Author Series List

Rivers West

2 - The Smoky Hill (May-1989)

Book List in Order: 39 titles

  • Horsin' Around

  • Trail of the Spanish Bit

    Spanish Bit - 1

    A young Spaniard dreamed of great cities of gold, but found instead a challenging life among the native people of America's Great Plains. Juan Garcia rode as an arrogant conquistador into the heart of an unexplored continent. One day, on a lone pa...

  • Horsin' Around Again

  • The Elk-Dog Heritage

    Spanish Bit - 2

    The possession of horses--elf-dogs--brings the People prestige, power, and peace with their old enemies, the Head Splitters, but Chief Heads Off has difficulties preventing continuing bloodshed among his own tribe...

  • Follow the Wind

    Spanish Bit - 3

    A FATHER'S QUEST Don Pedro Garcia impatiently measured time in the number of forced marches the horses could endure. He was an old man now, and he wanted to see his son who. rumor had it, was alive among the Indians of the Great Plains. Don Pedro'...

  • Man of the Shadows

    Spanish Bit - 5

    Eagles's father, Heads Off, leads the Elk-dog band by virtue of bringing to horse -- the "elk-dog" -- to the People. Eagle himself has mastered the ways of the horse, but now the warrior must learn survivor. His frightened, untrained mount, in pani...

  • Daughter of the Eagle

    Spanish Bit - 6

    Don Coldsmith, voted one of the greatest western writers of the twentieth century by the Western Writers of America, single-handedly revolutionized the Western novel with his acclaimed Spanish Bit Saga. Set in the early sixteenth century, the Spanish...

  • Moon of Thunder

    Spanish Bit - 7

    The coming of the horse has brought honor to the Elk-dog band -- but now it must face the loss of its most powerful medicine. MOON OF THUNDER Rabbit is the grandson of Heads Off, the legendary chief. To become an adult, Rabbit must ride far from ...

  • Sacred Hills

    Spanish Bit - 8



  • Pale Star

    Spanish Bit - 9

    The People's future had been shaped by the Elk-Dog Medicine, the horse bridle of the Spaniards--and now a wild-spirited girl will change their destiny again. PALE STAR A Moon of Sorrow comes to the Elk-Dog band when few buffalo return to the Pl...

  • River of Swans

    Spanish Bit - 10

    Pale Star of the Elk-Dog band, cruelly abducted from the People as a child, has grown into a cunning and courageous woman, Married to a scout named Brule, she has won the respect of the Fran-coy at faraway Fort Mishi-hgan for her beauty and story...

  • Return to the River

    Spanish Bit - 11

    The People had prospered for many snows, fattening on the buffalo, but now a white-skinned one returned...with a dangerous trail for the People to follow RETURN TO THE RIVER French sergeant Jean Cartier adopted the Elk-Dog band as his own peopl...

  • The Medicine Knife

    Spanish Bit - 12

    The Elk-dog People have two new members, Sky-Eyes and Woodchuck, once soldiers in the imperial French Army but now fully assimilated into the tribe. When the People are threatened, the two must use both their French and Elk-dog ways to save their new...

  • The Flower In The Mountains

    Spanish Bit - 13

    A young warrior named Red Feather embarks upon a journey that brings him face-to-face with death...and endangers the lives of his father and the woman Red Feather loves. THE FLOWER IN THE MOUNTAINS Once he was Jean Cartier, a French explorer. N...

  • Trail From Taos

    Spanish Bit - 14

    The people of the pueblo want only to be left in peace, but they are trapped between a band of militant young warriors and the Spanish Hairfaces, who have already shed first blood.... TRAIL FROM TAOS These are evil times for the people of the pue...

  • The Smoky Hill

    Rivers West - 2

  • Song of the Rock

    Spanish Bit - 15

    The people of the plains are once more returning to the way of their ancestors now that the Spanish Hairfaces have been driven back to El Paso Del Norte, but there is unexpected danger on the old trail... SONG OF THE ROCK These are strange time...

  • Changing Wind

    Spanish Bit Super

    He was called White Buffalo, he would be the greatest medicine man the People had ever known. The spirit of the ancient gods beat in him like a savage drum -- a mystical power as old as the land, as primeval as primitive man himself. But even as he...

  • Fort De Chastaigne

    Spanish Bit - 16

    New temptations and new dangers threaten the peaceful lives of the EIk.dog People. The wise old medicine man, White Fox, and his impressionable young son, Red Horse, have agreed to guide Captain LeFever of Port de Chastaigne to Santa Fe, in his ques...



  • Quest for the White Bull

    Spanish Bit - 17

    TRAIL OF VISION This spring the annual Sun Dance is without joy. The buffalo -- upon which the People depend for their survival -- have not returned with the greening of the grasses. While the holy men gather to find away to bring back the herds, Re...

  • The Traveler

    Spanish Bit Super

    In childhood his name was Woodpecker. Now he is the Storyteller, weaving long-ago tales and trading as he traverses the lands of the People. Married to the beautiful Plum Leaf, the Storyteller sets out on the great adventure that will be his own life...

  • Return of the Spanish

    Spanish Bit - 18

    Famous for his proficiency in all the weapons in the People's arsenal, Strong Bow is eager to prove his skill by capturing his people's highest glory--dying while battling Spanish imperialism. Reprint....

  • Bride of the Morning Star

    Spanish Bit - 19

  • Walks in the Sun

    Spanish Bit - 20

    Twelve brave young men set out, led by the  indomitable Blue Jay, seeking a better wintering land to  the mysterious south. But the quest becomes an  obsession that plunges the men--and the beautiful,  enigmatic woman who joins them--into a l...

  • World of Silence

    Spanish Bit Super

    The only survivor, along with his granddaughter, of an attack by the Forest People, Hunts-Alone and the young girl journey forward toward a new destiny, carrying with them the seeds of their ancient heritage. Original....

  • Thunderstick

    Spanish Bit - 21

  • Track of the Bear

    Spanish Bit - 22

    Beginning a spiritual journey after a stalking bear tells his tribe that a covenant of peace has been broken, Singing Wolf must make a difficult choice between exploring the broken covenant and keeping peace with his loved ones...

  • Child of the Dead

    Spanish Bit - 23

    PATH OF HOPE It is the time of the annual Sun Dance, but this year the celebration is marred by sadness. On the trail south, the holy man Singing Wolf makes a terrible discovery: an entire village destroyed by the dreaded poch, the spotted death. Th...

  • Runestone

    They set sail from Norway, two swift-moving longships and their handpicked crews, following the route navigated by the legendary Leif Ericson. But for young shipmaster Nils Thorsson and his fellow Norsemen the real journey begins when they push on in...



  • Bearer of the Pipe

    Spanish Bit - 24

    From his auspicious birth, Wolf Pup has demonstrated an instinct for the ways of the wild. Yet it is in the lodge of his grandfather Singing Wolf that he seeks his true calling medicine man and future bearer of the Story Skins, the pipe, and the sacr...

  • Tallgrass

    GATEWAY TO DREAMS Crossroads of a continent, Kansas lies at the heart of American history. For centuries this land of limitless horizons, of fertile soil and tall grasses, has drawn men and women of desperation, desire, and destiny. First there...

  • Medicine Hat

    Spanish Bit - 25

    When Pipe Bearer, the young shaman of the Elk-Dog people dreams of a powerful spirit-horse--one bearing distinctive, hat-like markings on its head and ears--he knows he is being sent an important message. But he cannot interpret its meaning. Soon aft...

  • South Wind

    In his towering epic novel Tallgrass, bestselling author Don Coldsmith captured as never before the historical panorama of the North American Great Plains.  Set in the land of unlimited horizons called Kansas, it evoked an age of innocence, explora...

  • The Lost Band

    Spanish Bit - 26

    White Moon's Dream...

    For the Forest Band of the People, summer is a peaceful time of hunting and gathering. But when a band of Shaved-heads brutally attack, the People's women and children are carried off into slavery. Most accept their fate,...

  • The Long Journey Home

    John Buffalo, a Lakota Sioux, is taken from his family and his home as a young boy and is forced into the White man's world.

    Buffalo's teachers soon recognize his extraordinary athletic potential and push him to train for track and field event...

  • Raven Mocker

    Spanish Bit - 27

    Demon...or Healer?

    For years Snakewater, the aging medicine woman of Old Town, has been respected--and feared--by her Cherokee village. Now, as a series of mysterious deaths plagues her village, she finds herself accused of being a Raven Mocke...

  • Pipestone Quest

    A Quest Into Legend
    From the moment he laid eyes on it, young Beaver of the Elk-dog People felt drawn to the spirit of the pipestone. Now he’s setting out on a vision quest to the only place the red stone can be mined: the Pipestone Quarry. Trav...

  • Buffalo Medicine

    Spanish Bit - 4

    DON COLDSMITH, voted one of the greatest western writers of the twentieth century by the Western Writers of America, single-handedly revolutionized the Western novel with his acclaimed Spanish Bit Saga. Set in the early sixteenth century, the Spanish...

  • Moon of Madness

    Spanish Bit - 28

    MOON OF MADNESS is the latest edition of the continuing Spanish Bit Saga, where the People gather to listen to a story by one of their young men, Badger, who, originally thought to be foolish and mischievous, tells a gripping tale of a great shaki...



Award-Winning Books by Don Coldsmith

Changing Wind
1990 SPUR Award -- Paperback Original


Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)

Don Coldsmith has published 39 books.

Don Coldsmith does not have a new book coming out soon. The latest book, Moon of Madness, was published in February 2008.

The first book by Don Coldsmith, Horsin' Around, was published in January 1975.

Yes. Don Coldsmith has 2 series.
Author Series
Multi-Author Series
Top Authors in Historical
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