Christian Fiction & Canadian Mounties…
GUARDIANS OF THE NORTH Series by Alan Morris
“It’s hard not to hate him,” Betsy said softly.
Stone didn’t need to ask to whom she was referring, but her statement confused him, and for some reason angered him. “Why shouldn’t you hate him? I do, and if I ever see him again, I’ll kill him, scalp him, and burn him — just like he did to our friends!”
“No, Hunter,” she said, appalled at his vehemence.
“No?” He pointed to her Bible. “Doesn’t that say ‘an eye for an eye’?”
“Yes, but that’s the law of Moses in the Old Testament. Jesus Christ came and changed all that.”
“How?”
“Listen to this,” she said.
Opening up her Bible, she read: ” ‘And when they were come to the place, which is called Calvary, there they crucified him… Then said Jesus, Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do.’ Betsy locked her eyes with his. “Jesus teaches us to forgive the ones that hurt us, just as He forgave the Romans for nailing him to the cross and leaving Him to die.”
Stone couldn’t believe it. Forgive that monster? That’s impossible! A man capable of that kind of butchery deserves to die as no other.
Betsy saw his confusion. “Jesus taught that over and over again.” She flipped through her Bible and pointed at another passage. “‘Love your enemies, do good to them which hate you; bless them that curse you, and pray for them which despitefully use you. And unto him that smiteth thee on the one cheek offer also the other.'”
“But that’s…that’s…incredible! Nobody can do that!”
“Jesus did.”
Christian fiction from BY HONOR BOUND by Alan Morris.
The Christian message has been an essential element of Canadian Mountie Fiction from its beginning.
The Reverend Charles William Gordon, writing as “Ralph Connor,” reflected his passionate beliefs in his earliest novels, including CORPORAL CAMERON OF THE NORTH WEST MOUNTED POLICE: A Tale of the MacLeod Trail, the story that established the Mountie Fiction genre.
Others, such as Archdeacon H A Cody, James Oliver Curwood (who coined the phrase “God’s Country,” using it in a number of book titles) and Janette Oke, continued the tradition.
Another Christian writer is Alan Morris.
From the Gulf Shores of Alabama, Alan co-authored a number of Christian novels with his father Gilbert Morris, before producing his own Guardians of the North series, which was published between 1996 and ’99 by Bethany House. After his first novel, Alan moved with his wife and three children to the Rocky Mountains of Colorado.
The five titles of the series were BY HONOR BOUND, HEART OF VALOR, BRIGHT SWORD OF JUSTICE, BETWEEN EARTH AND SKY and WINGS OF HEALING.
Summer, 1874. It’s the story of Hunter Stone, who loses his home, his wife Betsy and almost his life to renegades.
He joins the newly created North-West Mounted Police, but is it to seek vengeance? Will the young missionary who nursed him back to health, Reena O’Donnell, be able to heal his soul?
In BY HONOR BOUND, Hunter Stone has to discover his own beliefs — what is Love? What is Honor?
Guardians of the North is actually a well-written and well-researched series.
While Alan had plotted BY HONOR BOUND before he sought out detailed research material, the storylines of the next four novels truly reflected Canadian history and culture.
The second novel, HEART OF VALOR, dealt with the real reason the Mounties had been created: the battle with the evil whiskey traders who were decimating the Blackfoot and other First Nations.
And the easy racism of an earlier generation, found even in the better writings of James Curwood and William Byron Mowery, has been replaced by a more equitable treatment of those First Nations.
A note on broad-brimmed Stetson shown on the Guardians series cover art:
The NWMP Force didn’t adopt those iconic campaign design Stetsons until the Klondike era of late 1890’s — author Morris okayed the visual anachronism because “the white helmets described in this novel make the early Police look like colonial British soldiers.” Which was a “look” the Canadian government had deliberately adopted, because of the relationship of trust and cooperation the British Army had already established with our western First Nations pre-Confederation.
With his North-West Mounted Police Christian novels, Alan Morris joins a popular breed of writers, such as American novelist Karen Kingsbury. SEE my most popular Christian post: TOP CHRISTIAN WRITERS – Best Selling Christian Books Tolkien to Kingsbury.
Did you like this Book Review?
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An extensive look at the writers who created the magnificent Mythology of our North-West Mounted Police. My Top 10 Mountie Fiction Writers in some detail — and a look at many other authors. Amply illustrated with marvelous magazine and book covers. FREE TO READ ==> The GREATEST AUTHORS OF NORTH-WEST MOUNTED POLICE FICTION
GUARDIANS OF THE NORTH: Christian Fiction Books by Alan Morris – NWMP – RCMP – Canadian Mounted Police Novels.
Cover art of the Alan Morris books shown on this page are by Joe Nordstrom. To learn more about Christian writer Alan Morris, visit Author Alan Morris.
Updated April 17, 2023.
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