About the author
Steven Farley has carried on where his father, Walter Farley, left off. He completed the last of the Black Stallion series (The Young Black Stallion) with his father, and has since written three more titles in the Black Stallion series.
He has also produced a spin off series: The Young Black Stallion. This is about a girl called Danielle Connors, who used to live in the horse farm Alec bought. She is furious at having to move out, particularly as her parents have sold her horse Redman along with the farm. The series deals with her gradual thawing and her relationships with different horses at the farm.
Series
The Young Black Stallion Series
The Promise
A Horse Called Raven
The Homecoming
Wild Spirit
The Yearling
Hard Lessons
South Wind Spring
Storm
Bibliography (horse books only)
The Black Stallion’s Steeplechaser
Random House, 1997
Black Storm, sired by the Black Stallion, is everything a racehorse should be: fast, strong and brave, but unfortunately unpredictable. Alec is the only one who has not give up on the colt, and thinks steeplechasing is the ideal thing. It will challenge the colt into behaving. Unfortunately Alec is thrown in their first race, and Henry threatens to sell him. The farm is losing money, so Alec has to win his next race.
The Black Stallion’s Shadow
Random House, 2000
The Black wins the Americas cup at Santa Ana, but one of his opponents had a fatal fall in the race after shying at a shadow. As a result, the Black is left with a terror of shadows, which could bring his career to an end.
The Black Stallion and the Shape Shifter
Random House, 2009,
Random House, 2010
Alec Ramsay and the Black were inured racing in Ireland’s Foster Stakes, so head to the Irish coast to recuperate. While there, Alec meets lonely Mora, who has found a stray pony. He teaches her to ride, but she then disappears, only for the locals to announce that she has been taken by the kelpie, a shape shifting creature. The kelpie, apparently, wants a black stallion for itself.
The Black Stallion and the Lost City
Random House, 2011
Alec Ramsay and the Black are performing in a new movie about Alexander the Great. However, they aren’t always filming, and in one of the breaks, an albino mare leads Alec and the Black through a waterfall into another world. It seems like Utopia, with eternal life, but Alec is not keen on staying there, despite the wishes of the city’s leader. Alec senses there’s something odd going
on: he’s not wrong, as the albino mare is a flesh eater. There. Makes a change from vampires.
The Young Black Stallion Series
The Promise
Random House, 1998
Danielle is devastated when her parents decide to relocate to Forida and sell the family horse farm. Her horse, Redman, is to be sold up north. Danielle is furious with Alec Ramsay, who is planning to buy the farm as a winter training facility. Then the family’s move is delayed, and Alec introduces Danielle to a black colt.
A Horse Called Raven
Random House, 1998
Danielle is thrilled to be working with Alec. She is working to earn money to buy back her horse, Redman, and is helping Alec raise a black colt. A flu virus hits a nearby horse farm, and all the horses have to be moved and Danielle is jobless.
The Homecoming
Random House, 1999
Danielle is helping Alec take racehorses from New York to Florida. The visit to New York lets her see her horse, Redman, and his new owner lets her take him home to Florida as long as he’s returned at the end of the winter break. The trip home, though, is fraught with difficulty.
Wild Spirit
Random House, 1999
Danielle and Redman are now home for the Christmas holidays, but Raven, the colt Danielle has been working with, doesn’t want to share Danielle, and he and Redman become rivals, which causes Danielle a lot of pain. Raven has to learn to share.
The Yearling
Random House, 1999
Danielle has had to return Redman to Mr Steel, and Raven isn’t providing much comfort.
Hard Lessons
Random House, 2000
Raven is going to begin training at South Wind with Alec, where Danielle’s best friend Julie also works. Until her grades improve though, there is no chance of Danielle joining them, and then Raven suffers a mysterious injury.
South Wind Spring
Random House, 2000
Storm
Random House, 2000