In "Alcatraz" by Max Brand, the story revolves around the wild horse Alcatraz and his journey from being a free and untamed stallion to a trusted mount. The story also involves several other characters, including Marianne Jordan, the daughter of a wealthy rancher, who falls in love with the cowboy Bill Warden, the man who captured Alcatraz. However, their relationship is complicated by the presence of Señor Cordova, a wealthy landowner who also has feelings for Marianne. As Alcatraz continues to resist being tamed, Bill enlists the help of a notorious horse trainer, Arizona Charley. Charley is known for his harsh methods of breaking horses, but he takes a different approach with Alcatraz, recognizing the horse's exceptional intelligence and spirit. Meanwhile, Marianne's father, Oliver Jordan, becomes embroiled in a conflict with a group of rustlers in the nearby Eagle Mountains. The rustlers are led by a dangerous outlaw named Red Reckoner, who also has his sights set on Alcatraz. As the story unfolds, Alcatraz gradually becomes more trusting of Bill and the other humans around him, but his freedom and safety are constantly threatened by the rustlers and Red Reckoner in particular. In the end, Alcatraz proves his loyalty and bravery by helping to rescue Marianne from Red Reckoner and the rustlers, and he becomes a beloved and trusted mount for Bill and Marianne.
American author Frederick Schiller Faust (May 29, 1892 – May 12, 1944) is best known for his Western novels written under the pen name Max Brand. For a collection of pulp fiction stories, he (as Max Brand) also invented the well-known fictional character of young medical intern Dr. James Kildare. Over the next several decades, his Kildare character appeared in a variety of other media, including a number of American theatrical films by Paramount Pictures and Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM), a radio program, two television programs, and comic books. George Owen Baxter, Evan Evans, George Evans, Peter Dawson, David Manning, John Frederick, Peter Morland, George Challis, Peter Ward, Frederick Faust, and Frederick Frost are some of the other aliases used by Faust. For Argosy magazine, Faust wrote the "Tizzo the Firebrand" series under the pen name George Challis. Taking place in Renaissance Italy, the Tizzo saga was a collection of historical swashbuckler tales starring the title hero. When Faust, Frank Gruber, and coauthor Steve Fisher were at Warner Brothers at the beginning of 1944, they frequently engaged in idle talk in the afternoons with Colonel Nee, a technical advisor dispatched from Washington
