Tuesday, December 6, 2016

The Bear Chair

by Shanna Hatfield

Several months ago, I read an article in a magazine about mountain man Seth Kinman and his penchant for creating furniture from, well, animal parts.

Kinman, known for his talent at fiddle playing, started supplying Fort Humboldt in Eureka, California, with elk meat in the 1850s. He also hunted bears.


Handy with a knife and in possession of an assortment of bear and elk parts he collected over the years, Kinsman began using his collection to craft chairs for U.S. presidents.

He presented his first presidential chair to James Buchanan, then proceeded to make chairs for Abraham Lincoln, Andrew Johnson, and Rutherford B. Hayes.

The last presidential chair he made was in 1886 and presented to President Grover Cleveland.



It was a picture of this chair, however, with the bear head peaking out from the bottom, that inspired a scene in my new release, Barreling Through Christmas. In the story, the hero cajoles his girlfriend into sitting in the chair and the head pops out, scaring her half to death. 
Did I mention the hero is a bit of a tease? 

Advertising executive Paige Porter heads to Las Vegas for the finals rodeo with one goal in mind: Find a cowboy with the perfect…um… genes to model her client’s new western clothing line. After covertly watching hundreds of men walk by, Paige finally finds the cowboy with her ideal assets. Before she can approach him, he disappears into the crowd. She’s left with a picture of his back pockets and an annoying rodeo clown who makes her wish she’d never left home.
Cooper James lives life to the fullest, determined to make people smile with his own special brand of humor. As a rodeo clown and barrelman, he loves engaging the crowd and getting a laugh, even if it means embarrassing an uptight ad executive who’s desperately searching for the ideal model for a new brand of jeans. Intrigued by the woman, Cooper has no intention of telling her he recognizes the denim-clad backside in the photo she’s flashing all over town.
Laughter, lighthearted fun, and love ensues in this heartwarming holiday romance.
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Meet Paige and Cooper

USA Today Bestselling Author Shanna Hatfield writes character-driven romances with relatable heroes and heroines. Her historical westerns have been described as “reminiscent of the era captured by Bonanza and The Virginian” while her contemporary works have been called “laugh-out-loud funny, and a little heart-pumping sexy without being explicit in any way.”
Convinced everyone deserves a happy ending, this hopeless romantic is out to make it happen, one story at a time. When she isn’t writing or indulging in chocolate (dark and decadent, please), Shanna hangs out with her husband, lovingly known as Captain Cavedweller.
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