The Songbird is on Pre-Order

By Kristy McCaffrey

I'm so excited to announce a new story in the Wings of the West series. I wrote this novella for the fans, who have shown so much love for the series over the years. If you’ve ever wondered what life was like for Matt and Molly after THE WREN, then you won’t want to miss this fun read. (Although they do appear in the short story ECHO OF THE PLAINS, which takes place after THE SONGBIRD.)

This novella serves two purposes – a reunion with fave characters from the series, as well as acting as a bridge to the next set of Wings novels, which will star the daughters of Matt and Molly, and Logan and Claire (from THE DOVE). Keep reading to learn the name of the next novel!

The release date for THE SONGBIRD is December 28, 2021, which also happens to be my 30^th wedding anniversary.

Here’s the official book blurb:

Join characters from the Wings of the West series in this novella set fifteen years after THE WREN.

A fair in Denton, Texas, draws folks from far and wide, and Matt and Molly Ryan have come to close a horse deal while also enjoying a bit of rest and relaxation. It’s a family affair with Matt’s brother, Logan, and his wife, Claire, joining them, as well as Nathan and Emma Blackmore, and Cale and Tess Walker.

Meet the daughters of the second generation—Katie and Josie Ryan, belonging to Matt and Molly; and Anna, Sarah, and Sophie Ryan, Logan and Claire’s girls. Ranging in age from eleven to fourteen, they attempt to help a boy falsely accused of theft, but in doing so they uncover a deeper secret. And the connection may lead back to Molly’s time with the Kwahadi Comanche when she was a child.

Look for each of the girls to be featured in a future novel. 

You can pre-order your copy now!! (Google Play is coming and the story will also be available in print.)

Amazon US: https://www.amazon.com/Songbird-Kristy-McCaffrey-ebook/dp/B09JVYHFRS/

Amazon UK: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Songbird-Wings-West-Book-ebook/dp/B09JVYHFRS/

Amazon CA: https://www.amazon.ca/Songbird-Wings-West-Book-ebook/dp/B09JVYHFRS/

Amazon AU: https://www.amazon.com.au/Songbird-Wings-West-Book-ebook/dp/B09JVYHFRS/

Amazon DE (English Edition): https://www.amazon.de/Songbird-Wings-West-Book-ebook/dp/B09JVYHFRS/

Nook: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/the-songbird-kristy-mccaffrey/1140384968?ean=2940160964133

Apple Books: https://books.apple.com/us/book/the-songbird/id1591143473

Kobo: https://www.kobo.com/us/en/ebook/the-songbird-5

Add it to your Goodreads shelf and be notified on release day.

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/59420468-the-songbird

The Wings of the West Series Reading Order
Book One: The Wren
Book Two: The Dove
Book Three: The Sparrow
Book Four: The Blackbird
Book Five: The Bluebird
Book Six: The Songbird (Novella)
Book Seven: Echo of the Plains (Short Story)
Book Eight: The Starling (Coming Soon)

The cover reveal for THE STARLING will be in December for my newsletter subscribers. Sign up here if you haven't already. I'd love to see you there!

An excerpt from THE SONGBIRD

The look on Cale’s face told Matt there was more news.

“Do I have to drag it out of you?”

A smile came and went on Cale’s face. “I fear you’re gonna hate this rumor more than the previous one. McCabe wants to have supper with Molly.”

In disbelief, Matt said, “Does he want to court my wife? I damn well have something to say about that.”

“McCabe’s a prick. That’s no secret. But I think it has more to do with her time with the Comanche.”

That was something Matt preferred to keep private, if only to protect her. He and Molly had been married for fifteen years, but he still couldn’t abide her past being the subject of gossip. However, in the years since she’d had their children, she had spoken on occasion with them of her abduction when she was nine years old, along with the ensuing years she had lived with the Comanche before being rescued by an old miner named Elijah, the very man for whom they had named their son. She was even teaching Katie to speak Comanche.

“It’s up to Molly whether she wants to discuss her past with him,” Matt said. “But I’ll be there if she does.”

Logan and Nathan appeared wearing chaps, their spurs clinking.

“When does the race start?” Cale asked. “Which one is it again?”

“The three-eighths-mile dash,” Logan said. “And it begins in an hour. The purse is up to $50. I hear the betting is favoring me.”

“That’s horseshit,” Nathan said. “If anything, it’s that pony over there getting all the interest.” He nodded toward a corral where an impressive mare pranced back and forth. The man who was watching the animal triggered recognition.

“Is that Bill Harner?” Matt asked.

Nathan looked closer. “I’ll be damned. I think it is.”

Logan pulled on his leather gloves. “Who’s that?”

“Back in ’75, he was on the Rangers with us,” Nathan replied, referring to his and Matt’s time with the Texas Rangers. “But he was just a youngster. That was right before I got Matt away from Cerillo. After that, I don’t know what happened to Bill.”

“Well, he’s standing beside McCabe,” Cale said.

Matt grimaced. “It’s almost enough to avoid Harner, but I’ll go and say hello.”

“We need to head over to the starting line,” Nathan said, his gaze encompassing Logan. “Wouldn’t want our winning boy to miss his moment of glory.”

“You’ll be eating my dust, Blackmore.”

“Good luck,” Matt said as the two of them departed. Matt headed in the opposite direction, but then stopped and turned back to Cale. “You coming? If McCabe starts gabbing like a hen about Molly, I’ll need your backup.”

Cale cocked an eyebrow. “You want me to hold your hand?”

“Like hell. I might need you to pull me off him if he pisses me off. Molly won’t take kindly to me sitting in a jail cell for disorderly conduct. She’s expecting me for supper.”

“Don’t worry. Sheriff Mars owes me a favor. You wouldn’t be in jail for long.”

The Crow Brothers Collection

By Kristy McCaffrey

This collection brings together into one great read three short Old West romances set during Hallowtide. Each was previously published (and the content hasn’t changed), but in addition to wide availability (Amazon, Nook, Kobo, Apple Books, and Google Play) they’re now available in paperback. Read to the end for a chance to win a copy.

A little background for each story:

The Navajo medicine man works to restore balance to an individual’s spirit and is usually called upon for illnesses and other maladies. The opposite of this is a sorcerer, and there were rumors that some practitioners dabbled in corpse powder. In The Crow and The Coyote, Hannah Dobbin enlists the aid of a bounty hunter named Jack Boggs—sometimes called The Crow—to help her quest to save her pa’s soul during Hallowtide. Her foe is a Navajo sorcerer.

A Tommyknocker is a type of troll spirit who lives underground and was therefore of great concern to miners. The term originated in the British Isles, but superstitions surrounding the beings filtered into other places. Miners in Colorado took great care to appease the Knockers by leaving a bit of their lunch out for the sprites. In The Crow and The Bear, Jennie Livingstone must enter a haunted ravine near the town of Silverton, Colorado, to find her papa, and her only help is from enigmatic bounty hunter Callum Boggs, known as The Crow, but there's also a spirit named Simon keeping watch over her.

A grimoire is a book of magic. It often included instructions on how to create talismans and amulets, how to perform spells, and how to invoke supernatural entities. In many cases, the books themselves were considered imbued with magical powers, not unlike other sacred texts (such as the Bible). The term ‘grimoire’ comes from the French word ‘grammaire,’ which originally referred to books written in Latin. But by the 18^th century, it had begun to be used to describe books of magic. In A Murder of Crows, Eliza McCulloch is determined to reclaim her family book of spells and her only hope is Kester Boggs, a manhunter named The Crow.

Grab a digital copy

Amazon | Nook | Apple Books | Kobo | Google Play

 Add to your Goodreads shelf

Enter to win an autographed paperback at Kristy’s website. Giveaway ends October 31.

 

Naming A Series After Birds

By Kristy McCaffrey

I wrote my first novel, The Wren, when I was a young stay-at-home mom with four kids all under the age of five running amuck. I'd been writing since I was seven years old, but I didn't envision penning a novel until I was too tired from mothering to realize that what I was about to attempt would be tremendously difficult, yet so rewarding. Not much different than becoming a mom, right?

I'm sometimes asked how I came up with the titles for my Wings of the West series. The simple version is that they just came to me, which for the most part is true. I knew the titles and the order in which they would appear long before I had a clear picture of characters and storylines. But there are deeper meanings as well.

Many years ago, I enjoyed a television show called “Ned Blessing: The Story of My Life and Times,” starring Brad Johnson. Maybe some of you remember it. A recurring character was a woman in town—a soiled dove—who was secretly in love with Ned. She was called “the Wren.” For some reason, that stuck with me when, years later, I began developing my Old West series. In my story, however, the heroine, Molly, isn't a prostitute (that theme is addressed in the next book, the aptly titled The Dove). As a child Molly was quite adept with a slingshot, which she named "the Wren" because she believes the rocks she uses may have been dropped by wrens. Rock Wrens have a habit of leaving a stone path to their nests. This encompasses the broader theme of Molly trying to find her way home after she was thought dead at the hands of the Comanche ten years prior.

In the second book, The Dove, I dealt with the well-used theme of prostitution. The heroine in this story, Claire, lives in a saloon run by her mama. While Claire herself isn't a soiled dove, she still faces the decisions many women do: Does she live a life for herself or for others? How do we “use” others to gain our own ends?

In The Sparrow, my heroine, Emma, undergoes a shamanic journey of initiation while traversing the Colorado River through the Grand Canyon. During this process, she is helped by her power animal, Sparrow. I will admit, this novel took a strange turn, but I did my best to follow the bones laid before me and write the story as best I could. Sparrows are known as common birds who speak to the inherent magnificence that can be present in all of us. As I wrote the tale, I knew this bird encompassed perfectly the tone of Emma's pilgrimage.

In The Blackbird, I found a Tennyson quote that mentions blackbirds. The heroine, Tess, while of Mexican descent also has an Irish papa and through him a connection to Tennyson. Blackbirds are mystical birds, linking us to the world of enchantment, which is best accessed through storytelling.

The last book, The Bluebird, jumps ahead several years and features Molly Rose, niece to the first Molly from The Wren. In the story, the hero is searching for an elusive mining claim called The Bluebird. While the bird references have helped to shape the series, I always knew I'd begin with a Molly and end with a Molly, which was the nickname of my great-grandmother.

I'm giving away an autographed print copy of THE BLUEBIRD at my website this month. Click here to enter.

 

The Apache by Kristy McCaffrey

The Apache people lived in the southwestern U.S. and were divided into the Chiricahua, Mescalero, Lipan, Western Apache, Jicarilla, and Plains Apache. These groups had little political unity, and developed distinct cultures and language.

They refer to themselves as “The People”, and the Apache culture has remained one of the least understood of all the American Indians due in part to the violence that long plagued Apache-American relations.

There are several origins of the name Apache. The Mexicans, who were often preyed upon by a band of Tci-he-nde Chiricahua, used the word ápache, or “raccoon,” which is an accurate description of the traditional eye-masking war paint worn by the warriors.

Apache didn’t usually marry outside their own tribe, but the men readily took captive women to wife, and captive children of both sexes were often adopted into the community and married. This practice, however, had little effect in diluting the ethnic purity of the Apache.

In the early 1800’s, before the influx of Anglo-Americans to the Southwest, Apache depredations against the Mexicans was high. In desperation, the Mexican government issued a bounty on Apache scalps—100 pesos per warrior, 50 pesos per woman, and 25 pesos per child. The situation in this early frontier (present day northern Mexico) was dire. One distressing aspect was the difficulty in proving a scalp was actually Apache, so no doubt many passive Indians were targeted. Anglo-Americans—called pindah-lickoyee or White-eyed Enemies by the Apache—didn’t occupy this area until after 1850. With the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo in 1848, the Americans inherited the responsibility to prevent and punish cross-border incursions by Apaches intent on raiding into Mexico.

Geronimo

There are several famous Apache leaders—Cochise, Victorio, Juh, Nana, and Eskiminzin—but the most notorious was Geronimo. Born about 1823, he was a member of a smaller band of Chiricahua and often participated in raids into old Mexico. While a young man, he married and had three children but in 1850 they were all killed by Mexicans, including his mother. This cemented a lifelong hatred for Hispanics, and it was likely from them that he acquired the name Geronimo. He was never a chief but participated in many revenge attacks against the Mexicans, inciting and coercing other Apache to do his bidding. This left his own people with mixed feelings for him. Although he was held at different times at reservations, he always escaped. In 1886 he finally surrendered and was sent to Florida, but in 1894 was moved to Fort Sill, Oklahoma. In his old age he became a celebrity. He had nine wives in total, and died in 1909 after a fall from a horse.

Don't miss THE BLACKBIRD, Book 4 in my Wings of the West series. While there are some overlapping characters, this book can be read as a standalone.

2015 Laramie Winner for Best in Western Romance

Arizona Territory 1877

Bounty hunter Cale Walker arrives in Tucson to search for J. Howard “Hank” Carlisle at the request of his daughter, Tess. Hank mentored Cale before a falling out divided them, and a mountain lion attack left Cale nearly dead. Rescued by a band of Nednai Apache, his wounds were considered a powerful omen and he was taught the ways of a di-yin, or a medicine man. To locate Hank, Cale must enter the Dragoon Mountains, straddling two worlds that no longer fit. But he has an even bigger problem—finding a way into the heart of a young woman determined to live life as a bystander.

For two years, Tess Carlisle has tried to heal the mental and physical wounds of a deadly assault by one of her papá’s men. Continuing the traditions of her Mexican heritage, she has honed her skills as a cuentista, a storyteller and a Keeper of the Old Ways. But with no contact from her father since the attack, she fears the worst. Tess knows that to reenter Hank Carlisle’s world is a dangerous endeavor, and her only hope is Cale Walker, a man unlike any she has ever known. Determined to make a journey that could lead straight into the path of her attacker, she hardens her resolve along with her heart. But Cale makes her yearn for something she vowed she never would—love.

Read Chapter One at my website.

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The Beauty of Arizona

By Kristy McCaffrey

I wanted to continue sharing photos of my home state of Arizona for those of you who may have never visited. Or maybe these will spark a memory of a previous vacation. And if by chance you're an Arizona resident, then you know the stark beauty of this wonderful state.

Check out my April post for more photos.

The Sonoran Desert near Phoenix.

A Bristlecone Pine, photographed at 10,000 feet near Flagstaff.
These trees can be several thousand years old.

A few years ago, my husband and I took our children on a houseboat trip
on Lake Powell. This was one of our campsites.

On the border of Arizona and Utah. This was taken as my dad and I hiked
to The Wave, an iconic sandstone formation.

Snow Bowl Ski Resort in Flagstaff. The high peak in the
background is Mt. Humphrey, the tallest mountain in Arizona.

The Grand Canyon.

Storm over Mt. Humphrey's. Photo taken from my parents' house.

The many moods of a Saguaro Cactus.

"You can see an angel anytime and anywhere."

~ poet Mary Oliver

All photos by Kristy McCaffrey

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A Virtual Arizona Visit

By Kristy McCaffrey

We're going through a tough time worldwide. I'm fortunate to live in the beautiful state of Arizona, so let's relax our minds, take a few deep breaths, and enjoy the scenery.

View of the Grand Canyon from the South Rim

My daughter Hannah atop Black Mountain.
Behind her is the Phoenix Metropolitan Area.

My dad on a hike to The Wave, a sandstone formation located along the Arizona/Utah border.

The Wave.

Downtown Flagstaff in Northern Arizona.

Desert storm near our house in Phoenix.

Lake Powell.

This photo was taken by my daughter Hannah at the South Rim of the Grand Canyon. Tourists like to feed the squirrels, so they're a little chubby.

The serenity of the Sonoran Desert.

Meanwhile the world goes on.

Meanwhile the sun and the clear pebbles of the rain

are moving across the landscapes,

over the prairies and the deep trees,

the mountains and the rivers.

Meanwhile the wild geese, high in the clean blue air,

are heading home again.

Whoever you are, no matter how lonely,

the world offers itself to your imagination,

calls to you like the wild geese, harsh and exciting --

over and over announcing your place

in the family of things.

"Wild Geese" by poet Mary Oliver

All photos by Kristy McCaffrey (unless otherwise stated)

Connect with Kristy

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The Origin and importance of Holiday Traditions. Subtitle: How Not to Ruin Christmas

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There is a time we refer to as The Year We Ruined Christmas. Nobody meant to ruin Christmas, but we learned that payback from side-stepping family tradition can be severe.

It was the failure to find our outdoor Christmas lights that started us sliding down the wrong path. My husband and I spent weeks searching every corner of what is a rather small house to no avail. The only conclusion we came to was that one of us, in a rare deep-cleaning fit, had thrown the lights away. So off to the store we went to buy new strings to light up the eaves and porch. After what seemed like hours of indecision, wandering up and down aisles, considering colored lights, cascading stars, plain white points of light, glacial icicles, strands of blue lights, and whatever else was on offer, we finally picked out two sets we thought looked nice together.

We headed home, but not before making what would turn out to be the second error of the day: picking up a tree while we were out. In my mind we were sparing our kids the trip to the tree lot. I love decorating the tree but I’ve always dreaded walking through rows of trees in the cold while folks compare trees. Just pick one out. Any one. I don’t care. Get that thing in the house and cover it with our collection of ornaments, and I guarantee it will look like any other Christmas tree we’ve ever had. (One of my worst memories involved go up to a tree farm in Wisconsin to cut down our own tree. Crossing a state line to pick out a tree is a bridge too far in my opinion.)

Anyway, remember I said our second mistake, alluding to the fact there was a first mistake? With a tree tied to the roof of our car and boxes of lights in the back seat, we pulled up in front of our house where simultaneously our sights strayed to the same spot. We noticed for the first time in nearly 365 days that we never took down last year’s lights. That’s where they’d been hiding out!

Christmas lights had been decorating our house through Easter, the Fourth of July, Thanksgiving, and every minor holiday and birthday in between. To top it off we’d spent all that time agonizing over new lights only to find they were exactly the same as the ones we already owned, and so we’d presumably gone through the exact same process to the same conclusion years earlier, like the lab rats we are.

That was bad enough but we were unprepared for the outrage from our two kids when we walked in with a tree. Apparently, the kids LIKE the whole tree lot ordeal and look forward to it every year. Screaming “You ruined Christmas!” they stormed off. Later they returned with their own tree which they set up in one of their bedrooms, which was quite a feat because they didn’t have what it takes to easily procure a tree, such as a paying job or a car. I never could figure out how they managed any of that, and whenever in later years I asked, I’d get “It’s too soon to talk about it.” This year—ten years later—I learned for the first time that they enlisted the help of a willing aunt, who also holds her holiday traditions dear and her tongue silent.

Whichever holidays your family celebrates there are likely traditions that have made their way through the generations. But where did these traditions come from in the first place?

Christmas Trees

Why do we bring a pine tree in our house once a year? Probably for the same reason our ancestors in cold climates did: bringing in a bit of greenery in the dead of winter is cheering. And the cat likes it. In Germany this custom merged with Christianity where on December 24 the “Paradise Tree” was decorated with apples on Adam and Eve’s name day. It evolved from there.

Give a nod to Queen Victoria and her German born husband, Prince Albert, for popularizing the Christmas tree outside of Germany.

Cookies and Milk

Do your kids enjoy putting out a treat for Santa? Thank the Norsemen. Though you’d be hard pressed to recognize Santa and his reindeer from their inspiration, Odin and his eight-legged horse, Slepnir. Odin and his flying horse would take to the sky and drop off treats to random kids. Children would leave out treats hoping Odin would favor them.

Did you catch how in time an eight-legged horse became eight reindeer? A jolly old man sitting in a sleigh pulled by eight flying reindeer is definitely less terrifying than an eight-legged horse thundering through the night sky with a Viking on its back. 

Odin and Slepnir

This Christmas Eve ritual of leaving treats out for Santa gained traction during the Great Depression as a way to teach children a lesson in gratitude. Incidentally in Ireland, France, and other European countries the children leave Santa something a wee bit stronger than milk. Note to American children: try being more continental this year.

Hanging Stockings

On the eve of St. Nicholas Day Feast Day, December 5, it was customary for children to fill their shoes with straw and leave them out for the donkeys. Overnight the straw would miraculously be replaced by coins. 

Eventually plain stockings hung on the mantel replaced straw-filled shoes, which was a step in the right decoration.

Still, who decorates their house with their children’s socks? (not intentionally anyway).

Thankfully, in 1883 someone came up with the idea of making decorative stockings meant specifically to adorn the mantelpiece. To quote an early New York Times piece heralding the new Christmas decorations, “No one could pretend that the stocking itself was a graceful or attractive object.” 

Mistletoe

This tradition I find especially interesting. For the ancient Druids and Celts, mistletoe was associated with fertility. It was considered unlucky to refuse a kiss under the mistletoe.

Cut to the era of big houses staffed by servants. The servants, many of them from far corners of the British Isles, brought this tradition with them. 

Stealing a kiss under the mistletoe moved Upstairs from Downstairs.

Christmas Lights

In my family we’ve pared down this tradition. On December 1 someone yells, “plug ‘em in,” and we’re done with it. We just leave those lights up year round now, unplugging them sometime in January. The lights are cheerful on long winter nights, right? But where did all this start?

Back in earlier times Christians would set lit candles in their windows to signal that visitors were welcome to celebrate with them. Also, lit candles represented the Christmas Star that led the Three Wise Men to the manger. The fireman’s daughter and granddaughter in me is silently screaming at the thought of so many lit candles. Especially lit candles on trees!

Lucky for us near the end of the 19th century, an associate of Thomas Edison made the first string of lights, consisting of 80 bulbs. Not long after, strings of lights were mass produced and sold in department stores. Over time they became safer, cheaper, and available to all, so now we can compete with our neighbors to see who can have the best displays. I don’t know the origin story of inflatable yard displays.

Whatever holiday you celebrate and wherever the customs that are associated come from, do enjoy yourself this season, and do remember that one person’s least favorite tradition might be another’s most treasured so let’s respect each other. Also remember that as fun as it is to decorate at the start of the season, another great tradition is putting away your decorations at the end of the holiday.

Speaking of enjoying the holidays, nobody enjoys them like Melody, one of the main characters in my story Counting Down to Christmas.

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About Counting Down to Christmas:

Melody Evans grew up an only child of a single mother, never putting down roots. Instead, they carried family traditions from home to home, none more precious than those surrounding Christmas. Romance? Melody has put a wall around her wounded heart and turned a cynical eye to the concept of happily ever after, despite making a living as a wedding planner.

Veterinarian Leland Jennings IV has roots long and deep at his family’s ranch in South Dakota. What he lacks, according to his meddlesome sister, is someone to settle down with. But he holds on to the unwavering belief that there is only one woman out there for him. Christmas? It’s a holiday for children, not a bachelor living alone.

Once Melody and Leland get over their initial animosity, they come together like two pieces of a puzzle, sparking emotions and nostalgic memories that bring magic to the holiday season. But when tragedy strikes, will their budding romance become a case of the right person at the wrong time, or will they forge a new path together?

Sample Chapters

You can get my holiday story plus other contemporary western romances by Hebby Roman, Hildie McQueen, Andrea Downing, Carra Copelin, Kristy McCaffrey, and Devin McKay in one set, on sale this month for $0.99!

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