My Western Books are in KU another month by Jan Scarbrough

 I want to use my May blog to let you know my two Western series are on Kindle Unlimited until mid-June. If you read KU books, take this last chance to grab my books before they go "wide" to Apple, B&N, Kobo, and other retailers.

A happily-ever-after series of romances, The Dawsons of Montana tells the stories of rancher Jim Dawson’s widow Liz, and his children Brody, Mercer, and Ben. Can they find happiness and love in the aftermath of the patriarch’s untimely death? 

Stepson Brody returns home after years of rodeoing to find the girl he left behind.

Jim and Liz’s daughter Mercer is hit hard by her father’s death until her stepbrother’s rodeo buddy helps her overcome her grief.

Jim’s widow Liz is left alone again until a guest comes to stay who throws her whole life into turmoil.

Ben, Jim’s son by his first wife, resents his father’s second family. He only comes home to keep a promise to his late father but doesn’t count on falling in love.

***

The Ghost Mountain Ranch -- The secrets of the past still haunt the living…

On Christmas Eve, Hank accepts the job of ranch foreman over the mountains in the Gallatin Canyon, Montana. But something dark is happening at the Ghost Mountain Ranch, where the past is reaching out in dangerous ways to haunt the living.

Thirty years ago, Darby Heston fled her family’s Montana dude ranch. Now she must return to help her father. Would the boyfriend she’d abandoned still be there? Hank Slade has never stopped loving Darby, but is he willing to risk his heart again? Secrets tore them apart once. Given a second chance at love, will more shocking secrets from the past destroy their hopes for the future?

Slade Heston is spending the summer as a hired hand at his grandfather’s dude ranch, trying to figure out life, not fall in love. Laurie Chastain is supposed to write promotions for the ranch, but she has a secret goal. What did a 1970s radical resistance group have to do with her grandfather? Laurie’s only clue leads her to Ghost Mountain Ranch. Will their growing attraction be enough to protect Slade and Laurie from the ghosts of the past?

Kelsey Heston’s using the skills learned at her family’s Kentucky horse farm to improve tourism at her grandfather’s dude ranch. But what is her old college sweetheart doing here? Max Lee has come to Ghost Mountain Ranch searching for a missing woman. Instead, he finds Kelsey. But old secrets are stirring, secrets someone might be willing to kill to keep. Can they finally lay the old ghosts to rest, or will the echoes of a decades-old murder destroy their second chance at love?

Holiday Hoopla and Hurrahs by Paty Jager

It’s November and since I blog here every other month this is my last blog on Cowboy Kisses for this year.  I’ve had a great year and still more releases and exciting deals for readers to come from me before the ball drops on 2016.

 

I just released book 7 in my Shandra Higheagle mystery series. It’s a Christmas mystery with Shandra’s dog, Sheba, having a starring role in the story. Crazy Lil, Shandra’s employee, spends most of the book doctoring her old mare. So you see, while this is a mystery, it also has western elements. You can check out Yuletide Slaying here.

Another big holiday event for me is the fact, I’m selling print book bundles at a special holiday price and if you live in the United States you get free shipping and my autograph on the books. If I run out of books on hand and need to ship them from the printer, I’ll send you autographed book plates. You can check out the bundles and prices here.

December 1^st, my contemporary western romance, Bridled Heart, will re-release with a new cover and updated material. I interviewed World Champion bareback rider Bobby Mote and his wife to make the hero in the book ring true. The hero, Holt Reynolds, has his sights set on the World Champion bareback title when he becomes intrigued with ER nurse, Gina Montgomery. In the book, they both have a past they’d like to forget, but that same past defines them. From December 1-10^th during the National Finals Rodeo this book will be available for $.99 in ebook. The end of the book is set during the National Finals in Las Vegas.

I’m having a Re-release and Rodeo party on Dec.2nd with seven contemporary western authors. This is to highlight the re-release of Bridled Heart. We’d love to have you stop by to talk rodeo and western romance. They’ll be prizes and lots of fun. You can find the information about this event here.

While it looks like I have a lot releasing right now, I’m also working on the research for the next book in the Letters of Fate series and writing a contemporary western novella for a box set. The life of a writer is never dull or boring!

One of my favorite things during the holidays is baking. I’ll leave you with one of the recipes I use every year in my plate of goodies for friends and neighbors. 

Pound Cake

½ lb butter(softened)

1 2/3 cups sugar

5 eggs

2 cups flour

½ tsp lemon extract

Mix butter and sugar till smooth. Add eggs one at a time. Mix well again. Add flour, then flavoring.

Grease two 4 x 8 loaf pans or four 2 x 4 pans, dust with flour. Bake 50 minutes at 350°. A toothpick inserted should be dry when the cakes are done. Remove from pans while still warm.

Happy Holidays! 

Paty Jager is an award-winning author of 25+ novels and over a dozen novellas and short stories of murder mystery, western romance, and action adventure. She has a RomCon Reader’s Choice Award for her Action Adventure and received the EPPIE Award for Best Contemporary Western Romance.  You can connect with Paty through her social media sites.

blog / website /  Facebook / Paty's Posse / Goodreads / Twitter / Pinterest

Great Caesar's Ghost - the Ides of March!

GREAT CAESAR'S GHOST!!

DOUBLE OR NOTHING, Book 2 of the Double Series,

is releasing today!

How wonderful that today, March 15th, also known as the Ides of March, and my usual day to post something on Cowboy Kisses, happens to be the day my sequel to Double Crossing is being released! It's also my husband's birthday. Watch out, Caesar -- there's a knife in my new book, too.

Here's some of the research details I discovered about the Bowie knife. My hero Ace Diamond uses one, since he's from Texas.

Rezin Bowie, Jim Bowie's brother, created a single edged knife after a bull attack, which he survived (obviously!), and fitted it with a wood handle. The  nine inch long blade resembled a butcher knife, and he gave it or a similar knife to his brother. In fact, the brothers gave many knives out to friends, which is why it's so difficult to pin down the exact one.

After getting shot by the local sheriff, Jim swore he'd always have a knife on hand. So he used the one his brother gave him in what was famously termed the 'sandbar fight' on the Mississippi at Vidalia, Louisana, in September of 1827. Despite being stabbed and shot, he disemboweled one attacker, wounded another and chased off a third. 

The local newspaper spread his fame. He was also renowned for surviving an Indian raiding party with a small band of colleagues -- they'd been outnumbered 15 to 1, but only lost one man compared to 40 Indian dead and 30 wounded. More fame to claim, yet he rarely spoke of his adventurous exploits.

Sometime around 1829 or 1830, Jim Bowie had  asked blacksmith James Black to improve on his brother's design. He modified it to include a clipped point which was double-edged and added to its lethal power.


And of course, Bowie ended up at the Alamo in 1836 -- which really pushed the legend. Despite being ill in bed, he managed to use his knife, a gun and his fists to escort many Mexican soldiers with him to the pearly gates. 

Here's what a present day Bowie knife looks like, to the right.


I'm not a weapons expert, and I've been known to cut myself with a cheap Dollar Store paring knife. Give me those safety blades to carve pumpkins. Now those are safe! Here's an example of the other weapon my hero Ace Diamond uses in both books -- a stiletto. Minus the hand guard, I'm sure.

Ace kept the stiletto in his boot. Whether or not that's actually possible--well, the reader has to give an author a little slack! It is fiction, after all.

And now I come to sharing about my new release! Today I'm hosting a FB event, so come join the fun! I'll share more details about how writing this book almost disemboweled me (just kidding, of course, but close to it!)

Here's the dynamic cover -- the pocket watch is Lily's father's, the photograph could be of her parents, and the cards are from Ace's poker hand. 

A mysterious explosion. A man framed for murder. A strong woman determined to prove his innocence.

October, 1869: Lily Granville, now heiress to a considerable fortune, rebels against her uncle’s strict rules in Sacramento, California. Ace Diamond, determined to win Lily, invests in a dynamite factory for a quick “killing,” but his status as a successful businessman fails to impress her guardian.

An explosion in San Francisco, mere hours before Lily elopes with Ace to avoid a forced marriage, sets off a chain of unforeseen consequences.

Despite Lily’s protests that her new husband has been framed, Ace is dragged off to jail as the culprit. 

Evidence mounts against him. Lily must learn who was actually behind the diabolical plan… and save Ace from the hangman’s noose.

Will she become a widow before a true wife?

Here's the BOOK TRAILER!!! YEEEHAW!

BUY LINKS -- Amazon for Kindle, B&N for Nook, Smashwords for other ereader devices! Print edition coming coming later!

SECONDARY CHARACTERS LET HEROES SHINE

Secondary characters are fun to write. They are not burdened by the heroic responsibilities of the two main characters. With this leeway, an author is allowed to make the secondary characters fun, shady, goofy, or bumbling without detracting from the over-the-top qualities necessary for the hero and heroine.

Two of the most enjoyable secondary characters I’ve writtern were the aunts, Lizzie Mae Fraser and Maggie Jo Gamble in my Men of Stone Mountain series: BRAZOS BRIDE (now available),  HIGH  STAKES BRIDE (releasing this week), BLUEBONNET BRIDE (end of 2012).

Available now in print and e-book

These two ladies are loosely patterned after my mom (as Maggie) and her older sister, Elizabeth (as Lizzie). Both have passed on now, but either would have done anything for her children. The sisters were always close and, as widows, grew even closer. Aunt Elizabeth always found something nice to say, and was one of the world’s best cooks. My mom was more critical or, as she was prone to say, “just let her know what I thought,” but she was tireless when it came to helping her children. My youngest daughter and I were reminiscing just Sunday evening that my mom also made the world’s best pies and candy.

When they were together, my mom and aunt were such fun. I had tried to get them to move near me and live in a duplex so each had privacy yet still had the close companionship of the other where I could look after them. My mom was willing. Aunt Elizabeth hesitated and then learned she had colon cancer, which ended her life. One of the joys of writing is that the author can accomplish in print what was not possible in reality, so I brought these two sisters together in fiction to enrich the lives of one another and the lives of their family (as the models did their children in life).

Releasing later this week in Print and E-book

In series, secondary characters can become the main characters of later books. In the Men of Stone Mountain series, brothers Zach and Joel were supporting players in Micah’s story, BRAZOS BRIDE. Each brother will have his own book, so readers can follow their developing relationships throughout the series. Each character must continue to change, to move forward in his character arc as the series continues. In Zach’s story, HIGH STAKES BRIDE, readers see Micah and Hope as parents of a son, Andrew. Micah remarks that he never realized it was possible to love a child who can’t even talk yet as much as he loves Andrew. Micah also helps Zach face the truth.

As you can tell, my books often feature family relationships. What I’ve enjoyed about writing the Men of Stone Mountain series is that the three brothers are closely knit. They may look at life in a slightly different way, but each is loyal to and supportive of the other two. I love that in a family, don’t you?

Thanks for stopping by!

BRAZOS BRIDE IS FREE TODAY AT AMAZON!

You have been so kind to buy my books, that now I have a surprise for you. Announcing,,,drum roll, please...my western historical romance-mystery BRAZOS BRIDE is FREE today at Amazon Kindle! Yes, that’s right. Zero. Zip. Nada. Gratis. Just for you because you guys are special. Very special. Where would writers be without readers to pour over their words? Banging their  heads against our keyboards, that’s where. Confidentially, we sometimes do that anyway.

The FREE link for BRAZOS BRIDE at Amazon Kindle is:
http://www.amazon.com/Brazos-Bride-Stone-Mountain-ebook/dp/B007HS10SY/ref=sr_1_18?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1331156267&sr=1-18

While I’m pounding away on the keyboard, working on the second book in the trilogy, you can be reading BRAZOS BRIDE: Men of Stone Mountain, Book One.

The trilogy is about the three Stone brothers: Micah in BRAZOS BRIDE, book one; Zach in HIGH STAKES BRIDE, book two; Joel in BLUEBONNET BRIDE, book three. There is another link, as I’ve mentioned previously - poison is used in each book. Book one and book two each deal with a different natural poison found in native a Texas plant. The third poison is one that was common in home and garden use in the nineteenth century.  I’ve chosen perfect matches for the Stone brothers. At least, I believe they are perfect. Book one’s heroine is Hope Montoya, a regal Hispanic heiress.  Book two features Mary Alice Price, a kultzy, adorable blonde. (Why, yes, she is my favorite.) Book three’s heroine is another regal woman, a redhead named Verity Dumas. I almost named her Verity Robichaux, but Dumas will be so much faster to type.

If you enjoy BRAZOS BRIDE, please leave a favorable review on Amazon to let others know. If you don’t enjoy the book, let me know your reasons at caroline@carolineclemmons.com? While it’s not possible to please all readers, I do try to write credibly about the Old West and whatever subject I’ve chosen. I spend hours and hours on research, on listening to my critique partners, and on revising and editing. Here’s another favor: please click on LIKE and then scroll down and click on the tags. This sounds silly, but it makes a difference in sales.

Thanks for stopping by!

Say Howdy to Meg Mims...

 My guest today is Meg Mims, a friend and fellow author I've recently met and come to admire.  It's always good to have like-minded friends, and I'm pleased she agreed to come here and share her western historical romantic suspense, Double Crossing.  Welcome Meg:

http://www.double-crossing.com

Yep, Double Crossing also has a mystery element and a touch of inspirational. I call it a “blended genre” read – check out my 5-star reviews on Amazon and Goodreads!

A murder arranged as a suicide … a missing deed  … and a bereft daughter whose sheltered world is shattered.

August, 1869: Lily Granville is stunned by her father’s murder. Only one other person knows about a valuable California gold mine deed -- both are now missing. Lily heads west on the newly opened transcontinental railroad, determined to track the killer. She soon realizes she is no longer the hunter but the prey.

As things progress from bad to worse, Lily is uncertain who to trust—the China-bound missionary who wants to marry her, or the wandering Texan who offers to protect her … for a price. Will Lily survive the journey and unexpected betrayal?

Why did you set Double Crossing on the transcontinental railroad?  Did you learn anything about trains that surprised you while writing this book?

 I loved True Grit (the original book, the movie in 1969 and the recent version also) and was inspired to use the “premise” of a young woman whose father is murdered, setting her on a quest for justice. Because I had to “twist” it (in many ways, since I couldn’t use Rooster Cogburn either!), I chose the transcontinental railroad because I’d always been fascinated by trains. Since the UP and CP first came together at Promontory Point in May of 1869, I decided that setting Double Crossing several months after that historic event seemed a ‘natural fit.’ And the research all seemed to fall into place, with a book written in 1872 about an English nobleman taking a train trip from New York to San Francisco, plus other interesting sources.

The most surprising thing I learned while writing this book – most people assume trains had normal “washroom” facilities like modern trains. Think again! Basically they were ‘outhouse’ holes with waste falling to the track, and caused major hygienic problems over the years. If your great-grandparents or grandparents were told to stay away from playing on the tracks until the 1930s, when plumbing was introduced to passenger cars, there was a good reason for that! Imagine how cold that would be in winter, too.

Since you mentioned Rooster Cogburn, did you create a character with the same role?

That was also tough – I rolled Rooster and the Texas Ranger LaBoef into “ Ace” Diamond, an ex-Confederate cavalry soldier, poker-player and wanderer… how did he end up in Omaha, Nebraska, without his horse? I’m considering writing a brief “prequel” short story to explain that soon! He may not be one-eyed or a drunk, but he has an interesting history nonetheless.

Tell us about Lily Granville.  How did she introduce herself to you?

 Lily went through many transitions. First she was as young as Mattie Ross, 14 years old and so whiny and spoiled, I disliked her. So I stuffed ‘Linnet,’ kicking and screaming, back into the centrifuge. Out popped Julia, who was 17, religious and quite bent on revenge for her father’s murder. Enough to shoot the killer, in fact, which wouldn’t work – she needed to be vulnerable. Needy. Yet spunky enough to undertake a 2,000 mile adventure and seek justice, not revenge. ‘Julia’ morphed into Lily, who loved her father yet quarreled with him – and then overcame her heartbreak to track the man she believed responsible for his death. Lily, at 19, has many choices ahead of her and discovers her own resilience is much stronger than she ever knew in Double Crossing. She’ll need that for the next adventure in Double or Nothing!

Here’s an excerpt, where Lily is in Omaha, painfully aware she’ll need protection from the growing danger – and then her domineering aunt shows up to persuade her to return to Chicago:

My face burned. I gritted my teeth, aware of the curious diners’ hushed whispers around the room, and lowered my voice. “I overheard your plans about Bellevue. Did you think I’d allow you to shut me away in such a place?”

Aunt Sylvia glared. “We only have your health in mind.”

“I’m in perfect health. You’d better take the train back to Chicago, because I already bought my Pullman ticket.”

“You cannot travel alone with Mr. Mason. You’re not engaged.”

“Uncle Harrison is expecting me.”

I ignored a twinge of guilt while the fib hovered between us. Her mouth pinched tight, she drummed her fingers on the tablecloth. Charles stood quiet, his face beet red, one hand smoothing back his fair hair, the other adjusting his collar and tie. Angry yells and shouts drifted through the window panes from the street, drowning out the resumed conversation around us, the clatter of plates and flatware. Outside, I caught sight of several men who fought with bare fists. They kicked, bit, scratched and pummeled each other. Sir Vaughn glanced out the window and then sat across from my aunt. He waved a hand.

“Common ruffians. These rustic surroundings breed a lack of manners.”

“Lily, you have no idea of the dangers. My husband traveled to Nevada earlier this year,” Aunt Sylvia said. “Neither you or Mr. Mason have considered the impropriety of this.”

“He’s a gentleman for escorting me.”

“I can see for myself what you both are—”

A blood‑curdling yell, similar to what I’d read about an Indian war cry, stopped her cold. The moment I glanced up, the window exploded. Shards of glass rained on us and a man rolled over the table. Scattering plates, flatware, cups and teapot, before he crashed onto the floor—unconscious, and half‑draped in the tablecloth among the broken china and glass.

Mere inches from my feet.

Ebook:  ISBN# 978-1-936852-48-2   Print: ISBN # 1466223200
BUY LINK:  Astraea Press, Amazon, Barnes & Noble
Check out the reviews on Amazon and Goodreads!

If The Pants Fit by Alison Bruce

A few years ago I entered the book that would become Under A Texas Star in a literary contest. I was prepared for criticism of my characterization, plot, and/or pace. After all, the chief reason I entered the contest was to get feedback I could use to improve my story.
I was dumbfounded that the judges’ chief complaint was that it wasn’t believable that a young woman could pass as a young man. Now that Under A Texas Star is published, I feel I can indulge in a little rant on the topic.

The dramatic device of a woman masquerading as a man has been around forever. It’s as accepted in historical romance as fast-than-light travel is in science fiction. Let’s set that aside, however. The fact is, women have been successfully posing as men throughout history.

I belong to Minerva, a history list devoted to women in the military. Thanks to the academics and enthusiasts, I learned that at least 400 women fought in the American Civil War. They cut their hair, bound their breasts and learn to behave like men. They were only ever discovered if wounded or killed or, as in the case of Sarah Emma Edmonds, they wrote about it afterwards.

I’ve picked Sarah Emma Edmonds, aka Frank Thompson, as an example because, like me, she’s Canadian. Edmonds escaped an abusive father in Nova Scotia to live in the United States. When her adopted country went to war, she was determined to serve.

Sarah could have been the heroine of her own romance. She served as a “male” nurse in an army hospital, then as a Union spy - disguising herself as a black man, an Irish peddler, and black mammy. In a ploy straight out of Victor-Victoria, she masqueraded as a man masquerading as a woman. Her story includes horse chases, gun play and near escapes - not unlike the adventures of Marly Landers in Under A Texas Star.

Unfortunately Sarah contracted malaria and had to desert or be found out. She returned to Canada, fell in love and returned to the States with her husband. They had three sons who, like their mama, served in the US Army.

To find out more about Sarah, check out her biography or read the Civil War Women Blog.

To find out more about Marly Landers, read Under A Texas Star, available in Kindle, Nook, Kobo, other formats on Smashwords and in paperback on Amazon and Barnes and Noble.

Disguised as a boy, Marly joins a handsome Texas Ranger in the hunt for a con man and they must bring the fugitive to justice before giving up the masquerade and giving in to their passion.

When Marly Landers is fooled by con man Charlie Meese, she's determined to bring him to justice--even if it means dressing up as a boy and setting off across the plains to find him.

“This is a rollicking adventure and Marly Landers is a girl with True Grit.”
Phyllis Smallman, Arthur Ellis Award winning author of Champagne for Buzzards

Alison Bruce has an honours degree in history and philosophy, which has nothing to do with any regular job she’s held since. A liberal arts education did prepare her to be a writer, however. She penned her first novel during lectures while pretending to take notes.
Alison grew up surrounded by the great dames of golden age mysteries - Christie, Sayer, Marsh - Georgette Heyer’s historical romances and the classic westerns of Louis L’Amour and Zane Grey. Naturally enough her debut novel, Under A Texas Star, is a mystery-romance set in the old west. 

www.alisonbruce.ca, alisonebruce.blogspot.com, twitter.com/alisonebruce,  www.facebook.com/alisonbruce.books