#NewRelease MAIL-ORDER TANGLE now in all major online stores! #Nook #Kobo #Apple #Kindle

Mail-Order Tangle

Two books

by bestselling western writers

Caroline Clemmons

and

Jacquie Rogers

Now at all major online stores!

Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Apple

Kobo | Scribd | Page Foundry

* Also in print! *

Mail-Order Promise
by Caroline Clemmons

Ellie Dickerson and her sister are in desperate straits when she contracts to become a mail-order bride to a Texas rancher. After her arduous trip from Virginia, she learns her fiancé has died. His handsome brother has sworn to take care of her and she’s instantly attracted to him, but he seems indifferent toward her. What will happen to her and her sister?

Kage Johanssen, co-owner of a ranch in Idaho with his cousin Matt, is forced to take over his family’s Central Texas ranch on the death of his older brother. Kage is in no hurry to get married, and when his brother’s bride shows up, she’s everything he doesn’t want in a wife—except she’s stunningly beautiful. Despite his deathbed promise to his brother and his attraction to Ellie, he’s convinced she doesn’t have the grit to be a rancher’s wife.

When a greedy, sadistic villain attempts to take over the ranch and kill Kage, can Ellie save her true love? What will it take to prove that she’s the only woman for Kage?

Mail-Order Ruckus
by Jacquie Rogers

Matt Johanssen returned to the ranch he and his cousin Kage started in Owyhee County, Idaho Territory, not knowing he took Laura Dickerson's heart with him. Now that her sister no longer needs her, Laura wants a home of her own and a family to put in it. No other man would fill the bill as well as Matt, but he’s not interested. Not wanting to live as a spinster aunt the rest of her life, Laura signs a contract with a marriage broker, choosing to go to Silver City, near Matt’s ranch, in hopes that he might come around. But he’s not on the roster of eligible grooms!

When Matt sees Laura among the brides on display on the balcony of the Idaho Hotel, he feels gutshot. He’s in no position to take a wife, not with a ranch eating up every spare moment and dollar. But if he doesn't step forward, the one woman he wants will be wed at the end of the week—and not to him.

Will Matt walk away from the woman who stole his heart or let go of everything he's worked so hard to build go in exchange for love?

♥ ♥ ♥

We sincerely hope you enjoy these books.  It was a fun collaboration and of course we fell in love with the characters.  We'd greatly appreciate a review--that's such a tremendous help.

Happy Reading!

Caroline Clemmons Website Blog Newsletter

Jacquie Rogers Website Pickle Barrel Bar & Books Pickle Barrel Gazette

Meet My Character #MailOrderTangle @CarolinClemmons @JacquieRogers #romance #western

Meet My Character

Matt Johanssen

Mail-Order Ruckus

the second book in

Mail-Order Tangle

I introduced you to Laura Dickerson two weeks ago, and Caroline Clemmons introduced you to Ellie Dickerson last week.  They're sisters, and Ellie has come to Texas as a mail-order bride.  Laura, who's older, comes along.

Now I’ll introduce you to the hero of Mail-Order Ruckus, a short western historical romance that is the second book in a duet with Caroline Clemmons, Mail-Order Tangle, to be released in September.

1) What is the name of your character? Is he/she fictional or a historic person?

Matt Johanssen. He’s definitely fictional, a combination of many men I've known and admired.  Matt is a year older than the hero of the first book, Kage Johanssen, his cousin.

2) When and where is the story set?

1880-1881, first in Texas and then in Owyhee County, Idaho Territory.

This is what Matt's ranch looks like in the spring when it's all nice and green.

3) What should we know about him/her?

Matt admires his Grandpa Bert (Adelbert Johanssen) and wants to achieve what his grandpa did—build a ranch despite the elements and other issues a ranchman faced. His word is his honor, and he holds to it. In Mail-Order Ruckus, Laura Dickerson shows up as a mail-order bride and unless he marries her, a man on the grooms roster will.

Matt's prize bull.

4) What is the main conflict? What messes up his/her life?

Matt is focused on his ranch and determined to make it a going concern. To do that, he’s invested every penny he has into it—he bought a blooded bull and after a harsh winter, 400 head of breeding cows. What money he makes has to go for wages, bills, and feed for both animals and crew. He has no money and no time to spend on a wife. Problem is, Laura, who he met and admired in Texas, comes to Silver City with a group of mail-order brides for a week of courting by men who’ve paid for the privilege of courting them. She has a week to pick a groom. And it can’t be him.

5) What is the personal goal of the character?

Matt’s all about building the ranch to a self-sustaining operation just as his grandfather did in Texas.

6) Is there a working title for this novel, and can we read more about it?

The title of the duet is Mail-Order Tangle. You can read more about both books in the duet at

http://mailordertangle.blogspot.com.

We don’t have much on the site yet, but the cover’s posted and there’s a blurb for each book.

Caroline Clemmons

7) When can we expect the book to be published?

We’re aiming for September 10. It’s an ambitious schedule and we have lots to do, but both Caroline and I are extremely excited for this release. It’s our first time working together, although we’ve been online friends for quite a while, and I’ve been a fangirl of Caroline’s long before that. So I’m tickled to be included in this book with her!

Caroline will be writing about her hero, Kage Johanssen, so check her blog on the 21st!

For the latest scoop on my shenanigans, subscribe to my newsletter, the Pickle Barrel Gazette, and join my Facebook group, the Pickle Barrel Bar & Books.

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Hearts of Owyhee series 

by Jacquie Rogers

HEARTS & SPURS: Guarding Her Heart by @LiviaJWashburn #western #historicalromance #valentine

Guarding Her Heart

a short story in

Hearts and Spurs

by Livia J. Washburn

Nine days—nine stories from nine veteran western historical romance authors

Just in time for Valentine’s Day!

My first guest is Livia J. Washburn. Under the names Livia J. Washburn and L.J. Washburn, Livia Reasoner has been writing award-winning, critically acclaimed mystery, western, romance, and historical novels for thirty years. She began to write in collaboration with her husband, author James Reasoner, and soon branched out into telling her own stories Livia and James have had a long career working together, tweaking and editing each others stories. In recent years she's become involved in the publishing end of the business, producing ebooks and trade paperbacks for Western Fictioneers, and now for Prairie Rose Publications. A good day for her includes having time to create something new in the kitchen, on a story, and designing a great cover. Livia lives in the Texas countryside with her husband, and her dogs.

Website | Blog

RTW: What intrigued you to write Guarding Her Heart?

Livia J. Washburn

LJW: I wanted to explore how two very different people could find love in common when thrown together by dangerous circumstances.

About Guarding Her Heart

Julia Courtland was on her way west to marry a man she had never met. Henry Everett, the marshal of Flat Rock, Texas, was the grandson of her uncle's best friend. It seemed like a good match for both of them, and the wedding was scheduled to take place on Valentine's Day.

Grant Stafford thought the young woman who got on the stagecoach at Buffalo Springs was the prettiest thing he had seen in a long time. She wasn't too friendly, mind you, but she was sure easy on the eyes. Not that Grant had time to worry much about such things. He was the shotgun guard on this run, but more than that, he was an undercover Texas Ranger on the trail of the vicious outlaw gang responsible for a string of stagecoach robberies.

Fate threw Julia Courtland and Grant Stafford together on a cold February day in West Texas, but it also threw deadly obstacles in their path. A runaway team, a terrible crash, and bullets flying through the air threaten to steal not only their lives but also any chance they have for happiness. If they're going to survive, they will have to learn to trust each other . . and maybe steal their hearts back from fate.

RTW: I can attest that this is a fabulous story!  How about a small sample?

As she rocked along in the stagecoach, Julia Courtland wasn't sure her toes would ever warm up again. Wasn't the weather supposed to be milder in Texas? It was a lot farther south than Philadelphia, so that should have been true.

But ever since she had gotten off the train in Buffalo Springs that morning to catch this coach for the last leg of her journey, she had been cold, especially her feet.

Cold feet? Wasn't that what people called it when somebody had doubts about getting married?

RTW: And this is only the beginning of an exciting romantic adventure!  Tell us what else you have for us to read.

The Fatal Funnel Cake
by Livia J. Washburn

It’s time for the State Fair of Texas—and cooking contests galore! Fryers are heating up and stomachs are growling. But Phyllis Newsom had better watch out. Someone’s brought an appetite for murder....

Phyllis and her friends Carolyn and Sam are ready to whip up their best dishes and win some ribbons in Dallas. And they’re excited to learn that one of their favorite celebrity chefs—Joye Jameson of The Joye of Cooking—is broadcasting her TV show from the fair. When Phyllis’s funnel cake is picked as one of the best of that category, Joye invites her and the other finalists to prepare their delicious recipes live on the air.

But Phyllis’s moment in the spotlight is spoiled after Joye suffers a deadly allergic reaction from one bite of her funnel cake. Now she’s gone from top entry to top suspect. So in order to clear her name, Phyllis will have to turn up the heat on this investigation before the real killer slips through her fingers....

Includes Recipes!

♥ ♥ ♥

Hearts and Spurs

How do you capture a cowboy's heart? Hearts and Spurs is a collection of nine stories by some of western romance’s best—just in time for Valentine's Day! Following up their Christmas collection Wishing for a Cowboy, these ladies have done it again with new stories of handsome cowboys and the women who captivate them in Hearts and Spurs.

The Widow's Heart by Linda Broday

Skye O’Rourke thinks her imagination is playing tricks on her when she sees a man emerge from the shimmering desert heat. No one would willingly take a stroll under the scorching sun with a saddle slung on his back. She’s shocked to discover it’s Cade Coltrain, a man she once gave her heart to only to have him give it back.

Can she trust him not to abandon her this time? Yet, trusting each other is the only way they can survive. And love might just save them if they believe…

Guarding Her Heart by Livia J. Washburn

Julia Courtland was on her way west to marry a man she had never met. Henry Everett, the marshal of Flat Rock, Texas, was the grandson of her uncle's best friend. It seemed like a good match for both of them, and the wedding was scheduled to take place on Valentine's Day.

Grant Stafford thought the young woman who got on the stagecoach at Buffalo Springs was the prettiest thing he had seen in a long time. She wasn't too friendly, mind you, but she was sure easy on the eyes. Not that Grant had time to worry much about such things. He was the shotgun guard on this run, but more than that, he was an undercover Texas Ranger on the trail of the vicious outlaw gang responsible for a string of stagecoach robberies.

Fate threw Julia Courtland and Grant Stafford together on a cold February day in West Texas, but it also threw deadly obstacles in their path. A runaway team, a terrible crash, and bullets flying through the air threaten to steal not only their lives but also any chance they have for happiness. If they're going to survive, they will have to learn to trust each other...and maybe steal their hearts back from fate.

Found Hearts by Cheryl Pierson

Southern belle Evie Fremont has lost everything — except hope. When she answers an advertisement for marriage to Alex Cameron who lives in the wilds of Indian Territory, she has few illusions that he could be a man she might fall in love with — especially as his secrets begin to unfold.

Ex-Confederate soldier Alex Cameron needs a mother for his two young half-Cherokee sons more than he needs a wife — or so he tells himself. But when his past threatens his future on his wedding day, he and Evie are both forced to acknowledge their new love has come to stay — along with their Found Hearts.

Open Hearts by Tanya Hanson

To honor her brother’s last request, Barbara Audiss takes on his identity. Letting loose her secret will land get her arrested. But keeping it prevents her from giving her heart to handsome sheriff Keith Rakestraw.

Furious at “Judge Audiss’s” latest verdict, Keith discovers she’s a fake and consequences seem easy: toss her in jail. Instead, he finds himself eager to give her his heart.

Hollow Heart by Sarah J. McNeal

Madeline Andrews is a grown up orphan. Sam Wilding made her feel part of his life, his family and swore he’d come home to her when the war ended, but he didn’t return. With the Valentine’s Ball just days away, the Wildings encourage Madeline to move forward with her life and open her heart to the possibilities. But Madeline is lost in old love letters and can’t seem to let go.

A Flare of the Heart by Jacquie Rogers

Celia Valentine Yancey has no illusions she’ll ever enjoy wedded bliss, so chooses marriage over spinsterhood even if she has to marry a man her father picked. On the way to meet her groom, she endures armed robbery, a stagecoach wreck, a dozen hungry baby pigs — and an incorrigible farmer. 

Ross Flaherty retired from bounty hunting to become a farmer but now Celia has brought his worst fear to his door — in more ways than one. A ferocious wolf-dog and a dozen piglets are no match for this determined lady. 

Which is more dangerous — the Sully Gang or Miss Celia Yancey?

Coming Home by Tracy Garrett

Sometimes it takes two to make dreams come true.

When a man who believes he’ll never have a home and family…

Former U.S. Marshal Jericho Hawken should have been shepherding a wagon train to new territory, but he unwillingly left them vulnerable to a vicious raider. The murder of the settlers he was supposed to be guarding is the hardest thing he’s ever had to face…until he meets the sister of one of the settlers.

…finds a woman who has lost everything…

Instead of a joyous reunion with her brother, Maryland Henry has come to River’s Bend to take responsibility for her three orphaned nieces. Fired from her teaching position and with no other family on whom to rely, Mary believes Jericho Hawken is responsible for all her woes. Or is he what she’s been searching for all along?

It takes a lot of forgiveness and a few fireworks to realize that together their dreams can come true.

Tumbleweeds and Valentines by Phyliss Miranda

When Amanda Love finds a tumbleweed lodged against her fence with an invitation to a Valentine Day dance stuck to it she thinks someone must be playing a joke. No one would invite her. No one ever had. Besides, she has no time for such things. She has a candy store to run. Curiosity gets the best of her though. Finding her name scrawled on it as bold as can be sends ripples of surprise through her. As she embarks on a quest to find the sender’s identity, she examines herself and the secret dream she harbors of having a husband and children.

Maybe, just maybe, someone had seen the yearning in her heart. But who?

The Second-Best Ranger in Texas by Kathleen Rice Adams

His partner’s grisly death destroyed Texas Ranger Quinn Barclay. Cashiered for drunkenness and refusal to follow orders, he sets out to fulfill his partner’s dying request, armed only with a saloon girl’s name.

Sister María Tomás thought she wanted to become a nun, but five years as a postulant have convinced her childhood dreams aren’t always meant to be. At last ready to relinquish the temporary vows she never should have made, she begs the only man she trusts to collect her from a mission in the middle of nowhere.

When the ex-Ranger’s quest collides with the ex-nun’s plea in a burned-out border town, unexpected love blooms among shared memories of the dead man who was a brother to them both.

Too bad he was also the only man who could have warned them about the carnage to come.

♥ Hearts and Spurs ♥

Kindle | BN.com | Smashwords | Print

Camp Ford, Texas: The Largest Civil War Prison Camp in the West



Troy D. Smith, author and historian

 Camp Ford, Texas:
The Largest Civil War
Prison Camp in the West
by Troy D. Smith
Copyright © 2012 Troy D. Smith

[Note: be sure to visit Monday's interview with Troy and read an excerpt of Blackwell Unchained.]

During the Civil War, hundreds of thousands of soldiers on both sides wound up in prison camps. Conditions were, obviously, less than ideal –and they got worse as the war dragged on, especially in the South. It is estimated that more than 50,000 men died from captivity in Union and Confederate prisons. It was not necessarily a matter of deliberate mistreatment –by the end of the war, the Confederacy was having trouble providing food for its own troops, let alone prisoners.

The worsening condition of Union prisoners is demonstrated by the story of Camp Ford, near Tyler, Texas. It was established as a training camp in 1862, but became a prison camp in August of the following year. At first it was only meant for captured Union officers and naval personnel. The prisoners were kept in an open field, with Confederate troops on hand to guard them. There were only a few hundred inmates, and they had access to lumber and tools; New Yorker A.J.H. Duganne recalls the ten by ten foot log cabin which the other prisoners helped him build, and noted that tools were put to various good uses:

“In spite of all obstacles, Yankee ingenuity finds means to assert itself, and the long hours of our imprisonment are whiled away by many shrewd workers, with no small returns of pecuniary profit to themselves.”

After a mass escape attempt in November, 1863, the camp was enclosed by a palisade—a wall made of sharpened wooden poles. There was also a guard-house, and prisoners had to contend with sadistic guards. Duganne recalled one instance where an especially cruel guard ordered a Union lieutenant to approach him, then shot the man fatally through the bowels for crossing the guard line.

The camp quadrupled in size in the spring and summer of 1864, after the battles of Mansfield and Pleasant Hill. The population peaked at over 5,000, most of them enlisted men. It was the largest prison camp west of the Mississippi River. While the imprisoned Union officers had their small cabins, the other 5/6 of the prisoners had to contrive whatever cover they could—making “shebangs,” or improvised shelters, out of blankets, tree limbs, leaves, cast-off odds and ends of lumber, and mud. The enclosure was expanded, but the captives still had the same water sources that had supported a fraction of their number before.

The prisoners resisted in whatever ways they could. Tunnels were attempted. Once a prisoner, having been struck by a guard, hit the Confederate in the head with a rock and then melted into the crowd. On another occasion a Confederate officer’s pipe was stolen, only to show back up in his own pocket the next day—with a U.S. flag carved into the bowl. Messages were passed back and forth to prisoners who were locked in the guard-house for various offenses by means of a “police telegraph—other prisoners would volunteer to malinger or show up late for roll call, punishable by a short stint in the guard-house, on which occasion they would deliver the messages.

Duganne told of one especially daring escape attempt. Fifteen prisoners stole into the courtyard in the dead of night, risking discovery by the night watch. Duganne and others who met regularly as a “musical club” started singing at the top of their lungs, attracting the guards’ attention—even taking requests from the Confederates, including “Dixie.” While the watchmen were thus distracted, the fifteen Union men worked together to pull one of the palisade stakes out of the ground and slipped, one by one, through the space. They were not missed until the next morning, whereupon the guards pursued them with bloodhounds. Thirteen of the fifteen were recaptured, while the other two escaped to Union lines.

The guards would sometimes whip naked female slaves within sight of the Union captives, to taunt them—as if to say “here is what you are allegedly fighting to stop, what can you do about it?” Local citizens also lynched runaway slaves and pro-Union Texans near the prison camp, often hanging them and sometimes burning them alive.

As Duganne reported, “Burning men and women at the stake is a relic of aboriginal amusement. A negro was thus executed at Tyler, while our prisoners tarried at Camp Ford. The occasion furnished a gala-day for all the good people of Smith County, our guards included.”

Kate Stone, a young lady from Lousiana who lived near the camp during the war and sometimes wrote about it in her journal, was occasionally moved to sympathy by the prisoners’ pitiable condition. But, she concluded, “we cannot help them. They should have stayed in their own bountiful country instead of coming down here to kill and destroy.”

The Camp Ford prison site is now a public park.

~~^~~

Troy D. Smith's Blackwell Unchained is available at Amazon and Smashwords.

Contest!

One commenter this week wins

a pdf of three short stories:

Blackwell the Highwayman
Blackwell Unchained
Blackwell's Star

Small print: Winner will be drawn Aug. 25, 2012 at 9pm PDT.  Please leave your email address with your comment so we can contact you.  Otherwise, we'll have to draw another name.

Linda LaRoque: A Love of His Own

A Love of His Own
by Linda LaRoque

This week, Romancing The West features Linda LaRoque and her May release, A Love of His Own. A little about her: Linda LaRoque is a Texas girl, but the first time she got on a horse, it tossed her in the road dislocating her right shoulder. Forty years passed before she got on another, but it was older, slower, and she was wiser. Plus, her students looked on and it was important to save face.

A retired teacher who loves West Texas, its flora and fauna, and its people, Linda’s stories paint pictures of life, love, and learning set against the raw landscape of ranches and rural communities in Texas and the Midwest. She is a member of RWA, her local chapter of HOTRWA, NTRWA and Texas Mountain Trail Writers.

RTW: Welcome, Linda. Thanks for joining us this week!

LL: Jacquie, thank you for having me here on Romancing the West. You have a beautiful and interesting blog with loads of fascinating people and topics. I’m pleased to have this opportunity to share my upcoming release with your readers.

RTW: Thank you! I'm amazed at the talented authors willing to come and share with us, and I'm glad you're with us, too! So why do you write Westerns? What aspect of life in the Old West intrigues you the most? Did you work that into A Love of His Own?

LL: As a young girl, I day dreamed about living in the Old West and wondered if I’d be a farmer’s wife or a dance hall girl like Miss Kittie on Gunsmoke. Of course, I didn’t have a clue what those ladies did other than wear pretty clothes and serve drinks.

In high school and college I enjoyed history and read extensively, historical novels being one of my favorites. The first story I remember reading about the Old West was Jubilee Trail by Gwen Bristow. From then on I was hooked on the time period.

On the aspects that intrigue me, I have to say most everything—the clothing styles, the home furnishings, customs and speech, and the unity of some small communities.

In my upcoming release, A Love of His Own, I tried to make every aspect as authentic as possible—from the clothing to how to drive a team of mules. RTW: If you lived in 1892, what would you visit first? Is there something you’ve been curious about that you can’t find in your research sources?



Linda LaRoque, author



LL: A Love of His Own is the third story in this time travel series and is set in 1892 Prairie, Texas in the Texas Panhandle. I’d want to ride a train and sleep in a sleeper car, visit a mercantile, try on a pair of the original Levi’s, and try to cook on one of those wood stoves.

RTW: If a person who had never read a Western (any sub-genre) asked you for a recommendation, what novel or movie would you recommend and why? What did the author do to bring the story alive for you?

LL: Oh boy, that’s a hard one. I’d have to stay Jubilee Trail by Gwen Bristow and How the West Was Won by Louis L’Amour. Both authors showed the hardships and the struggles experienced by both men and women when traveling across the country, settling the land, surviving, and building a happy life.

RTW: Why must Bull Dawson take this particular story journey? What does he have to prove? How does Dipsey affect his journey?

LL: My hero, Buford “Bull” Dawson, is determined to travel back in time and live out his days with his daughter’s family. There is nothing left for him in the future. He’s been a widower for close to thirty years.

He sets his sights on the widow Dipsey Thackson, a woman shunned by the community because of her past. His goal is to marry her and have a love of his own.

RTW: Now that you have us intrigued, please set up the excerpt for us.

LL: Bull Dawson, New York lawyer, mourns the loss of his daughter, who disappeared from a cabin in Fredericksburg, Texas four years ago. A history book found in his office safe leads him to believe she traveled back in time to 1888 Prairie, Texas. He's determined that if she can time travel, he can too. Life will be different, probably hard, but practicing law can't be so difficult back in the Old West.

Widow Dipsey Thackson scratches out a living for herself and her young son on their farm. Shunned by the locals, she keeps to herself. When a man appears in her wheat field one day, life changes for the better. Then her brother-in-law arrives, claiming the farm is his and threatening Dipsey and her son. She fears for both their means of survival and their safety.

Her dilemma will take more than a knowledge of the law, but Bull vows to do his best to protect her and her boy.

A Love Of His Own (Excerpt)

by Linda LaRoque

Copyright © 2012 Linda LaRoque

Dipsey walked back to the wagon and placed a foot onto the spoke of the front wheel to climb into the wagon. A snorting sound from behind her made her pause. Grabbing her rifle from under the seat, she whirled and peered into the field of winter wheat gently waving in the cool morning air. Sunlight glanced off the stalks giving the field a slight iridescence, but no movement caught her attention.

The noise stopped, then resumed with a loud bleating resonance. If she didn’t know better, she’d think Thomas was asleep in the wheat field, but she’d buried her husband two years past. Who trespassed on her land?

Rifle cocked, she stepped in the direction of the snoring. Thomas always said she could sneak up on Satan himself. She hoped her skill served her well today.

Lying on her precious wheat, breaking the stalks flat and making it useless, was a big, burly man. Wrapped in someone’s finely stitched quilt, he had a brown felt hat over his eyes. One arm lay across his chest, the other cradled a new-fangled model Winchester, so new the shine hadn’t yet worn off.

She snatched the rifle from his arm. The dang fool didn’t open his eyes. Dipsey thumped him on the shoulder with the butt of his weapon. He farted and rolled to his side exposing a muscled butt and legs encased in denims. She stumbled back a few steps. Disgusting man!

RTW: Hahaha! Good one and we'll be waiting impatiently to read the rest! So what’s next? Is A Love Of His Own a part of a series?

LL: A Law of Her Own and A Marshal of Her Own are the first two stories in this series. I think A Love of His Own will be the last story and I’ll move on to something else, probably another series. I have a Paranormal Romantic Suspense set along old Route 66 with an editor now. It involves a woman on the run, a recovering ex Albuquerque police detective, a ghost, and a set of missing Zuni prayer fetishes. My latest work-in-progress is another time travel set in Waco, Texas in 1890. My first time travel, My Heart Will Find Yours, is also set in Waco in 1880. I grew up in Waco and we moved back to the area in 2002. I love researching local history and am having loads of fun with this new project.

RTW: And you have a...

Contest!

LL: I’d like invite your readers to enter the contest I’m having on my blog to celebrate the release of A Love of His Own. I’m giving away a Brighton heart box of chocolates charm. If you read the story when it comes out May 16th, you’ll recognize the significance of the charm.

And TWO chances to win a Free Book

right here at RTW

At the end of the week, on April 27th, I’ll give away two PDF copies of my books—two winners. Just leave a comment to be entered in the drawing. The winners can view my website and pick which book they’d like.

Small print: Please leave your email address or we'll have to draw another winner.  Drawing will be held April 27th, 9pm Pacific Time.

Lyn Horner: Dashing Druid

Dashing Druid (Texas Druids)
by Lyn Horner

Romancing The West welcomes award-winning author Lyn Horner, who resides in Texas with her husband and beloved cats. Trained in the visual arts, Lyn worked as a fashion illustrator and art instructor for Art Instruction Schools (famous for their "Draw Me" heads.) After quitting work to raise her children, she took up writing as a hobby, soon discovering a love of historical research and the crafting of passionate romances based upon that research.

RTW: We'd love to know more about the Texas Druids series, specifically the featured book today, Dashing Druid. Could you please tell us about your book?

LH: Glad to, Jacquie. Tye Devlin is empathic. He “feels” others’ emotions. Although he’s learned to block out most of the “racket,” he has no defense against cowgirl Lil Crawford’s hidden pain, for it echoes his own. Healing each other will be no easy task for these two wounded souls. Set in the 1870s, against a backdrop of Texas ranch life and an iconic cattle drive, this story pits Tye and Lil against dangerous enemies, feuding families and their own personal demons. Love may carry a deadly price.

Giveaway!

Dear RTW fans, Lyn will give away a free copy of Dashing Druid.

Please see details at the end of Lyn's interview.

RTW: Why do you write Westerns? What aspect of life in the Old West intrigues you the most? Did you work that into Dashing Druid?

LH: I take after my dad. He loved stories of the Old West. I watched dozens, maybe hundreds, of westerns on TV with him, and he introduced me to authors like Zane Grey and Louis L'Amour. Eventually I started reading western romances. When I began writing, I naturally gravitated to that genre. Cowboys and cattle drives have always intrigued me most. My favorite TV western was Rawhide, and to this day I love Red River, the original black and white movie with John Wayne and Montgomery Clift. This epic tale of the (fictional) first trail drive from Texas to Kansas led me to feature a cattle drive in Dashing Druid.

RTW: If you lived in the 1870s, what would you visit first? Is there some place you researched where you might like to live?

LH: Gosh, I'd surely like to visit Wichita, Kansas, where my trail drive concludes, and watch the cowboys drive a sprawling cattle herd straight through town. Since I live in Fort Worth, I'd also like to see “Cowtown” in the old days. First, though, I'd probably visit Bosque County, Texas, home to Tye and Lil. It would be fun to see if the area looked as I picture it back then.

Choosing a place to live is easy. It would be Georgetown, Colorado. How my characters get there, I won’t say, but living in such a picturesque location would be a joy. Surrounded by mountains, the town is charming with its Victorian homes and old time storefronts. However, I'd spend winters in Texas. I grew up in Minnesota. No more snow and ice for me!

RTW: If a person who had never read a Western Romance asked you for a recommendation, what novel or movie would you recommend and why? What makes the story special for you?



Lyn Horner, author



LH: Well, as I mentioned before, I love the movie Red River, so I'd recommend that. Not only is it a wonderful adventure tale, but it also includes a touching love story. Two actually. One is the romance between Montgomery Clift's character and a woman he meets along the trail (can't recall the actress's name, sorry.) The other is the unspoken love between the father figure (John Wayne) and his adopted son (Clift.) It's their relationship and the pain it involves, that always tugs at my heart. It also has a happy ending, always a winner in my opinion.

Now, if we're talking books, my first favorite western romance was Sweet Savage Love by Rosemary Rogers. Yes, it's a bodice ripper, but what a ride! I've never read anything to top the page-turning pace. Among later authors, Linda Lael Miller can't be beat. I love her time travel stories, especially Sierra's Homecoming, because it's so unique. Having two heroines living in the same house but on different timelines, and the way she connects them, is a brilliant idea!

RTW: Why must Tye Devlin take this particular story journey? What does he have to prove? How does Lil Crawford affect his journey?

LH: Tye’s story is one of redemption as he struggles to put his ghosts to rest. He must prove to himself, as well as to Lil and her family, that he's worthy of her. Drawn to her by his empathic ability, he finds in her a new reason for living. She, in turn, must come to believe she's not the unlovable old maid she thought herself to be.

RTW: Would you like to share an excerpt from Dashing Druid?

LH: Absolutely. In this scene, Tye and Lil are at a Saturday night social. She is escorted by Frank Howard, a friend of her family, who she doesn’t like. Tye has just asked her for a dance.

Lil stiffened. “Listen, I agreed to dance with you to show Frank he doesn’t own me. That doesn’t give you the right to nose into my business.”

His mouth curved downward briefly, but then he nodded. “As ye say, colleen.” He tilted his head, studying her. She was about to tell him to quit staring when he spoke. “And will ye also object if I simply ask whether Lil’s your full given name?”

She blinked at his unexpected change of subject and shrugged. “It’s Lily, but nobody ever calls me that. It doesn’t suit me.”

He laughed softly. “Ah, but I think it does, for you’re as beautiful as your namesake.”

Lil forgot to breathe for a moment. Was he mocking her the way he had that day last summer at the creek? Or . . . was it possible he really meant what he said, both now and back then? Suddenly unsure, she felt herself blush and sent her gaze skittering away like a terrified rabbit searching for a hidey-hole.

“Y-you must be addled. I’m not even pretty.”

He sighed and murmured in a deep, husky tone, “Lily, Lily, ye know not your own worth. You’ve the face of a Greek goddess I once saw pictured in a book. Your skin glows as if kissed by the sun, your brown eyes spark with fire when you’re angry and call out to me in my dreams. And your hair . . . ah, colleen, it makes me think of moonlight on dark water. My dearest wish is to bury my face in it and drink in your sweet scent.”

Never had a man said such things to Lil. Melting warmth enveloped her as she lifted her head and got lost in Tye’s radiant blue eyes. She parted her lips, but no words came out. Instantly, his gaze swooped down to her mouth, and it shocked her to realize she wanted him to kiss her. What was left of her rational mind cried out in protest.

“Don’t talk nonsense,” she whispered, sounding breathy and unconvincing even to her own ears.

“Nay, Lily, ’tisn’t nonsense, ’tis the simple truth. And there’s more, much more I wish to say . . . and do.”

She gasped, suddenly fearful.

“Ah, luv, don’t be frightened,” he said quickly. “I’d never hurt ye, I swear.”

♥ ♥ ♥

Dashing Druid can be purchased at Amazon.

RTW: What’s next? Where does Dashing Druid number in the series?

LH: Yes, it’s the second volume in my Texas Druids trilogy. I’m hard at work on the third book, Dearest Druid. In it, Tye’s little sister Rose is lassoed by an Indian cowboy and puts her healing touch to good use.

RTW: Anything else you’d like to add?

LH: I would like to briefly mention Darlin’ Druid, the first book in this series. Available in Kindle format and in print, this book won second place in the Paranormal Romance Guild’s 2011 Reviewers Choice Awards. It stars Tye’s sister, Jessie Devlin, and her hunky dream man David Taylor.

Your Chance to Win!

RTW: Okay, give. What contest are you offering this week?

LH: Okay, readers, here’s the scoop on my giveaway. It’s simple. Just leave me a comment here on RTW, including your email address so I can contact you if you win. (Or, if you prefer, email it to me: texasdruids@hotmail.com.) The entry period ends at 9:00 pm on Saturday, March 10th. The prize is a Kindle copy of Dashing Druid.

Thanks, Lyn, for joing RTW this week! RTW readers, be sure to enter her contest by leaving a comment with your email address, and join us in Thursday for Lyn's western article. You won't want to miss it.

Caroline Clemmons: Camels in the Old West



Caroline Clemmons, author

 Camels in the West
by Caroline Clemmons
Copyright © 2012 Caroline Clemmons

Since I live in, write about, and love Texas, you won’t be surprised to learn that today’s post involves Texas and Southwest history. If you saw the 1976 family comedy “Hawmps!,” then you already know that the U.S. Government experimented with the effectiveness of camels in the desert West. The movie was hilarious, but loosely based on fact.



Jefferson Davis



In 1855, the U.S. Congress, at the urging of Secretary of War Jefferson Davis, authorized the importation of camels and dromedaries to be used for military purposes and earmarked thirty thousand dollars for the experiment. Davis, a veteran of the war with Mexico, had seen considerable service in the Desert Southwest. Keenly aware of the role that camels had played over the centuries in the warfare of other nations, he believed that the strange beasts could be put to use in the United States as well.

Major Henry C. Wayne and Lieutenant David D. Porter departed for North Africa, where they were met by a third American, Gwinn Harris Heap, whose father had been the U.S. consul to Tunis for a number of years. They acquired thirty-three camels before departing for home in February 1856. Native camel drivers accompanied the camels and dromedaries.



Camel Headquarters



The ocean voyage from the Mediterranean, through the Strait of Gibraltar, and across the Atlantic was been uneventful considering the fragile cargo. On May 14, 1856, the camels came ashore at Indianola, Texas. Ten acres of land had been set aside for them and a two-hundred-foot-long shed had been built to house them. Major Wayne decided first to acclimate the camels to the intense humidity of the Gulf Coast by letting them rest in a large corral.

Writing to Secretary of War Jefferson Davis, Navy Lieutenant Porter said, “We have lost on the voyage but one of those we purchased…and she died from no want of care, but because she was unable to produce her young one…We still have more than we started with, some young ones having been born on the passage, and are in fine condition. All the other camels I am happy to say have not received a scratch…They are looking a little shabby just now, most of them shedding their hair…but they are fat and in good health.

Three weeks later, the animals began first leg of the trip that would take them to San Antonio, Texas, on to El Paso, Albuquerque, and across the arid Southwest all the way to Fort Tejon, California. The camels performed extremely well. Capable of carrying loads of up to twelve hundred pounds—larger than a horse or mule could carry—the beasts lumbered along at a slow but steady pace.

A monument in Quartzite, Arizona pays tribute to chief camel driver, Hajid Ali, called Hi Jolly. After the camel experiment failed, he used some of the released camels to conduct a freight business. Later he married and worked in Quartzite. The monument is at his last campsite. At his death, he believed small families of camels still roamed in remote areas of the Southwest.

The great camel experiment eventually failed. With the advent of the Civil War, the personnel at Union garrisons in the Southwest scattered before the advancing Confederates. Some of the imported animals were set free and some were kept in captivity. The last known survivor died in a Los Angeles zoo in 1934. However, even today people occasionally tell tales of seeing lone camels in remote corners of the Southwest.

Note: Most of this info was gleaned from an article in his book It Happened in Texas, by James A. Crutchfield, 1996, Two Dot Press, Helena, Montana.

♥ ♥ ♥

Be My Guest
by Caroline Clemmons

only 99 cents!
Amazon ~ Smashwords

Caroline Clemmons: Home Sweet Texas Home

Featured title: Home Sweet Texas Home
by Caroline Clemmons
Buy links: The Wild Rose Press * Amazon * B&N

Where you can find Caroline on the internet:
Website * Blog * Twitter

RTW: Thanks for joining us today, Caroline.  I love, love, love your books!  I just finished The Most Unsuitable Husband.  A keeper, for sure!  Speaking of love, readers love to get to know authors. Please tell us about growing up. Siblings? Locale? Were you the shy kid or the tomboy? Share anything that lets readers get to know the real you.

CC: When I was a baby, my parents moved from North Texas to California and didn’t return to Texas until I was almost eight. My half-siblings lived in California, and being near them was very nice. They were my mom’s age, and always seemed more like aunts and uncles than siblings. I was a tomboy, but also very shy and sickly. My dad thought I should learn to read and write and my numbers while I was still young. He taught me in the evenings. I joke that he taught me to read so he wouldn’t have to read the newspaper comics to me every evening. The truth is that he gave education a high priority.

When we moved back to Texas, we lived near Lubbock for three years while my dad managed a cotton gin, and then moved into the city where my dad was a cotton buyer. The year before we moved into Lubbock, my brother was born in LaMesa. Poor Dad essentially had three families. I lived in Lubbock until I moved to Dallas.

RTW: Who are your favorite authors and favorite genres?

CC: Initially, my favorite romance authors were Nora Roberts and Julie Garwood. As I met more authors through RWA, my list expanded to so many that I really can’t list them all here. Of course, one of my favorites is Jacquie Rogers for her fast-paced stories and humor. MUCH ADO ABOUT MARSHALS is one of my favorite books.

RTW: How many books do you read a month? What are you reading now?

CC: I’m a fast reader, which is not really a good thing. I read anywhere from 10 to 20 books a month. Right now, I’ve just started the new Rhys Bowen cozy in her Royal Spyness series, NAUGHTY IN NICE.

RTW: When you’re not writing, what’s your favorite way to relax and recharge?

Caroline Clemmons

CC: Reading. Seriously. I love spending time with my family, travel, genealogy, and browsing antique malls and estate sales. I have so much “stuff” that I have been shying away from antique malls, estate and garage sales except to pick up books.

RTW: Would you like to share any guilty pleasures that feed your muse?

CC: Chocolate and a Dr Pepper can’t be beaten. Not that they always feed my muse but, hey, it’s chocolate and Dr Pepper . . .

RTW: How long have you been writing?

CC: Forever it seems. I only started writing novels about 20 years ago. Goodness, has it been that long? Why aren’t I on the NYTimes bestseller list by now?

RTW: Where do you prefer to write? Do you need quiet, music, solitude? PC or laptop?

CC: I have a lovely office that was my youngest daughter’s bedroom. I prefer my PC at a nice workstation. The daughter whose room I appropriated decorated it for me with prints she knew I’d love. I feel so at home and comfortable in this room. I joke that it’s my pink cave because I love to hibernated there.

RTW: Are you a plotter or a panzer?

CC: Mostly a plotter. My friend Sandra Crowley is a wonder at helping me plot. Then Ashley Kath-Bilsky and Geri Foster keep my on tract critiquing my work. I’m blessed with such good friends!

RTW: Do you research before you begin a new project, or as you go along?

CC: I prefer to research prior to beginning a project, but sometimes points crop up that require additional knowledge.

RTW: Tell us about your writing schedule. Do you set goals? Do you write daily?

CC: I do write daily. I used to set as my goal five pages a day and often went way, way over. Lately, I’ve been a slug and haven’t been diligent. Too much time spent on promotion.

RTW: What do you hope your writing brings to readers?

CC: I hope readers sigh with pleasure when they finish my book and that they can’t wait to read the next one. I hope that while they’re reading, my book takes them away from any conflict or problem they face in their lives and lets them relax and enjoy.

RTW: What advice would you give to unpublished authors?

CC: As Winston Churchill said, “Never, never, never give up.” That’s not to say you shouldn’t keep trying to hone your craft and improve your writing.

RTW: Tell us about your latest release.

Two million dollars? What a fortune to inherit! Coutney Madison has battled poverty her entire twenty-five years but is determined to make a safe and happy home for her teenaged brother after the recent death of their mom. She thinks her inheritance in West Texas is the answer to her prayers--but Courtney's problems are definitely not over yet.

Derek Corrigan suspects the worst of his new neighbor and vows to fight his attraction for her. He knows what women do to him--they always leave and take chunks of his heart with them. He's been there, done that, had the vaccination and is cured. Isn't he?

Excerpt from Home Sweet Texas Home by Caroline Clemmons

Copyright © 2011 Caroline Clemmons 

When Jimmy saw his sister in bed, he rushed over. “Sis, what happened? What’s with the towel and the ice packs?” He frowned at Derek. “What’s going on?”

She opened her mouth to explain, but nothing came out.

Derek figured the bizarre situation defied description. He patted Jimmy on the shoulder. “Don’t worry, she’s okay now. We were at the cemetery putting flowers on Sam’s and Maggie’s graves and your sister got trapped in the bathroom.”

Jimmy shook his head. “I don’t understand. How could that hurt her?”

Courtney sighed. “The knob came off in my hand and I couldn’t open the door. So, I climbed out the window.”

Derek held out his hands to indicate the small rectangle. “A small, high window.”

Jimmy looked from his sister to Derek. “I still don’t understand what happened.”

Courtney snapped, “I got stuck, okay?”

Now that he knew her to be okay, the week’s tension suddenly snapped Derek and he lost his perspective on the whole situation. He grimaced at Jimmy. “She, um…” He coughed to keep a straight face. “When she tried to go out the window, she got stuck with her head and one arm sticking outside and the rest of her inside.” He stood like a bird with a broken wing to imitate Courtney’s position. A grin spread across his face in spite of all his efforts not to smile.

Jimmy gaped at his sister. “Courtney? But she’s always so sensible. She’s never does anything stupid.” He began to smile also.

Both males burst into laughter.

“Listen, if you two are so amused, go into the other room to discuss my apparently hilarious antics and leave me to suffer in peace.” In spite of her strained muscles and injuries, she threw a box of tissues in their direction. “Go on, get out of here. Now.”

Derek glanced over his shoulder before he left.

She’d stuffed a pillow over her ears, to block out their laughter.

###

Thank you, Caroline!

Win a Free Book!

All you have to do to enter to win a free copy of Home Sweet Texas Home, is leave a comment on one of Caroline's posts this week.  One lucky winner gets it all!  Be sure to leave your email address or we'll have to draw another winner.