Evening Star

 

My contemporary novels are not as linked together as have been my historical novels. When I wrote them, that was only off and on in my mind. Some characters know each other, but my priority was the issues that interested me as is the case with this one. When I made the decision to bring these books out as an independent writer, I looked at whether I could change any of that. I felt not without losing credibility for these characters.

One example of where I did know is the hero of Evening Star, Randy O'Brian, I knew his ancestors had come up from Arizona and were related to Cordell O'Brian, the marshal in my earlier historical series. 

I think for writers, it's good to have people the readers will enjoy following from hero/heroine to secondary characters. Readers like that. I like it, but you have to think ahead to make that work. Considering the first of these contemporaries were written in the 1990s, when the plots came to me, to have a couple of them related is fortunate.

In terms of timing for when these contemporaries took place, Moon Dust and Evening Star are closest though the people don't know each other. Well, in Portland, Oregon, it's a big city with a lot of people, who live there, who we will never know unless we come together via jobs.

Back to the story at hand and why it interested me. First issue that came up
for me, as a writer, was I generally have a point of view of the hero and heroine. I like to write that way, but I didn't do it this time. There are two points of view but none for the hero. I wanted others to see him through others eyes, given what he was doing. 

Would the reader wonder also what was up with him, who was he really, who knows? Other than novellas, I like writing what the hero is thinking (always have the heroine), but this book, a full length novel, I preferred to see it all through her eyes-- other than that one other point of view, who was not Randy's. I have thought of rewriting this book in first person, and tried out a chapter or two, but don't know that it would improve the story. It would be easy to do despite I have never written one that way.

Marla Jamison thinks she has her life as she wants it. She's experienced tragic losses and wants nothing like that to happen again. She has a successful career, a boyfriend to date but not care too much where it came to either of them. Convenient describes it.

Except meeting a man, determined to teach her another way, puts all her plans at risk. The heart knows what it wants and maybe that's what is best. Difficult though it might be to get there.

Just for fun, this is the first paragraph in the book, if I did change it to first person: 

Hearing my heels click as I made my way across the terrazzo flooring, I barely made it to the elevator before the doors closed. To be polite, I smiled for the quick thinking young man who had held them for me. Unfortunately, that led to a protracted view of his week. I managed another smile as I thought—whose week isn’t overloaded. Before we reached his floor, I politely fended off an invitation to dinner. I held onto my smile.

 Below is the link to the book in third person. Currently all contemporaries are only at Amazon. That could change since they are finding no readers, but not sure it'd be better if they were wide like the historicals.

Evening Star 

 

 

 

Rose- The Professional Homemaker

 

When beginning a new book, the idea of theme is important but also who will be the characters. Back when it was time to start this book, I wanted a senior romance for a novella. I also wanted at least one character from the first three books in the Arizona historical series. Turned out, I found two, along with other characters returning in secondary roles.

First came Rose, who I had loved for her caring qualities. She is referred to in the first book but is actively in the next two. As a woman who has dedicated her life to caring for another family, along with her husband James, she seemed interesting to me as well as a woman who deserved a happily ever after ending. 

She had been a homemaker, nanny and carer for Priscilla to the point she became a second mother to her. Priscilla had married and moved to a border ranch, Where Rose and James joined them until James grew ill. Priscilla helped them return to Tucson, got them a small cottage and continued to pay for their lives. When James died, Rose cared for her small home and the larger one still owned by Priscilla. She found a quiet life with friends to play cards and chat. It seemed all she would want until along came a disruption.

Ollie, a rather unlikely hero, was a secondary character in all three earlier books. An aging outlaw, mostly retired, he had admired Rose but did nothing about it while she was married and then went through a healing process. He didn't want to wait too long though, as he figured more men would see her as he did. In his late 50s, he wasn't too old to not want passion in a relationship. How would that work with Rose's stable life?

Hence begins Rose's Gifts, with a few surprises along the way. 

Rose's Gifts at Amazon

and through Universal Links

For anyone interested in finding Ollie and Rose in earlier books, along with their families, they can be found in the first three in what is now called the Winds of Change series. The links are alongside this blog to both Amazon and those other links.

There is a trailer along the original title before the book had to be withdrawn over a need for changes. The trailer tells a bit more about the story and it didn't change when it came back.

Rose's Gifts-- YouTube Trailer

what love is

When writing romances, it's part of the deal to care about relationships and the subject of love itself. With a romance, the requirement is a happily ever after-- in short, it has to work out in the end. An example would be Pride and Prejudice where however unlikely it might seem, they're going to be with each other at the end of the book. 

image purchased from Deposit Photos.

With love stories, this is not necessarily the case. An example of that would be Gone with the Wind. One might hope he'd come back but didn't seem likely when the story ended.

Romances are fantasies, not to say love stories cannot also be, but one is satisfying even when it might not feel realistic. Still, does it seem believable that this couple would fall in love to begin or did the writer just throw them together and tell readers that it happened. The best romances make the reader believe, yep, it could make sense. 

I wrote one of my contemporary romances where it began with a couple divorcing, which one wanted and one did not. Divorces do sometimes end with a couple back together in what we call real life. Not always and definitely not needed in a love story.

Always when I begin a romance, I have in mind at least one of the protagonists. Then who seems likely for that happily ever after, with, of course, some major glitches along the way. That is required or there is no interest. When I come up with the second protagonist, I have to believe it's more than seeing each other and bam. If I don't believe in it, the readers will not.

Music speaks a lot about love-- sometimes as a romantic fantasy and sometimes with sad endings. I particularly like this song from the 80s where it speaks of someone wanting to know love, wanting to find someone to teach them.

I want to know what love is

Here's the thing about love. It's within us. Relationships in romances can begin many ways, from friends to lovers or even enemies to lovers, but the real life deals, which last. love for each other, and not in the romantic sense of the word but more the in depth caring for that person and what is good for them as well as one's own self.  

People looking for love in their lives have to be logical as well as emotional. Do I share life goals with that person? Do our backgrounds make it likely that we will understand each other? It can't be just lust, though that might be a beginning. If that's all it is though, don't expect it to last. Real love goes through good and bad times with a desire to work together for a good life. I try to write romances where that seems likely for the protagonists.

Romantic love is lovely in books, soothing to read through dark times, but the kinds of relationships that last take genuine love and that takes the emotion and logic to make it through the dark times-- and I believe all relationships have those. I know something about those long term relationships as I am in one. Not that I don't have dreams that add to what I write.

More than you might think

Image we photographed at the Arizona State Museum

When I wrote the original eight Arizona historical romances, they came widely spread apart in years, some closer to one story or another, but not ever together even though they share characters.

Forced to re-edit them, I did it over a year, which meant I saw elements in them that fit together in a cohesive sense. There are, of course, the themes, but there were other aspects that were a key part of what made them work for me and hopefully for readers.

One of those big elements was how important family was in all the books. Now, that can be in a negative sense, with parenting fails, but also in a positive on where family helped everything to work for the characters. 

Looking then at my Oregon historical romances and I saw the same importance of family as key to the stories.

Some might think romances are all about a couple, but that's not the case with  the best stories out there where it's family, friends, couple, and yes, setting that make the stories work.

Maybe, I put that in those books because I've felt family is important in my life, that who my parents, grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins, and even ancestors, which I might never have known, were part of how I became who I am.

But, that led me to look at my own contemporary romances. There I see less of the family element and more of strong friendships, which have also been important in my life. I think that with families so often apart over jobs or even personality elements, modern Americans may rely more on strong friendships, which can be as close as blood kin. 

What this led me to recognize in the books I have written, how much I consider community, in one form or another, as key to our satisfactory personal life. 

When I put something in my books, it's because I see it as important as something that goes beyond the romance, which is, of course, central, to the rest of what life is about. 

EMBRACING THE DREAM -- new release

 Based on my own experiences, one of the difficulties of writing any kind of promo for a coming book, comes down to what do you reveal that interests a future reader and what will give away secrets readers want to discover for themselves? This is multiplied when it is a series.

Embracing the Dream has a continuing cast of characters, including the hero and heroine; but stands alone if a reader doesn't care for series stories. Because it is a novel, it has a lot of complexity -- my favorite kinds to write. It, more than some others, presents challenges to not give way what should be discovered -- the real fun of reading.

 

Have you ever had a dream that seems beyond your reach? Well, that's Grace, who fell in love with Rafe when she was a girl. She could never have him as he was married and even after his marriage imploded, he still saw her as too young. Reluctantly, going off to the university, she took control of the wealth she inherited and tried to make a life for herself.

Still, she can't let go of that dream and when she learned he had returned from fighting as a Rough Rider in the Spanish American War, she put aside everything else to head back to Tucson. 

Rafe, a one time deputy to her father, had come to Tucson to bring Grace home to her family. Everything falls apart as Rafe’s ex-wife is murdered, his son kidnapped and Rafe accused. As a Yaqui, life isn’t easy for Rafe in Tucson. It’s about to get a lot harder. 

From then on, the story moves north out of Tucson as Rafe wants to find his son with Grace determined to help him-- whether he wants that or not.  The rugged Central Arizona country is filled with many dangers. Rafe’s dad had trained him in back country Indian trails. With action, romance and the love of family, the story moves to a violent conclusion back in Tucson.

You can find Embracing the Dream as an eBook at

Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0CTHQNTGN/

and elsewhere at:  https://books2read.com/u/b6awxZ

Interesting Sale Coming

Readers might assume a lot of research goes into historical romances. Actually it does for most books, when the topics are important and may have various nuances to them. With historicals, this is multiplied. We can't really know how people spoke back then because all we have are books. So, some assumptions are made. We can research when certain expressions were first used, but that also is from books. 

Recently, as I edited another of the Arizona historicals, I had a scare when I read something about dime novels and Buffalo Bill Cody. Since a dime novel plays a big part in this story, I panicked, would those novels still have been there when it was set? It would have been bad had they not. Fortunately when I looked, my early research had been correct. They ran from 1860 to 1915, which had a comfortable window around when my story is set. That one is one of the last in that series; so, not out for a while.

There are readers who could not care but such details being right matters to others. It matters a lot to me too. Getting such elements right for their times is part of the joy of writing historicals.

I have mentioned before that when we had to pull all eight of my Arizona historicals, all the reviews were gone. Hoping to get some back, we opted to make the two books alongside here, first in the series, free for a week. Maybe it will draw in new readers and lead to more sales when the following six come out-- the third one around when the sale ends.

Beginning March 3rd to March 9, go to @Smashwords to get Beyond the Broken Road and The Beckoning Flame free, for their Happy Read an Ebook Week!  

Find these and many more books at https://www.smashwords.com/ebookweek      #ebookweek24 #Smashwords

More about Smashwords eBook Week

In keeping with springtime growth, Smashwords has a week long sale with special discounts to encourage readers to explore another set of authors.

Smashwords is easier to use than the Kindle Store and directly focused on simpler categories, 30 - 90 day, recent titles and specific themes without the constant scrolling or sponsored ads.  

If you have read Rain Trueax's Oregon Trail Romance series.  Check out her 1853 to 1906 Arizona based historical romances. After the first two here, the rest will be out gradually. All start in Tucson, the Ol' Pueblo, and the action extends across the vast landscapes of desert,  sky islands, ancient cliff dwellings, mining camps and lawless dying criminal hangouts. She loves these places having hiked and camped across the area for over 40 years. You will be pleased with the romantic interactions and the sense of place... the heat, the smell of desert rain and the critters.

You cannot find these books free at the cover link alongside here. You can though get to Smashwords through the Universal Link. If you haven't already joined there, it's free and easy to sign up where you will find my two free eBooks (from the 3rd through the 9th). After that they'll be there but at their regular price of $4.99.

What dreams can mean

Dreams are a big part of my life-- the night time sort, not daytime. Some have meaning to them but so far no prophetic dreams, which is fine with me. Some are prosaic or seem that way like recently going to a movie theater, which seemed meaningless until the end of it. I'd left the film part way to go to the bathroom. I came back to see the end except it went into scenes of people watching films, with nothing to do with the story I'd left. Those scenes kept going on and on until I realized the story would never return and the meaning was how we wait around for an ending that may never come, and it does relate to life.

Some of my dreams work into parts of books. One became a book that led to two more books. It began because in the fall of 2013, I lost a cat I loved very much. I'd have paid a lot of money to save her life. She was too young to die, but something was catastrophically wrong inside. All I could do was let her go, which happened when the veterinarian came out to the house and gave her a merciful end. I cried so much. I still cry when I think about it, which is why I don't include her picture here.

 That night I asked for a dream to know if reincarnation was true. I had thought this cat had come to me twice. Both other times, she'd lived out her whole lifetime. This time I wanted to know if reincarnation was true. If it was, I hoped I'd get her back again. The dream was not about cats but it was powerful.

A man and woman were on a train. They had been lovers in previous lifetimes. This time they were both destined to die early from accidents.

There were two spirit guides looking at what was happening. As the lovers kissed, a gold ring was clearly seen over the kiss. The guides saw it and

observed how rare that kind of love was. 'They will just ruin things again if we don't let them fix it this time,' they said. At the same time, there was another couple, where the woman was plotting to kill the man to get his money. What can fates do to fix these two unfairnesses? The dream had the answer with a transfer of souls.

Now, it's been a lot of years since the dream, but some elements are still strong in my memory especially that ring over their kiss. I still see it if I think about it and have never heard of such a thing anywhere except in my fiction novella.

When I woke that morning, I realized I had to write this story. There were elements I could not use-- like the train. There were other elements that I added to it to fill out the book of these lovers who had met in high school but never did anything about their feelings until years later when tragedy cuts their time short. I added scenes that fit the characters like a time in the spirit at Bear Mountain. That's what writing is about-- an initial idea and then what!

I wrote the novella, When Fates Conspire, and put it out in January 2014 when I began to think this had potential for something more. 

No dream this time, but the woman who lost her son is having a hard time, in The Dark of the Moon, holding onto the family ranch with her main help gone. A man, who sees the

other side and is trained as a sorcerer, comes to the ranch after hearing of her plight. He offers to help, and it's not hard to see where this is going since it's a romance. 

The mystical side though went beyond the sorcerer as the son who had been killed, who had found joy with his soul mate in their new bodies, begins to feel a draw to a ranch where he's never been and that he can't explain. The soul connection is there when mother and lost son meet. Oh, there is the little matter of villains and a killer bear.

Were two enough? Not close, It takes three. Storm in the Canyon has a shape-shifting druid hero. Langston Agency is called by the restored son to figure out what is happening in a canyon with strange powers growing by the day. This is a canyon known for its tragic endings. The spirit world is also concerned and sends a spirit guide into human form to help. She can't stay forever but is romance in the air? Of course, but so is a logical explanation for why monsters of old might be gaining power in a

Montana ranch canyon.

Three novellas from one dream, but it wasn't the end. I wanted to combine them into one novel-- Diablo Canyon. I also wanted to add in the spice that novellas don't have enough room to have. 

Having three into one has a confusing aspect. If someone doesn't read the whole blurb and buys the novella and then the novel, they might feel they were cheated. The novellas do have one feature, or rather more of it than the novel-- Dante's quotes fit each chapter. What a poet he was.

Remember tonight... for it is the beginning of always.    Dante Alighieri

novellas available at Amazon:  

When Fates Conspire: https://www.amazon.com/Fates-Conspire-Diablo-Canyon-Trilogy-ebook/dp/B00I53K8CE

 The Dark of the Moon: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00K105OVY

Storm in the Canyon: https://www.amazon.com/Storm-Canyon-Diablo-Book-ebook/dp/B00L0LQEG2 

Full length novel with those three and spice put together: https://www.amazon.com/Diablo-Canyon-Trilogy-Rain-Trueax-ebook/dp/B00M9NXVDO

Titles of books

 Some who write books, have titles in mind from the start. I almost never do. I often change my mind on possible titles before the book comes out. Those are the lucky times. For my Oregon historical romances, their first published titles worked and continue to work for me. That happens sometimes but not always.

The Arizona historical romances have been less fortunate. I started out looking for a title for the first one after it was written. Keep in mind that marketing is in the essence of what titles and covers are about. Finding a title and yes cover that work for a trope is what helps to find readers.

What should a title say about the book? Something about the theme, maybe the characters, or the essence of the story. Location works for some books as it might be central to the rest of what happens. What about when it's not?

With the book that had its first title as Arizona Sunset. I thought not only did it give the location but also the possible dire end of a life through the plot. Of course, since it was a romance, not a love story, that dire end wasn't really possible. That book went through assorted other title possibilities and nothing really dealt with the story itself. Nothing worked for readers or even me. When we got to the last one, Impulse, it was the biggest failure. Yes, impulses were important to the impetus behind what happened, but what did that tell a reader?

I've written before about what we went through once we found out that we could not again change titles, due to rule changes. What it led to was pulling the series, and a full year of working on how to bring the books out again, as I still love the stories and their characters. These books were set in Arizona and related to each other, with some characters carrying through them. Sam, hero of the first book, was such a strong character that he ended up in most of them as a secondary character.

For me, as a writer, this year probably didn't look like much was happening, but it was. Not so much the plots or characters but editing to improve the writing (something most authors will have happen if they keep writing).

The question remained, what title would give these two protagonists a fair exposure to what their journey was about. Then we came with the concept, both were on broken roads, going where they did not want to go. What changes that trajectory was bringing their energies together. It's not just a broken road but what can come beyond it. 

This title worked, at least for me. It better, as I will try never to change another title given all we went through with this one. Although, I have learned a lot about those books and what the titles meant for their journey.

Available for Amazon at https://www.amazon.com/Beyond-Broken-Road-Winds-Change-ebook/dp/B0CMZ2F29L ,

Plus universal distribution at  UBL: https://book2read.com/u/4jED5o

If you read the book, consider leaving a review, as it lost them all when being pulled and republished. Reviews mean a lot to other readers to help them decide on what to read next.  They are also good for the writers *s*

Samhain

 Because next week is the day many call Halloween, but a time with a much older origin, Samhain, I thought it a good time to show how such times can be used in books. This snippet comes from the Oregon historical, Love Waits. It is not a big part of the plot but rather about the family and from where they came, how they saw things. 

Jed, who tells this story is from a Scottish heritage family, who first settled in Georgia, after Culloden, which was a big thing in Scottish history and why many decided to immigrate elsewhere. Although the tale is supposed to be from Georgia, the history of ghost tales goes back to his Scottish ancestors. It's just one example of how such traditions are carried on and then can be used by a writer. As you read such a brief sample, you won't know who these characters are but maybe can tell from what they say. 

The point of view is from the hero of this fourth in the Oregon series even though the traditions come from Jed (hero of the third) and the one telling the story to the family. The following image is from Stencil and not in the book (although there is a cat referred to) but this picture fits Halloween. *s*

 

“I heard these stories as a small one,” the tall southerner drawled as he rose and began to lower the lamps until the room was barely lit. The moon outside was rising but it was a crescent that provided little light.

“The stories I was told come from the swamps and cypress forests of Georgia and the home of Two-Toed Tom.” He moved around the room as he described a home where many generations had lived and where a ghost was determined to keep for himself.

“Do any of you know what a ghost looks like?” he asked with a smile as he scanned over the children.

“Ugly?” Rufus suggested.

“Like you maybe,” Eli added with a grin as he gave his nephew a light punch on his arm. Rufus responded with a giggle.

“For those who have seen ghosts… or claimed they did,” Jed said, “they don’t agree. And most folks don’t see them at all. They just see what they do when they break something or make noises intended to scare people.”

His story took the side of the ghost. He created sympathy of the poor ghost who only wanted to keep his home from intruders. Rand saw it took the fear from it but not the excitement as the children listened with rapt attention. With the ghost’s great disappointment in failing to scare anyone, the sorrow all fell upon the poor trapped ghost failing in his assigned task.

“And then one brave little girl confronted the ghost and made him show himself.”

“Oh yeah, like it would be a girl,” Rufus protested with a low growl.

“Did the ghost hurt her?” Laura asked, ignoring her brother’s insult as she cuddled her little sister to her. Jessica had from the beginning sought comfort on Belle’s lap.

“No, he was glad she saw him. He felt less lonely when she asked him what he needed. She told him they would not be scared; so he should do all that he needed to be happy. ‘I just want someone to hear my story,’ the ghost cried.

“’Let it be me,’ she said as she then sat and listened as he told her of his life, how he had come to be where he was. After she heard it all, he smiled and vanished, never to be seen again.”

“He should have killed someone,” Rufus suggested. “What kind of ghost is that?”

“Killing isn’t good,” Jeremy disagreed. His face grew somber. “I wonder if my mother is a ghost.”

“This is the time when the other side is very close to us,” said Jed. “It is a time to ask for stories, ours or those from the other side.”

“Now?” The little boy’s expression grew worried.

“Are you sure this is a good idea?” Raine asked as she nudged Jed’s shoulder.

“Of course, because we are all here to be together and make it not scary. What is your mother’s name, Jeremy?”

Rand had little belief in another side and wondered if Jed did. The boy looked uneasy as he considered the request. “My father never told me. And I was pretty little when she left.”

“What did she look like?” Belle asked tenderly brushing the hair back from Jessica’s forehead.

“Like my sister. She had red hair. It was curly and pretty. She was beautiful.”

Rand wondered if he could get more information on the missing mother when he got back to the fort. More likely, it would take his next trip to The Dalles and the telegraph to get to those who might have such records for the Foresters.

“Where did you live, Jer?” Rand asked remembering the preferred nickname.

“Virginia and then California.”

“Well, let’s see if any ghosts want to talk to us,” Jed said as he took a seat at the dark end of the room.

“Being scared does not seem a good idea before bed,” Raine again reminded him.

“It’s not scary to talk to the other side,” Jed corrected her. “They are like my story not scary. They just want us to listen.”

“You sound like you believe in ghosts,” Adam said with a skeptical tone.

“Of course. I am a southerner,” Jed said with a smile. “Now let’s just listen and when we listen, whatever we hear, we will tell each other. Deal?”

Rand had no real belief in anything, certainly not that his mother might try to reach out to him from across a mysterious divide. Still he didn’t try to ruin Jed’s celebration of Samhain. He glanced again at Belle as she comforted the little girl. She would make a loving mother. That thought gave him no pleasure. If she was pregnant, it was clear she would shut him away from their baby.

It was his own damned fault for making love to her before he had the right. If he could have, he’d have kicked himself. He ruined it for them both. Twice maybe. How would their life have been if they had married when she had wanted when she was so young?

He had been right back then though. He knew it. If she was rejecting him now, likely she would have eventually left him. What could the military offer a woman like her that she could not find better with another? He would work to be a friend to her, to support her as best he could for as long as he lived. He would do likewise for any child if one happened to be on its way.

When no one reported any sightings of ghosts, Jed brought out his guitar. “Some of these were African folk songs that I grew up hearing.”

Jed’s voice was on pitch, deep and soulful. He brought intensity and a deep meaning to each song. He concluded with one that Rand had heard during the war—Aura Lee. A song of a man in love with a golden haired woman. It might have been Belle.

Finally, Jed stopped and said, “When we sleep tonight, remember your dreams. In the morning be sure we all share them.” With that, the children were taken off to bed by Belle and Amy. Raine, responding to the wail from their baby, left to feed him and then go to their own bedchamber. “I should also head for bed, Martha said. “Heaven likely is feeling very deserted. “She pulled on Adam’s arm to head for their cabin.