What is a Dark Angel?

 

The blog  title asks a question. What is a dark angel? Well, in this book, it's not a supernatural being, but rather what the heroine has come to call the hero. Dark for what he seems like he might be, dangerous, a life on the edge, but angel for what he looks like and what she believes is under the cover of the dark side.

The story begins in Reno, when a young, wealthy, widow, Katy Brown, has come to help her uncle, while her small daughters are at a summer camp. She can organize his business's books, which appear in disarray. She also wants to clean up the office, as clutter bothers her. When her dark angel comes in, Dill Delaney is not pleased at all to see her there, which adds to her suspicions about Uncle John's business partner or is he?

While Katy has no interest in the Reno night life, it's where Dill lives, in a tiny apartment with his adopted feral cat, McGee. What makes Dill's life
even more dicey is he's been forced into working undercover for the federal government to nail a crime boss. Dill hates every part of what he has to do to accomplish this, but he's trapped in it as a way to protect John O'Brian, who he has come to love. 

Worried about Katy getting caught in what is about to go down, Dill does all he can to get her and Johnny out of Reno. He didn't need the warning of his errant father, Finn Delaney. He knows danger is ahead with no real help from the government.

Thus, begins the book when Dill and Katy come together with a strong attraction, which both know they should ignore. I don't want to tell more about what's coming, which could ruin the suspense, but due to the violence, Dill's near death experience, Katy gets her father's private jet to take them to Portland (along with McGee and Dill's motorcycle), where waits a specialist, her home where Leah and Jesse will soon return.

When Dill finally realizes what's happened to him, it's more than just ending up in Portland. There is a lot involving family (a totally

disapproving mother-in-law), friends, unknown enemies, and some black swans. 

If people love each other, they can overcome so much that will end up making them even closer. I could say would they overcome it, but this is, after all, a romance. It's how it all comes together where the fun of writing and reading Her Dark Angel will be found.

Dill has to fit into a wealthy family, where he has known nothing like it. There is that and a hidden enemy.  Fitting in with the wealthy set is challenging to him as much as the world he's been more used to with danger outside his door.

------ 

Available exclusively at Amazon as this will be the first of my contemporary 7 books in KU, which means for readers having subscribed. You can though read the blurb, free sample, or buy the book also at that link:

Her Dark Angel

Bannister's Way -- contemporary romance

 If you read Desert Inferno, you will know that its hero, Jake Donovan, was sure Rachel O'Brian would fall for the handsome federal agent, sent to help shut down an important, smuggling operation on the border. David Bannister is handsome, blond, smooth, and brave as he tries to protect Jake from an enemy determined to kill him. That effort leads to the federal agent nearly being killed.

Bannister now shows up as a hero in his own book, Bannister's Way, where his assignment, now working for a private detective agency, is to solve a murder in a prestigious liberal arts university, just outside of Portland, Oregon. The local police have found no evidence. An important political man wants this crime solved.

 The book opens when David confronts his ex-wife where he'll be the model for her life drawing class in that university. This has been set up for him by his partner, Richard Vance, as his way to get inside to find evidence of the killer. Karen, who now calls herself Raven, is infuriated as they did not part on good terms. David, wants her back, hence, he has two purposes in taking the assignment and solving the murder is not highest on the list. 

However, he has no idea that a life drawing class involves nudes. He and his partner have enjoyed playing pranks on each other. David does not find this one humorous, but the only way out of doing it would be to give up this long-shot chance to get back with his ex, as well as find the motive of the killer-- a way to solve the crime with no physical evidence left behind. 

As with many books in the contemporary series, Romance with an Edge, a few characters pop up from an earlier book. This book though has many elements in it, all part of how life can be complicated -- to say the least.

Because I had taken art as a minor in college, I was familiar with life drawing classes. I also, have had an interest in art history, for how forgeries complicate that world. Having been a sculptor myself, with a lot of fired clay figures in my life as evidence, writing about a heroine, who did that work, added to the fun (the image alongside here is my digital painting with one of my sculptures being worked on Raven's stand).

Writing about a long-estranged couple, but where the sparks were still there added to this creation, which is fiction as is the fine art college. That house on the river though, that was real as I stayed in one like it when I was a kid and swam in that river. 

I'd mention all the tropes, which they say can attract readers (like friendship between two bros), and there are many, most off the lists, but I think are relevant to how detective work happens, art is created, people are treated or should be, and finally the beauty of that part of Oregon.

Since one reviewer at Amazon didn't care for the title, I should mention here that it fit David, who was known as a headstrong, risk taker--- one of the things Raven had disliked about him was a belief, it all had to be his way. David has emotionally grown since those early years, but his stubborn determination to do what he sees as right is still part of him and again could cost him his life-- hence the title that could not be changed. :) 

Check out the link to the book where you can read a free sample as well as an extended blurb. 

Bannister's Way 

 

Desert Inferno -- contemporary romance

image we took in 2011 on one of our desert hikes. The rattler is not in the book, but it is a symbol of the danger that is.

 

Next in my series, Romances with an Edge, is a contemporary romance where I wrote the first draft in the 1990's for the sheer satisfaction of creating it. I didn't think whether it was salable as back then, I wrote a lot of my contemporaries because I had read others; then wondered what would I write if I did them.

Desert Inferno broke one cardinal rule I had seen in most romance novels of that time. The hero was not handsome, not in his eyes or in those of many he arrested. Jake Donovan was a border patrolman and worked the desert along the rugged land between Arizona and Mexico to arrest those committing crimes and turn back those with no right to enter the United States. 

Even then, it was not popular with many people, but he had come from a difficult upbringing and chose this as his way to contribute. As backstory, his brother was in prison when this story begins. He chose the other way, and Jake had helped put him there for his crimes.

Back to writing, when the option to be an indie writer arose, the books took some changes to fit the time (communicating had changed a lot in those years. I brought out the first in 2012, it was Desert Inferno, which opens with the heroine, Rachel O'Brian, a successful artist with a career painting Southwest landscapes, many of her works in prestigious galleries.

The reader meets her when she has gone out from her family's ranch on the border, to do a plein air painting-- alone on the desert with her paints and her faithful truck, who she has named Matilda, (I by the way, never have named a vehicle, but I knew some did).

Action begins when she sees movement, believes it might be a person in trouble. She grabs a canteen, her gun, and walks out to see if help is needed.  She does know the dangers of this land. Assistance might have been earlier, but now the man is dying and soon dead. The desert can be deadly for the unaware.

Back at her ranch, she notifies the police that she needs someone to come out. The one who gets the notice is already on the border and shows up to assess what happened. It is Jake Donovan. This is the beginning of a beauty and the beast type story, though she does not see her beast as he sees himself or even as others see him.

Click on the link to get the free sample of how this begins and the flavor or the book.

The problem with this book, once I wanted to bring it out, was a cover. There were simply no male models that fit what I saw Jake as. Easy to get the beauty of the story in an image, but not the kind of man without perfect features and yet who has charisma, power, and the kind of energy that was attractive to many others, especially women.

I finally solved the cover problem with this image that does not show his face, but does that body she admires so much. It hints at the violence with the lightning.

Desert Inferno at Amazon

 With their very different upbringings, figuring out what would work for a relationship, where only one wants it, takes some time. Meanwhile, Jake has an enemy out to destroy him-- an enemy not safe for Rachel either. The ranch she has been raised on with her single father was in earlier historic romances in Winds of Change.

There is a lot of the desert in the book because of my love of it, not ignoring the dangers it can present, especially in wilderness. I also called Border office in Nogales, Arizona, to make sure I was keeping that part accurate for its time 2000. Being a painter myself, Rachel's part was easy to write. 

With twists and turns in the story, it kept the book interesting for me to see all this couple went through to get a happily ever after (you know, with romances, that's part of the deal for readers-- unlike how life too often works out...). 

Because I enjoy writing more than a couple, other characters crop up, including family, but always the romance is central-- again part of the deal with this genre. 

Diablo Canyon

 Because your question searches for deep meaning, I shall explain in simple words. ---- Dante Alighieri

created by Elena Ray, purchased from Canstock

There were several aspects to what made Diablo Canyon the key to everything that had come before, It was both a place and a goal. It also was part of what this earth and its nature is all about. Of course, also for me, with some changes to the novellas, it became the novel.

For the novel, mysticism was important, but so, was the physical reality of the earth on which we live. Is it really, what we think? We know that it's made up of many chemical aspects (names most of us have never heard). Our flesh, all that is below, and around us is made up of atoms/nucleus and whatever, is beyond that. What holds it together and gives it form is energy. This is the reality of life even though we operate on a physical level as though that what we see and feel, is all there is.

What makes Diablo Canyon important, beyond what I ever intended is the question of  the importance of physical ley lines. Do such energy lines exist? And if they do, how might that impact human life? In the book, the climax uses not only energy, what we see, but the spiritual stories that grew from the beginning of humans collecting them from religion and mythology. Are those stories fiction or might they reflect a reality that a more 'sophisticated population' rejects?

In the ending of Diablo Canyon, is presented a question. How do humans, even those with spiritual powers ,fight evil, that which would destroy or dominate them-- or can they?

The story, of course, depicts all of this, but there is something else. In some ways, the cover is about marketing, but it also can be the heart of the book, inspiration for reader and writer.

For Diablo Canyon, I came to see it needed more than images that would show the romantic couple, but go beyond for how they would fight wrong? Could a cover, one with three couples do that? Or might one couple depict the book's theme?

As usual, when putting together a cover, I looked at a lot of images. Most, I had purchased years earlier with no precise idea of how I could use them. Then, I came across two that worked for what I believed  the book needed.

The hero, of the book, was a 'druid', running a detective agency to solve problems that went beyond the physical. The image had to look like someone who could take charge. The one I found had an expression that looked as though he could deal with whatever was needed. I liked how his hands were tucked into his belt, but fist like. That expression in his eyes said he was looking for how he would use his power. He was in no hurry to rush into action, but would be ready at the instant he knew the time was right.

The heroine, his love interest, had been in the second book. Except there, she was an angel and spirit guide. To deal with what was happening in Diablo Canyon, the powers above, requested she become a human to bring strength to the needed warriors, along with her own, to fight for right. Some humans today think the spirit world has all the powers-- what if they were given the power to use and expected then, to do it. This one-time angel didn't feel she had those abilities, but turned out, she had a lot more going for her than she knew. It's all about ... energy.

For readers and writers, covers can impact the stories for which they are supposed to represent. I think this one did that for me. The rings in my dream are on it because they represent a love that hovers over a canyon that could lead to destruction or happily ever afters. And the hero and heroine on the cover, depict two ways of dealing with a huge problem. There is the suppressed power as the man waits for that moment where it will be unleashed. Then, the drawing up of spiritual energy by what might seem delicate hands.

 Having three novellas, then a novel with the spice the others didn't have, bothered me, in how I promote them. Four books? Three? One? If someone doesn't read the whole blurb and buys the novellas and then the novel, they might feel they were cheated. The novellas do have one extra feature-- Dante's quotes fit each chapter. What a philosopher/poet he was.

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

Dante Alighieri

 

 

  Images purchased from Romance Novel Covers, and Stencil.

 Diablo Canyon

Melding Three books... or were they three?

Novellas, that is my novellas, aren't exactly sweet, but they don't have spice, as there isn't room to have character and plot development, without sticking to the closed door. 

Below are the three novellas in a paranormal series, Mystic Shadows. They are connected by secondary characters, mysticism and an eventual common goal as they look to the unknown. As romances, each has a different couple dealing with not only finding love, but what else is going on out there?

The first of these novellas was When Fates Conspire. It came out of a dream, with needed additions as I decided what would it take to make a satisfying story. Two star-crossed couples, spirit guides, and the mystery of what life might be. It would appear at first to be a tragedy but is it? Can't be if it's a romance. Can the power of the Divine fix what has gone wrong-- and even more, why would it get involved? 

All three novellas are set in the ranching country of Montana, one of my favorite places and where I have spent time when I can.

The idea for the second novella came out of the tragedy that left a mother to run a big ranch and deal with her loss. The story also carries on the earlier couple, some Native American history, and delves into how when someone is reincarnated (in a rather unusual way), what memories might they carry with them. That led to: The Dark of the Moon.  

Although these books are all contemporary fantasy, they are set with real people except-- something extra. The romance in this one gives the mother a chance for her own happy ending with a cowboy, who has rather unusual gifts-- but they are beneficial if he is also a detective.

Would that be the last novella? It turned out another story came to me that encompassed the reason for the rest. Besides magical, was it also science? There were a mix of things I have been told by those who see more of the other side than I do. For much of my life, I have read about mystical experiences. Some have been related to traditional religions. Others, not so much. 

Exploring that led to the third novella with the mysteries of earth and spirit. Storm in the Canyon had a most unusual hero and heroine. That is another plus for a writer. Could it actually happen? Does it matter for a fantasy romance, a paranormal? It is about what can the imagination create. With my own thinking of possibilities, and my luck of being married to a science guy, it came together. 

Three novellas was how it stayed for a month or so, until I began to think I'd like these characters to experience full physical relationships. It took a few months to make the stories into one book, with chapters and those three romances. 

One of the fun things for a writer is the ability to do something like this. An independent writer only has to please themselves and their editors. It has bothered me some that these end up being three novellas and one novel, but with the same basic stories. I enjoyed creating a new cover for that novel, using one couple, but none I'd used before.

So, next blog will have more about how that novel came into being and what that took.

 Couple images were purchased from Romance Novel Covers and Deposit Photos. Backgrounds were our photos and Stencil.

What is a hero?

 purchased  from Canstock-- the Green Man

Hero definition from Merriam-Webster dictionary: 

 a: mythological or legendary figure often of divine descent endowed with great strength or ability

 b: an illustrious warrior

c: a person admired for achievements and noble qualities

 

d: one who shows great courage

 

If someone is writing an adventure romance, the hero matters very much, if it works or not-- be that any genre. Here is the truth, as I believe it to be from being a long time reader of romances and writer of adventure romances. Characters feel pretty much real, for the most part, but heroes are way above real. They are as the dictionary says-- warriors and mythological. They carry the action of the story and make it all work. In many cases, they make the story fun to write or read.

 

This is where the Hero's Journey by Joseph Campbell can come into play. For writers, I highly recommend the book. He studied the form of the myths that have lasted through time. What about them can be used in plotting a novel for today? Now, I have to qualify this as it's not the critically approved novels. This is about the adventure stories, be the romances or suspense, from Clancy to Robards.

 

The first time the reader meets the hero, he may not seem very heroic. But as the adventure takes off, he will take on the mantle. He will be willing to sacrifice whatever is required to save his people and best the villain at his own game. 

 

Does a hero have to be a man? For my books, he will be, but the heroine (again can that word be used today as it once was?) will also fight for the victory, sometimes even save the hero. She will grow into her own challenges and be much more than a sweet little homemaker, though she might be that also -- or not.

 

I have personally had a hard time writing women that are stronger than the men. I also don't like writing victim heroines, where she is on the run or is in danger from a direction she didn't recognize. It is one of my weaknesses as a writer, that I prefer writing the male protagonists. I have to work to make my female characters more interesting.  I think that's a product of my age-- as in how we grew up with the movies and television shows.

 

One of the criticisms I got when I submitted my books to publishing houses back in the 1990s was the heroines had it too much together. They wanted the heroine to be in danger and then could the hero save  her? If it's a romance, the reader knows the answer, which is part of the appeal in the world of today where in real life, heroes and heroines too often end tragically. 

 

One of the appeals of romances is the difficult life many people are experiencing. A romance novel guarantees a happy ending. Who doesn't want that when life so often does not deliver it? A romance will, and even better if it's a suspense or adventure romance that will take us along for the journey with danger, maybe a few deep breaths or even tears, but it will work out.

 

Back to the hero. While in real life, our life partners may be a hero to our family and life, he is not what we will find in a romance novel. The guys there often appear on covers and they are gorgeous, muscular, often shaved chests and faces.They look like they can take care of any emergency. A popular genre lately has been with them being billionaires. Have you seen most real billionaires? That is not usually on the cover.

 

Of course, since this is a romance, there needs to be a man who knows how to appeal to a woman. If he didn't already know, he will learn. That might sound like fantasy, but it happens in real life too. What would a romance be without romance. When writing such books, I believe don't go overboard with too much lovey-dovey. Other things demand his and her attention. That's the challenge and the adventure.

purchased from Deposit Photos

Many (maybe most) romantic heroes are alphas, but that does not mean brutal or too controlling. Frankly if he is, the heroine will walk away or rise up in power to remind him that's not a good idea. Unless the stories are erotica, maybe, but even then she allows what is happening. Romance heroines are only abused by villains. This was not necessarily the case when these kinds of romances first grew in popularity, but today if any rape happens, it's not the hero doing it.

 

Repeating, real life heroes don't generally look like the books. Readers don't want them to, They are for escapism. When writing, it's part of the fun that you can control what happens. I can think of some real life serial killers that were quite good looking. Don''t make the mistake of thinking beauty guarantees goodness-- in males or females. 

Do writers fall in love with their heroes? I never have, but I do enjoy writing about them and that is true if they are a school principal or a cowboy or a marshal or a billionaire. They are imaginary creations and make writing enjoyable for writers and readers.

 

Personally, I believe we need to know the background of the hero. What led him to risk his life for others? Did he have a happy childhood or was it less than ideal? What he was is not all of who he is, but it has impacted it. The writer should know what it was as again, it's part of the escapism of being a writer that we can create what feels real and yet is exciting in a background sort of way. All that we know about a character does not have to appear in the pages. The emotional impact of it though will.

 

Over the years, I've read  sociological studies on who reads romance novels. What does it do to them? Does it it ruin marriages? Overall, the results seem to be romances are read most by those in high pressure jobs, like say nurses.  Marriages are not damaged by reading those books, as they are escapism, not wanted to be real, just to take a break from reality. They might though hide the covers if on a subway, train or bus as there are a lot of jokes around romance novels and those heroes and heroines :).  

You know men have their own escapes but they are different with suspense or macho heroes like a Tom Clancy book. One way or the other, neither sex want to live these escapes. Their lives are generally pretty good. My experience in talking with men who do give romances a try is they are surprised at the action in them.

Heroes come in many forms from the ones who spiritually save the world, the lovers (not only of women but of life and children) and those who are warriors that believe this is sometimes the only way for a good life.  

 

When you are writing a book, it all takes time to work through what is best and what works for the writer's own life. While writing and imagining what is to come, the world fades away into a new world and characters.

 I bought this image from Deposit Photos because it fits one side of the hero; but then, I worried if it had been made by AI. Is there a way to tell? It would never probably work for one of my book covers, given where my books are set. I can still enjoy the beauty and power of it, the energy that it takes to change the world when all seems going awry. What is a hero willing to sacrifice?

 

 

 

Chasing Characters

 

From 2007, this is a photo that Ranch Boss took, illustrating the inspirations I draw around when writing. In this case-- art (3 prints, 1 original oil), an old saddle, music, rocking chair, and out the window toward the creek. Music needs to be soundtracks with no lyrics to produce energy and not distractions.

Now, comes the next stage for a creative path where it comes to writing fiction, which could lead to short stories, articles, even YouTube fiction, or go onto a novelette, novella or full length novel. When looking for distractions to someone's personal life, where life is less than what they want, fiction writing/reading can be one way. 

Where it comes to creating, I have tried many paths, the ones where I spent the most time were painting, sculpture, and writing-- the latter where I think I've learned the most as I've done it over the most years-- from a kid to at this time of my life. 

My books are not bestsellers; so if that is your goal, maybe look elsewhere. If it is to find yourself carried away from your daily grind and find a creative work that inspires you, read on. I don't have a formula but rather a way of life, a rewarding part of my experiences. My hope is to inspire readers to find that also. For me, it has been writing adventure romances, both historical and contemporary.

People sometimes ask writers if they use real people in their stories. It is one of the risks of being a friend to an author. I do use real people but always mixed in with other aspects. It's nice to create characters a combination of fantasy and reality. Having known a variety of 'people types' through my many years, I can draw on a type, without turning it into a 'stereotype'. 

What to me is interesting about types is how in real life (or what we call real), people can be a type but there are more aspects to who they are. I think this works best in writing also. 

An example, I have one secondary character in my Arizona historicals where he made a great juxtaposition to the hot hero (in my romances all the heroes are hot even if they didn't appear to be on the first sighting of them), who teased about him being his mother since he'd never known a real one. That secondary turned out to make a hero for his own book (a novella), later in time, and readers got to see a second side to him that was there all along and they could reread and find it. Uh, yes, he was what can be considered old at almost sixty, but that didn't mean the fire was out. 

image purchased from Canstock to fit that character as I saw him

Humans have roles they often play in life, and hence it is with characters in books. Making characters feel real but still interesting  (let's face it, a lot of us are not that interesting as we go about our lives) is part of what makes time with those people enjoyable to readers and writers-- maybe escapism, which we can all use now and again. 

As a writer. I spend more time with my characters than any reader ever will-- which is why I want them to be interesting, especially when fleshing out the personalities of secondary characters. Make these people feel they could have lived and through them, we get to experience a different life.

As writers, we observe what is around us, which involves the terrain but also the community. I am very much a dreamer, as in a nighttime dreamer. My dreams are full of characters and experiences over which I have no control-- that I know of anyway. I find it amazing, when I wake up, what my brain or the muse has put together for a vivid night full of activity. Many nights, it's like watching a movie until dawn. 

Rarely do I have nightmares. I think that's because I don't watch horror movies or stories where violence is in the offing from the time I have turned on the remote. I know it can be a very successful genre like with Stephen King type writers. I just cannot spend that long with such danger. On the other hand, I love suspense in my stories and a good villain makes for a very interesting writing experience for me and worthy challenge for the protagonists. I guess there is a thin line. ???

Besides accumulating characters for books, there can be a lot of time between the original idea for a story and beginning to write it. I believe while we want it to feel real, we also want it to be an escape from daily reality. There is that thin line again. 

A big part of that working involves having meaningful main protagonists; for a romance, that means love interests, which my books mean hero and heroine (if we can still use those terms). So, next blog will involve those main characters, the ones that keep people reading and make them feel good for the adventure they just went on.

One of our photos in Montana and another example of what I love out here.Those black dots that you see in the distance are cattle. Up close, it's a herd of antelope. Some prey species travel individually and some in herds or flocks.

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

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

Choices

This subject began with a dream. I saw three men vying for a post at the Air Force Academy (remember it's a dream and hence does not have to be historically accurate for names or anything). The obnoxious one, with a terrible smile, won the opportunity to get his education there. These were high school age guys btw. 

I woke up thinking how Ranch Boss had done that and lost out to another guy, though he'd gotten close before that happened. I hadn't actually thought of this before; but his choice to try for that school would have meant we'd have never met as we did in our reality. If he had gone elsewhere, both of our lives would have been so different without the same children we later had after marriage. So much would have been different for him especially with likely a career in the Air Force.

I'd have married someone else, as there had been someone else before him, who was still around in an off and on sense. My life though would have not been the same. There'd have been a different family, and it'd be unlikely I'd be typing at this house in Arizona right now. 

Choices are what life is about. Many are tiny. Others big. We often have no idea where a choice will land us. Turn down one road and we get where we're going. Turn the other and some idiot runs as red light. 

Often, we have no idea how choices will impact our future. Marry wrong person and divorce or worse. Marry right person and celebrate over 50 years of marriage. Do we totally know when we make that choice. We try to make it on facts and experience. Sometimes though, it's emotions or even limitations based on our culture.

Writing romances is a lot like that, other than we might have more control over the outcome, but not if the characters dictate the results. I've mentioned how themes play into what we write, followed by a plot to get our story there. Characters are a huge part of that. With that theme, what kind of characters will work with the plot. Will they feel right to us or the later (hopefully) readers.

I do generally have a theme in mind but choosing the right characters, especially the primary protagonists, that's where real thought comes into play. There are several ways the need for a certain type of characters emerge especially in romances. One of the popular tropes is enemies to lovers. I don't use that, but it could work for me when it's two different cultures or tribes-- something outside the couple. When it's though supposed to be between the two of them as enemies to lovers, I don't buy it for what I will read. I think it's a big mistake to write a romance where one person 'fixes' the other. It doesn't encourage healthy ideas for life as it doesn't tend to work out there. People fix themselves, or it doesn't happen from what I've seen.

For my books, sometimes it's friends to lovers. As in, couples who grew up together and then realize-- wow, it's more than friendship (Round the Bend). I have some where the couples broke up and come back together-- or not (Bannister's Way) Mostly, when it's a case of meeting for the first time, physical attraction is a factor. Let's be honest, that begins a lot of so-called real life relationships. It might not be what someone  else regards as good looking (happened in my Desert Inferno) but it's attractive to the smitten one. 

What attracts us in the beginning is not what makes a relationship work. Physical attraction only carries the relationship so far in real life or books. There has to be something else that cause a couple to make it work for a happily ever after. Books need that to satisfy readers. I read a lot of negative reviews for books and that's a big one to irritate a reader.

Ranch Boss and I are very different for how we see things. He's the scientist ,and I'm the artist. When the kids asked once what makes fog. He went into a scientific explanation. I said it's clouds stuck on trees. 

If we didn't respect each other for our differences, that could have been a big problem in our choices, but we did. Something else became important. We want the same things out of our life together, the same kind of life. We just came at our choices different ways. We had another advantage in that we came from similar backgrounds. Different backgrounds can make for interesting stories but also can make for a lot of complexity in what we call real life.

With romances, I think there has to be some similarities and differences for the two primary characters to be believable and interesting. How, as writer, does someone pick those people and then make what they go through work for them. Romances usually have difficulties from outside which could be the black swans of life, a villain, but also those differences between them where compromise has to happen or it's all over-- in fiction or life.

Next blog, I'll discuss some of my characters and how I decided on them as well as how it would make sense they would get a happily ever after, which romances require. I should add-- on only one of my 30 books did my hero and heroine not get that guaranteed happily ever after as I just saw too many problems for them in the future. That book was Sky Daughter. It ended well but with the understanding it might not be permanent due to major lifestyle differences for where they could live or do their life work.

From Here to There

 

For the holiday season we often put books on sale that relate to it. I added one this year that introduced some of those characters and explained from where they had come. It will stay on sale longer than the others (until January 3, 2023) as it has a different set of purposes. 

From Here to There is the story of two romances-- one told through an old journal and the other alive at the time. It's also the story of a romance for Montana and ranch living. Today, not many know about ranch living as our culture is so urban oriented. That is logical, but it means many have no idea from where their food even comes-- other than the grocery store.

We redid the cover for the book (for the umpteenth time) as it seemed to never quite catch the zeitgeist of the book. It's not easy to capture a book's deeper purpose when it's a romance and a novel (over 90,000+ words). So if you decide, give it a try for 99¢ for another week. It's not like a novella in that there is a LOT more story to it that depicts what that life is like as well as the relationships. Still, I think for those who enjoy love stories, it will satisfy. For a family, as well as two individuals, it teaches something for the characters and the reader!  

It's a fun read. Although it is tough, I "much love" that life, and have lived it many years.

 From Here to There

the day after Valentine's Day

by Rain Trueax

If I'd had a blog day for the 14th, I might've written about romantic love between people. What is it? Is it real? Does it last? etc. etc. But this is the day after the day devoted to romance (and buying cards, candy and flowers), and I don't have any specific subject in mind. 

Usually, I start thinking of blogs, sometimes weeks ahead of time, but this time, it was Tuesday and nothing had popped into my head. Then I saw this article. 

The Misconception of Romance Novels

It's a very real prejudice that some would never read a romance novel, but they have no idea what is even in them-- since they never read one. OR they read one from years back, when as that writer suggests men had more to do with what made it into the novels than what evolved once writers took charge through indie publishing.  

Romance novels today vary for what they have in them. Some are virtually novels with complex problems for the characters to work through. I prefer them for my own reading. I like to write and read a story where the main characters are working through something to which most of us can relate. Sure the romance is fun and at the heart of the story; but if that's all it is, it becomes boring to me.

Why can't a romance novel inspire us to deal with issues we also face, as well as entertain? Isn't it nice to have a story where we know the ending will be happy? When it's historical, it can reveal what life was like in a bygone era. When it's contemporary, it can have emotional issues where we can relate-- even if they are not ours. 

There are romance novels where the story is all about the romance for those who need that moment of escape. Fortunately, today, there is room for more complex stories where there are readers who like that too.

Ever as Before

by Rain Trueax

Looking for a new read that is a kind of magical realism just in time for Imbolc? How about throwing in a threat of the living dead? A particularly determined demon? Natural born witches, gnomes, warlocks, shamans-- this is, after all the 7th in the Mystic Shadows series of books that move beyond what we consider reality to something else. Might that something else be quantum physics? What if there is an alchemist aspect to how evil can be fought and contained? Imbolc is a good time for a story that is a mix of physical reality and romantic fantasy.

Love is such a medicine

by Rain Trueax

Image from the Ben Kern wagon train, a trip taken by those who want to relive 

what once was done out of necessity.

Once in a while we like to have a book sale. Recently, we've gotten busy and have not done it as often as we would like. We decided now was the right time for the first book I ever wrote-- when I was closer to the age of the heroine-- unlike now when I'd be more like her great grandmother ;). I related to this young woman then and now for her goals and then the interference of life that changes our path sometimes. 

Because Veterans Day is a time we honor heroes, those who have served our country in the military, it seemed an apropos time for a book about heroes. Not just the main protagonist but several others who totally fit the hero profile for bravery and self-sacrifice. The 99¢ price for the eBook will be until midnight November 11th. It is only on Amazon but most eReaders can use Amazon for their books. 

Round the Bend is about two young people, who are traveling to Oregon with one of the last of the big wagon trains. They are coming with their families. One of those families is the best of the best and the other is dangerously dysfunctional. The young people have been friends most of their lives. One of then wants to change things. The other wants to keep it as it's been. 

The book is about the trip West and what it took to make it given the distance, weather and sometimes harassment of those not too thrilled to see their homeland possibly being threatened. When I wrote it, I knew the basic story. Before I published it, I had a much better idea of what it took to make the trek, the risks and the wonders. It's the story of a journey of community, our bodies, and even our souls as it changes things in ways they did not expect. 

My personal story about writing the book began when my cousin and I would go for walks during family gatherings. I liked making up stories. Often, I'd tell part and then she would. With this story, which I originally named Taopi Tawote, she stopped wanting to tell her part and wanted me to finish it. It would be years later before I actually did that. I changed the title because I feared people would think it was about Native Americans. I wrote a poem for the book though and it remains at the beginning.

Wound medicine, the Lakota call it.

    Yarrow, the English call it.

    Strong of scent, herbal healer,

    born of the earth...

taopi tawote.

        Men's souls need wound medicine.

    Some hurts go so deep only the strongest

    of medicines can heal them.

    Love is such a medicine...

     This is the story of such a love  

Maybe you've never actually read a romance. This might be your chance and for 99¢ until November 12th.  https://www.amazon.com/Round-Bend-Oregon-Historicals-Book-ebook/dp/B00UZ59KQA

When I wrote this book, I had no idea that it would lead to a series that takes the family into Oregon and its settling with three more romances. When you start writing about families, it makes a writer curious about the rest of these people like two more sisters and one I never dreamed would end up a romance, which I won't describe here as that's part of reading for the joy of discovery. Following a few years, after the family arrives in Oregon, comes Where Dreams Go. Then there was the question of the oldest sister-- Going Home which is after the Civil War. That left one sister-- Love Waits. 

Fun to write a series and there might be some more as the children grow into adults...