TYING YOUR BACKSTORY TO SETTING by CHERYL PIERSON

We’ve talked some in the past about backstory, but I thought it would be interesting to look at why we choose the backstory we do to create our “front story”—or what the main thrust of the novel is about. A backstory does lots of things for our setting, plot and characters.

Why do we choose the particular backstory we decide to use to create our setting? For me, the backstory must bring the setting to life to show why the characters were so affected by what has happened in their pasts.

A male character, our protagonist, that is “tall, dark, and handsome,” could be one of any type of characters in any time period—until we create his backstory. Of course, the backstory shapes his character in the plot of the book, but the setting is such an integral part of the equation that it would be hard to say what’s more important to your character’s development: where he came from, or where he’s going.

Here’s an example of what I mean. In my novel, Fire Eyes, the hero, Kaed Turner, has been denied a family by one twist of fate or another since he was a small boy. His parents were killed when he was eight by the Apache, and though he was kept with his sister and brother by first the Apache, then the Choctaw, they were so much younger than he that they quickly forgot what he felt compelled to remember—the deaths of their parents, and their lives before.


He loses his young Choctaw wife and their two children, ironically, to a group of white men who don’t want Indians to settle in the community where he’s built his house.

So, there is no room in his heart to totally embrace the ways of the Indians, but he is being shown physically that he is unwelcome now in the white world. This is further illustrated when Fallon’s band captures him and tries to kill him, but he is saved by the Choctaws. Where does he belong?

Could Fire Eyes have happened the way it did if Kaed’s backstory hadn’t included these incidents? No. The entire feel of the character would have been changed if he had not had these experiences. And to show his growth in the frontstory, we have to show what happened to him before. The setting is indispensable in shaping all the other elements of the story, in this case. Kaed has come from rough beginnings due to the things that happened to him that were beyond his control. Now, what kind of man will it make him?

Could these things have happened to him in any other setting? No. When we begin to delve into the history that is pertinent to a particular area and/or time period, there are certain events that have happened that are unique to both time and place. Just as the events of history shape the setting your story takes place in, those same happenings also shape your characters both directly and indirectly.


How much description of the setting do we need in the backstory to set the scene? And how do we deliver it?

In Fire Eyes, we know none of the facts about Kaed’s upbringing at the beginning of the story. In chapter one, when he sees he must give himself up to save the two Choctaw girls, we begin to realize that he knows them, and therefore, has an affiliation with the Choctaws. It isn’t until later, even after the Choctaws rescue him, that it comes out as to why he knows Standing Bear, the chief, and what happened to him as a child. Even later in the story, we learn of the tragedy that happened to his own young family ten years past.

In creating a world we are not familiar with, such as in science fiction or fantasy writing, more of the backstory must be told in the beginning. The stage must be set, and in order to let us know about the world that has been created, more description has to be given toward the front part of the book rather than waiting.

Frank Herbert’s “Dune” series would have made no sense without some description of the world and customs, the people and landscape he created. The same with Tolkien’s world, and even the Harry Potter books, which are a mix of a created world and one we are familiar with.

Letting the setting affect your character is easier than you might think—it’s really inevitable. Even if your novel is set in contemporary times, the city, state or country and even the matter of picking a rural or urban setting will make a huge difference in your characters and your story overall. Was your hero raised on a ranch or was he a city boy? This will definitely determine his reactions the first time his new love interest suggests they go riding next weekend.

(I know, it's contemporary, but this novel really illustrates tying backstory to the setting and boy, is there a "tall, dark and handsome" Indian undercover detective in it, tough as they come, with a saucy heroine.)

How much should your reader know? Not as much as you, the author, does. The art of backstory and description of the setting is in doing it interestingly and seamlessly. Dumping all the information on the reader at once will prove overwhelming.

The saying goes, “The devil is in the details.” Blending your setting, characters, and plot successfully in the backstory of your novel proves the truth of that statement!

In the excerpt below, Kaed talks to Jessica about what happened to his parents and his brother and sister. He is showing us why he feels like he does now, his fears at trying to hold on to family of any kind, after what happened. What we don’t know yet, is the rest of the story about what happened ten years ago, to his wife and children. This is a kind of turning point for Kaed. Will he let events, the setting of his life in the past, shape him? Or will he try again—will he be strong enough to risk everything one more time and shape the setting that is yet to come, the future?

FROM FIRE EYES:


“Family seems to be a hard thing for me to hold on to.” He shifted, and Jessica moved to lay her head on his shoulder. Her long hair trailed across his bare chest, and he felt her breathe slowly, relaxing in his embrace. “I lost my parents when I was eight.”

“It still hurts, doesn’t it?” Jessica laid her hand across his side, tracing his ribs.

He drew a long breath, and spoke quietly. “Yeah. I guess it does.”

“What happened?”

“My father was determined to have some bottom land to farm. Never mind that the place he selected was unprotected, away from the rest of the small settlement there in Cale Switch. The land was good, and it was what he wanted. But the Apache saw an easy target. They came in the night and took us. My younger brother, Kevin; my sister, Marissa; and me.”

“They killed your parents?” Her voice was hesitant, and Kaed was silent for a moment before he responded.

“My father tried to stop them. He just couldn’t defend us against so many. They killed him, then my mother, and took their scalps.”

At her sharp intake of breath, Kaed stroked Jessica’s long hair. “Barbaric?” he asked, reading her thoughts easily.

She nodded her head against him. “I’ve been afraid of the Indians ever since we came here.”

Kaed smiled at this admission. “Standing Bear won’t hurt you, sweetheart. The Choctaws aren’t as—”

“Cruel?”

“Taking scalps was a practice the Indians learned from the Europeans, Jess. Barbaric, cruel—yes. But remember, they only fought back using the methods the white men used first.” He cupped her chin and she raised her eyes to his. “You can trust Standing Bear.”

“That’s what he told me about you.”

Kaed grinned. “He knows me pretty well. After the Apache had had us for a year or so, he bartered for the three of us. We lived with the Choctaw after that. I left when I was seventeen. Kevin and Marissa were so young, the way of the People is all they knew.”

“They stayed with the tribe? Even when they had a choice?”

“It’s how they were raised. Kevin was only five when we were taken; Marissa was two.” He was silent a moment. “I was the only one old enough to remember.”

“Do you ever see them?”

“I walk in both worlds, Jessi. I come and go freely in the Choctaw camp. Kevin and Marissa are married and have families. They’re both more Choctaw than white by the way they’ve been raised. I lost them to a way of life I couldn’t fully embrace. I guess it’s harder for me, because I remember our parents, our home.” He shook his head and felt her fingers moving gently, absently, over his bronze skin.

“I wondered how he knew you. Standing Bear, I mean.” Jessica lifted her head and met his eyes. “You’re like a son to him, aren’t you?”

“I’ll never think of him as my father, but he saved us from the Apache.” He smiled caustically. “They’re a pretty rough bunch. The Choctaws are reasonable, at least. I owe him for what he did. Can’t ever repay that.”

“He’s a good man. He raised a good man.” She kissed his side. “Whether you want to think of him as your father or not, it seems he did what he could to do right for you.”

I will be giving away a print copy of FIRE EYES to one lucky commenter today! Please be sure to leave your contact information in your comment! Thanks so much for coming by.

If you just can't wait to see if you won, here's the Amazon KINDLE link:
http://www.amazon.com/Fire-Eyes-Cheryl-Pierson-ebook/dp/B0083JYET8/ref=sr_1_2?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1390546724&sr=1-2&keywords=fire+eyes

Cowboys and...Nuns?

By Kathleen Rice Adams

An early re-enactment of the 1869 journey from
Galveston to San Antonio undertaken by three Sisters of
Charity of the Incarnate Word. The journey resulted
in the formation of what is today the largest congregation
of women religious in Texas.

What's the first mental image you snag when someone mentions the Old West? I'll bet nuns aren't even in your mental-image library.

Perhaps they should be. Nuns played a surprisingly large role in civilizing the frontier. In fact, one congregation of women religious built orphanages, hospitals, and schools from Texas to California. The Sisters of Charity of the Incarnate Word, founded in 1866 in Galveston, Texas, by three French nuns invited to America by the Catholic bishop of Texas's only diocese, suffered hardship, disease, and a devastating hurricane. They persevered, though, taming the West with faith instead of guns. Today, the San Antonio congregation is the largest in the state. In addition to Texas, the sisters operate benevolent missions across the U.S. and in Ireland, Guatemala, El Salvador, and Kenya.

I admire the fortitude of these women. Imagine braving Indians, outlaws, and all sorts of natural hazards to spread healthcare, education, and comfort in big cities and remote outposts across an untamed land. Would you have had the backbone for such an adventure? I'm not sure I would have.

Two postulants from the Congregation of the Incarnate Word
in San Antonio, Texas, ca. 1890. (courtesy University of
Texas at San Antonio’s Institute of Texan Cultures)

Available in print and
most e-formats at an
online bookstore near you.

As it turned out, neither did Sister María Tomás, who thought she wanted to become a nun only to discover dreams and reality sometimes diverge. Her decision to leave the Sisters of Charity of the Incarnate Word proved fortunate for ex-Texas Ranger Quinn Barclay, a man of violence with a shattered dream of his own. Together, they forge a new reality among the ashes of a burned-out border town in "The Second-Best Ranger in Texas," my contribution to the Prairie Rose anthology Hearts and Spurs. Eight other authors contributed heart-warming stories, too. Brimming with charm and historical research, each tale leaves no doubt Cupid is a cowboy, and he's playing for keeps.

Writers Are A Dotty Lot by @JacquieRogers #historicalromance

Writers are a dotty lot. Even the ones who try to act cool. I bet not one single Prairie Rose author will disagree.

You see, we have these people living in our brains and they do the darnedest things. Whether we have the authorly bent or not, we’re forced to write their stories, else the men in white coats would whisk us away. Some days, that doesn’t sound like a bad idea.

Did you ever wonder how characters come out of our heads and make stories? Most of us have no idea—they’re just there.

I’m in the early process of creating three stories right now—a novel, the fifth in my Hearts of Owyhee series, a short story for Prairie Rose Press, and a novella for my Muleskinners series. Of the three, I’m acquainted with the characters in the Muleskinners best, so they’re the quietest. In a manner of speaking.

Okay, so that’s not true. The first story, Muleskinners: Judge Not, was published in Wolf Creek, Book 6: Hell on the Prairie. It’s in Elsie’s first-person point of view. The second story is her brother Zeb’s. He wants to tell it in his first-person point of view, but Elsie thinks it should stay in hers, since she’s the star of the show. Zeb says the only reason she’s the star is because she hogs the stage, and points out that he has the gift of gab, not her. She then says that if he tells the story, it’ll be a full-blown novel and not a novella.

I’m not sure who’s going to win that argument, but at least that story has some semblance of a plot. No title yet, though. Look for Zeb’s story, however it’s told, sometime in May—unless they stop arguing and I can get to it now.

The short story for Prairie Rose Publications’ Lassoing the Groom is nebulous at best. I have four or five female characters who all insist they should get the lead part. If they knew who I had in mind for the male lead, there’d be a dozen of ’em lined up, so I’m not saying. But he’s a bad boy. A very, very baaaad boy.

He’s been yammering in my ear, too. Frankly, I’m gonna have to lasso him myself because he isn’t a bit interested in starring in this story or any other. He has places to go and trains to... well, never mind, and he’s not keen on a high profile. But man-oh-man, you should see the shoulders on that fellow. Sigh.

I’m also in the process of defining the characters for my next novel, Much Ado About Mustangs. The hero is no stranger—Josh McKinnon is Kade’s (Much Ado About Miners) brother. So he’s been around, and he got shot in the arm the last book, so he’s still recovering at the beginning of this one. Josh is a great guy, which means I’ll have to throw a few obstacles in his way. One of them is Lady Pearl Montford. Yes, methinks a good time will be had by all, except maybe Josh and Pearl—but hey, it’s a romance.

My story in Hearts and Spurs, A Flare of the Heart, began when I saw a picture of an 1880s woman boarding a stagecoach. Hmmm, that bustle. Wouldn’t it get in the way? And wouldn’t those of us with oversized cabooses love it if bustles were the rage today? Because I wouldn’t need one at all. And what if the heroine got stuck?

I’m not kidding—the whole story came from that one thought, right along with the hero, Ross Flaherty. He’s sworn off women because they’re too delicate. Celia Yancey and her bustle come along, bringing a passel of trouble with her. Yes, we had fun. I hope you do, too.

What is it about a character that makes you remember her/him long after you’re finished with a book? Comment and win a Kindle copy of Sleight of Heart. No, I haven’t mentioned it, but it also has a bunch of characters that kept me hopping.

I'll also be giving away a copy of Much Ado About Miners to a subscriber of my newsletter, The Pickle Barrel Gazette.  And for a good time, join the crazy crowd at Pickle Barrel Bar & Books on Facebook.

Bad Boys and The Women They Love

Hi, I'm Linda Broday! Very happy to blog here today. 

I’ve never written anything except alpha heroes and I’m quite content. I guess that’s because I prefer alpha men in real life. Both of my husbands were alphas. They've since left this earth. They didn’t take too much off anyone but inside were gentle men with big hearts. They loved their children and animals.

Bad boy heroes are all alpha. They’re always going to be in the thick of things, not standing on the sidelines watching. They have definite ideas about what is right and fair and just. They’re not afraid to say what they think. And if they say something, you can take it to the bank.

They’re usually slow to anger. When they do, you’d better watch out because it’ll erupt with a fury.

Strangely, these men not afraid to show love. Just don’t expect them to wait around on some woman to catch them though. They have places to go and things to see. They’re quite independent because that’s how they roll.

A bad boy hero lives for danger. In fact you can say he thrives on it. He's tough both mentally and physically.

In my story The Widow’s Heart in the Hearts and Spurs anthology, Cade Coltrain is a bad boy hero. He went West looking for adventure. He wound up a hired gun then through no fault of his own became a wanted man on the run. Though he’s had to kill to survive, he abhors taking a human life. He’s a wounded hero with plenty of demons. He’s so weary of it all but doesn’t see any way of changing it. When he meets up with Skye O’Rourke he begins to think of the permanence of a family. He wants to share a life with her and raise a crop of kids.

Skye carries a weariness all the way down to her bones. She wants to be a woman again, someone cherished. To feel the touch of a hand running over her body. When Cade emerges from the shimmering desert heat, she thinks she’s going mad. Yet when she discovers he’s flesh and bone, she struggles with the thought that he might abandon her again like he’d done before. Trusting him isn’t easy. Not even when he says all the right words. 

When I was asked to write this short story for Prairie Rose Publications, I was thrilled. Skye's story immediately came to me and it was so compelling I wasn't able to sleep. She wouldn't let me sleep until I got the biggest part of it down on paper. Quite a slave-driver, I tell you. And she even introduced Cade to me, for which I'm very grateful.

I'm giving away a $25 Amazon e-gift card to one commenter.

****************

For those who don't know me, I'm a NY Times and USA Today bestselling author. I've published three full-length western historical romance novels, one of which won the National Readers' Choice Award. I've also published seven short stories. I've been contracted to write three full-length books with Sourcebooks Publishing that I'm calling my Bachelors of Battle Creek series. The first one, The Texas Mail-Order Bride, will release in January 2015. Be watching for it.

In the meantime, I'd love it if you'd content yourself with HEARTS AND SPURS. Then sit back and enjoy "The Widow's Heart" all these other wonderful stories. 

For more information about me or my books visit: www.LindaBroday.com  

LIVING THE LIFE OF A RANCHER'S WIFE....HOW IT ALL STARTED...

Howdy! This marks my second blog and the first one on living the life of a rancher’s wife…

Marrying into a fourth generation cattle ranch was a jump of sizable proportion for this gal! I was not raised in a rural community, although I was raised in a family that had some roots in farming (on my mother's side). I met my bull riding cowboy husband while at college; it was a romance that, more than anything, could be described as a whirlwind affair. He is still a man of “few” words, but he was definitely a man of “fewer” words then! He was silent, rugged, rather serious, and I was intrigued.... I simply couldn't get him off my mind. What I didn’t know for many months, was that he was so tongue-tied and nervous after our first few dates, that he would return to his apartment and throw up…..yikes! 

Regardless, I threw caution to the wind as we moved quickly into a serious relationship. He asked me to marry him and I said yes, without hesitation. Forty-two years later, I'm still enamored.

            Coming “home” to the ranch -- after our wedding -- actually felt like coming home to me. It was an old farmhouse, the original family ranch house, and had been rented out for years so it was in pretty poor shape. In fact, in one 24 hour period that first year, we trapped 29 mice in our old pantry!

            The ranch was established in the early 1870s, but part of the family (on the maternal side) had established their ranch in the 1850s. My husband’s family immigrated from England (on one side) and Germany (on the other) during the gold rush, so his roots here in our valley go back to the original settlement period. This area is home to a number of tribes and the conflict in those early days was harsh; California miners were not kind to the tribes at all. Today the tribes are still an active and vital part of our community, but like all of America’s settlement history, there are scars that will never heal.

            Living in a northern California mountain valley, only 40 miles from Oregon, our seasons are short; elevation starts at 2800 feet.  As ranchers, however, that works to our benefit because this creates a higher nutrient content for the hay we produce each summer and feed out in winter. Many people do not understand that this climate (with four distinct seasons, including long cold and snowy winters -- though lacking this year) -- is not conducive to growing commercial crops, but is ideal for cattle and hay. 

In the summer our cows remain on the ranch grazing on our own pastures, many of which are native grass, having never been farmed at all. The cattle live their entire lives on this ranch. We used to assist our in-laws in taking cattle into the mountains on horseback (which I loved) to graze – a practice today sadly misunderstood. Cattle co-habitate with wildlife beautifully and these wonderful bovines have the ability to convert dry, fire-kindling matter into feed, protecting the forests and mountain regions from fire. Would that California encourage more grazing – perhaps some of the recent grass and forest fires could be reduced significantly. But that’s another issue!

Our ranch has a historic natural wildlife area, which we preserve, and have for over a hundred years. That means we have an abundance of waterfowl and bird and animal life that thrives here: ducks, geese, eagles (including bald eagles and golden eagles), heron, blackbirds, etc., along with mink, otters, fish, and even a few stubborn beaver! Another interesting fact that few understand is that we are not unique; more than 75% of migrating waterfowl, for instance, are protected by ranches and farms, not by public lands. The view from where I'm seated right now, in fact, looks out over several hundred Canadian geese, busily and happily "grazing" on the remnant of hay the guys scattered out earlier for the cows. Their frequent honking is music in the stillness of the frosty morning air.

Life here is idyllic in so many ways. It’s been an ideal place to raise children, and now 2 of our 3 children have returned to work the ranch, with children of their own. There is a tradeoff, of course; as I’ve told my two daughters-in-law: you will always have security, a great place to raise a family, and an unending supply of great food <g>, but if you’re looking to get rich or to take long extended vacations, this is not the life for you. Vacations are few and far between. I’ve likened ranching to being a MOM. Once you sign on, the job is almost 24/7 – or at least it feels like it much of the year. But, again, the rewards are worth the “sacrifice!” Just this year, all of the women of the ranch, including daughters who are not "on" the ranch (that is 7 women all together!), have started our own business, Jenner Family Beef. We have been asked so often over the years about purchasing our meat, that we have entered into marketing it. We do raise 100% natural Angus cross beef, with no hormones, no antibiotics, grass-fed, and are excited about the direction the business is headed. For those who may be interested, our new website is: www.jennerfamilybeef.com. We do ship all over...

I love this life of mine and thank God daily for the beautiful valley where we live and for having the space and opportunity to live alongside cattle, our horses, the mountains, the wildlife, and my rugged, hard-working cowboy husband! I hope to share a more about life on a cattle ranch in weeks to come…and if you have questions, please respond. I'll be happy to answer whatever I can. And if you want to know more about me, check my Author page out on Prairie Rose or www.gailjenner.com. And I'll see you in two weeks -- on the first Monday of February...

My husband on far left; one of our two sons, in the center, working calves...with over 900 calves each year, it's a job!

PRAIRIE ROSE PUBLICATIONS CALL OUT FOR SUMMER ANTHOLOGIES

PRAIRIE ROSE PUBLICATIONS is open for submissions for stories for four summer anthologies in the historical western romance genre.

LASSOING A BRIDE: This collection of stories will be sweet/sensual. The stories selected for this anthology will have to do with a summer wedding, or courtship leading up to a wedding—by a bride who might not be so willing in the beginning. How is her intended going to “lasso” her and woo her to be his bride? That’s what we want to know, too! Word count for each selection will be around 10K, more or less. We want you to tell a good story and not worry if you run over the word count by a few words. Spots are limited!

LASSOING A GROOM: This collection of stories will be sweet/sensual. The stories selected for this anthology will have to do with a summer wedding, or courtship leading up to a wedding—by a groom who might not be so willing in the beginning. But as women all know, there’s more than one way to romance a man! Silken bonds and words of love can be just as binding as any lasso. Word count for each selection will be around 10K, more or less. We want you to tell a good story and not worry if you run over the word count by a few words. Spots are limited!

LASSOING A MAIL-ORDER BRIDE: This collection of stories will be sweet/sensual. The stories selected for this anthology will have to do with a summer wedding, or courtship leading up to a wedding—by a groom who needs a bride and is willing to order one by mail! What circumstances could lead to a man advertising for a bride, sight unseen—and a woman in such dire straits that she travels from her home and everything familiar to marry a man she doesn’t know? There are any number of situations that “might be”—and we’re waiting to see what can happen when love blossoms in the most unlikely circumstances! Word count for each selection will be around 10K, more or less. We want you to tell a good story and not worry if you run over the word count by a few words. Spots are limited!

COWBOY CRAVINGS: This collection of stories will be spicy/hot. The stories selected for this anthology will definitely take place in the heat of the summer and will feature some hot western men—cowboys, outlaws, lawmen—who will make not only the heroine but the reader crave the happily-ever-after outcome that’s sure to happen! What’s not to love about these strong, tough heroes or bad boys finally getting what THEY crave—a good woman to love! Word count for each selection will be around 10K, more or less. We want you to tell a good story and not worry if you run over the word count by a few words. Spots are limited!

SUBMISSIONS FOR ALL ANTHOLOGIES ARE DUE BY APRIL 15, 2014.
If you think you might have a story that would fit, please submit to Cheryl at: prairierosepublications@yahoo.com

Taming the Nueces Strip

By Kathleen Rice Adams

Texas always has been a rowdy place. In 1822, the original anglo settlers began invading what was then Mexico at the invitation of the Mexican government, which hoped American immigrants would do away with the out-of-control Comanches. Texans dispensed with the Comanches in the 1870s, foisting them off on Oklahoma, but long before that, the Texans ran off the Mexican government.

From 1836 to 1845, Texas looked something like the map above. The green parts became the Republic of Texas as the result of treaties signed by General Antonio Lopez de Santa Ana after Sam Houston and his ragtag-but-zealous army caught the general napping at San Jacinto. The treaties set the boundary between Texas and Mexico at the Rio Grande.

This caused a bit of a fuss in the Mexican capital, because Santa Ana did not possess the authority to dispose of large chunks of land with the swipe of a pen. Mexico eventually conceded Texas could have the dark-green part of the map, but the light-green part still belonged to Mexico. Arguments ensued.

While Texas and Mexico were carefully avoiding one another in the disputed territory, outlaws, rustlers, and other lawless types moved into the patch between the Nueces River and the Rio Grande. After all, no respectable outlaw ever lets a perfectly good blind spot on the law-enforcement radar go to waste. The area, 150 miles wide by about 400 miles long, came to be known as the Nueces Strip.

In 1845, the United States annexed all of the land claimed by Texas, including the disputed territory, and came to military blows with Mexico over the insult. By the time the two countries signed the treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo in 1848 to settle once and for all who owned what — sort of — the lawless element was firmly entrenched in the strip of cactus and scrub between the Nueces and the Rio Grande. For nearly thirty years, brigands raised havoc — robbing, looting, raping, rustling, and killing — on both sides of the border before retreating to ranchos and other hideouts in no-man's land.

That began to change in 1875 when Texas Ranger Captain Leander McNelly was charged with bringing order to the Nueces Strip. Newly re-formed after being disbanded for about ten years during the Civil War and Reconstruction, the Rangers were determined to clean up the cesspool harboring notorious toughs like King Fisher and Juan Cortina. With a company of forty hand-picked men known as the Special Force, McNelly accomplished his task in two years … in some cases by behaving at least as badly as the outlaws. McNelly was known for brutal — sometimes downright illegal — tactics, including torturing information from some prisoners and hanging others. He and his men also made a number of unauthorized border crossings in pursuit of rustlers, nearly provoking international incidents.

Nevertheless, the “Little McNellys” got the job done. By the time McNelly was relieved of command in 1876, the Nueces Strip was a safer place. Though he remains controversial in some circles, the residents of South Texas raised funds and erected a monument in his honor.

The Nueces Strip plays a small role in “The Second-Best Ranger in Texas,” my contribution to Prairie Rose Publications’ new anthology, Hearts and Spurs. Just in time for Valentine’s Day, this collection of nine western historical romances by nine authors leaves no doubt that Cupid is a cowboy, and he’s playing for keeps.

I'll give one visitor today an e-book version just for stopping in to say howdy! (Be sure to leave a way for me to get in touch.)

"The Second Best Ranger in Texas"

A washed-up Texas Ranger. A failed nun with a violent past. A love that will redeem them both.

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.