IS IT CHRISTMAS YET? IT IS AT PRP! by Cheryl Pierson

IS IT CHRISTMAS YET? It is here at Prairie Rose Publications! Just look at what we’ve got in store for you for our first annual CHRISTMAS IN JULY sale!
Now, these aren’t all Christmas stories, but a good many of them are, and that's what I'm starting with today--but there'll be more to follow each day! And they’re ALL Christmas-sale priced—so it’s time to stock up on some wonderful holiday reading!

CHARLIE’S PIE—Livia Reasoner Charlie’s Pie was included in PRP’s first anthology ever, WISHING FOR A COWBOY! And guess what? It won the 2013 Western Fictioneers’ Peacemaker Award for Short Fiction! This is a story you won’t want to miss.

A wounded man, a desperate woman, a gang of ruthless outlaws...and the best pecan pie in Parker County!


OUTLAW’S KISS—Cheryl Pierson Outlaw’s Kiss was one of the stories in WISHING FOR A COWBOY, as well. This is one of my favorite stories I’ve ever written, because it has such an unexpected happy ending for everyone—the outlaw, and the lady—and even the villain!

A long-ago schooldays crush is rekindled by an Outlaw*s Kiss that sparks true love, and a new future for Jake Morgan and Talia Delano.


PEACHES—Kathleen Rice Adams Peaches is the story of a hard-bitten rancher who is determined not to let a pretty young mother of three turn his head, but it proves impossible. How will a simple fruit affect their relationship? Read and find out!

When a strong-willed schoolteacher invades an irascible rancher’s Texas range, not even the spirit of Christmas may be able to prevent all-out war.


A CHRISTMAS MIRACLE—Phyliss Miranda Do you believe in Christmas miracles? You will when you read Phyliss’s wonderful tale of how a new doctor and a young woman forge a special bond over a sick child that brings an entire town to an understanding of the true meaning of Christmas.

Acceptance comes not through frosty eyes, but from the warmth of loving hearts.


HER CHRISTMAS WISH—Tracy Garrett Looking for a swoon-worthy hero? Well, here he is! Tracy Garrett has a way of making us fall in love with her heroes and admire her heroines, and this story is no exception! Take a look.

Her only wish for Christmas was the man who left her behind.


A HUSBAND FOR CHRISTMAS—Sarah J. McNeal If you have not read any of Sarah J. McNeal’s stories in her Wilding series, you are missing out! This is a short story about Jane Pierpont who lost her husband on the Titanic. She finds herself falling in love with someone she never dreamed possible—but it just might work out!

A haunting night of horror and a wish for a new life.


COVENANT—Tanya Hanson She was a mail-order bride, sent for as a mother to his child. What happens when the child is taken from them far too soon? Can they still find the love they were meant to share? The vows they shared were a covenant of sorts, and the springerle cookie roller is a keepsake that means everything—to both of them.

Can a Christmas blizzard ignite love gone cold?


HERE ARE THE AMAZON LINKS FOR THESE WONDERFUL STORIES!

Outlaw's Kiss http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00M27PX9M



A Christmas Miracle http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00M27PDD8



A Husband for Christmas http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00M282QV4

Her Christmas Wish http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00M2829GQ


Peaches https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00M28EHKC


Covenant https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00M2A98JU

Charlie's Pie http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00M2766X4

For our first day of CHRISTMAS IN JULY, we will be giving away one copy EACH of Covenant by Tanya Hanson and A Christmas Miracle by Phyliss Miranda! Be sure to leave your contact info in your comment in case your name is drawn!

For more great CHRISTMAS IN JULY bargains, visit our website at: http://s528097299.onlinehome.us/books-2/christmas-in-july-2/

PRP New Release -- Double Crossing and Double or Nothing by Meg Mims -- Giveaway

DOUBLE CROSSING – WINNER of the 2012 BEST FIRST NOVEL Spur Award from Western Writers of America AND a 2012 FINALIST for the USA BOOK NEWS Awards – for Fiction: Western

Please welcome MEG MIMS to the Prairie Rose Publications group! Meg's books, Double Crossing and Double or Nothing, have found a new home here with us and we are just thrilled to have her with us. We will be giving away a boxed set of Meg's books (digital) to one lucky commenter today! Be sure to leave your contact information in the body of your comment so we will be able to make sure you get your prize! Read on, and take a look at these wonderful stories that Meg has penned for your reading pleasure!

August, 1869: Lily Granville is stunned by her father’s murder. Only one other person knows about a valuable California gold mine deed — both are now missing. Lily heads west on the newly opened transcontinental railroad, determined to track the killer. She soon realizes she is no longer the hunter but the prey. As things progress from bad to worse, Lily is uncertain who to trust–the China-bound missionary who wants to marry her, or the wandering Texan who offers to protect her … for a price. Will Lily survive the journey and unexpected betrayal?

WHAT AUTHORS AND READERS SAID about  DOUBLE CROSSING…

"A rollicking ride on the rails packed with lively mystery, dashing adventure, and charming romance ... Double Crossing is a spirited story you'll want to devour in one sitting!"  -Ann Charles, Award-Winning Author of the Deadwood Mystery Series

"Double Crossing is a fast-paced, outstanding debut novel...If you're looking for a gutsy heroine in an American historical, Lily Granville is perfect."

-Sharon Mignerey, Award-Winning Romantic Suspense and Inspirational Author

"What begins as a trail of revenge becomes a journey of the heart and an adventure of faith."  -Pamela Morsi, USAToday Bestselling Author

"Lively, witty, and edge-of-your-seat suspenseful, Double Crossing is a wonderful read."  -Jacquie Rogers, Award-Winning Author of Much Ado About Marshals

"Meg Mims has a flair for storytelling. With lively characters who evoke emotion and a setting that comes to life, Double Crossing will keep readers turning pages."  -Cheryl St. John, Award-Winning Author of Her Wyoming Man and The Wedding Journey

"A thrilling adventure on the brand new transcontinental railroad as Lily Granville tries to outwit her father's murderer."  -Victoria Thompson, Bestselling Author of the Gaslight Mystery series

“Vivid historical fiction mixed with murder, suspense and a lovely dash of romance makes Double Crossing by Meg Mims an out of the ballpark hit…”  -Romancing the Book

“This book was a thrill to read. A gripping story of adventure and mystery…”  -Clean Romance Reviews   

DOUBLE OR NOTHING – FIRST PLACE WINNER, 2013 LARAMIE AWARDS – Western/Mystery from Chanticleer Writing Competition

October, 1869: Lily Granville, heiress to a considerable fortune, rebels against her uncle’s strict rules. Ace Diamond, determined to win Lily, invests in a dynamite factory but his success fails to impress her guardian. An explosion in San Francisco, mere hours before Lily elopes with Ace to avoid a forced marriage, sets off a chain of consequences. When Ace is framed for murder before their wedding night, Lily must find proof to save him from a hangman’s noose. Will she become a widow before a true wife?

For a limited time, one week only, you can purchase both ebooks in a boxed set for only $3.99 and one lucky person who comments is going to win a free boxed set.

Links:

Double Crossing

B&N Nook        Smashwords 
Double or Nothing
B&N Nook        Smashwords  
Boxed Set
B&N Nook        Smashwords  

   

Fair Time: The Best Time of the Year #western @jacquierogers

A Fair of the Heart

by Jacquie Rogers

Website | Pickle Barrel Gazette

We're headed to the Owyhee County Fair and Rodeo in August.  Some of you may recognize the name—Owyhee is where both A Flare of the Heart (Hearts and Spurs) and Don't Go Snaring My Heart (Lassoing a Groom) are set.

When I was a kid, the fair was the highlight of our year.  The four days of the fair was pure euphoria.  The other 361 days of the years were spent in anticipation and preparation for the next year's fair.  As a 4-H member, I showed dairy.  That meant my fellow 4-Hers and I needed to be at the fair from early morning to feed the cows, there all day because the cattle needed to be groomed for show.  We mucked stalls, braided our calves' tails, oiled the halter leather, milked the mature cows, and in general fussed over our animals for those four days.

My friend and his daughter in front of
their cattail arrangement

Still, that was a whole lot less work than the chores at home.  It seemed like a vacation to us, and besides, we might even win that coveted purple ribbon!  

We also baked cakes and cookies, made flower arrangements, sewed clothes, quilts, you name it, for exhibition.  If we'd grown a super-big squash or tomato, we brought that, too.  The nice thing about all those things is they didn't mess up their stalls.

Fair week sure wasn't the time to sleep, though.  We had to be there by 6am and rarely got home until midnight, and then had to do chores before bed. Still, we loved it.  They used to have a little carnival there and we'd ride on the whirly things—upside down was even better—and see who could keep their caramel apple down.  Then it would be show time and we'd head to the dairy barn, woozy and green, to prepare the animals for show.  At night, one of the board members would let us slip into the stands to watch the rodeo. 

On Saturday was the big parade.  One year I was one of the saloon girls on a float with the theme "Women Won the West."  My dad was Black Bart and he played poker with his friend, and my grandpa played the barkeep.  He served iced tea in shot glasses.  One of the Grange members played the honky tonk piano.  We had a great time until my dad shot the real county sheriff (with blanks).  The sheriff clutched his chest and fell to the ground, and then all hell broke loose.  I guess people didn't appreciate their joke.

This year, I'm going to the fair again and I couldn't be more excited. It's just as if I were twelve years old and getting Cleopatra ready for show. (Note: Cleopatra won Grand Champion Showman for me. She wasn't much of a cow, but she sure did like to show off.)

I've been doing two things lately: writing up a storm and working on a marketing plan. Trust me, with four little boys in the house, those two things take every moment of my time.

So instead of baking cookies, drying flowers, and teaching my cattle to lead, I'm creating swag for the fair. My daughter came up with a great idea. She thought it would be good to have temporary tattoos for the kids. Then the kids would drag their mothers to my booth in the commercial building. I opted out of the tattoos because I couldn't figure out any good way to get the tattoos on the kids right away, but stickers, you can just slap them on the kid's shirt.

What do you think?

Designed by Laron Glover
Ninth Moon

And here's my banner.  I have no idea how wide the booth is so I didn't put anything on the sides of the 8' banner.

And some postcards:

And several posters including:

Now I just have to finish the book I'm working on, pack my fanciest duds, and head to Owyhee County.  We're gonna have a great time!

So fess up.  How many of you would love to go to the fair?  What was the highlight of the year when you were a kid?

MAKING A DIFFERENCE--PRAIRIE ROSE PUBLICATIONS by CHERYL PIERSON

In August, 2013, my business partner, Livia Reasoner and I decided to take the plunge and open our own publishing house. So many little companies were bursting on the scene that we wondered if we would be able to make much of a difference in the publishing world. Less than a year later, I want to share with you all what we’ve done.

To start with, I better talk a little about why we wanted to start Prairie Rose Publications to begin with. Livia and I both belong to a professional western writing group, the WESTERN FICTIONEERS, of which we are both very proud to be members. I am currently acting as President of the Western Fictioneers until 2016. We had both noticed that there were many women writers—good women writers—who were having trouble “breaking in” to the western genre. Many of these women wrote “gritty” western stories—not so heavy on the romance as on the “western” aspect; many of them wrote shorter stories than the normal popular length for a novel, or novella; and many were having trouble just because they were women—with the name to prove it.

Lots of publishers don’t like taking a chance on westerns anymore, written by man or woman—but when they have a choice, they’ll be publishing the ones by men—since men are more apt to buy western and science fiction works by another man than by a woman.

Livia and I agreed that one of the submissions requirements for our publishing house would be first and foremost, to submit, you had to be a woman. We have not been sorry, and have had more business than we can handle at times.

Another thing we wanted to do was encourage new writers as well as seasoned ones. We’ve got a fantastic mix of both, and have thoroughly enjoyed working with them all. Our royalty rate is one of the best anywhere, paying 80% net to the authors, who work so hard to write these wonderful tales and hope with everything in them to find a home for their stories. After years of being offered the traditional meager 35% for e-books and 7% for print, our authors are extremely happy with the royalty payments, and so are we.

We can do this because we don’t accept anything that requires heavy editing, so we are able to produce more quality stories and novels in a shorter time span.

It wasn’t long after we opened Prairie Rose Publications that we were asked if we published children’s westerns. And what about contemporary and science fiction? Well, did we also have an imprint for youngsters’ contemporary or fantasy stories? The answer became YES very quickly. Painted Pony Books is our imprint for Middle Grade, YA and New Adult western fare; Tornado Alley Publications is the sister imprint for Middle Grade, YA, and New Adult contemporary stories, and Fire Star Press satisfies contemporary, science fiction and fantasy categories for adults.

All of our imprints except Prairie Rose Publications are open to ANYONE to submit to—men and women, alike; newbies and experienced writers.

Since opening our doors, we have published many anthologies at PRP—Wishing For a Cowboy (Christmas 2013), Hearts and Spurs (Valentine’s Day 2014), Lassoing a Bride, Lassoing a Groom, Lassoing a Mail Order Bride, and Cowboy Cravings (Summer stories, 2014).

We’ve also put out 14 novels in the PRP line, as well as 6 novellas.

In the Painted Pony Books imprint, we’ve published 9 books, some for all three of our age groups.
In the Tornado Alley Publications imprint, we published our first anthology, THIS SUMMER STORM, for YA readers just a few weeks ago in time for summer reading for ages 13-17. We also released a “retro” novel about the Viet Nam era, Echoes in the Night, and will be releasing two more about that era in the next couple of months.



Fire Star Press has seen the release of one novella and one novel, with many more on the way.
Part of what we want to do with our company is to inspire people in many ways, and one of these ways is by helping others. We have partnered with some charities that are so rewarding and exciting to work with. One of them, The Lighthouse For Recovery Ministries, has many branches that reach out to all segments of the Birmingham, Alabama community—the homeless, abused animals, addiction programs, and programs for veterans who need help. http://www.thelighthouseforrecoveryministries.org/

Another of our “pet projects” has been helping with Westie rescue expenses by donating books to the Westie Rescue Missouri Fundraising Auction (here is the Facebook page for their event, for anyone who might be interested): https://www.facebook.com/groups/WestieRSQMissouriAuction/


What do we have coming up in the next year? More of the same! Prairie Rose Publications will have its first Halloween anthology, Cowboys, Creatures, and Calico making a debut in late September. But there’ll also be an anthology from Tornado Alley Publications for Middle Grade Readers this fall called My Dog Can Do Magic! For New Adult readers, we’ll have an anthology just in time for Halloween—It Could Happen—stories that have a love story with a Halloween twist. We have submission calls open for all three of these anthologies, if you have a story you think might meet the requirements!


Christmas will see two anthologies, Present for a Cowboy and Present for a Cowgirl in our PRP line.
And Valentine’s Day will be marked by another new anthology to be released in the middle part of January.

But even more immediately, we have a special CHRISTMAS IN JULY event coming up from July 25-Aug. 1! During that time period, we’ll have many new Christmas-themed novellas and short stories available for purchase at our brand new website!


We’ll have a lot of giveaways going on, too! We hope you’ll come back and join us during National Week of the Cowboy, the week we’ve chosen for our Christmas in July event—and get to know our authors. But don’t wait until then—here’s the link, come on over and join us now!

PRP website:

PRP blog: www.prairierosepublications.blogspot.com

Questions? Ideas? Thoughts? Please leave a comment with your contact information! I will be drawing the names of 3 lucky winners today!


Here’s what’s up for grabs from the PRP goodie bag!
1 digital copy of COWBOY CRAVINGS
1 digit copy of LASSOING A MAIL ORDER BRIDE
Winners will be announced tonight! Thanks so much for stopping by and celebrating with us!

"PRETTIEST LITTLE HORSE THIEF..." -- An excerpt and Give-Away -- by GAIL L. JENNER

Being a part of the Prairie Rose Anthology, Lassoing a Bride, has been a lot of fun! I've always enjoyed writing short stories and short memoir pieces, but this is the first western or historical short story anthology in which I've participated. I have only sold a handful of stories in the last few years (some children's stories and a couple of women's stories), but it's a genre I find challenging and satisfying...

Perhaps in part because, as a former English teacher, short story was a form I loved to teach and to have students pursue. It's not easy writing a short story; word selection becomes much more important. There is no "time" to wander down rabbit trails if description or conflict takes a giant turn! The story must remain true to its central character and his/her internal or external conflict. Every scene must move the story forward, even as it must reveal something powerful about the character and his/her struggles. No random situations relevant here...

Playing with the theme of an unwilling bride, I knew my heroine would have to become "trapped" by circumstance...and knowing that took me into all kinds of possible and wild scenarios. I also knew she would have to be strong and resist the notion of marriage. She had to be strong, too, so that when she "fell" for our flawed hero, she'd fall hard! That's when the story writing really became fun and the pages filled themselves. A great feeling when you have an approaching deadline.

Unfortunately, sometimes, with novels, the deadline looms but the story begins to wane and then you, as author, must dig DEEP to find the motivation to keep moving forward. I didn't have that issue with composing "Prettiest Little Horse Thief".

For that reason, I hope to write more stories and am so delighted that Prairie Rose Publishing is encouraging its authors to submit to its upcoming anthologies. I am delighted to do so if only because of the energy writing them has generated.

In addition, I feel quite honored to be among some wonderful authors...The stories in Lassoing a Bride are varied and delightfully entertaining. One of the reader/reviewers wrote: "Wonderful stories from five wonderful storytellers. These authors know how to pull you in and keep you reading. PRETTIEST LITTLE HORSE THIEF by Gail L. Jenner, UNEXPECTED BLESSINGS by Sarah J. McNeal, NO LESS THAN FOREVER by Tracy Garrett, THE BANK ROBBER'S LAMENT by Sara Barnard and THE BRIDE AND THE BADGE by Livia J. Washburn are all exciting western romances that will stick with you and make you want to read them again and again." 

Here is an excerpt from "Prettiest Little Horse Thief"; hopefully this tidbit will whet the appetite for more:

PRETTIEST LITTLE HORSE THIEF

By

GAIL L. JENNER

As water pooled around her ankles, Rebecca felt a refreshing chill. She needed the shock of the water to clear her mind.

            It had been another hard day. After three months of struggling to get back on her feet, it seemed there should be a silver lining somewhere, but once more, it had eluded her.

            She stepped further into the stream, the water encircling the lacy edges of her knickers. She scooped up a handful and splashed it across her shoulder, gasping at the sudden cold.  

The sale had not gone well. Shih-chai, or Grandfather, her old Navajo ranch hand, had warned her she’d be disappointed, saying that the men who had conspired against Frank were determined to break her.

She hadn’t listened, but try as she could, no one wanted the two mares she had taken to the sale. The dozen men straddling the board fence had studied the pair of bays before regaling her with every reason they weren’t worth the asking price.

            Dent, a loud-mouthed cowboy who prided himself on his natural ability as a wrangler, had been the most vitriolic. “You may be the prettiest horse thief in this part of the country,” he spat, “but that’s all you are. Frank never paid a dime for anything, and he probably stole these two. Ask anybody. He owed ev’rybody money, which means these cayooses ain’t really yours to sell.”

            She’d stood her ground, flashing him a contemptuous look, then, turning to a second cowboy, remarked, “They’re hardy, and worth double what I’m asking.”

The sandy-haired cowboy had only shrugged.

After that no one offered her anything, so she returned home with two mares and an empty purse.

The sound of hoof beats against dry earth startled her. Quickly, she scrambled up the rocky embankment, but not quickly enough.

Three riders approached

Dent, sitting astride a small Appaloosa, grinned down at her. On either side of him rode men she didn’t recognize. Both let out a whoop when they realized she was standing in front of them with only her thin undergarments covering her pale flesh.

“I came thinkin’ we could strike a bargain,” crooned Dent as he wheeled off his horse. “But I never bargained on this.” His eyes swept over her with cold and hungry admiration. “Yep,” he whispered, “you gotta be the prettiest horse thief I ever seen.”

Rebecca steeled herself. What a fool she’d been to think that it was safe to disrobe in the middle of the day. Instinctively, she reached for the dress she’d thrown over a bramble bush.

Dent reached it first. Raising it to his face, he inhaled. “I do believe I smell— what? Sage?”

She wrenched it from his fingers. “Why are you here?”

Dent looked around as if thinking someone might suddenly appear out of nowhere. Unfortunately, Rebecca had left Shih-chai back at the barn, sneaking past him so that he couldn’t stop her from slipping down to the stream. Now she regretted her foolhardy decision.

Would she never stop being so impulsive?

“I want those two mares,” snapped Dent.

Rebecca held her tongue; she had to think before she got herself into more trouble. “What are you willing to pay?”

Dent chuckled. “I ain’t paying a dime. I told you, Frank owed ev’rybody something, and he owed me more than thirty bucks.”

“What?”

Dent stiffened. “You callin’ me a liar? Seems to me, even a pretty little thief better tread softly…” He took a step closer, his glance sending a sharp warning through her.

 As a thank you for stopping by and leaving a comment, I'd like to offer a free download of the PRP anthology, Lassoing a Bride. A winner will be selected on Wednesday and the announcement will be made here on the blog. I will also contact the winner personally!

Gail L. Jenner is the author of the WILLA Award-winning novel, ACROSS THE SWEET GRASS HILLS, recently re-released by Prairie Rose Publications. Like Rebecca in "Prettiest Little Horse Thief," Liza Ralston is a young woman -- determined and independent -- who must learn how to survive while pitted against the backdrop of the infamous and little-known historic Marias Massacre. It was recently ranked #13,400 on amazon.com's top list of kindle books! A big thank you to Prairie Rose for their support of historical fiction! In addition, Gail has coauthored five nonfiction histories. For more, visit: www.gailjenner.com  or http://prairierosepublications.yolasite.com/gail-l-jenner.php

Writing Fiction Based on Facts by Linda Hubalek

Even though I often base my stories on facts or photos that I have found about my ancestors, I still need to use fiction to expand the story line to bring the people and places to life.

Quite often a piece of information will only lead to more questions—which I think is the fun part of researching.

For example, the picture featured with this post is my great-great grandfather John Pieratt and a young woman.

Researching my family tree, John (1817-1868) and his first wife, Deborah (1821-1859) left Kentucky in 1854 to move to the new Territory of Kansas. Their journey was the basis of my book Trail of Thread. They were both listed in the 1850 census of Bath County, Kentucky, but John and his second wife, Nancy (1830-1863) were listed in the 1860 census of Lawrence, Douglas County, Kansas.

Looking at these two people in the photo you see a big age difference between them. That leads me to believe the woman with John was wife number three, Sarah (1846-1914) whom he married in 1865. Notice she is holding a bible in her lap?  That gesture was seen in photos of that era if the woman was pregnant.

So, I already know that John lost two wives and was 29 years older than his third wife when this picture was taken, probably in 1866 when Sarah had her first child. Imagine the scenes you could write—and the emotions of not only John or Sarah—but John's children from his first marriage that were older than Sarah.

Add stories from newspaper clippings of Lawrence’s problems during the Bleeding Kansas era and the Civil War (which are featured in my books Thimble of Soil and Stitch of Courage), and it's easy for me to write fictional accounts of what was going on around their area, and the emotions that had to be felt by my family during that time period.

One more look at birth and death dates and I realize Sarah gives birth to her second child two days after John dies from blood poisoning.  Oh my! Can you imagine what she went through?!

I can just put myself in Sarah’s place and pour her emotions into my words. Is it fact or fiction? It won't matter to the reader at this point if it's a well written story... because the reader becomes a young mother and widow in 1868…

Trail of Thread series by Linda K. Hubalek

PRP New Release -- Witness on the Run by Lois Carroll -- Free Giveaway

Lois is giving away a free e-copy of Witness On The Run to one lucky person who comments on this blog.

BLURB:
Maggie Beauchamp runs from her stepfather's abuse, only to fear for her life when the Arizona stagecoach she is riding on is robbed. She rescues Cord Martin, who was shot during the robbery. The townsfolk think they are man and wife, not the strangers they are. Perfect. Now Maggie can hide from her past under a new name, and Cord can get the bedside care he needs. But when she identifies a robber she sees in town, Maggie sets into motion a chain of events that puts both their lives in jeopardy again.

What will happen if her past catches up with her? Can they resist temptation as they masquerade as man and wife--and for how long?

EXCERPT:
     Alone and more frightened that she'd ever been, Maggie ducked down and ran along the boulders until she found an opening between them that was wide enough for her to slip in and hide. Her heart was beating so hard and fast that she was certain it would burst. She bit down on her bent finger to keep from crying out in terror. With her back flat against the rock, she listened to the shouts and laughter as the Indians did God only knew what. As the shouting lessened, she heard the team's harnesses clank loudly as if they had been dropped on the ground. Several bangs and cracks had to be the trunks and wooden boxes of goods that the coach had carried on top crashing to the ground.
    Maggie concentrated on breathing slower through her mouth to keep from making any noise. She didn't dare look over the rock again, but even without giving her location away, she was certain the savages would find her. If only she had a pistol! If they found her, she would wish she were dead.
    More hoots and laughter ensued until, suddenly, horses were galloping away. But as quickly as they started to leave, there was shouting, and the horses stopped. Two of the Indians sounded as if they were having an argument. The rest of their words were muffled by the sounds the horses made. A third authoritative voice quickly settled whatever they had disagreed on. The horses took off away from the coach once again. She thought they went in the direction the coach had been heading.
    The silence of the desert returned. Maggie didn't need to look to know that they had taken the team of horses that had pulled the coach. She was left alone in the Arizona desert with no way to get to safety that was miles away.

BIO

Lois Carroll, who also writes under the name Lois Schwartz, has been writing since her childhood when she received a daily diary as a gift.  With a bachelor’s degree in English Literature and a master's in Theater, she began her writing and editing career working at a publishing company as a copy editor.  Now a wife, mother, and grandmother, she writes full time in the home she shares with her husband in the desert of Arizona.  When she's not writing, she's working on her service project, Sophie's Smocks, that has given hundreds of feeding/craft smocks free to kids and adults with Angelman Syndrome. You can read about her available books and email her through her web site at: http://loiscarrollbooks.com/

LINKS

B&N Nook             Smashwords