Melly, Unyielding by Abagail Eldan

New Release!

Melly, Unyielding

by Abagail Eldan

Book 4 in the Lockets & Lace series

Melly, Unyielding is the fourth book in the Lockets & Lace series, sponsored by authors of this blog. Here is the description:

Melly is a woman with secrets. Thatcher is the man with enough patience to unlock them. 

For fifteen years, Carmella Harperson’s life has been confined to a couple of acres in the middle of a large forest. She’s alive but hopeless, each day a struggle. 

William Thatcher Rainer’s past haunts him as he hunts down the man who destroyed his life. His days are filled with memories of the carnage of war; his nights with nightmares of the death of his wife. 

On the road, to find the man responsible for the misery of so many, they must work together and learn to trust. 

Neither is prepared for what they find at the end of their journey. 


And here's an excerpt:

The temperature had dropped, and Melly shivered. Mr. Rainer had retreated to his blanket and was not moving, asleep, she presumed.

When sleep darted like a rattlesnake, she dozed, but it curled and struck her. The poisonous venom of a nightmare awoke her with a strangled cry.

She rolled over and sat up. After a moment to gain her bearings, she rose quietly and sought the fire.

The top log had grayed, and she poked it with a stick until it glowed red again. The ashes fell, curling beneath the logs. She lifted the top log to let air flow through, and then gently let it down, to keep the flame alive.

In the depths of the fire, her sisters terrified faces appeared before her. She turned her face away, to watch a spark climb into the darkness until it vanished. Beneath where the spark disappeared, a movement caught her eye. 

She blinked, thinking it was but an illusion. When she looked closer, a man’s face came into view. She put a fist to her mouth to stifle a scream, and was on her feet, running, shaking Thatcher.

He immediately sat and drew his gun from the holster beside him. He searched her eyes. “What? What’s wrong?”

“A man,” she choked out. “His face was wrinkled, his hair white and long, in two braids.”

Thatcher had already gained his feet, moving in the direction she pointed.

~o0o~

Melly, Unyielding is available on Amazon. Through the evening of January 25th, it is still offered at its pre-order sale price of $.99.

Starting tomorrow, January 26th, it will be offered at its regular price of $2.99.

Melly, Unyielding is also available on Kindle Unlimited.

Please click here for the international Amazon purchase link. 

~o0o~

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There you find information on how you may have a chance to win one of three great prices: a special book locket, a lace handkerchief, or a $40 Amazon gift card. Please visit each day to learn more about each book as it is released.

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Museum Gift Shops—a guilty pleasure

I’m going out on a limb here and admitting a particular weakness for museum gift shops.  I’m among friends, right? And no one will think less of me.  Not long ago, my husband and I took a 2-day trip to Tombstone in southern Arizona. He wanted to see the famous sights (OK Corral, Birdcage Theatre, Boothill Graveyard), and as an author of western historicals, I’m always looking for research opportunities.

Who knew all that history occurred in an area that is only three blocks long and four blocks wide? We started at the courthouse museum and I could have spent the entire day there. Great exhibits and specimens with detailed descriptions. We saw such a thorough depiction of the shootout of the OK Corral (and a carefully researched rebuttal) that we didn’t feel the need to sit in the hot sun to watch the reenactment.

For me, the real treasures are the books in the gift shop. The ones that have a narrow focus and are usually written by people who live in that geographic area. Children’s books featuring desert animals from the region, recipe books using native plants, biographies of famous people involved with the locale. (I did carry around at least one of these three types before making my final decision.) Because I live in a small cabin with limited shelf space, I truly had to restrain my buying habits but couldn’t resist three titles. One highlighted Arizona mining towns, another included stories of frontier female doctors or nurses, and the last was a picture book about Tombstone. I never know when one tidbit of first-hand information will be the exact fact I need to make my historical stories as authentic as they can be. So many research books, such limited shelf space. Sigh.

Anyone else confess to a similar guilty pleasure?

My only book so far set in Arizona was part of the American Mail-Order Brides series titled Libbie: Bride of Arizona. Alone for the first time, tomboyish Libbie Van Eycken accepts a mail-order proposal and travels across country to find a place to call her own. Arizona rancher Dell Stirling needs a wife but didn’t count on the eccentric creature that brings chaos in her wake.

WESTERNS: The All-American Genre

In historical romance writing, the genres tend to be divided in eras. What I find most interesting is that many of those eras from the birth of the United States of American to before World War One (the Great War) are based on what was happening in Great Britain, and in a lesser part, Europe as a whole. There is a reason for this. In spite of the American Revolutionary War (a lesser genre that includes Colonial America) and that unpleasantness between the United States and England between 1812-1814, the monarchy and nobility of England still strongly influenced the legal system, attitudes, fashions and culture of American society. Canada, still part of the Commonwealth, was more closely tied to England that it is now. Many United States citizens had ancestors or even living family in England. Frequent trade and travel occurred between the two nations.  

Let’s look at some of these Great Britain-inspired romance genres:

Regency Era Genre:

 

George IV while Regent

The Regency in the United Kingdom took place from 1811 to 1820 when King George III was deemed unfit to rule and his son, the Prince of Wales, became his proxy and ruled as Prince Regent. The Regency era  sometimes refers to a longer period from 1795 (about the time the United States was getting its act together and the founders wrote the current constitution) to 1837 which included the latter part of the reign of George III and the reigns of his sons George IV, as Prince Regent and King, and William IV. It was characterized by distinctive trends in British architecture, literature, fashions, politics, and culture, notably a more divided society fraught with excess and decadence among the small top elite and poverty, squalor and lack of opportunity among the masses at the bottom. This is also the time of the Napoleonic wars.

The Duchess of Richmond's society ball before the Battle of Waterloo

If you would enjoy learning more about the fashions and trends of this era, please click HERE.

 Victorian Era Genre:

The era of Queen Victoria started about 1837 and lasted until her death in 1901. Her tastes greatly influenced society both in Great Britain and in the Americas.

1816 Princess Charlotte's Wedding Gown

As far as fashion goes, her influence started with her wedding dress. Before Victoria wedding dresses fir the royalty were usually made of cloth of silver. For those who did not enjoy the abundance and excesses of the nobility, wedding dresses were usually of any color the bride enjoyed, with yellow being a favorite. Many chose darker colors for the dress that, after the wedding, would become their best dress. However, the wedding of Queen Victoria started a new trend when instead of the traditional royal silver bridal gown, she chose a simple white wedding gown made of white satin, trimmed with Honiton lace, with Honiton long veil and a wreath of orange blossoms to represent purity. It was then that white became the dominant, traditional choice, symbolizing purity and maidenhood.

 

Queen Victoria in her white wedding dress

Another fashion trend that can be attributed to Queen Victoria is the popularity of plaid in women’s clothing during this era.

The era was generally characterized mostly by peace and prosperity in England. There were no great wars. Britain reached the zenith of its economic, political, diplomatic and cultural power. The Victorian era is famous for the Victorian standards of personal morality. Historians generally agree that the middle classes held high personal moral standards, but have debated whether the working classes followed suit. The situation for the lower classes, although still not good, had improved somewhat from what had existed during the Regency period, although child labor became a big issue in Great Britain. The era saw Industrial Revolution and the development of the Railroad on both sides of the Atlantic.

1877 London

Edwardian Era Genre:

The Edwardian era in Great Britain is the period covering the reign of King Edward VII, 1901 to 1910, and is sometimes extended beyond Edward's death to include the four years leading up to World War I. This era was a transitional period from the horse-and-carriage way of life to modern times leading up to World War I.  A break from the staid attitudes of the Victorian era led to experimentation in culture, literature, and theater.  The development of more sophisticated machines, technology and industrialization led to a faster pace of life.  Women’s suffrage began.  Various labor movements greatly influenced the political landscape.  Moral standards, while they were still important, became looser than they were in Victorian times.

You might enjoy reading more about the Edwardian era by clicking HERE.

 

Edwardian era shooting party

Western – The All-American Genre:

The aforementioned eras, which all became well established genres, especially in romance, originated in Great Britain. These eras influenced the culture found on the American continent to a greater or lesser degree, depending on whether people lived in the eastern half of the continent or west of the Mississippi/Great Lakes region. 

 

1840 Territorial Map - United States

But, there is one genre that it totally all-American: Western. As in, those who traveled and lived west of the Mississippi River or Great Lakes. The genre includes among others cowboys, settlers, ranchers, Native Americans, soldiers fighting in the Indian wars, miners, prospectors, and any number of pioneers traveling west to develop the great open regions of the plains, the Rocky Mountains and all the way to the Pacific Ocean. This movement involved the entire North American continent, all the way from the western movement in Canada, the border dispute between the United States and Canada in the general territory of British Columbia and Washington/Oregon down to the Mexican-American war and Mexico, a haven for Western desperadoes escaping the law in the West.

 

Mormon pioneers

Another American genre which only covers about five years is the American Civil War genre. For romance novel purposes, it is often lumped into the Western category although this war mostly took place east of the Mississippi. Ways the Civil War did influence the Western experience include the following: 1) many men, often from the South, disgruntled over the Civil War moved west during the war years, often taking up mining or ranching. 2) After the Civil War and its disruptions to commerce, its destruction of land and the defeat of the South, many men chose to emigrate to the West to start over.

 

Civil War Patriots

In the western movement, women became more valued. They often were seen more as an asset and less of an expensive burden than often perceived back East. Wise pioneer men often made it a point to marry before traveling west. Women became so prized in the gold fields of California that men would walk miles just to look at one. Western states such as Wyoming, Kansas and Utah led the nation in granting suffrage and other rights to women in order to attract women into moving west. Men living in the west where there were not as many available women to choose from and who were ready to start a family often sent for mail-order brides to fill the need.

Women who moved west found they were often called on to do the work associated with men. For some, it was a preferred choice, such as those women who chose to come west to homestead. This affected their attitudes about everyday dress leading to more practical solutions in clothing. You might enjoy reading more about cowgirl fashions by clicking HERE.

The above reason may explain why many of our monthly contributors write Westerns—stories that take place in the all-American genre. For another example of a strong woman living in the West, click HERE.

 

Sadie Austin wore a split skirt topped by a short overskirt when riding her father's range

Zina Abbott is the pen name used by Robyn Echols for her historical novels. You might enjoy reading the first book in my Eastern Sierra Brides 1884 series, Big Meadows Valentine.

Please visit and follow the Zina Abbott’s Amazon Author Page by clicking HERE.

Zina Abbott Author Links:

Website  |  Blog  |  Facebook  |  Pinterest  |  Goodreads  |  Google+  |  Twitter 

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Romance genres WESTERNS: THE ALL-AMERICAN GENRE @ZinaAbbott

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Romancing San Diego's Amazing Past

Since this blog is just starting up (thanks to Robyn Echols!) I thought I’d introduce myself and say what a thrill it is to be here among such wonderful story-tellers! 

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The stories I write are often set in southern California where I grew up. San Diego’s history, with its whaling port, ships, and “hide” industry along with gold discovered in the back country, makes it a fascinating place to write about. I love the Spanish and Native American influence there too.

My latest sweet historical, 

The Gunslinger and the Heiress, 

takes place when Wyatt Earp owned three businesses in San Diego, when the Hotel Del Coronado had its grand opening, and when a young boy stumbled into town saying that he had been living on an island off the coast with pirates. No one believed him until he produced a few items from the pirate’s stolen booty. (I do love adventure in my books but this is for real!)

The opening of a famous hotel figures prominently in my book and so I thought I’d share a bit about the place. The Hotel Del Coronado opened in February 1888, as the vision of two San Diego entrepreneurs. Elisha Babcock, Jr. had been a railroad executive in Indiana who came to the coast for his health and his friend, H.L. Story (of the Story and Clark Piano Company) envisioned a place where people could come to escape the harsh winters in other parts of the country.

Hotel Del Coronado

At the time, the flat peninsula of Coronado looked like a huge sandbar. The main occupants were jack rabbits and quail and sagebrush. San Diego was still a sleepy town without railroad access and to get to the “island” one had to go by boat across the harbor or by horse and carriage twenty miles around on the thin strip of sand known as Silver Strand.

Babcock and Story bought the entire peninsula for $110,000 in 1885. They had a lot of work ahead of them. Fresh water had to be piped all the way from the San Diego River (at Old Town), a ferry system and railroad had to be put in place in order to transport building supplies. They even built a power plant—second only to San Francisco's in the state. (Electricity in California was virtually non-existent at the time.) 

They marked out their town in a grid formation, planted exotic trees and bushes in place of the sage, started a foundry and a laundry that would support the main focus of the island—a resort hotel they wanted to be “the talk of the western world.” Architects submitted their proposals and Clinton Day’s plan was approved—a striking and unusual Victorian. Shortly after, the Hotel Del Coronado became known simply (and affectionately) as “The Del.”

Early San Diego 

Opening day, which is featured in my story, was a “soft” opening. The kitchens were not completed for another three weeks. Guests who had made reservations found their rooms unfinished. It didn’t stop people from arriving…and continuing to come.

The Hotel Del Coronado is now a famous National Historic Landmark that commemorates the history of the United States. It is world renowned and has been host to more than fourteen presidents, foreign leaders, well-known Hollywood celebrities, and my brother on his honeymoon. (Does that make me famous by association?)

It is also host to a ghost—but that is another story…

Blurb from The Gunslinger and the Heiress:

Hannah Lansing, heir to a large shipping venture on the west coast, must discover the fate of her lost ships or marry to save the family business.  Unfortunately, the one person that can help her is a man she once bitterly betrayed.

Caleb Houston still carries the scars of his last encounter with the Nob Hill princess although wild horses wouldn’t drag that fact out of him now. The sooner she gets her answers and leaves town, the easier he’ll breathe.

But when her digging unearths more than the missing cargo, disturbing a sleeping rattler, she becomes a target. And Caleb finds that guarding her life could mean he’ll lose his own heart.

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Links for my books ~    Amazon    Barnes and Noble  

       Website ~                   www.kathrynalbright.com

Chat with me ~          Facebook,  Twitter, or  Goodreads!

I would love to hear from you! Introduce yourself and tell me what draws you to historical fiction!

                                                                              Kathryn 

Not Only A Place To Sit

 

Western saddles are almost as iconic as a Stetson hat. At least, to lovers of all things Western…and cowboys. The western saddle is made of leather, plain or heavily tooled, stretched over a wooden “tree” or frame that includes the pommel (raised ridge on front of saddle) with a centered horn, the bowed seat and the high rise of the cantle that hugs the backside. The current saddle is based on those of Mexican vaqueros (men who trained horses and handled cattle) who worked with horses. That saddle is considered a descendent from a combination of saddles used for two different styles of riding in Spain centuries ago—la jineta (light cavalrymen known for rapid maneuver) and la brida (jousting style). Early saddles weren’t much more than a wooden frame covered with a blanket.

As with most tools, people who use them come up with ways to improve the design or make additions that improve the way they use them. Sheepskin is used as padding both under saddle itself, as well as between the wooden tree and the leather covering. The horn was added to the pommel as a place to anchor the reins so the rider could use both hands (for throwing a lasso or using a rifle). Flaps of leather called “fenders” are positioned where the rider’s legs rest on the horse’s barrel and were probably added for the comfort of both rider and animal.  Out of necessity, leather thongs were added to tie down a bedroll behind the cantle or to secure a lariat where it could be reached easily. In the 1870s, Charles Goodnight developed a side saddle for his wife to use while working cattle on the ranch, and his saddle incorporated a second cinch toward the flank of the horse for a more secure fit, making it a double-rigged design.

 

When on the trail, the saddle became the suitcase to hold the cowboy's belongings, blankets, ropes, canteen. While roping cattle, the horn served as an anchor point for the rope. Then at night, the saddle was often used as a backrest around a campfire and, in some case, a pillow.

Over the years, a variety of saddle types have developed to fit the specific task being performed. Among the types are barrel-racing, endurance, cutting, trail, rodeo bronc riding, roping, and equitation or show saddle. Also, because not all horses are the same size, they needed saddles of differing sizes, widths, heights, etc. for the best fit and the best performance. You can see that an expert saddlemaker could become a valuable resource to men who made their living by riding horseback everyday.

The opening scene of my story When My Heart Knew in the anthology, Cowboy Kisses, shows the heroine, Maisie Treadwell, galloping across the Texas prairie.  As with many western women of the times, she rode astride and her figure atop the galloping horse is the hero’s first sight of her before they’ve even met. Leave a comment here about your first riding experience for a chance to win an ebook of this anthology.

Posted by Linda Carroll-Bradd, author of contemporary and historical western stories

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