In case you didn’t already know, I have new releases coming soon! Little Green Dreams arrives soon on December 12th (I moved the date up a week!); Malcolm on January 16th; and What Happens in Bozeman on February 20th! Malcolm is the next Montana Bounty Hunters: Dead Horse, MT, story, and What Happens in Bozeman is the next We Are Dead Horse, MT book. Little Green Dreams is a standalone title, for now. Depending on how readers enjoy it, there may be more stories that follow. Believe me, I have some ideas…
I hope you’re looking forward to them all and that you’ll take a moment to pre-order each one so you don’t miss them when they release! I promise there’s humor, sexiness, and small-town adventures in each.
The Gurdon Light
Central to my next release, Little Green Dreams, is a local phenomenon that occurs some 20-odd miles down the road from me called The Gurdon Light. The TV show Unsolved Mysteries even did an episode featuring the legend, which I mention in my story because it was a big deal back in the day that lent some legitimacy to the legend since they couldn’t find a scientific cause for the Light. And just so you know, I’ve seen it, too.
The Gurdon Light is Arkansas’s most famous legend. There’s a certain length of old, abandoned railroad track near Gurdon, Arkansas, where a mysterious light can be seen when you walk down the tracks. It’s a bright orb that appears to swing side to side. And it’s not shy. It appears often. Local universities have taken students out there to try to find the source of the Light, but they’ve pretty much ruled out things like swamp gas because the light doesn’t dissipate in the wind.
The legend the locals tie the Light to is a sad story. This is a snippet from the book where I explain the supposed origin of the Light:
“William McClain was a foreman working for the Missouri-Pacific railroad. Late one evening, he was finishing up when he was approached by one of his workers, Louis McBride. It was during the Depression…1931, as I recall. Times were hard, and Mr. McBride, although he had a job, wanted more hours because he needed money. The railroad had strict rules about how many hours a man could work, so Mr. McClain said he couldn’t give him any more. They got into an argument, and McBride raised his shovel and struck McClain in the head. Then he beat him to death with a spike maul—it’s a tool a railroad man uses, like a sledgehammer. It was an awful thing.”
Ever since Mr. McClain’s murder, the light appears on the tracks. Locals say it’s the railroad lantern he carried.
So, that’s the legend I piggybacked my book on. Although, I have a very different explanation for the phenomenon because, hey, I’m a storyteller and that’s what I do—I make stuff up. 🙂
Watch this very short episode from a local newscast, interviewing someone who has seen the Light.
Contest
For a chance to win a $5 Amazon gift card, tell me about a legend from your “neck of the woods!”
I can’t wait to share the story I just finished writing!
It’s one of those projects of the heart that writers seldom get to do. I’d put it on my schedule so many times, but knowing what actually sells had me pushing it aside year after year. This year, I used my determination to complete the NaNoWriMo challenge to finish the darn story.
I hope you’ll read it. It was soooo much fun to write, and it made me cry at the end. If you haven’t pre-ordered your copy, just click on the cover! It’s a cute cover, right?
For a chance to win a $5 Amazon gift card, solve the puzzle then tell me which of these LGD story elements I listed for the puzzle intrigues you!
I’m busy working on a book this NaNoWriMo! It’s one I’ve been wanting to write for forever. Seriously. I shaped the opening of the story back in 2002—twenty-one years ago, and those first chapters were sent to many, many writer’s contests, and gained awards, but something happened that pushed this project to the back of the line—I got published. And then I got published again, and again, and again.
I learned what I could write that would sell, and every time I saw Little Green Dreams in my “Future Projects” folder, I’d sigh because I knew (know) it would be a hard sale.
So, why now? I love this story for a whole lot of reasons I’ll try to explain here.
#1 — It’s the only story I’ve set in Arkansas, where I currently live, and where I spent my high school and college years.
#2 — My father, who passed in 2019, led me down the train tracks in his hometown of Gurdon, Arkansas, so that I could get “the lay of the land” when I wrote about the Gurdon Light. He was delighted I thought the legend was “worthy” of a book.
#3 — Many of the characters I write about in the story are modelled after real people I’ve met. If you read the story, you may think I’ve written some over-the-top characters, but yes, they’re that funny and odd.
#4 — It’s a story that’s hard to pin into one genre. It’s contemporary, a romantic comedy, and it’s both a sci-fi and paranormal tale. So, there!
Despite all the reasons I know I should concentrate on something you’ll be eager to read, I’m stubbornly, finally, writing this story—a strange little homage to my roots and my dad.
Little Green Dreams
Still no official cover, but I’m working on it!
Sometimes, Joe Franchetti hates his job at the National Informer, especially when he’s sent on assignment to cover a story involving aliens from another world. When he is sent to investigate the story of a woman in rural Arkansas who claims her husband was abducted by aliens, he vows to debunk her story, no matter how much the truth might hurt her attractive daughter.
Sandra Billingsley has a problem. Her stepfather is missing, and her mother is the prime suspect in his disappearance. In addition to protecting her eccentric mother from a possible murder investigation, now she must contend with a national tabloid reporter set on exposing her mother as a murderess or a madwoman.
While the investigation turns up more suspects and the local townspeople scheme to profit from the “alien invasion”, Joe and Sandra work together to unravel the mystery, knowing their attraction is doomed to end in pain when the truth is revealed.
I’m a huge fan of Sci-Fi movies and TV. My favorites include ALL THE STAR TREKS, Arrival, Aliens, Farscape, and Firefly.
For a chance to win your choice of story from among my backlisted books, tell me which science fictions movies or television shows you would recommend!
Sometimes, Joe Franchetti hates his job at the National Informer. Especially, when he’s sent on assignment to cover a UFO story. When he is sent to investigate the story of a woman in rural Arkansas who claims her husband was abducted by aliens, he vows to debunk her story, no matter how much the truth might hurt her attractive daughter.
Sandra Billingsley has a problem. Her stepfather is missing and her mother is the prime suspect in his disappearance. In addition to protecting her eccentric mother from a possible murder investigation, now she must contend with a national tabloid reporter set on exposing her mother as a murderess or a madwoman.
While the investigation turns up more suspects and the local townspeople scheme to profit from the “alien invasion”, Joe and Sandra work together to unravel the mystery, knowing their attraction is doomed to end in pain when the truth is revealed.
I know very little about what’s going to happen in Malcolm’s book, but I do know things are shaking up in the Dead Horse office. Some folks are moving to Yellowstone soon, so Malcolm will be a newer addition to backfill the Dead Horse agency. What happens after that? Who knows? I won’t until I put my fingers on the keys, but you know it’s going to be fun!
All I know about this story is that it takes place in Bozeman, Montana, in the middle of a snowstorm, when two people, who never expect to see each other again, go for it. Only, they see each all too soon back in Dead Horse, MT. He’s the fireman daddy of a kid in her brand-new classroom…
UPDATE: The winners are…commenters 1-8! Congrats, all!
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Yes, I’ve said it before—I am a word nerd, a true logophile, a “lover of words.”
When I was a kid, I loved finishing my reading assignments because then I could go to the front of the class and read through the very large dictionary my teacher kept open on a podium. I loved learning new words and finding out their etymology (their origins). I studied Latin for four years during junior high and high school and loved it because I learned even more about the origin of everyday words. So, yes. I’m a complete nerd, and I was meant to be a writer and editor—it just took forty years for me to discover that!
Today is an unofficial holiday: Dictionary Day. It’s a celebration of Noah Webster, born on October 16, 1758, who is best known for publishing An American Dictionary of the English Language. It’s the great-grandfather of today’s The Merriam-Webster Dictionary.
If you’re a word nerd like me, check out the Merriam-Webster website! There, you have access to their on-line dictionary and thesaurus, plus you can play word games and pick out gifts for the word nerds you love! You can even subscribe to “Word a Day” and MW will send you a new word to love every day. There’s also a phone app you can download!
So, do you love words and dictionaries? Do you have a favorite word? For a chance to win a downloadable book on my backlist, comment below!
Before I pull my tarot card, I just wanted to remind you that Hard Knox will be released sometime after midnight tomorrow! Have you preordered your copy yet?
Sunday Tarot
Grrr. The card isn’t actually “The Devil.” That’s Pan, the half-goat/half-man, playing his reed flute while holding the chains of two humans (with horns, why?) who are dancing to his music. It also appears that they are inside a deep dark cave, which, to me, indicates Pan is trying to hide something. When I look at this card, I think it’s telling me that I will be captured by a mood or temptations around me this week that will try to keep me doing things I shouldn’t.
When I check The Mythic Tarot book, it tells me that I can free my “creative power” by gaining knowledge to face “my own darkness.” Okaaaay. I like my interpretation better.
In any case, I will have my work cut out for me to get anything done.
In case you haven’t ordered your copy yet! Here’s a reminder.
After relentlessly pursuing the biggest badass around and failing, Dead Horse, Montana’s wild child offers him an irresistible proposition—one night of passion, one and done, and she’ll walk away forever…
Dead Horse, Montana’s wild child, Carleen Crossley, knows what she wants—or rather—who. She’s spent years chasing after Knox Ramsey, the biggest badass in Dead Horse, MT. However, she’s resigned herself to the fact that her methods of gaining his affection aren’t reaping any rewards. Yes, her antics keep the townsfolk amused, and Knox definitely knows she’s alive, but she has yet to break through his cold, hard heart to claim her man.
For Knox, Carleen is impossible to ignore. She’s everywhere he is. The sexy vixen has made him uncomfortably aware that she’s his for the taking, and the Lord knows he’s tempted. However, he knows he’s not the man for her. He’s his father’s son with his father’s temper, and he won’t succumb to Carleen’s charms because she deserves better than him. So, when her sexy short skirts and heavenly scent drive him crazy, he curls his fists and pretends disinterest to keep from reaching for her.
In one moment of frustration over his refusal to really see her and everything she’s offering, Carleen proposes a deal Knox finds impossible to resist. One night of passion—one and done—and she’ll never bother him again.
When she keeps her promise afterward, Knox’s pursuit begins because once was not enough.
I’m busy working on a book this NaNoWriMo! It’s one I’ve been wanting to write for forever. Seriously. I shaped the opening of the story back in 2002—twenty-one years ago, and those first chapters were sent to many, many writer’s contests, and gained awards, but something happened that pushed this project to the back of the line—I got published. And then I got published again, and again, and again.
