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!”
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…
Gunn’s Mission released on October 17th and is still going strong (see today’s ranking?)! Thanks to everyone who picked up a copy!
I began work on a standalone book, Little Green Dreams (follow the link to pre-order!)! Something I’ve been thinking about writing for years. (I don’t have a cover yet!)
I set up pre-orders for two more books, Malcolm (Book #10 of Montana Bounty Hunters: Dead Horse, MT) and What Happens in Bozeman (Book #3 of We Are Dead Horse, MT).
I completed 3 editing projects for other authors in October.
Health-related:
I have not been exercising enough. Without the pool to run to every day, I’m falling off the wagon.
Through medicines and some diet tweaking, I’ve managed to keep my blood pressure down to 135-155. I had one bad spike this month.
Happiness-related:
I participated in the local art festival! Wind knocked down a panel full of framed art, which hit my sales hard, but it was still satisfying to see how many people appreciated my art and bought tons of bookmarks and postcards.
I am still working on and making more great progress organizing my art room, getting ready for the next arts and craft show in December, and then the reopening my Etsy store.
As for making new art, again, work has kept me too busy to do much. But I have renewed energy here at the last of the month. Right now, I’m just trying to refill my stock of the small things. Here are some examples…
November
For work-related, I plan:
To compile the stories in my Triplehorn Brand trilogy into an ebook and print box set for publication this month! Be looking for it!
To not make promises about counting points for my Weight Watchers diet, because it’s that time of year and I know I’d be setting myself up for failure. However, I will try to make healthier choices—emphasizing no late night snacking!
To continue to reduce salt, processed food, and incorporate foods good for blood pressure (spinach, broccoli, bananas).
To pay attention to my daily steps, trips up and down the stairs, and to incorporate some chair exercises.
To do more housework because my art room isn’t finished! Cleaning is exercise, too.
For happiness-related, I plan:
To work on art and ornament-making to get ready for a local arts and crafts event in December!
Contest
Comment on anything you’ve read in this post. Tell me what you’re doing to make yourself happier and healthier, or tell me what you plan to read in November… Like I said, comment on anything for a chance to win a $5 Amazon gift card!
I’m so excited it’s finally here! Knox and Carleen were so much fun to write! What should you expect? Do you see that cover? It’s the story. Seriously. Girl chases boy. Boy chases girl. Sexy times abound. And I’d so move to Dead Horse if it existed. If you have the time and the inclination, tell someone about it and/or leave a review so another reader will know it’s worth a read. I can’t wait to hear what you think about it! Enjoy!
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 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.
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 know some of y’all have been waiting for Cold Hard Cashto show up in some other venues. I’ve taken the book out of KU, and it’s available at all the usual outlets now. Just thought I’d let you know. 🙂
The wealthiest man in Dead Horse, MT, decides it’s time to acquire a wife and gives his eminently efficient personal assistant the task of finding the perfect candidate…
