Ladies thank you very much for having me back to visit at Pistols and Petticoats. On my last visit I wrote about what traits define a book as being a western historical romance. Today, I want to discuss the spirit inside my newest book One Night’s Desire.
Since One Night’s Desire is a romance a huge claim could be made that the spirit of the book is love. However, there’s more to this book than romance. The words of Chief Ranger Don Sholly, speaking about Yellowstone National Park as a resource also define the spirit of One Night’s Desire. Ranger Sholly said, “The resource is not twenty thousand elk, or a million lodgpole pines, or a grizzly bear. The resource is wildness. The interplay of all the parts of the wilderness. . . .” I would paraphrase that the spirit of One Night’s Desire is not the love that grows between Ev and Kiera, nor the fires, trials, and plots that endanger and unite them, nor the time period, nor the western setting, the spirit of One Night’s Desire is wildness. A union of all the parts of the story that creates an intensity so special no limits can contain it. Hundreds of examples of this wildness exist in the novel but none illustrates my point better than the wolves. The pair of wolves appears only briefly in the story but the appearances are pivotal. They appear at the moment when Ev and Kiera first make love. The pair appears again at the moment of greatest shared danger when it looks like Ev and Kiera won’t survive a forest fire. The pair appears once more when Kiera is forced to leave a badly injured Ev in order to save another life.
Why wolves? A number of reasons, beginning with the fact that these animals are true representations of the wild—you don’t tame wolves. They do mate for life. ”These creatures do mate for life in the social sense of living together in pairs but they rarely stay strictly faithful.”* Most important for One Night’s Desire the wolf is regarded by the Shoshone (who are Kiera’s friends) as very wise. Thus the wolf is a significant representation of the wild spirit embodied in One Night’s Desire.
Here are some interesting Wolf factoids drawn from the Yellowstone Trivia book:
Wolves once had the widest distribution of any land mammal in North America.
Wolves were completely absent from Yellowstone for 70 years until they were re-introduced in 1995.
Coyotes howl more than Wolves.
Wolves do not howl at the moon. They howl to attract a mate and they never howl while hunting.
*http://www.wonderquest.com/animal-mate-for-life.htm
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If you’d like to know more about One Night’s Desire here’s the blurb followed by a link to an excerpt.
A WOMAN ON THE RUN: Rustlers, claim jumpers and fire, nothing will stop Kiera Alden from reuniting her family. But an accusation of murder threatens her dreams and sets Marshall Evrett Quinn on her trail. She may be able to escape prison bars and eventually prove her innocence, but she can’t escape Quinn’s love.
A LAWMAN IN HOT PURSUIT: Marshall Evrett Quinn is relentless in pursuit of law-breakers, and pretty Kiera Alden is no exception. Clever and courageous, she evades him until a chance encounter turns the tables. Finally he has this elusive desperado under arrest, but success is bittersweet when she captures his heart.
EXCERPT LINK: http://rueallyn.com/2c2ONDexcerpt.html
BUY LINKS: One Night’s Desire and its sister book One Moment’s Pleasure are heavily discounted at Amazon for the entire month of July
ABOUT RUE: Author of historical, contemporary, and erotic romances, Rue Allyn fell in love with happily ever after the day she heard her first story. She is deliriously married to her sweetheart of many years and loves to hear from readers about their favorite books and real life adventures. Learn more about Rue and her books at http://RueAllyn.com
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Thank you for the post. I was given the chance to meet a wolf face to face (literally) about 15 years ago. I worked in accounting at a television station in California where we had a live show with animals every Thursday. This one particular day I was coming down a hall from our print room when I saw this beautiful animal and his handler watching me. As I approached I knew it was our guest and I asked if the wolf could be petted. I was given instructions that yes he could as long as I got down to eye level with him and talked softly to him and put my hand out (usual way to approach a dog) palm up and let him move forward to me. It was one of my most awesome experiences. The handler said that while this particular wolf had been domesticated, he could still turn in an instant. It was an AWESOME experience.
Smiles & Blessings,
Cindy W.
countrybear52 AT yahoo DOT com
This sounds like a fabulous book. I love the setting too. It’s one place I would love to visit one day. I’ve never seen a wolf in person, but we do have a lot of coyotes here. One night my husband woke up during the night and as usual, looked out the front windows. There was one right at the window looking in. He backed away quickly and come to wake me up to see it. I saw it for a brief moment before it ran off. Figures, the sight of me with bed hair and no makeup even scared off a beautiful wild animal.
Welcome back to the Junction, Rue! Wolves are amazing creatures. I’m so glad to have heard that they are moving back into the wilder areas of my state of Missouri.
Cindy W. That’s an astounding experience and a terrific memory. I admire your courage and sense of adventure.
Janine, thank you for the kind words. Yellowstone has a large population of coyotes and I saw severa while I was there. Wolves, not so much. It’s been a real struggle to bring the poputlation back. I’m not a rancher, so my bias is on the side of the wolf.
Thank you for the warm welcome, Tracy. We’ve had some sightings in Michigan’s Upper Pennisula, but so far nothing in the Lower portion of the state. The re-population of the wolf is a triumph for conservationists.
Ahhhh, they mate for life 🙂
I hope they can bring the wolf population back. It’s such a shame to see any animals disappear.
Ranger Sholly was so right. We just finished a 4 week trip out West where we visited a dozen+ National Parks and National Monuments in addition to many other sites. The over riding feel and theme is the history of the area and the people as well as that “wildness” you referred to. The wildness and the history make us who we are as a country and I hope we can continue to protect it for future generations. A love that grows in that climate can only get stronger.
Wolves were about the only thing we didn’t see on the trip. It was a bit disturbing to hear those living near Yellowstone complaining about the wolves. There are billboards depicting them as “The number one Poacher” in the area. I heard young women complaining the elk numbers were down because wolves were killing all the baby elk. Predators take the sick and weak, keeping the herd healthy and feeding their families. Man is the only predator that takes the healthy and strong which should be the ones to pass on their genes and defend the herd. All for a rack of antlers to hang on their wall. I realize ranchers need to make a living, but some losses can be handled, especially when they happen on BLM grazing land. That land belongs to all of us and the cheap rates that are paid to use it are a benefit for a few. Sharing it has a cost and wildness is part of it. That cost is worth it for all of us to keep wolves and the rest of wild nature here for the future.
Best of luck with the release of ONE NIGHT’S DESIRE.
A big welcome, Rue! We’re so happy to have you. Your blog subjects are so interesting. I think it’s horrible for people to target the wolves. It’s sad to see the numbers dwindling. They’re such intelligent animals.
Congrats on your newest book! I adore that cover. Wishing you much success.
Rue, such an interesting post. I had to laugh about the how they mate for life, but rarely stay faithful. Huh. Just like how some humans approach a marriage. 😉 I heard a wolf howl once while out camping. Our kids were outside. Whether we needed to or not, we hustled them into our trailer pronto!
Your book sounds wonderful. I also have written a historical western romance, so I know how much research there is to do. Best wishes for ONE NIGHT’S DESIRE.
Sherri, Janine, thank you so much for the comments. Wolves do mate for life, but that doesn’t mean they are faithful for life.
Patricia, sounds like you had a terrific trip. If I could give a gift to every individual in the world it would be the opportunity to see and understand the wilderness.
Linda, thank you for the warm welcome and kind words. I wish there were a way for humans and wild things to live compatibly together.
Carol, thank you for the kind words. I don’t mind the research so much. I do have trouble stopping though. Too many interesting factoids not enough time. 🙂
I did not know that wolves were absent for 70 yrs at Yellowstone… that is surprising! Thanks for sharing about your book & some interesting factoids of wolves with us!
Wolves, like most wildlife, are beautiful to see in the wild. But, they can be very harmful to wildlife as well as domestic animals and NO, they do not just kill the weak and sick especially young elk, deer, and bovine calves.
Another misconception is that wolf numbers are still declining. Here in the state of Washington there has been no reintroduction program and the number of wolf packs known increases every year. There is a known pack on the south side of the city of Wenatchee an area with a population of over 40,000 people. Yes, there are Forest Service and BLM lands nearby but that is not where the pack has done the most damage to livestock.
I sincerely hope we can learn to live with the wolves just as we have the coyotes. That means being allowed to control their numbers when necessary. Having lost half of our small lamb crop this year as well as two ewes to predators (we keep 15 to 20 sheep)I am not ready to let the wolf population continue to grow without some controls.
a ps. The lambs and ewes we lost were inside a woven wire fence not far from our barn . This is the first time we have had predator problems in the lambing pen. Other times the predators, mainly coyotes, have taken animals from the pasture but not from the fenced in pens.
Thanks Carol,I’m always amazed by the things I don’t know. 🙂
Hill Top Farm Wife, thank you for sticking up for the farmers and ranchers. No issue concerning wildlife is ever black and white. (I’ll never be able to use shades of gray as a metaphor again, darn.)
Welcome to the P&P! I found your post very interesting. I did not know these things about wolves. Your book sound fabulous and I would love to read it. I love the cover, its awesome.
Quilt Lady, Thank you very much for the kind words. I loved writing One Night’s Desire (actually I really enjoyed the entire Wildfire Love series). I got to spend a lot of time with interesting characters in a setting that is one of my favorite places on earth.
Hilltop Wife, Sorry your losses have been so high. Top predators that they are, wolves have adapted to a world with man in it. It sounds like they are beginning to spread much like the coyote did. They are both smart enough to take advantage of the young and defenseless. The wolves being bigger and more organized can do much more damage. I agree that when major predators get too close to heavily populated areas, they need to be controlled. Bears, wolves, and mountain lions will take advantage of the easy food supply we offer them in so many forms. Proximity lessens their fear of man and at that point they become a threat and dangerous. Hopefully, we can soon find a way to balance everyone’s needs and keep the “wild” where it belongs.
Enjoyed the post. I love books with nature settings. Will put your series in my TBR list.
I was reading about the bear cam in Alaska where one bear killed another… the public comments showed that people are uninformed or misinformed about how the predator keeps the ecosystem going. Over population of any one species in the system causes everything going out of whack [yeah, not terribly scientific term]..Look at the deer population in urban areas as one example.
Great post, Rue. Very interesting.