Western Novels

Bounty Hunter Trivia + Giveaway!

by
Illustrated flowers on white background. Text, "Guest + Giveaway Caroline Clemmons. Petticoats & Pistols"

We have a guest at the junction today! Let’s give a warm welcome to Caroline Clemmons, author of SHAD!

*

Hello, Fillies,

Thank you for sharing your amazing blog with me today.

As long as I can remember, I have been fascinated by tales set in the Old West. In fact, I love writing and reading about that time in our history, especially from 1870-1895. My father is partially to blame. He mesmerized me with stories of his ancestors who came to Texas from Georgia in 1877. They had many adventures that continue to fascinate me. Dad was a master storyteller who made the characters in his tales come alive. I believe it is appropriate to recognize his contribution to my career since we are almost at Father’s Day.

For instance, one of my father’s true stories was about a relative named Claud who was sheriff in a small western town. The family had a kinsman, Ossie, visiting from Georgia. During Ossie’s visit, outlaws robbed the bank. While Claud led the posse to capture the robbers, an angry mob decided to lynch Ossie. Never mind that Ossie was staying in the sheriff’s family home. With typical mob stupidity (likely fueled by alcohol), the hotheads decided Ossie had stolen their money simply because he was the only newcomer in town. Claud and the posse returned with the real culprits barely in time to save Ossie from being lynched. I’ll bet Ossie never returned for another visit!

Situations like that one can make a man cynical, wary, and harden his heart against his fellow man. Can you imagine a series about loners who have grown to distrust others? Guns For Hire is a series about bounty hunters, lawmen, and outlaws and the women who teach them how to love. Earlier, Cheryl Pierson and Linda Broday were featured here with their releases from this series, LANDON and CREEK.

My book, SHAD, releases June 15th. In the short time until then, SHAD is available for preorder. Shad, who slips in and out with no more noise than a shadow, is a bounty hunter. He’s the caretaker of his uncle who received a brain damaging blow in the Civil War and is now like a mischievous boy of twelve in a charming and handsome man’s body.

Avonleigh Adams, the heroine, is a fiery and intelligent redhead with green eyes and a strong spirit. She and her father own a beautiful ranch in northern New Mexico Territory. A land grabbing neighbor has decided to gain control of the area, starting with the Adams Ranch. Isn’t there always someone who feels entitled to take whatever he wants?

In my research for SHAD, I learned a few surprising things about bounty hunters. In spite of what we see in movies and on television, author and historical researcher Jennifer Uhlmarik says most rewards were from $25 to $200 rather than thousands. Exceptions to this included $10,000 for the Wild Bunch and $5,000 for Billy the Kid. (from Heroes, Heroines, and History blog, February 25, 2025.)

The Wild Bunch Gang Wanted Poster, $1000 Reward

One of the most successful bounty hunters of the Old West was John Riley Duncan. After trying several careers, he fell into law enforcement in Dallas, Texas, mostly dealing with small crimes. This changed with the pursuit of Wes Hardin, infamous outlaw in the area. The Texas Rangers recruited Duncan to work undercover. He followed Hardin to Pensacola, Florida, where—with various law enforcement agencies—Hardin was captured and taken in by Duncan and his associate, John Armstrong. Duncan received nearly four thousand dollars for Hardin’s capture. After that and until the end of his bounty hunting life, he collected around twelve thousand dollars, which would be equivalent to well over $375,000 today. (Calculators via Google vary in the amount, but all agree inflation makes it a large sum.) This made Duncan one of the most successful bounty hunters of the Old West.

Shad Stone is not after a career in bounty hunting. His goal is to gain enough in savings to buy a ranch where he can raise cattle and breed fine horses while keeping tabs on his uncle. Though injured in the process, Avonleigh Adams escapes kidnapping by the land grabbing neighbor. She is determined to reclaim her family’s ranch, but how? Shad has a plan to achieve both but it requires precision—and luck.

 

Cover of Shad by Caroline Clemmons. Mountain backdrop with cowboy.

Shad Stone is a bounty hunter with a mission. His uncle’s shenanigans have cost him the nest egg he had saved to buy a ranch and hang up his guns. Now he has to start over, so he wants to bring in a high-dollar capture. Shad’s sheriff cousin provides him with the wanted posters and a warning—dead men can’t buy anything. Shad is still determined to capture a man wanted for murder and a string of other offenses. The problem is the criminal keeps a dozen gunfighters with him and pays the local lawman to cooperate.

When Shad arrives near the culprit during a storm, he takes shelter in a cave where he discovers Avonleigh Adams. She was badly injured in her escaped from the murderer and her most serious wound is septic. The last thing Shad needs is the complication of any woman yet he can’t abandon a wounded and virtually helpless person. He learns the man he seeks has stolen her family’s ranch and bushwhacked her father.
How can one man win against a dozen gunfighters? Can the woman he saved now save him by teaching him to trust love?

Purchase SHAD on Amazon!

 

Photo of author Caroline Clemmons

Caroline Clemmons writes about forceful and handsome western heroes, the strong and determined women who love them, and the scheming villains who challenge them. The over 85 books she’s created have made her an Amazon bestselling and award winning author. She has written sweet and sensual romances but now writes sweet books about the West: historical, contemporary, and time travel romances and cozy mysteries.

Caroline and her Hero live in North Central Texas cowboy country where they ride herd on their rescued pets. When she’s not writing, she loves spending time with her family, reading, dining out, travel, browsing antique malls, digging into family history, checking Facebook, and taking the occasional nap. Find her at http://www.carolineclemmons.com.

Giveaway Alert!

Caroline has generously offered to give away an e-book to two readers who leave a comment. The winners will be randomly selected and announced on Sunday, so be sure to stop by the junction then!

Would you have made a good bounty hunter? Why or why not?

Thanks for joining us! We’d love for you to stay up on our latest releases and have some fun, too, so join our Facebook Reader Group HERE!

Guest Author Kara O’Neal and Giveaways!

by

Hi, there, fellow western romance lovers! Thank you for letting me visit y’all today to talk about the past.

I love history. I especially love how people lived. I enjoy learning about the tools they used, the recipes they made, the music they enjoyed, and the fun they had.

 

The Western saloon has always fascinated me. To me, it’s one of the symbols of the American West. Throughout the years I’ve learned a lot about saloons, and I love the variety of names. Some of them are funny, like the Holy Moses Saloon in Creede, Colorado. Or the White Elephant in, well, there were several saloons named White Elephant.

 

They were rowdy places, of course. Dangerous places. They were the settings for some deadly events.

One of the most famous happened in Deadwood, South Dakota, at Nuttal and Mann’s Saloon. Wild Bill Hickock was shot in the back by Jack McCall and killed. He was playing poker at the time, and the cards he was holding – a pair of black aces and a pair of black eights – became known as the “dead man’s hand”.

Saloons, though wild and dangerous, were a part of life in the American West, and I’ve set some scenes within their rowdy walls a few times. Including a wedding reception…

PRICKLY POPPY, the third book in my Wildflowers of Texas series, has quite the mischievous, swaggering, handsome hero. But he owns a saloon…

This is quite the problem for Hazel Rutherford.

Kit Kirby’s his name, and he’s got no problem sauntering about town, making all the ladies swoon over his looks, while irritating Hazel to no end.

And when he is the one charged with escorting Hazel to Brownwood to rescue her cousin from a terrible marriage, Hazel is livid.

Let me tell you…the sparks FLY in this book! I loved writing these two so much.

Yeah, Kit owns a saloon, but don’t you worry…he’s quite the gentleman.

I’d love to give away a copy – ebook or print – to three lucky readers! Just comment on the post and let us know your answer to the following question: Do you think a saloon can bring on the romance?

PRICKLY POPPY

Brownwood, Texas, 1883

Two years ago, Hazel Rutherford fled from her lying, greedy fiancé. Now, her young cousin is within his sights, and Hazel must return and rescue her. Which means facing a manipulative villain.

But her uncle won’t let her go alone…

Kit Kirby is the man tasked with escorting her and protecting her while she’s in Brownwood.

Kit Kirby. Saloon owner. Hell raiser. The man that all the ladies—from five to eighty—swoon over. All except Hazel, that is. Since the day she met him, they’ve done nothing but fight.

He calls her prudish. She calls him irresponsible. He calls her prickly. She calls him a conceited hell-trap. There’s no way she’ll make it to Brownwood with her sanity intact.

But when Kit changes the game and kisses her, she’ll be lucky if she gets through the ordeal still the owner of her heart.

 BUY LINK

Kara O’Neal is an award-winning author of over thirty historical romances. Humor, family, love, and romance take center stage in her novels, and her characters have been touted as “real, complex, and down-to-earth”. Her books are available in print and ebook.

When not writing, she’s a teacher, but she’s always a mother to three talented children, and the wife of a man quite worthy of being called “hero”.

Telling stories is her passion, and she does so with memorable characters and unique plots certain to keep you reading late into the night! Visit Kara O’Neal at http://www.karaoneal.com.

Guest Author Janice Cole Hopkins and a Giveaway

by

Dime Novels

Dime novels came on the scene in America around the time of the Civil War. By then, printing technology had advanced, so it became feasible to produce cheaper books to sell in larger quantities. New York publishing firm, Beadle and Adams, published the first ones, calling them “Beadle’s Dime Novels.” Because of this and the fact that the books cost ten cents, dime novels became the term for all of them. In England, they were called “penny dreadfuls” with the first one being published in 1836.

These books were usually around a hundred pages long and had bright, colorful covers. The ones set in the West quickly became some of the most popular, but mysteries, military feats, explorers and adventurers, and romances had their niche. As you might guess, not all these writers were men. It’s estimated that from twenty-five to thirty percent were women. You might recognize some of the names among the dime novelists: Horatio Alger, Upton Sinclair, Jack London, Bret Harte, Zane Grey, Edgar Rice Burroughs, Max Brand, and Louisa May Alcott. Some used their real names, and some used pen names when writing dime novels. Often, this was how they got their start. Prentiss Ingraham, who made Buffalo Bill even more famous, completed more than 6oo novels.

The invention of the first practical typewriter in 1868 made it easier to write these short novels. An author could make up to $1,000 per book, which was a lot of money in the 1800s. One thousand dollars in 1870 would equal almost $25,000 today, and most writers could write a book a month. These books normally had a single plot and targeted the “common” class.

That’s what happened to my hero in The Writer’s Rescue. A debilitating accident on the ranch leads Wade Easton to become a wealthy Western dime novelist, but also a recluse. When he loses yet another housekeeper, he has no other option but to accept a woman he feels is too young for the job. However, she starts changing him without even trying. Can his own story perhaps be written with a different ending than he thought?

 

What do you find most fascinating about dime novels or novelists?

A name will be drawn from the comments to win a free Kindle copy of The Writer’s Rescue.

 

 

Check out The Writer’s Rescue at Amazon.

My Visit to Western Author Zane Grey’s Cabin

by

Back in August, my husband and I spent a week in Payson, Arizona. The trip was basically a get-out-of-the heat excursion for us as it was sweltering that time of year in the Phoenix area. While there, we decided to do a little sightseeing. Last month, I told you about our visit to the Payson Museum where we learned about the small plane crash in Hell’s Gate with the MGM lion aboard.

 

This month, I’m going to share with you a more writing related post – our stop at the Zane Grey cabin. For those who might not know, (Pearl) Zane Grey wrote more than ninety books, some published posthumously. He began his career as a dentist and, besides his love of hunting and the great outdoors, he was also an avid fisherman.  His wife Dolly managed his career, typed his manuscripts from his handwritten pages, and accepted his wandering ways, which included not only traveling most of the year but his various romantic dalliances.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Besides his famous westerns, Zane Grey also wrote hunting books, children’s books, and baseball books. His most famous western, Riders of the Purple Sage, has been made into more different movie versions than any other book ever. Here’s the part I like: most of his western books contain a strong romantic element. Way to go, Zane!

 

 

 

 

 

 

The cabin in Payson is actually a replica as the original one sadly burned down in the tragic Dude Fire of June 1990 when six firefighters lost their lives.  And, actually, that was considered the second cabin. The very first one was built in 1918 when Zane Grey came to the rim country and fell in love with the area. Most years, from then until 1929, Zane came to the cabin in the fall for the hunting season. He didn’t return after that because of a license dispute (the season dates had changed), and the cabin was left abandoned until 1963 when the Goettl family purchased and restored it. After Mr. Goettl died, the family turned the cabin into a private museum. After this cabin was destroyed in the 1990 fire, a replica was built in the town of Payson. It was meticulously constructed to duplicate the original in every detail, helped along by photos and consulting advice from Zane Grey’s son.

 

What I found most fascinating about the cabin was it’s design — basically one large room with “nooks” for sleeping, writing (he sat at a chair with a writing desk and composed by hand), eating, and relaxing. I particularly like the player piano in the corner, and some of my P&P fillies pals will understand why ? The kitchen is small and cramped and built off the main cabin so that heat from cooking didn’t make the cabin sweltering in hot weather.

I wish I’d been fortunate enough to see the original cabin, but I have to say, visiting the replica was quite fun and really informative. I felt so inspired afterward, I bought a book about Zane Grey in the giftshop and saved the most recent movie version of Riders of the Purple Sage to my watchlist.

The Wild West: The Good, The Bad, and the Unexpected–Penny Zeller

by

Howdy, y’all! I’m so thrilled to be a guest on Petticoats & Pistols. Love’s Promise, Book #4, in my Wyoming Sunrise Christian historical romance series, releases this month. I cannot wait for you to meet Silas and Amaya.

We open the story with Amaya aboard a stagecoach with three other passengers. Following an accident, outlaws bent on preying on helpless individuals decide to commit a crime. Will dashing hero, Silas McFadden, come to the rescue?

Speaking of Silas, he’s a rugged and muscular rancher who sometimes rides with the Poplar Springs posse, which includes his best friend from Dreams of the Heart, Deputy John Mark Eliason.

Silas once spent time on the wrong side of the law. But God has a way of changing hearts—Silas’s included. Christian historical romance is my favorite genre to write. Of course, I couldn’t add in a bit of “western” flavor without including law enforcement. So, while writing both Love’s Promise and Dreams of the Heart, I researched Wild West lawmen.

This topic intrigues me, likely because since I was a young girl, my grandpa told us stories about his time on the San Diego police force.

Below are some interesting tidbits about the Wild West—the good, the bad, and the unexpected.

  • Some of the duties of Old West sheriffs included keeping the peace, collecting taxes, issuing liquor licenses, keeping the streets clear of dead animals, and cleaning up manure.
    .
  • A Wyoming Territorial sheriff named Christopher Castle, along with his deputies, noted the amount of money an outlaw had in his pocket when arrested. Later, when a fine was assessed, it was that exact amount. Apparently, he didn’t have any concerns about leaving criminals penniless.

 

In Love’s Promise, a stagecoach carrying the main female character, Amaya Alvardo, is targeted by a gang of highwaymen looking for the strongbox. While researching stagecoach robberies, I discovered some interesting information about the cost of this lucrative crime.

According to my research, these robbers cost Wells Fargo & Co. an incredible amount of money. J.B. Hume, a detective for Wells Fargo compiled records over fourteen years (1870-1884), including how much the company lost due to those bent on stealing from trains and stagecoaches. He included in his report a variety of “expenses”—money taken in the heists, salaries of guards and agents, attorney fees, reward money, and miscellaneous expenses.

  • In total for all of the categories listed above, $927,726.55 was taken from Wells Fargo & Co. during this time period according to Hume’s 1885 report, which was published in a Nevada newspaper.
    .
  • Further, J.B. Hume also reported the number of guards and passengers killed and injured, the number of robbers killed while resisting the guards, and the number hanged by citizens. In all, 33 lives were lost during these 14 years, including four stagecoach drivers, four passengers, 16 highwaymen, and two guards. Seven highwaymen were hanged by citizens for their crimes. Of note, Arizona and New Mexico led the other states (which aren’t specified) in the number of hangings.

While Silas has his share of “Wild West adventures” in Love’s Promise, I daresay he is content being a rancher and not dealing with outlaws and keeping streets manure-free as is the case for John Mark in Dreams of the Heart.

Thank you for joining me today. As a special gift, be sure to snag An Unexpected Arrival, a Wyoming Sunrise novelette, for free by going here.

Pretend for a moment you live in the Wild West in the 1800s. What is your occupation? Leave me a comment for a chance to win a copy of Love’s Promise (U.S. residents only, please).

Snag your copy of Love’s Promise at the following (soon to be available wherever books are sold).

Amazon 

Special project! The Legacy of Rocking K Ranch

by

I have a novella collection releasing in January.

This is a fun ‘extra’ I found time to do and I realized I haven’t talked about it.

Next month we go Christmas-y…but maybe I can work The Legacy of Rocking K Ranch into the Christmas fun.

Then BOOM January 1, here comes the book!

I’d better at least MENTION it this month.

The Legacy of Rocking K Ranch is something I’ve wanted to do myself for a long time, but it’s just never quite worked out.

That is, take a dynastic western family and follow them through the generations.

Start when they first go west on the Oregon Trail maybe, then found a ranch. Next raise up some tough cowboys and cowgirls.

Just follow them generation after generation. I AM TELLING YOU I THOUGHT OF THIS BEFORE YELLOWSTONE! I SWEAR!

When a chance came to team up with three other authors and do this, I jumped at it, and it became the Legacy of Rocking K Ranch.

I wrote this a long time ago…maybe before Covid even. And kinda forgot about it. The release date was first probably not even going to happen, then all of a sudden it’s back on…where’d I put that book again?

And now, finally, here it is. My book is the beginning. Then Darcie Gruger has the child from my book all grown up.

Next is Becca Whitham then on to Kimberley Woodhouse whose story is the next generation looking back at where she came from, and finding her own future through the strength of her forebearers. Especially the women.

The Legacy of Rocking K Ranch

Six Decades of History Unfurls on a Wyoming Ranch
 
Journey to untamed Wyoming where four generations of women experience love, loss, grace, adoption, struggles with the law, relationships with natives, and through it all, family bonds.
 
Eleanor by Mary Connealy   
1850 – Wagon train guide, Ray “Wild Cat” Manning, can’t ignore the abandoned wagon stricken with smallpox. Eleanor Yates, now widowed with an ailing daughter, says yes to Wild Cat’s marriage of convenience. It is her only choice—but far from her romantic dreams.
 
Grace by D. J. Gudger   
1867 – Grace Manning abandons her journey east at Fort Laramie. The ranch is where she belongs. Unable to reach her father, Grace scrambles to find a way home. Captain Winfield Cooper is mustering out in a few short days. The gold fields at South Pass City are calling but a lonely laundress pleads to tag along with him and his motley men. Will this woman who refuses to unveil her face derail his dreams? 
 
Caroline by Becca Whitham       
1886 – Ray Cooper escaped reservation life by pursuing a degree from Harvard, but it hasn’t granted him the respect he craves in Washington, DC. Caroline Forrester longs to be more than a society hostess for her father. As the two fight against the Dawes Act, they also fight their growing attraction.
 
Penelope by Kimberley Woodhouse  
1910 – Penelope Cooper, an ambitious writer, is commissioned by her publisher—and future husband—to present tales of the American West. She returns to her family’s ranch in Wyoming along with photographer, Jason Miller, to interview the women of her family. But will rediscovering her past make Penelope reconsider her future?

Are you watching Yellowstone?

Do you like books that come from history and go all the way to more modern times?

Leave a comment to get your name in a drawing for a $25 Amazon gift card.

And have a wonderful THANKSGIVING!!!!!!

 

 

Will Rogers Medallion

by

Last month, I was honored to be invited to Fort Worth, Texas as a finalist for the Will Rogers Medallion. This contest, named for the famed cowboy, humorist, actor, and author honors western writing in all formats – fiction, non-fiction, short stories, articles, even cookbooks. One of the things that attracted to me about this contest in particular was that it honored the values of this American legend. The contest states:

*All works must represent an accurate reflection of Western Americana, or cowboy and ranch life, historical or contemporary. Historical accuracy is crucial where applicable.

*The work must remain consistent with the values and the language embodied in the works of award namesake, Will Rogers, one of America’s most beloved humorists and writers; in other words, innuendo is fine, but neither graphic sex scenes nor graphic language is in our code.

Will Rogers was born in 1879 in Oklahoma and worked on his parents’ ranch, then took on cowboy work in the Texas panhandle, traveled to Argentina, and eventually became a member of Texas Jack’s Wild West Circus thanks to his amazing roping skills, thereby getting his first gig as an entertainer. He and his roping moved on to the Ziegfeld Follies, which opened the door to movie contracts. He made over 70 films, 50 of which were silent pictures. He made a name for himself as a humorist as well and wrote more than 4,000 nationally syndicated newspaper columns.

Here are a few classic lines from Will that make me grin:

  • If you find yourself in a hole, stop digging.
    .
  • The quickest way to double your money is to fold it and put it back in your pocket.
    .
  • There are three kinds of men:
    …The ones that learn by reading.
    …The few who learn by observation.
    …The rest of them have to touch an electric fence.

The award banquet took place at the historical Fort Worth Stockyards, at Cooper’s Barbecue. Yum! To honor Will, they had a trick roper on hand. They also had his great-granddaughter come to speak. She runs the Will Rogers Museum in Oklahoma, and it was lovely to have her there.

They gave a Golden Lariat Award for lifetime achievement to Craig Johnson who is the author of the Longmire series. That was fun to see.

The Western Romance category was the first category on the list, so I didn’t have to wait long for my results. Our fabulous filly sister Shanna Hatfield took the silver medallion for Henley. I was so excited for her. I tried to cheer loud enough for her to hear me in Oregon since she wasn’t able to attend.

I was so blessed to receive the gold medallion for In Honor’s Defense. My editor, Jessica Sharpe, flew down to join me for the day, and we made sure to snap a photo together afterwards with our matching medallions.

 

There was a lot of western writing talent in that banquet hall, and I was incredibly honored to be part of it. I think I’ll enter again next year.

Do you read any other western writing besides romance?
Western magazines, biographies, history, children’s books …

 

The Hardships of Traveling to the West (And a Giveaway!)

by

By Jody Hedlund

Howdy, everyone! Thank you for having me back here on Petticoat and Pistols! I’m thrilled to have another chance to hang out with you all!

I recently had another cowboy book release, The Heart of a Cowboy (and I’m giving away a copy today here!). This one has to do with the very fun and interesting topic of traveling west by covered wagons.

Almost everyone has heard of the Oregon Trail and the many people who traveled to the west in covered wagons (and by stagecoach) over the well-worn route.

The Santa Fe Trail was another such trail to the west. It ran parallel to the Oregon Trail (mostly) but was a more southerly route through Kansas that eventually led to New Mexico (and was also used to reach southern Colorado).

Whether the Oregon or Santa Fe trails, the months-long journey to the west was marked by incredible difficulties. In researching for my book, I read countless diaries and journal entries by many of the brave people who ventured across the country. One classic I read was The Prairie Traveler which was actually a book written in 1859 by an army captain by the name of Randolph B. Marcy. The U.S. War Department asked him to publish a guide for settlers traveling across the American frontier based on his extensive experiences. His little book soon became an essential handbook for those pioneers. They used his advice on how to prepare for the trip as well as what to expect in the open country.

Even with sufficient preparation, good equipment, and an experienced guide, the travelers still faced incredible challenges. The npshistory.com site (National Park Service) indicates that nearly one in ten travelers on the Oregon Trail died on route to the west.

The Heart of the Cowboy tackles many of the hardships travelers had to endure including a near-river drowning, lost livestock, lost people, vicious storms, threats from Confederate Irregulars, danger from rattlesnakes, hot and dry weather, lack of water for both people and livestock, and much more.

One really dangerous aspect of traveling the Santa Fe Trail was the possibility of running out of water. I read an account of this very thing happening to travelers and how they dug down into the dry riverbed, placed their wagon box into the hole, and finally were able to tap into water buried a little deeper in the ground. So, of course, I had to include such an incident in my story too! (Along with many other dangers that really did happen to real-life travelers!)

Such stories of bravery make me appreciate those early pioneers all the more! (And make me grateful for our easy, fast, and comfy modern cars and airplanes!)

Leave a comment on this post if you’d like the chance to win a signed copy of the book! (Sorry, U.S. mailing addresses only.) I will choose a random winner on November 7, this Sunday. To find out more information about the book visit: http://jodyhedlund.com/books/the-heart-of-a-cowboy/

If you had to travel in a covered wagon to the west, what would you like most? Like least?

 

Jody Hedlund is the best-selling author of over thirty historicals for both adults and teens.

She is the winner of numerous awards including the Christy, Carol, and Christian Book Award.

Jody lives in central Michigan with her husband, five busy teens, and five spoiled cats.

Visit her at jodyhedlund.com

 

 

American Literature in the 1800’s – Why My Characters Read by Sally Britton

by

In my latest novel, Copper for the Countess, I revisit characters and places from my first foray into the world of writing Historical Western Romance. This time, because I’ve established this fictional place in a time long ago, I concentrated more on what made the houses on this ranch true homes. One of the first things I did for my hero, a foreman on a cattle ranch, was give him a personal library in his house. While only a few shelves exist in his main room, they tell a story about literature and its impact during the expansion westward.

Long ago, when I read an article about Louis L’Amour, he mentioned that some of his cowboys had expansive vocabularies. I remember he said he’d never met a cowboy who hadn’t read Shakespeare, or couldn’t rattle off favorite poems or snatches of great literature. L’Amour postulated that life on the open range left a man a lot of empty time on his hands. Time when he could read a book, and swap books with his friends. Doing a little research of my own, I discovered that many people in the west were better read than we’d guess. We had our own authors Americans loved, but we spent a fair amount of time reading books from across the pond, too.

So my cowboy is a literary cowboy. He loves a good book. On his shelves, you’d find a battered copy of Les Miserables, by Victor Hugo. That particular title gained notoriety in America during the Civil War. Soldiers on both sides of the war took copies of that book into battle. So much so that the book earned the nickname “Lee’s Miserables,” after a confederate general. (Source, Opinionator, NYT.)

Collections of Shakespeare’s work was greatly revered. Of Shakespeare, a cowboy is said to have said, “That fellow Shakespeare could sure spill the real stuff. He’s the only poet I ever seen what fed on raw meat.” (Source, The Washington Free Beacon.)

Jules Verne, a founder of science fiction, was popular in the late nineteenth century, too. We don’t often consider that he was publishing tales about journeying to the center of the earth or Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea when drifters went from one dusty town to another.

By the 1890’s, when my most recent book takes place, books were available at low costs. MacMillan’s Pocket Classics were widely available – I’ve come across several in used bookstores and antique shops in the west, with penciled in names of men and women who lived in Utah, Arizona, New Mexico, and Idaho. A cowboy might have Sir Walter Scott’s Ivanhoe in his saddle bag and trade it with a friend for Shakespeare’s Hamlet.

The love of literature is older than the printing press, and putting beloved books into the hands of my cowboys makes them that much more real, and tangible, to my readers.

In this newest book, Copper for the Countess, my heroine comes upon my cowboy’s library in this way: Evelyn volunteered to dust the bookshelves, and she took extra time to examine the titles of the books […]. The book titles were rather surprising. Many of them she had heard of or seen in London bookshops and libraries. Though none of the volumes she’d seen before looked as worn or weather-beaten as the books in Mr. Morgan’s care. He had a shelf with several volumes of poetry, including Tennyson—England’s poet laureate. He had Victor Hugo’s Les Misérables, and the Scot, Robert Louis Stevenson’s Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. American titles and authors greeted her, too. Mark Twain’s Adventures of Tom Sawyer and Adventures of Huckleberry Finn sat together, as the two friends ought. – Copper for the Countess: An American Victorian Romance 

Buy on Amazon

In my story, a Victorian countess – widowed and with a child – makes her way to the west. When she meets a ranch foreman with a heart of gold and a love of the written word, she takes a chance on him and his own adopted children. I hope you’ll take a peek at my book, and maybe grab a copy for yourself.

I’m giving away signed paperbacks for two winners. One copy of Cooper for the Countess. One copy of the first book in the series, Silver Dollar Duke.

What are some of your favorite books mentioned in the stories you read?

What is your favorite classic novel?

A Promise Made; A Promise Kept

by

       Charles Goodnight

Last week I wrote about Lonesome Dove.  This week we’ll take a look at the inspiration for the book.

In June 1866, former Texas Ranger Charles Goodnight and cattle rancher Oliver Loving went into partnership to drive cattle to western markets.  Settlers, soldiers stationed on forts and Navajos recently placed on reservations were all demanding food supplies, and the two men took a chance that their venture would be profitable. 

They planned to drive 2000 Longhorn cattle from Texas to Wyoming on a trail that later became known as the Goodnight-Loving Trail. That meant passing through dangerous Indian territory. But given Loving’s knowledge of cattle and Goodnight’s background as a Texas Ranger and Indian fighter, the two men were confident they could succeed. 

Not only was their venture a success, but it also led to an amazing act of friendship that inspired the Pulitzer prize-winning novel, Lonesome Dove.

                    Oliver Loving

Things went well for the two men until their third drive in 1867. Heavy rains slowed them down.  To save time, Loving went ahead of the herd to secure contracts, taking a scout with him.  Despite telling Goodnight that he would travel only at night through Indian country, he rode during the day. 

That turned out to be a bad decision as he was trapped by Comanches along the Pecos River.  Though he was shot in the arm and side, he managed to escape and reach Fort Sumner.

His injuries were not life-threatening, but he developed gangrene.  The doctor at the fort was unwilling to do an amputation and Loving died.  He was buried at the fort, but that was not his final resting place. Before Loving died, he turned to his good friend Goodnight and asked that his body be returned to Texas.  He did not want to be buried in a “foreign land.”    

Goodnight promised Loving that his wish would be carried out, and that was a promise he meant to keep. But honoring his friend’s request couldn’t have been easy.

A Promise Made: A Promise Kept by Lee Cable shows Goodnight taking his friend home to Texas.

Credited with inventing the chuckwagon, Goodnight arranged for a special wagon and metal casket to be built. With the help of Loving’s son, Joseph, he had his friend’s body exhumed and carried him 600 miles back to Texas—an act of friendship matched by few. 

Loving is buried in Weatherford, Texas.

What is the truest form of friendship that you’ve experienced?