The Adventures of Laughter, the Tame Wolf, Plus an e-book Giveaway

Howdy! Howdy!

Here’s hoping your holiday was bright and cheerful and that Santa brought you everything you wanted.

Well, I am currently at work on the story of First Rider and Liliann and am about (a little short) of 2/3’s done with the book.

However, in the meantime, I have two sales occurring, both books priced at $.99 cents.  The first one is SHE STEALS MY BREATH:  https://tinyurl.com/SHE-STEALS-MY-BREATH

The other book on sale is: PROUD WOLF’S WOMAN  https://tinyurl.com/ProudWolfsWoman
This book, Proud Wolf’s Woman, does not go on sale very often.  Also, because I’m an Indie and the book is on other platforms, it can’t be in Kindle Unlimited — and so this is a good sale, I think.
Here are their covers:  She Steals My Breath
And Proud Wolf’s Woman
I’d also like to say that my heart goes out to all those who have been adversely affected in California by the fires and also in North Carolina.
If you have been adversely affected by the fires or the hurricane, please leave me a message here on the blog and I will give you a free book of mine — of your choice.
Well, onward we go with the story of Laughter the Tame Wolf.  This story comes from the book WHY GONE THOSE TIMES, Blackfeet Tales by James Willard Schultz as told to him by Red Eagle, who was an old man then in February 1878.
When Red Eagle was a young man, his close friend was Nitaina, known as Lone Chief.  Well, one day, when they were out on the hunt they came upon a flooded lake.  Sometimes the ice from the mountains breaks loose in the early spring and floods the rivers and lakes.
The two of them saw a couple of wolves on an island who were pacing back and forth and the two men knew they had some pups nearby.  Determined to find the pups and kill them, the two waded out to the island only to see one, lone wolf pup scared and shaking who was still alive.  His brothers and sisters had not survived the flood.  And so Nitaina decided to take the pup and make a pet of it.  Red Eagle made no objections, and so the wolf pup came hom with them.
Before the pup was a year old he had come to love the man who had saved him and he would often put his paws on Nitaina’s shoulders and grin at him, thus his name, Laughter.  Laughter was afraid of the camp dogs and left them alone.  But one dog had the nerve to fight with Laughter and result was that the other dog lost the fight.  From then on the dogs left Laughter alone.
Laughter didn’t bark.  Nor did he howl in camp.  But, he would listen to the howling of the wolfs each night and often bothered Nataina to take him to his own kind.  But Nataina would tell him to lie down and pup would obey.
Well, unlike dogs, Laughter was a very good hunter and the first time he made a kill for meat, he was so excited he kept jumping up on Natiana and grinning.  Lone Chief one day joined a war party, but was denied going with the others because they knew the wolf would follow.  But, what none of the knew was that, unlike a dog who announces your position with barking — saying here we are, here we are, we’ve come to steal your horses — Laughter proved to be as excellent in the war trail as a trained warrior.  He didn’t howl.  Instead, he alerted the entire war party when danger was near.
Well, as was bound to happen, after they had gone on many adventures together, Laughter began to absent himself from time to time, each time staying away longer and longer until, at last, he came to the camp no more.  Natiaina and Red Eagle saw the wolf one last time when they were out hunting on the plains.  In the distance were two wolves watching Red Ealge and Natiaina.  As they neared the two wolves, one trotted down to meet them.  It was Laughter.  Oh, how wonderful was the reunion and Natiaina got back on his horse and ordered Laughter to follow.  But, Laughter would not follow.  They saw in the distance that Laughter was dancing around his wife, trying to get her to come with him with Natiaina, but his wife would not go.  At last, howling his misery, Laughter stayed with his wife.
Though he loved Natiaina, he loved his wife more.  Schultz ends the story, saying, “The call of kind to kind is stronger than any other love.”
I hope you have enjoyed the blog today.  Please come on in and leave a comment.  I’ll be giving away one of these e-books to some lucky blogger!

Rue Allyn: The Spirit inside ONE NIGHT’S DESIRE

one nightLadies 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

 

Two Chances to Win a Free E-Download of One Night’s Desire.

Leave a comment here about this post, wolves, the national parks, or any topic you prefer AND/OR 

Leave a review of one of my currently available books at Amazon. Just check my author page for book details

I’ll be collecting entries throughout the entire One Night’s Desire release tour (June 13 – July 29—find the schedule of appearances at http://rueallyn.com/4News.html). The winner will be announced July 31st on my blog http://rueallynauthorblog.com/.

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

FB: http://www.facebook.com/RueAllynAuthor?fref=ts

Twitter:  http://twitter.com/RueAllyn

Goodreads:  http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/5031290.Rue_Allyn

Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Rue-Allyn/e/B00AUBF3NI/ref=ntt_athr_dp_pel_1

Blog:  http://rueallynauthorblog.com/

 

 

 

For Love of the Wolf

 

Wolves have always played a fascinating roll in western novels.  There is a mystique about the animals that stems as much from misinformation as information. This week I visited the St. Francis Wolf Sanctuary in Montgomery, Texas. It is less than a twenty minute drive from my house, but I felt as if I were a world away.

 

We parked at the end of a country road and then walked up a gravel path to the place where the mostly rescued animals were held. While caged, they were being tended by a host of volunteers who were also petting and playing with the animals as one would a familiar pet. My fourteen-year-old grandson was with me and he was quickly as intrigued by the animals as I.

 

The first woman we met was Reverend Jean LeFevre, the founder and the heart behind the sanctuary. As she told us a little about herself and the animals, we could feel her love for them. She has truly led a fascinating life. One of the things she didn’t tell us but which I read on the website explained a lot about her knowledge and respect for the wolves.

 

“My first hands-on experience with a wolf was White Tornado, in 1976. She was a white wolf living with Grandmother Twylah Nitsch of the Seneca -Wolf Clan- Iroquois Nation, my friend, and a mentor who has blessed my life. White Tornado was an amazing animal, full of energy and love. She showed me the gentleness of her kind and the love and spiritual learning that they can give to us. I have always been fascinated with the Indian lore of the Wolf and their mysticism and feel myself privileged to be able to experience it first hand.”

 

http://www.wolvesofsaintfrancis.org/founder-saint-francis-wolves.htm

 

 

 

While we were at the site, two volunteer handlers who obviously loved the wolfdogs (a mix of wolf and dog) had us sit still while they led the wolf dogs past us so that they could get used to our smell. Then we were allowed to pet the wolves that seemed to love the attention.  It was easy to tell from the feel of the coats which ones were predominantly wolf. Their hair was sticky, almost scratchy.

 

The mission of the sanctuary as stated on their website is: “Saint Francis Wolf Sanctuary (SFWS) is dedicated to the care of rescued, non-releasable wolves and wolfdogs. We do not breed, buy, sell, or trade them. They have often been rescued from dire circumstances. Many have suffered much at the hands of humans; others were simply discarded by their caretakers. We believe they deserve a stable home for the rest of their natural lives, with an abundance of loving and compassionate care.”

 

They also help educate the public and try to dispel the myths about wolves.  To learn more about the sanctuary, visit their website at http://wolvesofsaintfrancis.org/

 

 

 

And don’t forget that Trumped Up Charges is on the shelves now. When a mother’s love meets a father’s instinct. Read an excerpt at:

http://www.amazon.com/Trumped-Up-Charges-Harlequin-Intrigue/dp/0373696930/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1371442848&sr=1-1&keywords=trumped+up+charges+by+joanna+wayne