Thank you to everyone who visited and left a comment
on my Simpler Times post yesterday!
I drew a name from my Stetson (www.randomnumbergenerator.com) for the winner of the drawing.
An autographed copy of Western Spring Weddings will be in the mail
to you this week!
Thanks for stopping by and for your comment!
It’s time for some more Filly Fun Facts. Are you ready???? Here we go…
Top 10 Things You Might Not Know About Me
I was a band nerd all through junior high and high school but switched to choir in college because of the boy I was dating. Ended up marrying that fella, and now we have our own harmonizing quintet on the church pew every Sunday. Love it! (Though, I’m raising band nerds at the same time. My daughter plays my old flute, my older son plays the French horn, and my youngest plays the trumpet.)I
n fact, I’m giving one of those books away today. This story incorporates a lot of true facts from history, from the opening scene where the hero finds himself on a real-from-history steamboat that exploded in New Orleans to the epilogue where the hero and heroine honeymoon in England with a trip to the Great Exhibition where they make another real-life discovery. Mixing among these facts is a healthy dose of pirate lore, romance, and author imagination.
For a chance to win an autographed copy of Full Steam Ahead simply leave a comment and tell me which item from my top ten list surprised you the most. (Winner will be announced at the end of the week. US residents only.)
Please join us in welcoming Debbie Costello to the Junction today! Debbie will give away a copy of one of her books–Shattered Memories or Sword of Forgiveness–to one lucky reader. (Signed print book in continental US; ebook in other locations.) Let’s all say howdy to Debbie!
Thank you for having me on your blog today! I’m excited to be here. And though I haven’t published any westerns (yet) all of my stories whether medieval or 19th century have horses in them. I love horses. They are my passion as well as my husbands. So since I don’t have any westerns published I thought I’d share some things about horses today.
Have you ever been reading a book and the writer gives you a description of a horse that means absolutely nothing to you because you don’t own a horse or have ridden one? Sometimes we as authors have done so much research on a subject we talk about horses like everyone should know what we mean. Before my husband and I owned horses, much of the equine talk meant absolutely nothing to me. I’m still far from an expert! I learn things every time we are around our trainer or friends who were brought up on horses. Today I thought to give you a quick lesson on horse colors, facial markings, saddle equipment, and age terminologies.
Something that I didn’t know until I started searching for pictures is that according to geneticists every horse starts out either a chestnut or black which are the two base colors. The Bay color is when the Agouti gene (it can produce the black pigment on the mane, tail, lower legs, and ear tips) works on the black. The large range of all the other coat colors are created by additional genes’ action upon one of these three coat colors. This is a bit over my head since science is not my strong point.
I’ll start with the base horses. The first picture is a Black (obviously). And if you’re interested in breeds, this is a Friesian—beautiful horses.
And the colors go on and on.
Facial markings are another description often put in books. I’m only going to use the ones that are frequently used.
Moving on to saddle and riding apparatus. I had to use my boy Trigger again for an example. He’s such a good boy!
Bit – metal piece that goes in horse’s mouth. There are several kinds. Snaffle, curb, straight, etc.
Blanket- This goes under the saddle and gives cushion between the horse and saddle.
Bridle- Head gear that holds the bit in the horse’s mouth.
Cantle- back roll of the saddle seat. Nice to hold on to in a gallop!
Girth- This is the thick strap that goes under the horse and holds the saddle onto the horse.
Gullet- The area under the pommel.
Halter- There is no halter on Trigger but a halter looks much like the bridle except it doesn’t hold a bit. It is used a lot when doing ground work with a horse.
Horn- The knob that rises on the front of the saddle. (Another great thing to hold on to!)
Pommel- The roll on the front of the saddle that the horn is attached to.
Reins- The long ropes/leather straps hooked to the bridle and used for steering the horse.
Seat- The place where you sit.
Stirrup- The place to rest your feet and they do help keep you in the saddle.
Tack- Equipment used for horses.
Riding a horse bareback truly takes skill. You have nothing to keep you on the horses back except for your leg muscles, stomach muscles and balance.
And last is the termonology for the different ages of horses.
Colt- A male horse under the age of 4.
Filly- A female horse under the age of 4.
Foal- A male or female horse less than a year of age.
Gelding- A male horse of any age that has been castrated.
Mare- A female horse four years or older.
Stallion- A male horse four years old or older that has not been casterated.
Suckling- A nursing foal.
Weanling- A foal tht has been weaned.
Yearling- A male or female horse that is between the age of one and two years old.
Debbie Lynne Costello has enjoyed writing stories since she was eight years old. She raised her family and then embarked on her own career of writing the stories that had been begging to be told. She and her husband have four children and live in upstate South Carolina. She has worked in many capacities in her church and is currently the Children’s director. Debbie Lynne has shown and raised Shetland sheepdogs for eighteen years and still enjoys litters now and then. In their spare time, She and her husband enjoy camping and riding their Arabian and Tennessee Walking horses. Visit Debbie Lynne at her website, Blog, Facebook , Google + and Twitter
Shattered Memories
Olivia Macqueen wakes in a makeshift hospital, recovering from a head injury. With amnesia stealing a year of her memories, she has trouble discerning between lies and truth. When her memories start returning in bits and pieces, she must keep up the charade of amnesia until she can find out the truth behind the embezzlement of her family’s business while evading the danger lurking around her.
Doctor Drew Warwick frantically searches through the rubble left by the Charleston earthquake for the lady who owns his heart. He finds her injured and lifeless. When she regains consciousness, the doctor’s hopes are dashed as he realizes she doesn’t remember him. But things only get worse after he discovers she believes she’s still engaged to the abusive scoundrel, Lloyd Pratt. Now Drew is on a race with the wedding clock to either help her remember or win her heart again before she marries the wrong man. Amazon
It was so good to see some familiar guests commenting on my post yesterday!
I feel like I am getting to know you all just a bit.
The winner of my March Giveaway who will receive the copy of Western Spring Weddings
is Cindy Woolard!
Thank you all for commenting and participating! You make it fun!
In the 1800s, I have a feeling spring weddings had something to do with the availability of beautiful flowers, and the (ahem) need for a wedding after the long, cold winter. Tomorrow is release day for Western Spring Weddings of which my story, His Springtime Bride , is roped with two other novellas, each involving a spring wedding. I am offering a print copy (or Kindle copy) to one lucky person leaving a comment today. (See guidelines on upper right of this page!) Here’s a little bit about the plot and an excerpt that occurs near the beginning of the story.
Released from prison, half-breed Gabe Coulter must work for his enemy to earn back the deed to his own ranch.
But when his boss’s daughter, Riley Rawlins, returns home with a rebellious son after years away in the east, nothing will stop him from discovering the truth.
Riley no longer trust the man she once loved so completely.
Years of old hurts and his violent past make it impossible to forgive and allow him back into her life or that of her son.
But one thing Gabe has is pure cowboy grit. Will it be enough to make Riley see that she and her son should a part of his future?
“Name is Coulter. I want to talk to Frank Rawlins.”
“Johnson. Foreman.” His gaze narrowed and he scratched his scruffy dirt-colored beard. “Coulter? From around these parts?”
Gabe lifted his chin in acknowledgment.
“Most Injuns never make it to prison if they kill a white man. And if they do—they don’t make it out.”
Gabe stiffened. He’d heard the same thing before from guards at the prison—their tone much uglier. It wasn’t the only time his father’s blood had saved him, but it was the most important time. In a world where both whites and Indians looked upon him with suspicion, he had quickly learned to trust no one. He had fought it when he was young, trying to fit in, but it did no good. Now all he wanted was to be left in peace. Obviously, Johnson had heard of him and didn’t care about that.
“Then it’s a good thing I’m half-white. Tell him I’m here,” Gabe said. By his tone, he made it clear he wasn’t asking.
The foreman eyed him for a moment longer and then clomped up the steps and, after a sharp rap on the door, let himself into the house.
Three minutes later, Johnson ushered him inside.
Gabe had been in the house a few times when he was young. His folks had been invited to a ten-year wedding anniversary party for Rawlins and his wife. That’s when he’d first met Riley. He had been quiet and she had been all gangly tomboy arms and legs and talked up a storm. He remembered swinging on the rope swing that hung from the old oak in the side yard with her and a few other children. He had never seen blond hair before that, and each time he tried to touch her braids, she would whip them around just out of his reach to tease him. She laughed and the other kids laughed right along with her, which made him mad—mostly at his own awkwardness.
Had Riley ever come back to visit her father? Once she had loved the ranch and vowed never to leave, despite her mother’s schemes to position her for a rich husband back east. By now she probably had that rich husband along with a baby or two. With effort, he pushed his memories of Riley to the back of his mind. Thoughts of her would only complicate the confrontation ahead with Rawlins.
He squared his shoulders and followed Johnson. The foreman stopped in the hallway before the study and indicated Gabe was to enter. “No such thing as a half Injun,” he said, his eyes cold as Gabe passed by. “Bad blood taints the good.”
Rawlins sat behind a massive cherrywood desk, his expression inscrutable. He had to be in his early fifties now, with silver-streaked hair and black hawkish brows over striking blue eyes. A small amount of paunch around his middle where there hadn’t been any before spoke to his more sedentary days of late. As Gabe stepped farther into the study, Rawlins walked slowly around from behind his desk and hiked one hip onto the corner to sit. “So you are out.”
Gabe wasn’t here for small talk. “I was down to my land today. Saw the sign. Looked new.”
Rawlins nodded…watching him carefully. “The sheriff in Nuevo mentioned your release. I thought you might head this way. I also thought you should be clear about the situation here.”
“You mean the part about not owning my own land?”
In the doorway, Johnson straightened, alert to the underlying tension in the room. He rested his hand lightly on his gun handle.
“Taxes hadn’t been paid in three years,” Rawlins said. “I paid them.”
“Stole the place, you mean. And you know why I couldn’t get them paid.”
He nodded again. “Your incarceration was mentioned in the newspaper. I had my eye on that property a long time, Coulter. Has a nice little stream running through it down from the mountain this time of year.”
“I noticed your cattle were enjoying it.”
“Hasn’t been grazed in years. There is a nice thick carpet.”
Of course it hadn’t been grazed. After his father’s death by the cougar, Gabe’s mother had had to slowly sell off the stock to make ends meet. Few would do business with a Kumeyaay woman and her kid. He blew out a breath, unused to having to ask for anything and not liking that he was going to now. He’d best keep calm. “What will it take to get it back?”
Rawlins tilted his head. “Who says I’m interested in selling?”
“I do.”
His Springtime Bride/Western Spring Weddings Anthology © by Kathryn Albright
Permission to reproduce text granted by Harlequin Books S.A.
For a different excerpt from this novella, visit my website!
My favorite part of weddings is hearing the heart-felt vows. Now it’s your turn!
Comment for a chance to win a copy of Western Spring Weddings!
Thank you to all who stopped by and commented yesterday!
I really enjoyed reading of the road trips you’ve taken and the ones you hope to take!
The winner of my giveaway is none other than
Please contact me at kathryn@kathrynalbright.com with your mail address and I will send you a (free) copy of
I come from a long line of farmers and ranchers who settled in Texas and Oklahoma after the Civil War. Since all my ancestors had big families not much was passed down to me.
But I have one metal music box that plays ‘Here Comes the Bride.’ I’ve always loved it. When I’m holding it, I can almost feel my grandmother’s hands around mine when she used to show it to me.
In researching my keepsake I discovered that the song was part of an 1850 Wagner opera called Lohengrin. The irony is that in the opera, the ‘Bridal Chorus’ is sung as the bride and groom enter the bridal chamber and the wedding party prepare
s them for their first night together.
I don’t really care about the opera, I just love holding it because I feel like I’m somehow touching base with those who came before. Maybe it’s because they didn’t have much that the few things that made it down to great-granddaughters like me are treasured so dearly. [The cookie “rustler” I caught (right) is another generation learning to love their own past.]
In the ne
w series I’m working on, RANSOM CANYON, I keep turning back to family heirlooms and memories. The second story in this new series, RUSTLER’S MOON, centers around a necklace, handed down for generations.
This story is about learning to trust in love and I hope you’ll fall in love with the people in Crossroads, Texas, like I have.
One old man in this story touched my heart. He’s long retired and comes to Ransom Canyon every summer to search for a memory from his childhood. You’re going to love Carter.
Thank you all for joining me in this journey into modern day ranching and living in a small town. As we move though the books I hope you’ll begin to think of it as your hometown, as I do.
“On a dirt road marked by haunting secrets, three strangers caught at life’s crossroads must decide what to sacrifice to protect their own agendas…and what they are each willing to risk for love.”
Step into RUSTLERS MOON, you will enjoy the adventure
Jodi is giving away one print copy of RUSTLER’S MOON today to one of you who leaves a comment. So get to it!
Catherine forced her fingers on her right hand to loosen a fraction and slid them to the rope below her left. Her 
boot skidded on the rock face as she inched it lower to a small ledge. Her heart left residence in her chest to pound in her throat. She could do this. Just don’t look down.
Hand over hand, inch by inch, she descended the gorge’s wall, barely daring to breathe until her feet touched level ground. When they did, she gripped her shaky knees and stared up at the distance she’d covered. Straightening, she grinned. It was oddly liberating facing a fear and overcoming it. Maybe she might yet face the fears she had about Sam and come out the victor.
Shoving the thought aside for later perusal, Catherine kept to the ravine wall and started toward the outlaw camp. First she had to get her husband out alive, then she’d figure out how to live with him.
—from Win, Love, or Draw by Crystal L Barnes
Howdy y’all! Crystal L Barnes here. I’m so happy to be a guest today on Petticoats & Pistols and share some of the tidbits behind my first full-length, inspirational, western romance Win, Love, or Draw. Namely, the tidbits behind this scene. Have I scaled a rock wall? Yes, actually. A short one—but no rope. And I was going up, not down. Talk about heart in your throat. Oh but that’s not the big story behind this scene. No, that’s tied up in that feeling of victory at overcoming a fear. When did I experience this, you may ask? Why in a shoot out of course. (This is Petticoats & Pistols after all. J)
Now I hear you doubters out there. A shoot out? No way. Well, I didn’t say my opponent had a gun. No, he had scales and a forked tongue. Yep, you guessed it—a snake. To be specific, a chicken snake. And he’d slithered his two-to-three-foot-long self into the wrong place. My hen house. And in the very last hen nest, farthest from the door, no less. Which meant I’d have to go into the small coop to get rid of it. Oh joy of joys.
(I know many of y’all are thinking the only good snake is a dead snake, but as long as they aren’t poisonous or endangering my critters (or me), I’m fine with them.)
I couldn’t have the chicken snake stealing my eggs or snacking on my chickens so I had no choice but to do something before he got away. Now I’ve killed a number of copperheads, but there’s something about going into a confined area with one of those forked-tongue creatures. (Probably because there’s not much running room if something goes awry. J ) The copperheads I decapitated with a shovel outside. I wasn’t about to take the risk of missing or even getting that close to a chicken snake. But shooting the creature had its own drawbacks. My brain kept shouting what if the bullet ricochets? What if the bullet comes back at me? What if I miss and the snake gets mad and attacks me? Oh, and did I mention I was on the phone with my mom this whole time? What did she do? She laughed. Thanks, Mom. Then she told me to just shoot it already. Why? ’Cause she’s done this countless times.
Don’t get me wrong. I’m a country girl through and through. Grew up on a ranch and have done my fair share of processing wild game and such, but it was my parents who did the dirty work of killing snakes. Now it was my turn. Yippee.
After countless false starts and many more squeals when that snake moved (and more laughter from my mom), I finally hung up the phone, prayed, gathered my courage, prayed, reminded myself of Scriptures, prayed. Did I mention I prayed? And pulled the trigger. With ears ringing, I skedaddled from that hen house, leaving the snake with a hole the size of Dallas through its middle to slither off and die on its own. It didn’t make it very far. I had to scoop it out of the doorway later.
Nevertheless, the triumph I felt at overcoming my fear was quite a heady feeling. Makes you feel like you can conquer anything. Makes you wonder why you were ever scared in the first place. I know I couldn’t have done it without God’s help. He truly can and will help you do anything through His strength.
Have you ever felt that conquering thrill? Have you had to face a fear? How did you overcome?
Today I’m offering a copy of Win, Love, or Draw (winner’s choice of paperback or kindle) to one commenter who’s brave enough to share one of their fears or their experience of overcoming.
Happy Trails!
An award-winning author, Crystal L Barnes is a born-n-raised Texan and a member of American Christian Fiction Writers (ACFW). She has a degree in Computing Science because she loves putting things into their proper place, and she enjoys writing because she gets to share her love of old-fashioned things and the Lord. You can connect with Crystal at her website, on her blog, her Amazon Author page, Goodreads, Pinterest, Google+, or on her Facebook author page. Want to be notified of her latest releases and other fun tidbits? Subscribe to her newsletter.
Win, Love, or Draw Blurb:
Catherine McGarrett is a strong woman. Life in Texas demands such. For five years, she has built a growing horse ranch while praying for the return of the one man who stole her heart and shattered it in a million pieces when he left.
Now he’s back.
Samuel McGarrett rides into Cater Springs, Texas toting two six-shooters and too many scars. The trouble and pain from the past erupts around the couple. And not just in their marriage.
Can Sam win Catherine’s trust? Will their love survive? Or will his final draw be his last?
Laurie won a copy of my newest release, Familiar Stranger in Clear Springs, for commenting on yesterday’s post!
Thank you all for participating! I loved learning of your special birthday memories!
And yes I am grateful to be here celebrating it with my filly sisters and everyone at Wildflower Junction!
Although there are people who consider a birthday so close to Christmas to be unfortunate, I have NEVER felt that way. When I was young, my folks always made a point to have a gift tucked away for me with birthday wrapping and it was fun to know that I had my special day “off” from school. For me, having a December birthday every year has been like having a continual party from Christmas Eve until New Year’s Day ~ simply wonderful!
My dad was in the Navy when I was born and he has always said I was a bargain — costing him all of $1.25 at the Naval Hospital. From there he goes on to tell a few tales of when I was very young. (I’ll spare you the details!) I never tire of hearing him retell those stories because they shine like a new penny every time he brings them out and remembers them.
I remember one very special birthday as a child.
When I was ten, I lived in San Diego, California in the city-proper. I was a horse-lover without a horse. I played with Breyer horses and other plastic horses more than with Barbies and other dolls. I knew we couldn’t have large animals in the city, but I’d found a place that gave riding lessons not too far away. I was absolutely thrilled when my parents made that my present even though it stretched the family budget quite a bit.
I still love
horses — and of course cowboys and all things western, but nowadays, my wishes are much more precious and intangible. I wish for my three sons to find purpose and passion in life and find joy. I wish to have loved ones near. And I wish for peace and good health for my family, friends and readers.
Comment for a chance to win my newest (just now!) release ~ Familiar Stranger in Clear Springs.
I would love to send a free copy to one of you who comments today.
(P&P Sweepstake rules are posted here.)