INDULGING OUR FANTASIES

19th Century cabin

One of the greatest things about writing is that authors are able to indulge their own fantasies. One of mine is that I would have loved living in the West during the last part of the 1800’s. Maybe! At least until the weather was severe and I had no central heat/air, no clean bathroom with running water, no antibiotics, and on and on. It’s a romantic time to consider, which is why I love writing romances set in the American West (probably much more than I would like returning to that time).

Maureen O'Hara

Another of my fantasies is that I wanted to look like the young Maureen O’Hara. More’s the pity, for I look nothing like her. But we’re talking about fantasies, right? This is why Cenora Rose O’Neill, the heroine of my 2010 western romance, THE TEXAN’S IRISH BRIDE, strongly resembles Miss O’Hara in appearance. What authors can’t accomplish ourselves, we accomplish through our characters.

When the infamous 1845 Irish potato famine struck and millions in Ireland literally starved to death, there was a mass immigration of Irish into the United States. But the O’Neill family didn’t lose their land in the famine. They were turned off many years later by a spiteful landlord. Due to her lack of schooling, Cenora cannot read cursive and reads only a few words in print. Her father, Sean O’Neill, can read a newspaper (slowly), and has done all the reading for his family and their traveling companions. On the other hand, the McClintocks value education, and Dallas McClintock reads most evenings. This difference causes only one of the many conflicts that arise in the book.

Irish cottage

When forced off their plot of Irish land with only what they could carry, Cenora and her family fell in with a group of Irish Travelers. The Travelers, or tinkers, are not gypsies but are descended from medieval minstrels and poets who traveled Ireland telling myths and stories. In medieval times, the minstrels and poets were respected and learned. Many Irish families turned out of their homes drifted in with the traveling minstrels, eventually becoming the Irish Travelers--not so respected or learned. Travelers have their own language (cant), Sheldroo, which--amazingly enough--is linked by scholars to medieval language. They camped in fields at first. Later they acquired tents, then the colorful wagons that resemble gypsy wagons, such as the ones used in my novel. Like people everywhere, some Irish Travelers are good, some are bad. The same is true for those portrayed in THE TEXAN’S IRISH BRIDE.

Irish fields

The 19th and early 20th century Traveler wagons are unbelievably compact, and are brightly painted inside and out in red, blue and green with yellow pinstripes. Seeing them in several museums brought home the skill and functionality of these wagons. That describes the two wagons acquired by the O’Neills through their ability to play instruments while Cenora sings for crowds when they pass through towns. Unfortunately, Sean O’Neill’s only abilities are playing music and the gift of gab--not much to supply a family’s needs. His sons Finn and Mac trade ponies for a bit of extra coin and the family barely gets by. On the other hand, rancher Dallas McClintock has a strong work ethic and sense of honor. You can see more trouble looming, can’t you?
 In THE TEXAN’S IRISH BRIDE, Cenora Rose O’Neill knows her father somehow arranged the trap for Dallas McClintock, but she agrees to wed the handsome stranger. She’d do anything to protect her family, and she wants to save herself from the bully Tom Williams. She believes a fine settled man like Dallas will rid himself of her soon enough, but at least she and her family will be safely away from Williams.

Texas rancher Dallas McClintock has no plans to wed for several years. Right now, he’s trying to establish himself as a successful horse breeder. Severely wounded rescuing Cenora from kidnappers, Dallas is taken to her family’s wagon to be tended. He is trapped into marrying Cenora, but he is not a man who ever goes back on his word. His wife has a silly superstition for everything, but passion-filled nights with her make up for everything—even when her wild, eccentric family nearly drives him crazy.


I hope you’ll read and enjoy THE TEXAN’S IRISH BRIDE. The gorgeous cover is one of my favorites. The buy link for THE TEXAN’S IRISH BRIDE is www.thewildrosepress.com/caroline-clemmons-m-638.html in print and e-download, and it’s also available at Amazon and other online stores. My website is http://www.carolineclemmons.com/. Other books at The Wild Rose Press are the contemporary romance HOME, SWEET TEXAS HOME, historical SAVE YOUR HEART FOR ME, and paranormal time travel OUT OF THE BLUE. My backlist is now available on Smashwords and Amazon Kindle for 99 cents each, and so is my new mystery, ALMOST HOME.

Bonanza, Little Joe, and the Real Julia Bulette

Julia Bulette, a high priced courtesan known for her beauty and brains, arrived in Virginia City in 1858 and found herself the lone woman in a town filled with rough and desperate men who were mining the Comstock Lode. She set to work and besides her considerable feminine charms, she became known for her community support, her loyalty and her good business sense before her life came to a tragic end.

Julia’s story found its way onto the small screen in episode 6 of season 1 of the popular TV series, Bonanza, which took place around the environs of Virginia City at the time Julia was plying her trade.  In the fictionalized account, Little Joe gets captivated by the older Julia at her upscale saloon and Ben Cartwright, Little Joe’s father, is not pleased. But when a fever breaks out in Virginia City and Julia pitches, she earns Ben's admiration and he relents saying if she is what Joe wants, he won’t stand in the way. Of course, Little Joe remained single, much to the joy of female viewers everywhere. You can watch it in parts on You Tube. Here’s the first part 

The real Julia Bulette  proved that the woman of loose morals with a heart of gold was more than just a Hollywood caricature.

It was said Julia was from London, England, but of French ancestry, and came to Virginia City, Nevada by way of New Orleans and California.

Her house on D Street became a center of community life in those early days and a place to enjoy the finer things after working down under in the mines. A place of  light and charm versus dark and gloom. You had to behave as a gentleman, however, or you would not be welcome. And these rough, raw and tough men did just that.  She taught her patrons about elegance and grace and they admired her all the more for it.

The miners working the Comstock lode, whose pockets were overflowing with silver, paid dearly and, by all accounts, happily for Julia’s favors as she charged them up to $1000.00 a night. Needless to say in a short time she had the means to open her own house of pleasure, Julia’s Palace, which combined feminine companionship with wonderful French wine and cuisine.

Being an exceptional business woman, Julia “expanded her operations, importing only the most accomplished and refined girls from San Francisco.” (p. 81, Gentle Tamers: Women of the Old Wild West by Dee Brown)

As women of more respectable origins, such as the wives and daughters of the miners, arrived in the city, one would have thought Julia’s role would diminish and, like most sporting women, she would have kept in the background. But that was not Julia’s way.

She rode through the streets of Virginia City in her brougham with four aces emblazoned on the panel and crowned by a lion. She walked the streets going about her daily affairs wearing the latest Parisian fashions and sable muffs and scarves if the weather dictated. She felt part of the city and for a time, the city, at least the men of the city, embraced her. She could often be seen at the Opera in her own loge and always fashionably dressed.

Her proudest moments came from being made an honorary member of in the Virginia City Fire Company, Engine Company No. 1, voted in by the firemen themselves. Of course it didn’t hurt that her favorite lover, Tom Peasley, was the Fire Chief.  In the 1861 Independence Day celebration she was elected Queen of the parade and rode on the fire truck with a fireman’s hat on her head.

She was given other “honors” by the men of the area. “One of the Comstock Mines was named the ‘Julia’ in her honor and the best club car of the Virginia and Truckee Railroad bore the gold-plated name, ‘Julia Bulette.’ When the newly elected governor Nye came to Virginia City, it was Julia who entertained him and other state functionaries at dinner while the “good women” of the town gnashed their teeth behind closed curtains.” (p. 112, Lost Legends of the West by Williams and Pepper)

Julia was beloved by her patrons and she was loyal in return. Many stories circulated of her generosity to those down and out and her support of the city, including her plentiful donations to the fire company. She also would help the men put out fires by working the water pump and serving coffee to the fire fighters. ( p. 81, The Gentle Tamers)

When the Piute War of 1860 erupted Julia offered to stay and feed the defenders of Virginia City but the miners finally persuaded her to join a dozen or so other women in a shelter. When several hundred miners became sick after drinking water containing arsenic, she turned her Palace into a hospital and “went on duty as a nurse, soothing and comforting, and bring the patients to health on a diet of warm soup and rice.” (p.82, The Gentle Tamers)

By 1863, with a population of 30,000 Virginia City was the largest city west of Chicago and their red light district was considered superior to others in the West. ( p. 83, The Gentle Tamers). But with a population that large it was inevitable that “civilization was coming to Virginia City. Indeed by the next year, the Opera house hosted Adah Menken and Julia watched the performance from a “box behind half drawn curtains, exiled because the town had become too respectable for her.” (p. 83 The Gentle Tamers.)

But the end of Julia’s story came about not due to the encroachment of civilization but to the greediness of one of her “uncivilized” admirers who murdered her in the middle of the night in order to steal her considerable jewelry. She was found partially naked, bound, and dead come morning light.

According to reports, Virginia City, at least the male population of the town, went into mourning for her, closing down the mines and shops, hanging black wreaths from saloon windows and decorating fire trucks with black streamers. Thousands of men walked behind the black horse-drawn hearse to bury her in unconsecrated ground.

It took almost a year but finally her murderer, John Millain, (who figures as a jealous lover in the TV version) was caught and brought to trial. As Mark Twain noted in his book, Roughing It, no one was punished for murder in a wide open town like Virginia City.  John Millain would prove an exception so outraged was the town over Julia’s death. Mark Twain, who witnessed Millian’s hanging, gives a chilling account of it in his Letters from Virginia City.

“I saw it all. I took exact note of every detail, even to Melanie’s (sic) considerately helping to fix the leather strap that bound his legs together and the quiet removal of his slippers—and I never wish to see it again. I can see that stiff, straight corpse hanging there yet with its black pillowed-cased head turned rigidly to one side, and the purple streaks creeping through the hands and driving the fleshy hue of life before them. Ugh!”( State Library and Archives: A Division of Nevada Cultural Affairs, From Mark Twain, May 2, 1968)

To read Mark Twain’s full account click http://nsla.nevadaculture.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=1574&Itemid=95

A sad conclusion to the story of the woman whose heart of gold could not save her from the tragic fate that befell so many in her profession.

Should Julia have won Little Joe’s heart? It would have made a much happier ending but perhaps spoiled the series for so many young woman of the time.

Anne Carrole writes about cowboys who have grit, integrity and little romance on their mind and the women who love them. You can check out her contemporary romance, Re-ride at the Rodeo, at The Wild Rose Press. She also is co-editor of the review website, www.lovewesternromances.com

Historical Romance from an Author's Point of View

Why do I love reading and writing historical romance?  The answer is really quite simple.  Historical romances transport me to another time and place and immerse me in a love story.  Before I started writing historical romance, I never considered the skillful balance between facts and emotion in these stories, the delicate weave of details within a love story that creates a sense of time and place and brings the plot and the characters to life.  Now, as a writer of historical romance, I know firsthand the challenge of blending facts into a story without creating information overload.

While the developing emotional relationship between the heroine and her hero is the central focus of historical romance, historical details serve to sweep the reader away to another time and place.  Infusing facts throughout the story without sounding like a travel guide is a writer’s challenge.  Research, layering details through multiple revisions, and a willingness to cut facts that don’t enhance the story are my keys to achieving balance between historical detail, story flow, and emotional intensity.   

Of course, thorough research is a given.  Historical inaccuracies pull a reader out of a story, while details about historical events, clothing, food, transportation, communication, occupations, and social structure – the list could go on and on - provide scaffolding for a believable story.

After I become familiar with the essential characteristics of an era, I map out the plot and research specific aspects of the time period that may factor into the story.  What weapons were available?  What historical events, landmarks, and people might have impacted the characters’ lives? What literary and artistic works were prominent during that era?  In my new release, Angel in My Arms, set during the American Civil War, Union spy Amanda Emerson visits with Confederate first lady Varina Davis and ventures to Richmond’s Libby Prison to rescue a double agent. These historical details add to the tapestry of the story.  In Destiny, the heroine’s love of tragic romances factors into the plot.  Research to identify popular authors of the heroine’s time provided details that fleshed out the character’s actions and dialogue.
 
How much historical detail brings a story to life without bogging it down?  That depends on the story.  Are historical events plot elements, or does the historical setting provide a context for the story?  Angel in My Arms and Destiny are set against the background of the Civil War, but the plot events are entirely fictional.  Historical details woven throughout the story create a sense of time and place, and references to historical figures can add to a character’s development, but historical name-dropping can result in detail overload.  Your characters shouldn’t sound like Joan Rivers on a time travel adventure.

Every author develops a method that works best for him or her.  To me, research, layering details, and revision are the keys to crafting a love story that transports the reader to another time and place.   

Here’s a brief summary of Angel in My Arms:

Amanda Emerson must break her cousin, a notorious double agent, out of a Confederate prison before his imminent execution. She’s a skilled Union operative, but for this mission, she needs a man. Even a man who looks and acts like a Viking warrior.

Caught with Rebel battle plans and set for a hanging, Union spy Steve Dunham isn’t about to refuse the assistance of the sable-haired beauty who shows up at the jail and slips him the keys to his cell. Of course, she’s there for a reason besides saving his neck - he’s the key to her plan.

He may be trading one noose for another, but he won’t forsake her. The spoils of his victory will be her surrender. And the terms of surrender will be sweet.

CONTEST:   Based on the story blurb, who would you like to see portray Steve and Amanda if this were a movie? One lucky commenter will win a pdf of Angel in My Arms.

 

I hope readers will stop by my website and my blog, www.victoriagrayromance.com and www.victoriagrayromance.blogspot.com.

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Privateers: Mercenaries of the Sea

I have a confession:  I love men of the sea. Perhaps it’s because I’ve lived on the coast, surrounded by the lore of men who’ve lived and sometimes died on the sea.  The waters near my home have been filled with ships carrying sailors and buccaneers for centuries. Military battles have been won and lost off these shores, and Blackbeard found a haven on the Outer Banks of North Carolina. And of course, the image of Johnny Depp decked out in his pirate finery as Captain Jack Sparrow didn’t hurt my fondness one little bit. I find the mystique surrounding buccaneers fascinating.  

       Eye patches, earrings, and walking the plank…these images fill our thoughts when we hear the word pirate.  I suspect the word privateer does not garner nearly the same reaction. I’m fairly sure Privateers of the Caribbean would not have enjoyed the enthusiasm stirred by Pirates of the Caribbean. In my opinion, privateers have been shortchanged in legend. Privateers were as bold and daring as their pirate brethren, with one crucial difference: they were backed by governmental authority.  Mercenaries of the seas, authorized by a country’s leaders to attack enemy ships, privateers have served a purpose in warfare in addition to seizing cargo and vessels for profit. By disrupting trade and commandeering ships into military service, privateers aided their government while filling their own coffers.

       Unlike a military ship that aimed to sink an enemy vessel, a privateer aimed to capture vessels and plunder their cargos. Privateers proved to be a significant force in naval warfare during the sixteenth through nineteenth centuries. Though not formally commissioned as warships, privateers sailed under the authorization granted in a letter of marque, a formal contract between the government and the privateer. A letter of marquee provided formal authorization for the privateer’s activities, spelling out the nationalities of ships the privateer was allowed to attack and the territory in which it could operate while ensuring the government would retain a share of the plundered goods.  

       Throughout history, privateers have made their mark. Privateers such as Sir Francis Drake and Sir John Hawkins aided Britain’s quest for naval superiority against the Spanish Armada in the sixteenth century, becoming national heroes in the process.  English pirate Edward Teach, better known as Blackbeard, is believed to have operated as a privateer off the coast of Jamaica during Queen Anne’s War prior to turning to piracy around 1714.  Nearly a century later, American privateers played a significant role in the American Revolution, the War of 1812, and even the Civil War. In one famous incident, notorious privateer Jean Lafitte led his crew to help General Andrew Jackson defend New Orleans against the British Navy during the Battle of New Orleans in the latter days of the War of 1812.

       My Ellora’s Cave debut, Claimed by the Captain, is the story of an American privateer bent on revenge against the swindler who destroyed his family and the woman who’s swept up in his quest for vengeance. Here’s a little about the story:

Jason Kane lost everything to one man’s treachery. Thirsting for vengeance, the ruthless privateer abducts Catherine Farrell, daughter of the swindler who destroyed his family. Intending to extract the debt owed him from his tempting prisoner, he plans a cold-blooded conquest. Aroused by his captive’s sensual beauty, he claims her with seductive persuasion. As he plunges her into a world of pleasure, her passionate surrender sparks a deep longing in his heart and soul.

Catherine Farrell lived the sheltered life of a prosperous merchant’s daughter until Captain Jason Kane made her a pawn in his quest for retribution. Claimed by the captain, she finds herself at the mercy of a man who will settle for nothing less than complete domination. His tender mastery awakens Catherine’s passions and stirs her heart. If only she can convince him that love is far more satisfying than sweet revenge.

You can find more information about the story at my website, www.tarakingston.com or at the Ellora’s Cave site. Hope you’ll stop by. Leave a comment about this post and you’ll be entered to win a free e-copy of Claimed by the Captain. The winner will be announced Friday, June 24. Check the comments after noon that day to see if you’ve won.

Entertainment or History Lesson?

I'm currently writing the third book in my spirit trilogy series that is set among the Wallowa Lake Nez Perce. I've enjoyed the research about this band of the Nez Perce tribe, but with this book I have to also take into account the the army that is chasing them from their home to Canada where they hope to find freedom.

I've used the names of the officers in charge of each troop that skirmished with the Nez Perce on that flight, but I've made up the rest. And I've not given the places of the skirmishes names. Even though I've been religiously reading from four books about the trek using points of view from the Indians and the military, I'm keeping it as vague as I can so it doesn't read like a military text book or a history text book. I'm trying to keep the story entertaining while showing both sides. (okay I am a bit more sympathetic to the Nez Perce than the army)But I've found the hardest part is finding ways to have the hero and heroine (he's a cavalry officer and she's the Nez Perce spirit) be together and make it not seem unrealistic. But she's a spirit and can move around with the ease of a bald eagle(her spirit animal.

So my question is: Do you read historical romance for exact history or do you read for the romance and prefer the history to enhance the story rather than take it over?

Blurb for Spirit of the Mountain available now:
Wren, the daughter of a Nimiipuu chief, has been fated to save her people ever since her vision quest. When a warrior from the enemy Blackleg tribe asks for her hand in marriage to bring peace between the tribes, her world is torn apart.

Himiin is the spirit of the mountain, custodian to all creatures including the Nimiipuu. As a white wolf he listens to Wren’s secret fears and loses his heart to the mortal maiden. Respecting her people’s beliefs, he cannot prevent her leaving the mountain with the Blackleg warrior.

Blurb for Spirit of the Lake available May 2011:
Two generations after his brother became mortal, Wewukiye, the lake spirit, prevents a Nimiipuu maiden from drowning and becomes caught up in her sorrow and her heart. Her tribe ignores Dove's shameful accusations—a White man took her body, leaving her pregnant, and he plans to take their land.Wewukiye vows to care for her until she gives birth, to help her prove the White man is deceitful and restore her place in her tribe.

As they travel on their quest for justice, Dove reveals spiritual abilities yet unknown in her people, ensnaring Wewukiye’s respect and awe. But can love between a mortal and a spirit grow without consequences?


Paty Jager
www.patyjager.net
www.patyjager.blogspot.com
buy link:http://thewildrosepress.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=177_139&products_id=4170

If I Could Turn Back Time

Cher sang those words in a hit song in the 1990s…if you could turn back time and travel back to an era in history, where would you like to be? For me, the choice isn’t clear-cut. There are so many fascinating eras that I’d love to experience, I’d feel like I do in Starbucks…excited but just a bit bewildered.

My first choice would probably be America during the Civil War. Since this is my personal fantasy, I’d venture both North and South to get a peek at life during that turbulent time. My new release, Angel in My Arms, is set in Richmond at the end of the war. The story was inspired by the true story of Elizabeth Van Lew, a genteel Southern lady who funneled information from the South’s social circles to the North for years. Angel in My Arms is the story of spy ring run by Crazy Betsy, an eccentric Richmond matron, who recruits beautiful women with talents that suit her espionage purposes. Angel in My Arms is due out on November 12 in e-book form and is currently available in print from The Wild Rose Press.

After my Civil War time travel, I’d venture to late Victorian England, the time of Sherlock Holmes. What a fabulous time in history! Women were working to get the vote, technology was changing the way people lived – telephones and automobiles were two of the huge innovations during this period, and fashions were beautiful for women and elegant yet manly for men. I’d love to experience London in the last years of Victoria’s reign, when Britain was an empire and women were daring to ride bicycles and claim their place as equals.

What era would you visit if you could venture back in time? I’d love to see your thoughts!