Just a few days until The Mule Man arrives!

The edits are done now and it's moving into the queue to be released on December 7. My editor, who is an avid horsewoman, said she liked it. She did not know that I had quite a lot of experience with mules when I was a young woman; now she does!

I promised a bit on this so here you go. I got my first horses when I was about ten, a couple of old mares who were retired cowponies. It was love at first pat, ride and so on, and that fondness has never left me. A year of so later, a mule joined the menagerie and very quickly found a place in my affections too.

Louie was dark blackish-brown and about fourteen hands high. He had a tan nose that I said was the color of peanut butter! He really was a dear and we had a lot of fun trips together. That is me in the saddle with him on the right. The 30-30 saddle gun was strictly practical because there were cougars, coyotes and other potential dangers out in the hills where we went. And yes, I could and did use it. I really was a "cowboy girl" back in those days!

 If you are not "horsey" let me explain that equines are measured in terms of "hands" which is four inches. The height is taken at the withers which is equivalent to that little bumpy vertebra at the back of our necks and on them is right above the forelegs at the shoulder. As the name implies, Louie was a male and male mules are called "jacks" or now mostly "johns." A mule is a hybrid creature with a female horse for the mother and a male donkey or burro for the father. About 99.9% of mules are sterile but there has been a documented case or two where a female mule (called a "mollie") had a foal with either a stallion (un-neutered male horse) or a jack donkey.

Anyway, I was lucky enough to associate with several old cowboys and expert horsemen who swore by mules. I learned how to manage the long eared beasts and found they were very sure footed, much smarter than horses in terms of taking care of themselves--and the rider, within reason--and the legendary stubbornness and even meanness were far overstated. They make a really great saddle animal if they are properly trained! One old cowboy joked, "First ya gotta be smarter than the mule." Trust me, that is not always easy because they really are very intelligent and crafty creatures! You just have to use that to your advantage. I put a lot of this background into my story, of course. Although I did not neglect the romance and some very hot sex!!

Anyway, between my mid-teens and my delayed departure to start college, my dad and I trained and sold a lot of mules, mostly for trail riders. At that time this was just becoming a popular sport across the country. I probably rode and worked with somewhere between fifty and seventy five mules in that time and only came across a few who fit all the bad stereotypes. Now mules are quite popular in many equestrian circles and some are jumping, doing dressage, used in gymkhana and other competitive performance events and yes, still ridden on trail rides. It is pretty awesome!

To the left I am riding a little spotted mule we called Beano. A similar photo appeared in an ad we ran in the Western Horseman magazine during the time I describe. Those rugged hills are on the west side of Arizona's scenic Verde Valley. Great training ground!

Naturally with this background, I knew I had to come up with a mule story, and The Mule Man is that. There may be others and I may follow the adventures of Orr and Jase a bit further in a sequel. That will partly depend on the readership and sales because I do try to give my readers what they want and a great indicator of that is good sales. But there are also times when my muse takes the bit in her teeth and just tells me what we are going to write about, so you never can tell!

On the 6th of December I'll have a couple of posts on Amber Quill's Author Blog. That's at https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=18545575#allposts
(https//amberquillauthors.blogspot.com ) I will be doing a give-away with a free download or two of this story or the winner's choice from my back list and also have an interview with one or both of the leads in this story so be sure to stop by and check on that!

Amber Quill Friday Fun

AQ has special sales most Fridays now. Today's feature is mystery, detective and crime stories. There are several Deirdre titles in the list as well as lots of cool books by my fellow authors. Click out and take a look and snap up a bunch at a special price!  http://www.amberquill.com/store/c/176-Mystery-Detective.aspx?ps=75  You don't even have to do a special knock or use a secret handshake to get in!

Mules and Me--Part 1

I told you yesterday that I had a history with mules. I know I am kinda weird and a lot of that is due to the way I grew up. I went to one and two room schools from second through seventh grade and most of the time my dad was my teacher. A friend in a local writing group where we're doing memoir type essays laughingly called it "home schooled with an audience." True, and that's just part of it.

Among other things, my dad was a writer for outdoor adventure magazines and got deeply involved in hunting and photography expeditions. By the time I was about ten we had gotten horses and then mules to use on these trips. As the eldest kid I became the main wrangler and by the time I was in high school I was working at close to a professional level breaking and training horses and mules! That led to a lot of bumps, bruises and crazy adventures, I can tell you! I'm starting to write non-fiction articles and essays about some of them.

I have written a lot more about this past life on the other blog Gwynn and I share, https://deirdre-fourds.blogspot.com but will just say that from an old mule named Louie who was the first one I rode and handled through about fifty others, I got to knew mules well and became a fan of the long eared critters. They are smart, sure footed, sturdy and healthy and their reputed stubbornness is more about keeping themselves--and incidentally their rider--safe than just ornery ways. The concessionaire at the Grand Canyon for the cross-canyon rides uses mules exclusively because they are safer for inexperienced riders, rarely trip or fall and stay calm.

Awhile back the Amber Allure writers got together and did a PAX called Heavy Petting. I had a dog story in it. When another was planned, I jumped in and decided to do a mule story. Because of my Alaska trip, I got it in a bit late and five other authors beat me to the punch, so my story wound up being released as a stand-alone tale. More on that next time.

Meanwhile, here is the cover shot from Mules and More Magazine, March 2014 issue. Yes, that is your intrepid author in her late teens on a mule named Beano --'cause he was spotted like a pinto bean--in the rough foothills of central Arizona's Black Hills Range. It lies along the west side of the Verde Valley, renowned as the locale of Sedona's famous red rocks. The pictured rocks were on the opposite side and white rather than red, and also rougher than Hades! Lots of cactus, too; a big inducement to be sure you stayed in that saddle! Most of the time I did, even on the wilder and unreliable mules, but Beano was a good little guy and was eventually sold to a lady who did a lot of trail riding. She loved him.

This same photo also appeared in an advertisement in Western Horseman Magazine when we were selling mules for trail riding etc. Mules are now a big fad and they are a lot slicker and fancier than the ones I knew but still very impressive animals. I tried to make the mule characters in The Mule Man just as true to type and real life as I could!
I hope you will enjoy them and the mule man as well, totally a figment of my imagination but I would have liked to meet him, even if he isn't into girls...

The Mule Man is coming!

It's less than a month now until my new story, The Mule Man, will be released! I'm excited about this one because of a number of reasons that I will be sharing in the next week or two but right now I want everyone to see the fabulous cover the very talented Trace Edward Zaber has created for this story!

I swear that man is a genius and he must read my mind because he gets stuff so perfectly right about 99.9% of the time! The background looks soooo much like the real area I visualized as the setting for my first hero's ranch! Now how could he know that? I am sure he has never been to Cliff/Gila New Mexico!! And they are pretty obscure little bergs, too. All the mules in my story are not red (sorrel) but one key one is, like the first one on the right side there. Her name is Penny...

So here it is. I'll be telling you about me and mules in a prior life (not literally but it sure feels that way) and very likely doing an interview with my two heroes in this tale, Orr and Jase. I recently discovered that in many equestrian circles mules are now the "in thing" which delights me no end. They are doing jumps, dressage, racing, and of course trail riding and gymkana. How cool is that? I am a real mule fan, right after trains and sled dogs!! Yee-haw!!

An Anniversary

This month Amber Quill, who are both Deirdre's sole publisher to date and now Gwynn's main publisher celebrates twelve years in business. That is twelve years of producing some great fiction and growing by leaps and bounds. In the dog-eat-dog world of small press and independent publishers, that is a pretty major feat.

During that time as well as before AQ began, many 'e-book' producers have come and gone, some leaving a very sour taste and bad odor behind them. In fact, sharing just such experiences is why the team that incorporated to create Amber Quill Press originally came together and vowed to do it right. And do it right they have. In my opinion they combine the best aspects of a friendly, family-like environment with a totally professional and ethical business model. The original crew mostly remains and each person has a specialty and one or more jobs to fill. Each does his or her part with efficiency and professional skill and dedication. I love them and enjoy working with them, feeling very lucky to have such a great support team.

I feel myself to be very blessed that a couple of friends urged me to enter my first little foray into the new "erotic romance" genre in the initial Amber Heat contest that was held early in 2004. I did, with little expectation of getting anywhere. I was a relatively new widow at the time and trying to find a new voice and muse after having lost not only my spouse but my first critique partner, my tech adviser on military and law enforcement which form the background for many of my fiction works and even an occasional co-author.

When I got the email (the modern version of 'the call') on April Fools Day in 2004 I was sure it was a joke! But no, it was for real and that JuneKarola's Hunt was released. As the old cliche goes, the rest is history. I reached beyond heterosexual erotic romance to another new genre, the GLBT romance and some sixty titles later, Deirdre O'Dare is still writing steadily

I suppose most authors have their 'up' and 'down' times. I tend to write in spurts and the last year or two it has been slower. I have gotten caught up in some new endeavors and perhaps it is just a matter of slowing down a little with the inevitable passage of time. However, I never intend to stop writing and there are at least two contracted tales awaiting release in the next few months and I am committed to produce others. Gwynn Morgan is also working on some new projects as well as getting her out-of-print books reissued. You can bet there will be new things to talk about here in the coming months!

I do know that The Mule Man will be coming out in December. It hasn't gotten to the edit or the cover stage yet but you will be hearing about it before the mid-month release, I promise. It is another stand alone tale as was Red Tails in the Sunset earlier this year. Then Midnight Cowboys will be part of a 1960's Amber PAX group, release TBA. I'm looking forward to them both and will pique your interest with tidbits and behind the scenes background as the release dates approach!

Meanwhile enjoy the fall, which has been my favorite season all of my life, and get ready to settle in for the cold nights which are so great for reading! If cold and snow is your favored milieu, check out my newest blog about one project that has really grabbed my attention and is taking shape bit by bit. You can visit http://gwynnmorganalaska.blogspot.com  to read about my summer trip to the northernmost state and the objective of that and future planned trips. Sled dogs! Mushers!! Thousand mile races!!! There is some awesome stuff up there.

A Game of Hearts is out today!

The Silver Foxes PAX has been released and you can find it on the Amber Quill home page for awhile as new releases. I blogged about it on both the Amber Quill Author's Blog and the PAX blog. That having been done I don't think I will do more here than to say it's out there and I am waiting on more pins and needles than usual for reviews to come it. I'm just a little afraid it may be too outre for some folks. But then again, maybe not!

Here is a shot of me with the baby brother whose untimely death was one of the inspirations for A Game of Hearts. I signed organ donor permission after he had passed suddenly from an aneruysm. By then he was grown but just starting on his career as an attorney.

Anyway the URLS for those other blogs are:

AQ Authors: http://aqpaiuthors.blogspot.com
Amber PAX: http://amberpax/blogspot.com

As I think I said, I'm not sure when my next story will be available but it is part of a PAX about the Sixties. That was a decade where many changes came about and events left their mark on many of us who lived it as kids or young adults. The title of my tale is Midnight Cowboys and I explain that in an author's note and will elaborate here as well when the release date gets closer.

I'm almost done with yet another PAX story, this one for Heavy Petting II, where animals belonging to one or more of the principals play important parts in the story. For once the animal or animals in my story are not dogs! I chose to write some mules into this one and the title is The Mule Man. Anyone who follows my fourds blog (http://deirdre-fourds.blogspot.com) knows I worked with mules in my earlier days and still have a fondness for the long eared equine family members. I'll tell you more about that in time too!

Check in Time

Wow, what a month it has been! Red Tails in the Sunset has been out for a month now and I hope a lot of readers have been enjoying it. It is still a special story to me and always will be. I have over fifty works now in the Deirdre O'Dare backlist at Amber Quill  (www.amberquill.com/store/m/137-Deirdre-O-Dare.aspx) and of course I do have my favorites.

I know, that is not quite politically correct because like the mom of many kids, we are supposed to deny that we have a fave and just smile sweetly and say each one is special in his or her own way! And that is also true. I would not write a story I really didn't like but some are just a little bit closer and dearer and maybe hold a little more of me--past, dreams, fancies and passions--than others. Certainly Red Tails was one of those. If you haven't at least taken a peek, please do. Prior blogs posts cover it pretty well!

Oh, I almost forgot--there is a special sale today at the Amber Quill main page on our collection of stories, Working Stiffs, featuring blue collar guys. Another of my faves, Workin' on the Railroad is a part of that group. Go check it out!!

Now it's time to look ahead, though. Coming in September is the Silver Foxes PAX while will contain my somewhat out-of-the box tale,  A Game of Hearts. It's a love affair of an older man and a younger one who has a case of hero-worship on the former. And it is very much a "heart" story. I am a strong believer in organ donation and in letting loved ones live on by using parts from their bodies to help others survive or improve the quality of their lives. I carry a card in my wallet that says I want to contribute anything that can be taken when I am gone to help another. I approved the process for my youngest brother when an aneurysm took him far too young back in 2005. We have the science and technology to do this and I feel it should be done whenever possible. That premise is a part of this tale.

It will be released the third weekend of the month as most of our PAX collections are and I will share more of it when that date nears. After that, at a date not yet determined, we'll be doing a 1960s PAX and it will have my story Midnight Cowboys which is submitted, contracted but not yet edited nor a cover done. It could be out in November, I think, and I will let you know as soon as I do.

One more note in passing: yes, I was gone for three weeks to our northernmost state and very much fell in love with Alaska. For a desert rat who lives on sunshine that is a strange admission perhaps, but true, If I could have I would've stayed at least until the snow began to fly. As it is, I may be back well before this winter melts and fades because I have set myself a project of doing a non-fiction book about the heroic and tough women who train and run sled dogs in the great endurance races such as the Iditarod and the Yukon Quest. I met a few of these ladies and their wonderful canines on my trip and was totally swept off my feet. They are truly awesome!!  Now I know beyond a doubt this is a project I am meant to accomplish!

To follow this adventure as it takes shape, please visit my new blog: http://gwynnmorganalaska.blogspot.com  I have also set up a "go fund me" page to help raise the funds to cover the expenses of several more trips to Alaska to gather more information and get my boots in the snow for a real feel of what this mushing business is like! I'm seeking to become a volunteer for one or both races in the 2015 season. The linkto my funding page  will appear often on that blog if you are moved to help me on the endeavor. Every small donation will help, be deeply appreciated and acknowledged with a personal note of thanks. I'm not a registered charity so it is probably not tax deductible but there will be free copies of the book for all of my supporters when it is published!