May New Releases

A Promise Made

By Marianne Mitchell

In the summer of 1884, sixteen-year-old Petra comes home to find her mother dead, perhaps from suicide, perhaps not. A note from her mother urges her to flee the controlling stepfather who has made their lives miserable. With few resources and no skills, Petra’s only choice is to head west to Denver in search of her cousin, Fina. Her quest leads her up Clear Creek to a small mining town at the end of the rail line. Silver Plume is a town on the cusp of change, trying to shed its rough and tumble image to one more centered on business and tourism. It’s a place where Petra can escape the cruel realities of her former life and start over. All this is possible—until someone from her past threatens to shatter her dreams and the town erupts in fire.

Published by RAFTER FIVE PRESS

Available to purchase in print at:
Amazon.com




Available as an e-book at:
Amazon.com

and

Barnes and Noble

You can visit Marianne at: http://www.mariannemitchell.net

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The Cowboy's Summer Love

By Shanna Hatfield

The Cowboy's Summer Love by Shanna Hatfield - After six years in the service and two tours of duty in Iraq, Travis Thompson eagerly returns home to Grass Valley, ready to resume his life on the Triple T Ranch with his two older brothers. Always the wild-child, Travis doesn’t disappoint as he rolls from one adventure to another in his quest to keep his adrenaline pumping. He needs a release for the tension constantly building inside him, especially after he discovers the girl he’s always loved just moved back home. In love with Travis Thompson since she was old enough to notice boys, Tess Morgan can’t stay away from him no matter how hard she tries. Growing up together, she thinks Travis sees her only as his friend’s sister, not as a woman who could love him deeply and passionately. Will the two of them finally surrender to love? Anything is possible as summer spins its spell at the Triple T!

Self-published

The Cowboy's Summer Love can be purchased at Amazon.com
Barnes and Noble
Smashwords

You can visit Shanna at: http://shannahatfield.com

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Spurs, Saddles & Sass

By Velda Brotherton

Short Stories that delve into the lives of characters before they came alive in the books.  A Kindle Release.

Spurs, Saddles & Sass can be purchased at Amazon.com

 

Angel's Gold 

By Velda Brotherton

It takes an outlaw on the run to free Angeline and show her true love.  A Kindle Release.

Angel's Gold can be purchased at Amazon.com

You can visit Velda at www.veldabrotherton.com

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The Sound of Her Own Voice

By Leslie Nyman

This is the story of a young Jewish woman who travels from New York, across Panama to San Francisco and into the Gold Rush diggings.  She experiences love, loss, adventure and finds her true calling as a singer in the raucous times of the California Gold Rush. 

Published by Outskirts Press

The Sound of Her Own Voice can be purchased at Amazon.com and Barnes and Noble or instant e-Book download.

Recent Award Winners and Finalists

We are happy to share the latest award winners and finalists among our Women Writing the West members. Congratulations! 

Janet Dawson

Janet Dawson 

Bit Player: A Jeri Howard Mystery (Perseverance Press) – Golden Nugget Award, Left Coast Crime

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Kathleen Ernst

Kathleen Ernst

The Heirloom Murders:  A Chloe Ellefson Mystery (Midnight Ink) – 2012 Anne Powers Prize for Best Novel by a Wisconsin Writer, Council for Wisconsin Writers

***

 

Patricia Frolander

Patricia Frolander

Married into It (High Plains Press) – Western Heritage Award (Wrangler), Outstanding Poetry Book, National Cowboy and Western Heritage Museum

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Tammy Hinton

Tammy Hinton

Unbridled (Roots and Branches) – Spur Award Finalist for Best First Novel, Western Writers of America

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Meg Mims

Meg Mims

Double Crossing (Astraea Press) –Spur Award Winner for Best First Novel, Western Writers of America

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Nancy Oswald

Nancy Oswald 

Rescue in Poverty Gulch (Filter Press) Spur Award Finalist in Juvenile Fiction

Western Writers of America

***

Ann Parker

Ann Parker 

Mercury’s Rise (Poisoned Pen Press) – Winner of the Bruce Alexander Memorial Historical Mystery Award

*** 

Emerita Romero-Anderson

Emerita Romero-Anderson

Milagro of the Spanish Bean Pot (Filter Press) – Western Heritage Book Award for Outstanding Juvenile Literature, National Cowboy and Western Heritage Museum

           

           

Market Analysis and Promotion Workshop in July

Anne Hillerman's WORDHARVEST PRESENTS

July 7—ABCs of Market Analysis and Promotion, with Shirley Raye Redmond

Writing a book can be tough.  Convincing a New York editor to buy it is tougher.  Selling 100,000 copies is tougher still.  The workshop introduces students to the intricacies of market analysis and dispels well-circulated myths about successful book promotion.  Using hands-on exercises and discussion topics, Redmond shows participants how to develop a marketing plan that will convince an editor to publish their book and how to sell more than 100,000 copies of that book without hiring a publicist.

Shirley Raye Redmond is an award-winning fiction and nonfiction writer and frequent conference and workshop presenter.  She has taught a variety of writing and literature courses at the University of New Mexico–Los Alamos campus, WORDHARVEST Writers Workshops, and the Tony Hillerman Writers Conference. As the author of more than two dozen books and more than 400 articles, Redmond learned the intricacies of marketing and promoting from the ground up and uses them very successfully to promote her own work.  Visit her website www.shirleyrayeredmond.com

Also visit http://www.wordharvest.com/conferences-and-workshops.php for more information.

April New Releases

Where Lilacs Still Bloom

By Jane Kirkpatrick

Where Lilacs Still Bloom is a novel based on the life of German immigrant housewife who had a passion...to hybridize plants. With an eighth grade education, Hulda Klager of Woodland, Washington, spent the next 60 years developing over 250 unique varieties of lilacs.  This is her story and the story of how beauty can heal and bring us hope through the challenges of our days.

Published by WaterBrook Multnomah Publishing Group, a division of Random House

You can find Jane at www.facebook.com/Theauthorjanekirkpatrick and

http://janeswordsofencouragement.blogspot.com/

Where Lilacs Still Bloom can be purchased at the following sites:

http://www.amazon.com/Where-Lilacs-Still-Bloom-Novel

http://www.jkbooks.com/cart/

Visit WaterBrook Multnomah's site and enter the contest to win flowers for a year. Click here to go to the site.

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Wicked Eddies

By Beth Groundwater

WICKED EDDIES is the second book in the RM Outdoor Adventures series.

Fly fishing is dangerous? River ranger Mandy Tanner had no idea until days before a huge tournament in Salida, Colorado. True, the Arkansas River can be a man-eater, but the rapids weren’t responsible for driving a hatchet into the neck of would-be competitor Howie Abbott―a secretive man who may have been cheating. While casting about for suspects, Mandy seeks clues from Abbott’s family members, including her best friend, bartender Cynthia Abbott. But when Cynthia becomes the prime suspect, Mandy realizes she’s wading into deeper, more hazardous waters than ever.

Published by Midnight Ink

You can visit Beth at http://bethgroundwater.com/

Wicked Eddies can be purchased at the following site: http://bethgroundwater.com/Wicked_Eddies.html

Kondazian's The Whip on Cover of Publishers Weekly

THE WHIP arrives on the cover of PUBLISHERS WEEKLY

Karen Kondazian’s novel THE WHIP is on the front cover of PUBLISHERS WEEKLY (March 26, 2012). Based on the life of the renowned nineteenth century stagecoach driver, or whip, Charlotte “Charley” Parkhurst, THE WHIP has been getting around.

CHECK OUT THE PUBLISHERS WEEKLY COVER HERE:

http://hansenpublishing.com/the-whip-arrives-on-the-cover-of-publishers-weekly/

Most recently Karen Kondazian toured San Francisco bookstores and did a program at the Wells Fargo Museum to a sold out crowd. In Los Angeles, Kondazian’s home town, she had a book signing at Book Soup. THE WHIP was number one on the Book Soup’s Bestseller list for two weeks in a row following her appearance.

The Whip Stays at #1 on Book Soup

The Whip by Karen Kondazian stays at #1 on Book Soup for second week in a row. Check out the latest on her new release.


*Video interview of Karen discussing The Whip w NPR Radio Book Critic Peter Robinson
"Join author Karen Kondazian and NPR radio book critic Peter Robinson, (in an old Wells Fargo Stagecoach) as they talk about her critically acclaimed novel "The Whip".
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VlMr48tm0dU

*Images from Karen's Event at Book Soup on February 11th + #1 spot on book soup best-seller list
http://www.thewhipnovel.com/blog/the-whip-hits-1-spot-on-book-soup-best-seller-list/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=the-whip-hits-1-spot-on-book-soup-best-seller-list

*The Whip still #1 at Book Soup for a 2nd week in a row
http://www.thewhipnovel.com/blog/the-whip-still-1-on-book-soup-best-seller-list-2nd-week-in-a-row/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=the-whip-still-1-on-book-soup-best-seller-list-2nd-week-in-a-row

*Event: The Book Radio Show Interview
Saturday March 24th, 2012
Join Karen Kondazian, author of THE WHIP for a live interview, reading, signing, drinks and hors d'oeuvres.

This live appearance will kick off the Premiere of The BookRadio Show with Host Kari Moran at The Writers Junction in Santa Monica. It'll be a cool evening of camaraderie and scintillating conversations with a trio of today's best-selling authors!

Also, hear the Blues-Rock sounds of “Runaway Truck Ramp”, featuring Blues-Harp virtuoso, Tim Carter and HitCiti guitarist, Curt Harpel.

Where: The Writers Junction
Address: 1001 Colorado Ave. (Corner of 10th St.)
Santa Monica, CA 90401

7pm-8pm Reception
8:30pm-9:30pm Showtime!
9:30-10pm Book Sales and Signing 

Tickets $25 - Get your tickets here:  
http://kmbrs2012.eventbrite.com


*Event: Soquel Pioneer Picnic Reading and Signing
Saturday July 28th 2012
http://soquelpioneers.com/
Soquel Pioneers, 5270 Pringle Lane, Soquel, CA 95073
*More info on times coming soon.

March New Releases

Swim the River

By Stephy Smith

Since Amelia ‘Falcon Woman’ Tucker was a small child, she heard the stories of how her mother was Rescued from the River by her father. All she wanted was a man who loved her with all his heart. Rising Wolf held her heart captive for years before he asked for her hand in marriage. The tall handsome man brought happiness to her life until the unforgettable day of the bear attack. Although the river had always called to her, she never knew how much she loved the stalwart Indian until she had to Swim the River to save him.

Swim the River by Stephy Smith is a short sweet historical romance. 

Published by  Astraea Press

You can find Swim the River at www.astraeapress.com www.barnesandnoble.com and www.amazon.com

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 Boomer Blues Book:

Staying Alive and Sane in the Modern American West

By Alethea Williams

This revealing collection of columns was first published in the Green River Star at the turn of the new century. Some things have changed for boomers over the years (most obviously, our hairlines and waistlines), and some things have become even more like they were! Back in the 90s most of us were still working, and these columns reflect those concerns as well as timeless topics such as valuing children, raising children with values, and the value of living in a healthy environment. Some have been edited a bit. I have indicated the exact or approximate date each was published, and added a few comments. The one thing I learned about myself in going back over these columns is that I was never at a loss for words! I enjoyed re-visiting the self I was then and finding out how relevant the insights still are today. I invite you to participate in this penetrating look back at what was important — and still is! — to me and to the people who live in the modern American West.

Self-published by Alethea Williams.

Boomer Blues Book is available only as a Kindle e-book at Amazon.com

Visit Alathea at http://actuallyalethea.blogspot.com/ and

http://actuallyalethea.blogspot.com/