Western Romances -- The Cowboy Way

Whether reading Zane Grey or Linda Lael Miller, cowboys and the Western way of life make for some of the best stories. Rugged heroes have always been my favorites in romance fiction. Something about those salt-of-the-earth types and how they live as hard as they love. Go to the greatest lengths to ensure the safety of loved ones. Fight for justice. Ride like the wind. Oh, and they are often quite easy on the eyes. Whether cowboys and rodeo heroes are roping, riding or ranching, they keep us turning the pages to find out what they love doing once the dust is cleared, the saddles are hung up and the chaps are off.

Roughrider blurb --

Rabid curiosity clashes with criminal minds and escalates the drama in the small Texas town where love and loyalties are harder won than any rodeo trophy.

Kimberly Taylor is a successful Western outfitter who deserves a worthy man to take her mind and body off the demands of her business. Jack Dodson has had his moment in the rodeo spotlight and decides he’d rather seek a more stable occupation. Kimberly needs something and someone to shake up her mundane existence. Breathe some excitement into her life. She finds fulfillment, drama and more when she tackles Jack on her own sexual terms.

You might wonder how this story came about. One day I happened across an older Western movie about cattle drivers. I mused about a man and woman who’d never explored their attraction to each other. During their younger years, they shared a friendship but never dared admitting or acting on their basest desires together. Couldn’t wait for the first commercial to play before I started jotting notes about Kimberly and Jack. Roughrider is about Kimberly's sexual odyssey. By returning her to Mesa Junction, Texas, I put her directly in the path of her ultimate temptation. It's been ten years since her last visit to the Dodson family, and she decides it's time to slay some sexual demons. ROUGHRIDER is all about finding that special person with whom you can share some of your most intimate secrets and indulge some of your wildest sexual fantasies. Kim knows she'll always have a friend in Jack, but she wants more. And the only way she'll ever find out if he feels the same way is by revisiting a certain Texas town.

If you enjoy romantic stories pivoted by sex and suspense…

Click here for more information and a ROUGHRIDER excerpt

Click here to watch the book videos and to read another excerpt and reviews

Wishing you all many happy reading moments,

Shawna Moore
ROUGHRIDER -- Ellora's Cave
HELLE IN HEELS -- Ellora's Cave
TORMENTED -- Coming soon to Ellora's Cave
Shawna's Myspace
Helle's Myspace

What Brings You Happiness?--Or Happiness Can be a Great Book Cover

Okay, I’ll admit lots of things make me happy. Good health. A loving family. Wonderful friends. A vacation getaway to a favorite place or new one. News that I’ve sold another book. The list goes on. But something not already listed brought me immense happiness and a reason for celebration this past week. What’s at the root of her happiness this time, you might ask? I’ll gladly provide the answer. My cover art file for my upcoming Ellora’s Cave novel, TORMENTED, arrived in my inbox. No matter that my morning had been filled with mundane errands and household tasks. Simply seeing that email brought the same level of excitement as I’d experienced when a child on Christmas morning. But when I finished clicking and opening, there wasn’t any wrapping paper or ribbon to tidy up this time. Instead, a work of cover art that perfectly meshes with my story.





Blurb:

A winsome Boston socialite—Eve Morneau—falls victim to a venomous beetle’s bite. Her healing and sexual awakening are placed in the hands of a New Orleans physician, Charles Galletiére, whose unconventional means of curing her malady lend themselves to unbridled passion and abandonment of her former ways of life. Immortality comes at a cost to the innocent woman, and her Christian soul might be left hanging in the balance.


For several years, Eve’s and Charles’s romantic story remained only in my mind. There were some scenes that needed more fleshing out. Some secrets and details the couple needed to divulge before I could tell their tale. When I submitted TORMENTED to my editor at Ellora’s Cave, I hoped this story of my heart would find a home. I haven’t written a historical romance in several years, but TORMENTED reminded me of how much…here comes that word again…happiness filled my heart at the story’s writing process and acceptance. Historical romances were my first reading love as a teenager, and that passion for bygone eras has translated to my passion for writing my own historicals.

As a very visual woman, I’m drawn to stories wearing appealing covers. If an author isn’t on my auto-buy list, a cover that artfully and interestingly conveys the subject matter contained within an e-file, paperback or hardcover novel, finds me more inclined to read the story blurb/back-cover blurb and the first chapter. Of course, it’s all about the story and characters when it comes to reading, but a great cover finds me considering a book I might have otherwise missed. To date, my favorite book cover is ROUGHRIDER. I’ll admit I’m quite fond of the sexy rodeo hero pictured on the front of my latest release from Ellora’s Cave.





Pretty yummy, my cover rendering of Jack Dodson. And speaking of yummy, between now and the end of May, I’m hosting a reader giveaway of a $25 Godiva gift card. One winner will be drawn from among those who have responded to the following question and who are also subscribers of my e-newsletter.


You may subscribe to my newsletter by sending a blank e-mail to –

Grant-moore-subscribe@yahoogroups.com


Question for Gift Card Giveaway:

What is your favorite book cover?

Contact Shawna here with your answer to the book cover question

Wishing you all many happy reading moments,


Shawna Moore
ROUGHRIDER – Ellora’s Cave
HELLE IN HEELS – Ellora’s Cave
TORMENTED – Coming soon to Ellora’s Cave
Shawna’s Myspace
Helle’s Myspace

Happy Hookers Online Workshop Coming February!

February 4-29, 2008

Happy Hookers! Engaging the Reader from Start to Finish

Instructor: Terry Spear
Cost: $25.00 payable by PayPal
Deadline to Register: January 30th

For more information go to:http://www.pasic.net/classes.html

Slow starts and sleepy endings to scenes and chapters can ruin a manuscript's chance of being published. Conversely, solid hooks can make the sale – as workshop instructor Terry Spear demonstrates, with six publishers currently hooked for six manuscripts. Setting such practical matters aside, what author wouldn't be thrilled to hear someone say, "I couldn't put the book down"? Strong hooks are a vital ingredient in strong writing. In this online class, which features lectures, discussion, practical exercises, and handouts, she'll teach students how to captivate readers with great openings, scene hooks, chapter cliff hangers, and intriguing back cover blurbs. Participants will have the chance to master the hook in all its environments, from the query letter through the novel.

About the Instructor:
Terry Spear has published in many genres, including historical romanticsuspense, contemporary, urban fantasy, and under the name Terry Lee Wilde, young adult paranormal and fantasy romances. She's the author of Winning the Highlander's Heart, is a debut paranormal author for Sourcebooks with the urban fantasy, Heart of the Wolf, coming April 1st, Don’t Cry Wolf, April 2009, and The Vampire…In My Dreams is already out with Samhain. Deadly Liaisons is coming in November, Relative Danger, TBA. She also writes nonfiction for numerous genealogy, WWII, teen, and family magazines, and has had romantic fiction published in magazines.

Currently, she's working on a third sequel to Heart of the Wolf, Betrayal of the Wolf.

Her website: http://www.terryspear.com/
Deadline to Register: January 30th
For more information go to: http://www.pasic.net/classes.html

Happy Hookers Online Workshop Coming February!

February 4-29, 2008 Happy Hookers!

Engaging the Reader from Start to Finish

Instructor: Terry Spear

Cost: $25.00 payable by PayPal

Deadline to Register: January 30th

For more information go to:http://www.pasic.net/classes.html

Slow starts and sleepy endings to scenes and chapters can ruin a manuscript's chance of being published. Conversely, solid hooks can make the sale – as workshop instructor Terry Spear demonstrates, with six publishers currently hooked for six manuscripts. Setting such practical matters aside, what author wouldn't be thrilled to hear someone say, "I couldn't put the book down"? Strong hooks are a vital ingredient in strong writing. In this online class, which features lectures, discussion, practical exercises, and handouts, she'll teach students how to captivate readers with great openings, scene hooks, chapter cliff hangers, and intriguing back cover blurbs. Participants will master the hook in all its environments, from the query letter through the novel.

About the Instructor: Terry Spear has published in many genres, including historical romantic suspense, contemporary, urban fantasy, and under the name Terry Lee Wilde, young adult paranormal and fantasy romances. She's the author of Winning the Highlander's Heart, is a debut paranormal author for Sourcebooks with the urban fantasy, Heart of the Wolf, coming April 1st, and The Vampire…In My Dreams is already out. Deadly Liaisons is coming in November. She also writes nonfiction for numerous genealogy, WWII, teen, and family magazines, and has had romantic fiction published in magazines. Currently, she's working on a sequel to Heart of the Wolf, Betrayal of the Wolf.

Her website: http://www.terryspear.com/

Deadline to Register: January 30th

For more information go to:http://www.pasic.net/classes.html

Get on with the Present—Don’t Live in the Past

Imagine someone telling you a riveting story that’s keeping you on the edge of your seat.

“Go on,” you say, just dying to know what happens next.

But the storyteller says, “But you see, ten years ago…,” and he gives a ten minute discourse on something that happened in the past.

What happens to the avid listener? The storyteller has lost him. The listener is now drawn into the past. Will he be as rabidly entertained? Maybe.

But wait, we have to get back to the present, and the narrator pauses and begins again with the current crisis.

I just finished reading a terrific historical romance—super characterizations, descriptions, plotting, but a couple of times the author pulled me out of the current riveting story to reminisce about past life experiences.

In one of the passages, I was so disoriented by the shift, I had to flip back to where the flashback began to assure myself that it was a flashback. Did it add to the story?

Not for me.

I read a paranormal like that, too, where the story was going along great and then the author stops everything to reminisce about the past. Again in this instance, it didn’t add anything to the story as far as I was concerned. It was filler, boring, and a distraction.

Whenever possible, keep the story moving forward. Sure, it’s fine for the hero to think of the special moments he’d spent with the heroine the night before, or consider the grudge he’s held against his brother for the last hundred years.

But when a flashback turns into actual scenes with dialogue and action, is it really necessary to the story? Does it maybe force the reader out of the story too much? Will you lose some of your readers? Will they forgive you?

Move the story forward. Write in the present. Don’t force your reader to live in the past unless it’s absolutely necessary and adds to the story. Use them sparingly and when you do, don’t make them so long that the reader forgets this is not the current story, but a flashback to the past.

Happy Holidays!

Terry Spear

Heart of the Wolf, April 1, 2008!!!

http://www.myspace.com/terryspear Come join me!!