A big cowboy “Howdy” to Rue Allyn, author of the novel One Night’s Desire, a western historical from Crimson Romance. Here’s a bit of Rue’s bio:
Author of historical, contemporary and erotic romances, Rue Allyn fell in love with happily ever after the day she heard her first story. She studied literature for far too many years before discovering that writing stories was much more fun than analyzing them. She is happily married to her sweetheart of many, many years and shares her home with two cats. Insatiably curious, an avid reader and traveler, she loves to hear from readers about your favorite books and real life adventures. Crazy Cat stories are especially welcome.
Here’s the blurb from One Night’s Desire:
A WOMAN ON THE RUN ~ Rustlers, claim jumpers and fire, nothing will stop Kiera Alden from reuniting her family. But an accusation of murder threatens her dreams and sets Marshal Evrett Quinn on her trail. She may be able to escape prison bars and eventually prove her innocence, but she can’t escape Quinn’s love.
A LAWMAN IN HOT PURSUIT ~ Marshal Evrett Quinn is relentless in pursuit of law-breakers, and pretty Kiera Alden is no exception. Clever and courageous, she evades him until chance encounter turns the tables. Finally he has this elusive desperado under arrest, but success is bittersweet when she captures his heart.
I’m so happy Coffee Time Romance & More and I can get to know you better, Rue. What jumped out at me about this book is your heroine being a photographer in 1870 in the West. Are you into photography? Did you do research on early photography?
I love this question. A while back I visited Yellowstone and Grand Teton National Parks with three friends. One of them is a stand-out photographer. She showed me a side of the national parks that I’d never seen, a fresh way of looking at the natural wonders around us. As a result, I became interested in images of the parks that had been taken over the years. I discovered that the first and many of the iconic images of the Yellowstone area were taken by William Henry Jackson in 1870—coincidentally the year in which One Night’s Desire is set. Because my heroine was on the run, I knew she needed a way to support herself that was portable. Jackson made a handsome living as photographer for the first expeditionary force to map the Yellowstone and Grand Teton areas in detail. After reading his story and studying his background, giving my heroine a similar skill seemed a perfect match. As for me, I am an indifferent (and untrained) photographer, but I’m learning slowly.
I have never visited Yellowstone and it is on my bucket list. I have heard of William Henry Jackson’s photographs. I love the old ones, knowing what they packed around to take the incredible images. Amazing.
This quote: “if you must fight, it is best to choose the time and battleground.” And: “Hesitate and your heart will die before it has lived.” This one is good too: “Would real family ever hold back love and affection to guarantee obedience?” From where did these tidbits originate?
Well the first, “If you must fight, it is best to choose the time and battleground,” is attributed to Chief Washakie of the Wind River Shoshone nation. I discovered Chief Washakie and the Wind River Shoshone on the same trip to Yellowstone where I discovered William Henry Jackson. Chief Washakie is one of the most respected leaders in Native American history and led the Wind River Nation wisely through some of the most perilous times in that history. The other two quotes are my own invention. The phrasing of each is character specific. The speaker of the “Hesitate. . .” quote is a Wind River Shoshone medicine man. An educated man in the mold of Chief Washakie, he speaks English well. However, like all speakers of English as a second language, the cadence of his speech is distinct from that of people who spoke English from birth. The quote about family asks a universal question about how families behave and are defined.
The wisdom from these quotes is quite memorable. I noticed many characters are Native Americans and One Night’s Desire is set in Wyoming. Are you familiar with their way of life? And is your ghost town in Wyoming based on a real one?
I am not as familiar with the Wind River Shoshone’s way of life as I would like to be. I was unable to connect with a representative of that nation before the book went into production; so most of my research about them comes from printed texts and web sources. The Wind River Nation’s website is an excellent resource for readers interested in more information.
No, my ghost town is not based on any real place in Wyoming. But the possibility of such a ghost town is as real as the Wyoming gold rush of 1867. “The foothills of the Wind River Mountains in Central Wyoming are dotted with what remains of the gold rush that hit the area in 1867. Several ghost towns and deserted mines echo the triumph and failures of the masses of 19th century prospectors that populated the area.”
When you said gold rush ghost town, my head instantly went to other places which have them. I can vividly picture the collection of old wooden shanties devoid of life, but at one time, were thriving with hundreds of people. So how did you get to the path of writing Westerns?
I love classic western movies and have always wanted to write a western historical. However, my favorite time period is the middle ages. Nonetheless, the similarities between the decades following the civil war and the late middle ages are very strong. Both are periods in which individuals, male and female, needed strength of body, mind, and spirit to survive. Both have elements of deep spirituality. Both can be perceived as lawless. Although I prefer to think of these periods as a time when law was in flux. Finally, both periods are highly romanticized in popular fiction.
I’m wondering–your heroine, Kiera, is on trial and the jury includes women. Your thoughts on this?
In 1869, Wyoming was the first state to give women equal political rights, and Laramie, Wyoming (where Kiera’s trial is held) was the first city to seat women jurors. Phil Roberts’ article about The First Woman Juror in America, tells us “Laramie women made history in March of 1870 when five of them became the first women in the world to serve on a jury.”
I was delighted to discover this information during my research of Wyoming in 1870 because it made Kiera’s trial scenes completely plausible.
This is very interesting. Most states were later in admitting women to juries. Kudos! Now, down to the nitty gritty of writing. What is the hardest part –drafting, editing, research, or marketing? Why?
For me, the most difficult part of writing is marketing. To be a good marketer, you need to be an extrovert. Even for on-line/social media marketing, which is more about developing relationships than it is about advertising a product, an extroverted personality helps tremendously. I like people, but I’m on the shy side. You might say I have less of the extrovert in my character than the introvert.
Many of us suffer from the same thing. Anything else you want to share?
This has been an extraordinarily good year for me with six new books released in less than eight months (giving readers a total of eight Rue Allyn books to choose from). I am also very proud that my medieval romance, A True and Perfect Knight is being re-issued by Samhain Publishing. I’m a medievalist by training and love the period almost as much as I love writing romance of all sorts.
One Moment’s Pleasure ~ Wildfire Love Book 1 debuted in March 2013.
Hazard Duty ~ Sexy Sailors book 2, a military erotic romance from Red Sage Publishing, came out July 01, 2013. Deal of a Lifetime, a short contemporary romance from The Wild Rose Press is out now exclusively at Amazon. One Night’s Desire ~ Wildfire Love Book 2, a western historical romance from Crimson Romance Publishing, was released July 15, 2013. Book three of the Wildfire Love series, One Day’s Loving is due out November 4, 2013, with A True and Perfect Knight rounding out my releases for the year.
What a busy girl you are, Rue!
Let’s do a speed round:
Favorite color: Almost every shade of blue
Favorite drink: Hmmm. Diet Coke or a good Riesling
Favorite movie: Way too many to name, but Casablanca and The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance are high on my list. (I agree, excellent movies!!)
Favorite accessory: I have a blood red garnet ring with a Celtic knot setting that holds many dear memories for me.
Connect online with Rue at:
Website: http://RueAllyn.com
Email: contact@RueAllyn.com
Facebook (fan page): https://www.facebook.com/RueAllynAuthor
Twitter: https://twitter.com/RueAllyn
Blog: http://rueallynauthorblog.com/
Thank you, Rue, for being with Coffeetime and me for this author interview. Much success with One Night’s Desire.
My thanks to you and Coffetime Romance for having me.
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