Hello Cowboy Lovers! I grew up reading “westerns’ and to this day a good cowboy story is a favorite of mine, whether modern or historical. There is just something about a man with a western drawl, a big hat shading his weathered handsome face, maybe a gun on his hip and of course a big powerful horse he controls with great mastery! Oh yeah!!

So naturally most of my books are set in the west””the southwest to be exact since my favorite area is Arizona and New Mexico. They all have some western flavor but one is almost a quintessential “western’ in a modern setting. The title is The Man in Black.

No, it is not Johnny Cash nor one of the guys in those thriller movies. It isn’t even Paladin of “Wanted Dead or Alive” but the hero does wear black a lot and he definitely fits the cowboy persona. He’s a rancher, a retired military man, and takes part on some gunfight enactments in a restored frontier town which is an analog of Tombstone, AZ. I used to live twenty miles west of Tombstone so had to pattern “Graveyard Gulch” after that model!

Here is a little more about the book: The Man in Black by Gwynn Morgan, http://www.amberquill.com/ManInBlack.html  ISBNs 1-59279-340-1 (E) and

1-59279-801-2 (P)

My inspiration began with a real life April-October couple (that’s how I describe pairs like these with a pretty large age gap””not the usual May-December as the guy is definitely not over the hill and at the end of his allotted time!!) although they would not recognize themselves in Lawton and Melissa. From there the story just took on a life of its own. I entered  it in several contests mostly sponsored by various Romance Writers of America © chapters and found some wonderful mentors who helped me shape it up to the great tale it eventually became. It’s one of my all-time faves of my stories, too.

In my next post I’ll give you a blurb, the cover and an excerpt. I will give away a free download copy””winners choice of formats””and a western charm bracelet and earring set to a couple of commenters on these posts. Also here is one of those letters for the scavenger hunt! Good luck all.

Happy trails, Gwynn