Authentic Romantic Historical Fiction

Tag: The Owen Family Saga (Page 1 of 3)

Today I Discovered…

But First…

Don’t forget that a week from now, on July 20, from 9:00 am to 3:30 pm, I’ll be at the Payson Book Festival, sharing Table 45. Have you discovered this great family friendly event? Come on up to the cool pines. I look forward to seeing you there!

And now…

A couple of days ago I discovered a Case Logic folder hiding in a bookcase.

A discovered Case Logic folder
Today I opened it up to check out the flash drives inside.

Look what I discovered inside: Old flash drives
On one of them, I discovered a lot of old files that aren’t on my current computer, including snippets from the third novel I wrote, which became the fifth novel in The Owen Family Saga, Trail of Storms. I thought you might like to see how this novel and its characters evolved.

This segment, written back in May of 2006, was entitled “Hardy.” The first part included a man named, yep, Hardy. The second part, a memory about James Owen, made it into the novel pretty much intact. The name “Hardy” in the first section, however, did not. Nor did the actions described in the snippet.

Leave me a comment if you know which final character Hardy became, and give us his name. This may be a trick question, so you may need to haul out your copy of Trail of Storms to check.

Hardy

Hardy Lundeen was gorgeous; there was no doubt about that, except for one tiny little flaw. His right ear was half gone. Other than that, he was a strapping blond, six-foot-one in height, and gloriously handsome.

He knew he was good-looking, and he made the most of it with his infectious grin, which turned up a bit more on the left side than on the right.

Jessica noticed him when her family joined the wagon train in western Missouri. Hardy was a single man, headed to California to make his fortune after the war. His Yankee twang was foreign to her ear, but he was a gracious victor, and did not mention anything about the past unpleasantness. Others in the party were not so generous, but the rigors of the journey ahead forced the participants to band together for safety in numbers.

Hardy sought Jessica out one evening, shortly after they had set out on the trail. He asked if he might accompany her on a stroll about the camp, and Mrs. Bingham said yes, if Luke went along, too.

Hardy offered his arm, but Jessica kept her hands clasped together as they walked from fire to fire, greeting other travelers. He chatted cheerily to her about his boyhood in Vermont: hunting, fishing, grubbing crops out of rocky soil.

“I hear California has soil down three feet, and no rocks to hinder a man’s plantings,” he said, grinning. “That’s the place for me.” He paused as they walked in the darkness between two wagons, then asked, “What part of California are you headed to?”

Jessica replied in soft tones. “We’re actually goin’ to Arizona, once we get far enough along the trail. Tucson City.”

“Arizona, hmm? I hear that’s a hard place. Full of snakes and heat enough to boil a man’s brains. Or a woman’s.” He looked down at Jessica. “California sounds more fitting for a lovely young lady like yourself. How about you–”

Luke coughed behind them, and Hardy dropped the subject. Yet, he persisted in calling each evening.

Jessica couldn’t help comparing him to her lost James. He and Hardy were about the same height, but James had dark, crisp hair that curled around his ears if it grew long enough. He was handsome in a different way, and had two perfectly good ears, although she knew he had a bayonet wound in one shoulder. At least it wasn’t a wound you could see.

She sighed. James was gone, lost to her. She remembered the nausea that had swept though her when James told her he was leaving and she was staying. They had clung together, hidden behind a clump of lilacs, tempted to fulfill their love, but when James’s kisses grew hot and insistent, she pushed him away, weeping.

“I can’t, James. You know that. You could leave me with a child, and that’s impossible for me.” Tears ran down her cheeks, and she allowed him to kiss them away, but kept her body from touching his.

“Ah Jessie, Jessie.” James’s groan seemed to come from his toes. “How can I leave you?”

“It’s your pa’s doin’. You’ve got to obey him. Even if you don’t like it. I’ll never forgive him,” she whispered, then gave him a soft kiss and a shove. “Go away, James. Don’t come again. Just go.” She fled for the house.

*~*~*

Leave your comment below. I’d like to know how many people know who this character became. Or is there more in this text than is readily apparent?

Copyright 2019 by Marsha Ward

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Last week at retreat was fun!

Last week

I went to a writers retreat last week that is sponsored by a group I started thirty-odd years ago. They have it at a huge, gorgeous cabin in the woods in eastern Arizona.

Thirty-seven other brilliant writers were there, all women, all super nice. We always bring snacks to share. The goodies covered an entire counter in the kitchen. Such a multitude of yummies! As always, we had plenty of chocolate to stoke our brains. This year, however, I noticed a trend toward healthy snacks.

One thing that could have affected us badly was a fire burning in the Tonto National Forest southwest of our location. The fire caused a lot of smoke in the air, so several of us stayed indoors to limit our exposure to polluted air. The smoke did create some spectacular sunsets, though, and a pretty odd-looking sun.

Last week's hazy sky and odd sun

The sun last week in Eastern Arizona

Work in Progress

I did a fair amount of research for my work in progress (WIP), which features Mrs. Charity Bingham from the Owen Family Saga novel Trail of Storms. I reorganized what I had previously written, and added several thousand words, as well. This so-far untitled work is a romantic story for the Shenandoah Neighbors line that I hope you’ll love.

I’m excited about continuing work on it, but I’m slightly impeded by a task I need to complete for the Payson Book Festival.

Payson Book Festival

That event is coming up on Saturday, July 20, in the ballroom of the Mazatzal Hotel & Casino, on Highway 87 at the south side of Payson, Arizona.

The Book Festival is a family-friendly event that runs from 9 a.m. until 3:30 p.m., featuring 90 authors, a bookstore, the Story Monster, lots of kids’ activities, and presentations and entertainment from featured authors in two side rooms.

Where to find me

I’ll be at Table 45 on the west side of the ballroom. Come visit me and take a look at the books at my table (also in the bookstore). They will be on sale at event prices you don’t want to miss.

See you there!

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New Covers on the Owen Family Saga

From the time I re-ordered the books in The Owen Family Saga, and then added the Origin Story, That Tender Light, as a novella, I’ve wanted to change the covers on several of the novels, especially the three books published first.

I didn’t want to change the cover of Gone for a Soldier. It’s pretty special as it is, but it had been fifteen years since the first novel was published, and two of them didn’t even have a print edition published by my company, WestWard Books.

Now look:

New Covers on The Owen Family Saga

These changes have been a multi-year, complex process that began when I replaced the cover of Spinster’s Folly. Since then, I’ve been haunting stock photo sites and designers’ pre-made cover pages in an attempt to keep expenses down. A parallel project was to re-format the layout for the interiors of the novels to reflect not only cover credits for the new covers I found, but to make the novels more uniform. I’m almost finished with that project.

Finally, I found the last cover I wanted, but one of the images needed an enhancement to bring the subjects into more prominence. When I was told that wasn’t possible due to the original image file, I elected to find another image that would suit so the designer could change it out. Mind you, this cost me additional money, but I gladly paid it, and the resulting cover is excellent.

I still need to make a few little adjustments, but for all intents and purposes, my huge task is complete, and I can get back to writing.

Find purchase links to the novella and novels that make up The Owen Family Saga.

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What’s the Difference . . .

Between the Owen Family Saga and an Owen Family Story?

Good question!

Once I finished writing the novels that make up the Saga, and put them into the best reading order, I decided to call a halt to that series. I knew I was going to write further stories about the family members, either to fill in gaps, give more information, or tell new stories about this rambunctious lot. However, but they would most likely be written out-of-order.

Therefore, anything else I write about members of the Owen family will be labeled An Owen Family–whatever (novel, novella, or story). These new projects will be part of The Owen Family Universe.

You can see that one new Owen Family novella–the Origin Story called That Tender Light–occupies first place in the graphic above. I intend it to be read first, even though it’s not designated as part of the Saga.

Why am I using the “Owen Family” designation going forward?

Here’s the thing: There is no point in trying to formally shoehorn the new stories in between the novels of the Saga (it’s just too difficult to change things around in an existing series). Until after I finish writing new pieces of work, I don’t know where on the Saga timeline they will fall. I surely will not number the new stories on the covers. Imagine changing the numbers on multiple covers when each new story is released! Therein lies, if not madness, at the least a great deal of work, worry, and confusion.

To keep everything simple, I will continue to write stories about the family and label them as such, then update my Best Reading Order page.

So what is this “Shenandoah Neighbors” thing?

The Owen Family Universe includes a great many characters and their stories. The neighbors who came west with the Owen family from the Shenandoah Valley have their own stories, and most of them are linked in some degree to the Owen family. However, I didn’t want them to be classified as Owen Family Stories or Novels or Novellas, so I came up with the Shenandoah Neighbors tag.

There are currently four works in the Shenandoah Neighbors list: the novella Mended by Moonlight, and the stories Ned’s Choice, Broken, and Bloodied Leather.

There could be those who would argue–with good reason, given my parameters–that Trail of Storms is not an Owen family novel, and should fall under the classification of a Shenandoah Neighbors Novel. Well, it’s firmly stuck in the Saga. In this imperfect world, those of us afflicted with OCD will just have to live with that.

For more information about the placement, year, and locations of all the published stories in The Owen Family Universe, refer to the best reading order page on my website.

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