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Sunday, June 30, 2019

Cowboys, Cattle, and Cutthroats /Colorado Romance Writers finalist!

Thank you Colorado Romance Writers 
and the Wild Rose Press,
 (especially my editor Amanda Barnett). 
Keep on dancing. 

                        Both seek retribution, 
                     neither is looking for love.
                                
   Ochessa is heartbroken when she finds her brother fatally wounded. His dying words are about a childhood puzzle box, missing legal documents, and a drifter named Nicodemus Breedlove. Ochessa vows to find Will’s murderer—and the man Will described.

    No stranger to trouble, Nic's only concerns are his Stetson, his mule Sadie, and a long awaited chance at retribution. After gaining Ochessa’s trust, and taking the job she offers, life gets more complicated. 

    Back on the ranch in Colorado, Ochessa works as hard as any man. Then Nick tempts her into playing even harder as a woman—both are overwhelmed by their growing love for one another.

    Weathering a stampede, a gully washer, and a pack of outlaws, they locate the killer. As Nic’s quest for justice, and Ochessa’s vendetta for Will playout, bullets fly...                                
       Not everybody’s gonna make it out alive.

Available in paperback and e-book at....

Excerpt:
“I’ve come for the job,” Nic said.
Ochessa hesitated only a moment. “I don’t need any more ranch hands.”
“Not a job, the job.” Nic retrieved the bounty poster from inside his shirt, leaned forward, and held it up in front of her face.
Of course. Naturally he would be offering a gun for hire, not a strong back for bending.
Re-folding the paper, he tucked it away in his back pocket. Several similar fliers were poking out of his saddlebag. He must have collected all the ones she tacked up in town.
“It doesn’t say anything about expenses,” he continued.
“That’s because I don’t intend to pay any.”
“That should narrow down the applicants considerably.” His gaze settled on her lips. “Or are you planning to offer incentive of a more personal nature?”
“Listen, Breedlove. Don’t get your hopes up—or anything else. Whoever I hire can live and eat at the ranch for free. And they can stay at Will’s cabin if the search takes them back to Kansas.”
He seemed disappointed. She didn’t care, or at least she shouldn’t care. What this man thought held no consequence for her. Being a drifter, he would most likely ride out of her life as quickly and unexpectedly as he’d galloped into it.
“Well…” Nic urged the mule one step closer.
“Well, what?”
“Do I get the job or not?”


Monday, June 10, 2019

Female Viking Warrior no longer a myth


In the Viking Age, the 8th to the late 10th century, the town of Birka, Sweden was a key center for trade, most likely offering furs and iron goods as well
as craft products in exchange for various materials from much of Europe and western Asia.

Founded around AD 750, Birka flourished for more than 200  years with and estimated population between 500 and 1000 people.
  By the early middle ages, there were narratives about fierce female Vikings fighting alongside men. Although, reoccurring in art as well as in poetry, the women warriors were generally dismissed as mythological phenomena.

                                UNTIL NOW!
     The entombed skeleton in question was discovered 128 years ago in Birka. Surrounded by military weapons, it was assumed to be that of a battle-hardened male. 

The artifacts entombed with the 1,000-year-old bones and unearthed in 1889 included two shields,
a sword, an ax, a spear, armor-piercing arrows and a battle knife - not to mention the remnants of two horses, one mare and one stallion. Also a full set of gaming pieces indicating knowledge of tactics and strategy stressing the buried individual's role as a high‐ranking officer.

Now, modern-day genetics testing on the DNA extracted from a tooth and an arm bone has confirmed the skeleton, known as Bj 581, belongs to someone with two X chromosomes. In other words, a female.
The dental wear of the lower molars was clear but moderate, suggesting the individual was at least above 30 years of age.

The female warrior, was probably of nonlocal origin and, had moved to Birka. This assumption is based on
her genetic affinity to present‐day inhabitants of the British Islands (England and Scotland), the North Atlantic Islands (Iceland and the Orkneys), Scandinavia (Denmark and Norway) and to lesser extent Eastern Baltic Europe (Lithuania and Latvia) 

Major arguments against the grave belonging to a woman are that she just happened to live like a man, or when someone buried her, what she was buried with might not have been of her choosing. 

Poppycock! I believe she was a true Viking Warrior. What do you think?

More than 3,000 Viking graves have been discovered encircling Birka, but only about 1,100 have been excavated.

For more details and sites used to glean the above information, go to...
https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1002/ajpa.23308
https://www.grandforksherald.com/news/4327867-viking-warrior-skeleton-identified-female-128-years-after-its-discovery


Looking for a romantic Medieval adventure? Try my book IRON HEART, rated 5 Hearts from Sizzling Hot Books “Iron Heart gives the classic epic adventures a run for their money.” 

England: circa. 879 A.D.
    With the heart of a warrior and the soul of a poet, Faran Kilbraun travels far from home in search of the sword and shield of his ancestors. Protecting the ancient relics was his responsibility. Now, to regain his honor, he must recover the stolen artifacts and battle a life-long enemy.  

    Following the accidental death of her cruel husband, Leanora Wrenn is wrongly accused of his murder. Forced into exile, a small north shore island becomes her lonely refuge—exoneration her only hope. 

     When Faran discovers Leanora's remote sanctuary, both their lives are changed forever. Comrades-in-arms, they fight side by side for their chance at redemption and love. 



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