Heroes on Horseback: My Lifelong Love Affair

I'm very happy to host the fabulous Kathleen Eagle today. She's talking about the wonderful world of horses, cowboys and the American West. Take it away, Kathleen.

Hello, Bandits!

I have a new book for you. And if you bear with me for a bit of book talk, maybe bare your soul a bit in a comment, we’ll enter you in a drawing for a chance to win one of the earlier books in my current series.

ONE BRAVE COWBOY (on sale 9/20 from Harlequin Silhouette) introduces another competitor for Mustang Sally’s Wild Horse Training Competition, a thread I’ve carried through four of the six books connected with my fictitious Double D Wild Horse Sanctuary in South Dakota.

His name is Cougar, and he served in the Army with Mary Tutan (ONCE A FATHER). He’s a wounded warrior, but his worst scars are not visible. Newly released from a VA hospital, this Indian cowboy desperately needs to come to terms with his losses at home and on the battlefield. He came home from his first tour in the Middle East to find his girlfriend—the woman he’d planned to marry—with another man. During his second tour he was involved in an incident in which his best friend and several civilians were killed, and he blames himself. His hope for saving his sanity--the horses his brother was keeping for him--were sold during his absence. His entry into Mustang Sally’s Wild Horse Training Competition is the means he’s using to find his way among the living after pulling himself back from the brink of suicide.

Then he meets Celia Banyon and her young son, who was injured in an accident and whose worst scars are also not visible.

I’ve written lots of stories featuring Indian cowboys. To begin with, I’m married to one. We met during the summer I took off from working in the college library and headed west in search of adventure. I was a summer volunteer on a Dakota (North and South) reservation. I’d always been interested in American Indian culture, always loved Western movies, and always always loved horses. I’m not a natural athlete by any means, but I used part of my summer earnings to pay for riding lessons when I was in college. Horses are majestic and magical, sensitive and strong. From the moment I met the man who was to become my husband—a man whose world was quite different from mine—we had two key things in common. We loved books and horses. And I just love the smell of horse on a man.

My husband has a way with horses, and he’s tamed his share of them over the years. He speaks their language. Because horses are prey animals, they are extremely sensitive. They seem to connect with people who are wounded or hurting. I’ve known many people—particularly women—who find solace in the act of grooming a horse. Horse therapy has come into its own in recent years. Prisoners, troubled teens, abused women, special needs children—so many people turn to horses for renewal and healing. This is a theme that arises time after time in my Double D Wild Horse Sanctuary series. It’s a theme that complements the love story beautifully.

Let’s talk books, writing, or whatever else comes to mind. Have you ever had a moment when you connected in some mystical way with an animal, some kind of communication that surpasses human expectations?

One commenter will win her/his choice of one of these four books from Kathleen's backlist.

Kathrynn Dennis in the Lair

interviewed by Donna MacMeans

Please join me in welcoming my friend and fellow historical romance author, Kathrynn Dennis, to the lair. Her second book, SHADOW RIDER (Kensington, Oct 7, 2008) has just hit the shelves. Here's what the reviewers say about SHADOW RIDER:

"The color, vibrancy, and excitement of the Middle Ages allows Dennis to create a memorable tale of two people whose destiny is tied to a mystical colt. Dennis tells her story with passion, drama, and a love of animals that will enthrall readers." -- 4 Stars! Romantic Times Reviews, SHADOW RIDER

"...a great read for lovers of horses, romance and history" -- Top Pick! July 2008 ParaNormalRomance.org

Welcome, Kathrynn! How exciting to see your book on the shelves this week. What do you do as an author the first week your newest release goes on sale?

First, let me say thank you, Donna, and to all the Romance Bandits, for inviting me to guest blog. Great group here!

As to what do I do as an author during release week? I eat way too much chocolate and spend way too much time checking and rechecking my email. And oh yeah, I surf the net. A lot. ;-)

That’s what it’s like I think, for most authors until they have a few under their belts (books I mean, not drinks).

Sometimes a few drinks don't hurt, especially if served by sexy young Cabana boys (grin). We do like to run out to the book stores and actually see if the book is on the shelves. I wonder if the experience ever truly feels real without that visual confirmation?

I loved Dark Rider (Congratulations, BTW, on the final in the published Maggie contest). It had fabulous medieval atmosphere. Can't wait to read Shadow Rider as well. Where did you get the idea for this unusual medieval romance? The plot involves a “lost and vengeful knight, a horse midwife, castle intrigue, and a colt that barks . . .” to paraphrase a reviewer. A barking horse? Seriously, how did you come up with that?

I eat too much chocolate and drink too much—just kidding. ;-)

I’m a horse veterinarian and you know what they say …“write what you know.” So, I drew on experience and thought “what if” a foal born in the 13th century was affected by a real-life neurological condition that resulted behavioral abnormalities, made him do strange things like gaze at the stars, sit like dog and bark? Wow. Drop that scenario right into the hey-day (pun intended) of superstition in history—the middle ages. My heroine, of course, is a 13th century horse midwife who delivers the foal and then gets accused of all sorts of misdoings and witchery. She needs a hero. Enter Guy of Warwick, who thinks the “magic” horse is meant for him. He saves them both, but things go down hill from there. Turns out, everybody wants that magic horse. The bad guy in this book is pretty bad (will not tell how for fear of spoilers). I had fun writing him.

I remember from the last time you visited that you like to say you write “horsetoricals,” all about heroes, heroines, and horses. Is there any story connection between this book and your first, DARK RIDER?

Not really, but they are both set in the middle ages, have mystic elements and the development horses as characters who are pivotal to the plot. I’ve done a bit of research lately on animals and pets in romance novels and find they run the gambit from decoration, to strong secondary characters who move the story along. In my books, I wrote them to do just that.

Also, the kind of animal a character owns tells you a lot about their personality. Writers use this to layer their character’s development. The heroes and heroines in SHADOW RIDER and DARK RIDER are just as pet-owner profiles suggest they would be: male horse-owners are dominant and high in autonomy, aggressive, and less expressive in general. Female horse-owners tend to avoid aggression and are easy going, but limited in cooperativeness and warm human relationships.

Sounds like a true romance heroes and heroines to me! If you’d like to dig a little deeper into pet-owner profiling, check out Word Wenches today: http://wordwenches.typepad.com/word_wenches/. I have a post there which goes into pet owner-profiling a little deeper.

This, by the way, was one of Kathrynn's horses, Jawknee Reb, the love of her teenage life. So Kathrynn, what’s next?

I have another book brewing, The Horse Lord, a story about a horse wizard in ancient England who seeks a soul mate, a true horsewitch. She, of course wants nothing to do with him. But they are destined (cursed?) to be together and the journey they must travel as they fall in love tests their magic beyond belief.

A horse wizard and a horsewitch? Who knew? Sounds like great fun! To read more about Kathrynn and her horsetoricals, be sure to visit her website http://www.kdennis.com/.

Thank you, Romance Bandits, for having me.

I’d love to hear about the most memorable thing your pet did—a strangely human act of love? Was he/she weirdly smart? One commentor, randomly drawn, will win a free copy of SHADOW RIDER!