Today's guest author is western historical romance writer, Paty Jager as she shares how she created her series about the Halsey family.
Farther down, you will find more information, as well as a blurb and excerpt from her latest book, Laying Claim, the newest Halsey family book-- as well as info on Paty's giveaway in celebration of this new release.
Farther down, you will find more information, as well as a blurb and excerpt from her latest book, Laying Claim, the newest Halsey family book-- as well as info on Paty's giveaway in celebration of this new release.
How I built a family one book at a time.
By Paty Jager
Rain, Thank you for having me on
your blog during my blog tour.
The Halsey family wasn’t even in
my head when I started writing Marshal in
Petticoats. It was the sixth historical western romance book I’d written
and happened to be the first book to get published.
Marshal in Petticoats was about an accident prone young woman,
Darcy Duncan, who ended up in a down-on-its-luck town in the middle of gold
country. I was looking for a place to put this story when I read a book about
the area I planned to use as the setting. When I discovered a town that had its
post office, building and all, stolen in the middle of the night by disgruntled
miners who didn’t want to walk down the mountain to check for mail, I knew I
had my setting.
After establishing the heroine
and the town, I gave the heroine a younger brother so that her actions had
merit for why she dressed like a young man and accepted the job of marshal. She
had a strong family commitment, which meant the hero, Gil Halsey, wouldn’t, or
at least thought he didn’t deserve to be in a family. He’d left home at a young
age believing his brothers blamed him for the deaths of their parents and
younger brother.
Gil had been a drifter until he
met Darcy. When the subject of his brothers came up as I was writing the story,
I thought a minute and gave them each a name: Ethan, Hank, Clay, and Zeke. And
the next thing I know, Darcy drags Gil home and a reunion takes place. The four
older brothers are determined to help Gil clear Darcy’s name, and they all
ended up as secondary characters in the book. Once readers had a taste of the
brothers, they asked for more Halsey books.
Since Zeke was mooning over a
school marm in the first book, he and the school marm were the main characters
in the next book, Outlaw in Petticoats.
To keep Ethan, the oldest from being shut out of married life, I made the third
book, Miner in Petticoats. Ethan as
the eldest is determined he has to make the family mine take care of all the
growing families. He’s come up with a way to make money for the family and help
the other miners, but he needs land from the Widow Miller. She’s not about to
sell. In that book, Clay is injured and that sets him up for his story with
Dr.Rachel Tarkiel in Doctor in Petticoats. And last, poor Hank, he had to wait until
everyone else was happy before he could go after his dream and in the process
fall in love with a very unlikely match. Not only is Kelda handy in the
kitchen, but she’s handy with a whipsaw as well. At the end of Logger in Petticoats, I set up the
possiblity of continuing the Halsey saga with younger members of the cast, by
mentioning Jeremy, Darcy’s younger brother, had gone to Alaska to seek his
fortune.
When I finished the five books,
I took a break from the Halsey family, but I kept receiving emails asking for
more Halsey books. I thought on it a bit and decided I could do a trilogy with
the young men who were brought into the Halsey family through marriages. First
Jeremy Duncan, Darcy’s brother, then Colin Healy Miller, stepson to Ethan, and
the third will be the blind boy, Donny, who was befriended by Clay and brought
to Sumpter to help him with his buisness.
These three books will be the
Halsey Homecoming Trilogy. Each one will have been away from home and are
coming back. Jeremy’s story is, Laying
Claim. Below is the blurb and exceprt.
Giveaway
This
post is part of a week-long blog tour. I love to give, and you could be the
winner! I will be giving away an e-copy of my Christmas novella, Christmas Redemption, to one commenter
at each blog stop where there are at least ten commenters. You can find the
blog tour hosts at my blog: http://www.patyjager.blogspot.com or my website: http://www.patyjager.net
Laying Claim
Blurb:
Jeremy
Duncan commits to haul one last load of supplies across the great interior of
the Yukon before heading home. But, he has to trade his pack animals for sled
dogs and leave Skagway in the middle of a blizzard due to one strong-willed,
business-minded beauty.
Determined
to find her older brother, Clara Bixbee doesn’t care how she gets across the
pass, as long as she does, and soon. Hiring handsome pack guide Jeremy Duncan
seems to be her best choice. Especially after she saves a young girl being
beaten by the local gang leader and needs to escape Skagway fast.
Excerpt:
Someone
roughly shook Clara. She shoved her arms out of her sleeping bag and opened her
eyes. The lanterns were glowing, backlighting the dark, furry head so close she
could smell his sour breath.
“Get
away from me!” she said loudly. Where is
Jeremy? She shot a glance to the floor. His sleeping bag was empty.
“What
have you done with Jeremy?” She sat up, forcing the body looming over her to
have to back up.
“We
decided you ain’t goin’ with him.”
She
stared at the man in front of her. It was one of the first men they’d been
introduced to. And one of the men who’d made her nervous the way he stared at
her.
“You
have no say over what I can and can’t do.” Inside her body quivered and her
stomach squeezed with fear. Outside, she scowled and clenched her fists.
Working at the warehouse, she’d learned to be strong on the outside no matter
what she felt on the inside. Men always thought they could bully her.
Clara
dropped her arm over the side of the cot and groped the floor for something to
use as a weapon. Her trusty umbrella was packed in one of the sleds.
“It
ain’t right for a young thing like you to be goin’ into the wilderness. You
could get ate by a bear or worse.” The man nodded his head.
Several
voices behind him agreed. She looked beyond the man in her space and spotted
four more. Panic clamped her jaw shut. Jeremy,
where are you?
Her
hand found something long, round, and cold. She grasped it and pulled Jeremy’s
rifle onto her lap. Before the man could move to take it from her, she swung
the business end toward him.
“Back
off!” She glared at all of them. “All of you. Get back.”
They
all backed up, apologizing and glaring at the back of the man she held the
rifle on.
“Where
is Jeremy? Did you do something to him?” She quickly scanned the room. “Where’s
Snooker Pete?” She clicked the pointy thing on the top of the rifle just like
she’d watched Jeremy do when he prepared to shoot a rabbit on the trail.
“Don’t
go shooting me. They’re both fine.” The bearded man’s eyes moved in his head
like bubbles in a pot of boiling water.
Clara
nodded to the others. “Bring Pete and Jeremy here, or in five minutes I’m going
to shoot this man in the foot.” She let the end of the barrel drop enough to
see the man’s big boot.
They
others scattered out of the tent, leaving her with the rifle aimed at the man’s
foot.
“There’s
no reason to be so ornery,” the man said, his voice shaking.
“There
was no reason for you to meddle in my life. That’s one thing I don’t take
kindly to— men meddling in my affairs.” She glared at the man and hoped Jeremy
arrived soon. She didn’t know how to keep the gun from firing.
BUY
LINKS:
Who is Paty Jager?
With sixteen published books,
three novellas, and an anthology, award-winning author Paty Jager is never at a
loss for story ideas and characters. Her rural life in central and eastern
Oregon and interests in local history and the world around her keeps the
mystery and romance ideas flowing. She not only writes the western lifestyle,
she lives it.
You can learn more about Paty at
her blog; www.patyjager.blogspot.com her website; http://www.patyjager.net or on Facebook; https://www.facebook.com/#!/paty.jager
and twitter; @patyjag.
