Kristy McCaffrey's Blog: Author Kristy McCaffrey, page 18

Lassoing A Groom ~ New Historical Western Romance Anthology

I’m pleased to announce the release of Lassoing A Groom, a new collection of historical western romance short stories. I’m very excited to be included in this anthology, alongside some of the best western romance writers today. These sweet stories will make you laugh and sigh, and keep you reading for that happily-ever-after.


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Blurb:

How is a woman supposed to catch a husband? In the wild, wild west, she’s got to find a way to Lasso a Groom! Some of them are lawmen…some are outlaws. Ranchers and homesteaders are fair game, as well—none of 'em safe from love’s lariat, or the women who finally manage to rope ’em in!

DON’T GO SNARING MY HEART by Jacquie Rogers
Can rancher Dex Madsen get past loner Betsy Lynch's goats and killer chicken to help save her mining claim and win her heart?

RACE TO MARRY by Kirsten Lynn
He’s in town to tame a man-killer. She’s accused of being one. When she proposes marriage the race is on.

WANTED: THE SHERIFF by Tracy Garrett
He’s a confirmed bachelor…but she’ll capture his heart.

CANYON CROSSING by Kristy McCaffrey
In search of her brother, Annabel Cross enters Grand Canyon. When U.S. Deputy Marshal Angus Docherty rescues her from a cliff side, her most guarded secret might save them.

THE PERFECT HOMESTEAD BRIDE by Linda Hubalek
Will a dangerous man from Gussie Hamner’s past sabotage the future she’s building with Noah Wilerson?

THE WORST OUTLAW IN THE WEST by Kathleen Rice Adams
An inept bank robber and a bossy spinster team up to rob an empty vault. What could go wrong?

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

More on my story:
In search of her brother, Annabel Cross enters Grand Canyon with a guide and a mule. When circumstances have her hanging from a cliff side, her rescue at the hands of U.S. Deputy Marshal Angus Docherty is fortuitous in more ways than one. He’s chasing the notorious Red Bandit, and it soon becomes clear that Annabel’s brother is mixed up with the criminal as well. While the marshal believes she may be in on a double-cross, she has a more pressing secret to hide. She can talk to deceased spirits, and she wonders whether to tell Angus about the old Apache ever near to him.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Here’s an excerpt from “Canyon Crossing”:

Grand Canyon
August 1898

She dreamt she died in Grand Canyon.

Annabel’s eyes flew open and she gasped for breath. Lying on a narrow precipice, hundreds of feet from certain death, the Grand Canyon beckoned to her, ready to cradle her in its otherworldly embrace. Did she still dream?

Carefully, she pushed herself upright, hardly daring to breathe. Perched on the edge of a cliff, she was inches from a dramatic fall. A side glance to the east told her the sun was rising. What had happened? She and her guide, Frank Smith, had made camp, eaten a meal of beans, biscuits, and coffee, and then gone to sleep. Where was he? Where was the mule, Speck, who carried their gear? Had they fallen to their deaths?

Annabel sought to calm her panic. She was only twenty years old, she couldn’t die now. A slight movement caused her to slip; she frantically grabbed a scraggly bush, fear filling her with desperation. Finally, she stopped, barely daring to breathe lest it dislodge her further. Her mind raced for a solution.

Maybe Frank was nearby.

“Help.” Her voice was weak.

“Help!” Better, stronger, but not enough.
“Help me! Help! Help!”

“Are you hurt?” a man yelled from above.

Annabel’s gaze flew upward, not recognizing the voice. Still, elation filled her. “No. I-I don’t believe so.”

“If I throw a rope, can you grab it?”

“Yes, yes. I’ll try.” She attempted to quiet her shaking.

A knotted cord slapped the ground beside her. Slowly, she reached out with her right hand and grasped it. Letting go of the bush, she clung to the lifeline with both hands. In small increments she moved upward, all the while straining not to slip off. Just as her aching palms screamed for release, she neared an unseen ledge that harbored the man and the life-saving tether. As she struggled to climb over the edge, a large shadow reached for her and strong arms yanked her to the safety of flat ground. A man hovered above, breathing heavily.

“I can’t thank you enough,” Annabel said. Drained of strength, she lay on the ground, facing the sky. “How did you find me?”

She winced as the rising sun glowed behind him, casting the man into an enigmatic dark silhouette. Shading her eyes, a flash caught her eye. He wore a badge, a silver star.

“I heard your cries for help,” he replied.

“Are you a lawman?”

“U.S. Deputy Marshal Angus Docherty, miss.” He tipped his hat. “How is it that you’re down here?”

Annabel scooted to a sitting position away from the precipitous drop-off and scanned the surroundings. The trail from the Grand View Hotel was narrow, but she and Frank had made camp here anyway. There’d really been no choice. But now, there was no sign of it at all. Frank, Speck, and all the gear had vanished. Had she fallen asleep and rolled out of the encampment? It was certainly possible. She could’ve perished in her sleep and not even known it. Her heart pounded from the near-miss with death.

“I was with a guide and a mule,” she said. “But I don’t know where they are.” The entire incident seemed incomprehensible to her.

“What’s your name?” the marshal asked.

“Annabel C-C-Cross.” She paused, attempting to quiet her unsteady nerves. It’ll be alright, Annabel. Just calm yourself.

“You’ve no idea how you came to be down there?” The man nodded just beyond the cliff from which he’d recently rescued her.

“I must’ve fallen in my sleep.”

“Why did the guide leave you behind, then?” The marshal’s voice—recovered from his exertions—spoke in careful measures.

“Maybe he didn’t,” she insisted. “Maybe he fell, too.”

“With all of your gear, and the mule?” He sounded skeptical. “There’s no sign of anything resembling a camp here.”

Annabel didn’t know what to think. The truth was, she hardly knew Frank Smith, but when she’d employed him at the Grand View Hotel on the South Rim three days ago the older man had appeared quite amiable and helpful. Granted, he wasn’t a guide, but rather a prospector, and a little off the mark in intelligence, but he knew of her brother and said he’d take her to him. It was exactly what she needed.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Lassoing A Groom is now available!!

Smashwords ($2.99) http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/...
Amazon ($2.99) http://www.amazon.com/Lassoing-Groom-...
Barnes and Noble ($2.99) http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/lasso...
Trade Paperback ($11.99) https://www.createspace.com/4812808

Costa Rica: Golfo Dulce and Osa Peninsula

Sit back and relax. You won't have to do much reading. My latest blog post is a photo tour of southern Costa Rica and the amazing wildlife in residence.




Click link to start your journey--

http://www.kristymccaffrey.blogspot.c...

The Pacific Gray Whales Of Baja

“This species of whale manifests the greatest affection for its young…”
~ Charles Melville Scammon, 1874



In early April, I had the opportunity to visit Laguna San Ignacio, an inlet located on the Pacific coast side of Baja Sur California, Mexico. A remote, undeveloped area with miles of salt flats, it boasts one of the most amazing interactions happening today between humans and wildlife. It’s here that Pacific gray whale mothers bring their calves directly to small skiffs, introduce themselves, and visit. Touching the slick and rubbery skin is a given, but if you’re lucky you can plant a kiss on a whale snout, or perhaps run a hand along the baleen when a whale opens its mouth for you.

How did this come to be?

Read full post at
http://www.kristymccaffrey.blogspot.c...

Humanity, Mars, And A Movie Called "Red Planet"

A planned permanent settlement of Mars via a private enterprise called Mars One has been in the news lately. (More info can be found here)



The first unmanned mission will launch in 2018 and, beginning in 2024, crews of four will be sent every two years. In a rather unprecedented move, an open call for astronauts was offered to the general public, no extraordinary skills necessary. (The crew will undergo several years of training before departure.) The catch? It’s a one-way ride. Once on Mars, these interplanetary travelers will live out their lives on the Red Planet.



While I’m a great fan of science, and the daring innovations that sometimes accompany it, I was greatly dismayed when my 19-year-old son applied. I’m not sure who sobbed more, me or his girlfriend. When he didn’t make the initial cut (there were over 200,000 applicants), I couldn’t hide my sigh of relief. While I truly want him to live a life of curiosity and adventure, I still want to see his handsome mug for Sunday dinner…frequently. Sometimes, I’m a selfish woman. I admit it.

In the spirit of off-world exploration, however, I’d like to share one of my favorite movies. Red Planet, a science fiction film released in 2000, starred Val Kilmer, Carrie-Anne Moss, Tom Sizemore, Benjamin Bratt, Simon Baker, and Terence Stamp.



In 2025 A.D., Earth is polluted beyond the point of no return. With the goal of one day colonizing Mars, probes have been depositing algae in an effort to create a breathable atmosphere for more than twenty years, but when the oxygen levels suddenly drop, a mission, Mars-1, is launched to investigate.

Upon reaching orbit the ship is damaged after suffering a massive proton field upset, and the commander, Bowman (Moss), must remain behind while the crew descends to the surface. During a rough landing, in which an important piece of equipment is lost—a military robot called AMEE, short for Autonomous Mapping Exploration and Evasion—they also lose Chantillas (Stamp), chief science officer and doctor.





Landing in the wrong location and with a limited amount of oxygen in their suits, the goal is to find HAB-1, a pre-built habitat that will offer 26 months of food, air and shelter. But HAB-1 has been destroyed, and they have no idea why. On the verge of death by suffocation, Gallagher (Kilmer) opens his face mask, and to his shock discovers a breathable atmosphere—barely, as if at high altitude—on Mars. But it’s enough for them to survive.



They manage to establish contact with Bowman in orbit (via a 50-year-old off-the-shelf computer modem salvaged from a 1997 abandoned rover) and must now make their way to an old Russian rock probe called Cosmos, in the hopes that they can launch it back to Mars-1. Along the way, they must contend with conflicting personalities, the source of that breathable air (hint—there is a life form on Mars but, thankfully, the film doesn’t digress too much into a horror movie) and AMEE, who’s gone rogue (in typical robot fashion) and considers them a threat.



Each character offers a slice of humanity. Chantillas (Stamp) is the soul of the group. Straddling the never-ending precipice between technology and religion, he states early on, “Science couldn’t answer any of the really interesting questions, so I turned to philosophy. I’ve been searching for God ever since.”

Pettingill (Baker), a terraforming scientist, is the reluctant, uncertain member of the team, while Santen (Bratt) is the brash pilot with an ego that easily bullies Pettingill, leading to a tragic consequence. And Burchenal (Sizemore), a geneticist, believes only in the nature of man and the purity of science. In his mind, it’s man’s right to move through his surroundings, taking what he needs, what he wants, and manipulating life itself, right down to the cellular level.



The main character, Gallagher (Kilmer), a mechanical systems engineer nicknamed “the Space Janitor,” showcases the ingenuity of humans to survive against all odds. But my favorite character is Bowmen (Moss), the only woman in the group. As commander, she spends the better part of the film alone in orbit on a busted spaceship, problem-solving and keeping herself alive. She’s cool, calm and intelligent, capable enough to command the respect of her male peers—the ultimate female role model. And while there is a hint of romance between her and Gallagher, she certainly doesn’t let this define her.





One of my most favorite lines of all time is in this movie. After crash-landing on the surface of Mars, Gallagher and the others try to determine their location and heading. Burchenal states that it’s all about the math, to which Gallagher replies, “This is it. That moment they told us about in high school, where one day algebra would save our lives.”

I admire the men and women who are willing to risk their lives in such endeavors, and when Mars One launches the first brave souls in 2024, I’ll be right there, cheering them on, secretly grateful that my son remains behind to explore science right here on Earth. In the meantime, I’ve got great movies like Red Planet to vicariously experience space travel, and I’ve got “Rocket Man” by Elton John on repeat.

Number Superstitions

Numbers have long carried sacred and mystical significance, helping us to understand our place in the world. For example, four thousand years ago the Sumerians created the measuring system of time—60 seconds in a minute, 60 minutes in an hour, 24 hours in a day. There’s debate about whether numbers originated in China or India, but it’s fairly certain that they came before the use of letters.



Numerology is the belief in the mysterious, esoteric relationship between numbers and living things, physical objects, ideas, and concepts. Each number has a generally accepted definition.

0: The nothing
1: Oneness
2: Duality
3: Spirit
4: Earth
5: Harmony
6: Marriage
7: Spirituality
8: Eternity
9: The limited and the limitless
10: Death and rebirth

Here are a few famous numbers, along with positive and negative connotations associated with each.

4: A masculine number, symbolizing wholesomeness, organization and order. There are four cardinal directions (north, south, east west), four evangelists (Matthew, Mark, Luke and John), and four elements (earth, air, fire and water). But in China the pronunciation of the word for the number four is similar to that of the Chinese word for death. Therefore, many buildings in China skip a fourth floor, just as U.S. builders sometimes omit floor 13.

13: Long regarded as unlucky. The Kabbalah states that there are 13 spirits of evil. It’s considered unlucky to have 13 people sit down to dinner, a reminder of the Last Supper where Christ was betrayed by one of his 12 disciples. In the Tarot deck, 13 is the number of Death. But, it’s not all bad. The calendar year is divided into 12 months, but there are actually 13 lunar months, which led the Mayans to revere the number. In ancient times, the 13th member of a group was thought to be the leader—Zeus and the 12 gods and goddesses, Christ and the 12 disciples, King Arthur and the 12 Knights of the Round Table.

17: This number is almost universally important, a beneficial number representing spirituality, immortality, rebirth, and transformation. The reasoning can be found in the component elements. If you take 1+7 = 8, you have 1 (number of the One God), 7 (number of completeness and perfection), and 8 (number of cosmic balance and harmony). In Islam, it’s believed that the sacred name of God is comprised of 17 letters. For this reason the number appears repeatedly in Islamic tradition and folklore. In the Bible, the Flood is said to have begun on the 17th day of the second month and ended on the 17th day of the seventh month. Greeks still believe that the 17th day of any month is a good day to cut wood to build a ship. But the naysayers include both the Egyptians (Osiris, God of the Dead, was slain on the 17th day of the month) and the Italians (rearranging the Roman numeral XVII can create the word “VIXI”, translated from Latin to mean “my life is over”).

42: Per Douglas Adams’ The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, this is the secret of everything in the Universe. 

666: Hexakosioihexekontahexaphobia is a fear of the number 666. In the Bible, the number first appears as a reference to the amount of King Solomon’s wealth in the First Book of Kings in the Old Testament. But the root of the dark superstition surrounding the number comes from the Book of Revelation in the New Testament. John the Apostle refers to 666 as “the number of the beast,” often interpreted as the Antichrist, or Satan. But if numerology is employed, 6+6+6 = 18, which breaks down to 1+8 = 9. Nine is known as the number of man, so one line of thought is that John referred to the “beast” as the material part of man as opposed to the spiritual side. When 666 is spoken aloud in Chinese, it sounds like the phrase, Things going smoothly. It is one of the luckiest numbers in China and often appears on banners and good-luck cards. In science, the number denotes Carbon-12, a stable and naturally occurring isotope with 6 protons, 6 neutrons, and 6 electrons; it forms 98.93% of the carbon on Earth.

On the surface, numbers are simply a way to keep track of the world around us. Beneath this definition lies a deep philosophical history surrounding the symbolism of numbers, a belief that spans across time and cultures. Numbers are sacred, defining the mystical and nature itself.




Works Cited

Nozedar, Adele. The Element Encyclopedia of Secret Signs and Symbols. Harper Collins, 2008.

China: Cultural Differences and Etiquette

A trip to China a few years ago taught me three things: don’t put bread in your soup, fortune cookies are a western creation, and Chinese is the most difficult language ever.

Read full post at
http://kristymccaffrey.blogspot.com/2...

Free The Writer And Beware Of Monkey Mind

While not everyone is set on writing the next great novel, we all want to tell our stories. A wonderful book to help get you started, or to reignite a passion that may have become stagnant, is Writing Down the Bones: Freeing the Writer Within by Natalie Goldberg. First published in 1986 and rooted in Zen methodology, her advice is simple: trust in what you love, trust in your own mind, and everything else will follow.



“Writing is a path to meet ourselves and become intimate.”

Goldberg points out that people often write from a mentality of poverty, thinking they need a teacher to tell them what to do or how to do it. The opposite is generally true. We learn writing by doing it. And to write well one must read a lot, listen well and deeply, and write a lot.

We live in a society that rewards being busy, but that often isn’t fruitful or soul-fulfilling. Beware of monkey mind, says Goldberg, since it likes to create busyness that can keep us from our true heart. She believes that everyone has talent, but it’s obviously easier for some to tap into it than others. Human effort is necessary, so don’t shy away from doing the work. But it’s also more than just the work, it’s allowing and recognizing that the effort has awakened us. This lets a writer become aware and mindful, to shape the talent into something useful, something that resonates.

“Finally, one just has to shut up, sit down, and write. That is painful. Writing is so simple, basic, and austere.”

Develop a writing practice, a writing workout each day. A runner doesn’t improve without consistent running. The same is true for a writer. So, carve out this space, but know that it’s okay to write without a destination. Expectation can freeze the process. It also takes time to reflect on certain ideas, certain experiences, before they can be put down on paper. Goldberg refers to this as composting. These things can’t be rushed, so best to cultivate patience and acceptance. It can make the writing life less anxiety-provoking.

She offers techniques to stop fighting yourself (and the endless distractions that keep you from writing) such as: give yourself free time in the morning to do whatever, but at 10 a.m. you must sit down and write something; or you must fill at least one notebook a month, not with quality but quantity; or, as soon as you wake up, go directly to your desk and write (eating and teeth brushing can wait). Another technique is timed writing and first thoughts. This can remove the critic filter than often shoots down an idea before it can be fully crafted.

Need a writing prompt? Take five minutes to write down your deep dreams. And then? Don’t ignore what you wrote. Actually, it will likely be difficult to avoid your thoughts now that they’re laid out before you. Simply said, it will change your life.

This book can be read straight through, or sporadically when needed. I guarantee that at least one of Goldberg’s many suggestions and insights will spark something inside yourself and may just lead you to write down the bones.

The Intuitive Process of Writing

I didn’t begin my writing career until I was 33 years old, when I decided to write a book (called a manuscript until it’s published—I knew so little). I’d been writing all my life, but at that moment I made a conscious decision to refine the process. The difference between a published and an unpublished writer is really the desire to trim, tighten, and tuck that mash of creativity into something coherent. Working with a story, I believe, involves a great deal of intuition. As a writer, I’ve had to learn how to trust the process, and it’s not always easy. This element of faith is not unlike a religious leaning—you simply don’t have all the answers. If you’re lucky, they come at the end of the work, but sometimes they don’t. Writing is nothing if not a learning process.



My first book (yay, it was published so went from ‘manuscript’ to ‘book’) took four years to write. The Wren, a historical western romance, features a Texas Ranger reunited with a woman he thought was murdered by Comanche as a child. The seeds of this story came to me when I was 15 years old. There wasn’t much—just a girl who knew two brothers, and a ranch (which I assumed was in Arizona since that’s where I’ve lived most of my life). The characters became Molly and Matt, and his brother Logan, but when I decided to refine the story I had to become more specific. I soon realized the setting wasn’t Arizona, and after reading an entire tome on the history of Texas (Lone Star: A History of Texas by T.R. Fehrenbach), I knew I’d found the locale. It continued to be a back-and-forth process, however, between research and following the inherent thread of the story, a thread I wasn’t always aware of. (Often this becomes the underlying theme of a work. In The Wren it was the idea of home, and the many ways we define that.) But I trusted, and this book is still the most well-received of any of my stories.

Read full post at
http://prairierosepublications.blogsp...

Interesting Facts About Our Solar System And Beyond

While I love to write romance novels, my background is actually in science. I know what you’re thinking—one day I must write a love story involving a female scientist. Yes, it’s in the works. In the meantime, here’s some interesting information that may wow you.

*Humanity has now officially reached interstellar space. It’s estimated that the 36-year-old Voyager 1 spacecraft left the solar system on August 25th, 2012. Voyager 1—with a 23-watt transmitter, about the equivalent of a refrigerator light bulb—should keep sending data until roughly 2025.



Read full post at
http://www.kristymccaffrey.blogspot.com/

The Enchanted Forest, Skiing With My Daughter, and Fun

During our recent family ski trip to Telluride, Colorado, I had the opportunity, on the last day of our vacation, to hang out with my youngest daughter, Hannah, and her friend, Elizabeth. The two of them had been spending their time on the mountain on their own, enjoying their independence as only 14-year-olds can.



At the end of the trip, however, they both expressed a desire to ski The Plunge, the famous run at Telluride. A black diamond at the top and a double-black at the bottom, this wasn’t a descent for beginners. (Ski runs are rated as green, blue or black, from easiest to most difficult.) But I knew Hannah and Elizabeth had the skills necessary, so offered to take them. They succeeded in their quest, and I was happy to help them push their limits. There’s nothing like the feeling of tackling something you fear and coming out the other side successful.

In return, they invited me into the Enchanted Forest, a trail through the trees. Honestly, it never occurs to me to engage in skiing of this sort. I’m always trying to better myself by attacking steep, mogul-filled hills. How will I get better, otherwise? Is this fun? Mostly, no.

Read more at www.kristymccaffrey.blogspot.com