Saturday, July 25, 2009

Bold Strokes Books press release. How cool is that?

July 24, 2009 Press Release: New Title from Kristin Marra

Bold Strokes Books is pleased to announce the acquisition of Kristin Marra’s new romantic intrigue novel, Wind and Bones, which is scheduled for release in 2010.

Wind and Bones – Coming in 2010

Women, funerals, guns, and rattlesnakes. What could go wrong?

Jill O’Hara, award-winning journalist and inveterate egotist, is about to find out. When Jill is summoned to her hometown of Prairie View, Montana to bury her father and clean up his messes, she assumes a few tedious days of signing papers and delegating responsibilities will complete her obligations. But Jill’s duties as Dean O’Hara’s daughter soon become less mundane and more menacing. To complicate matters, Jill’s first love, Annie Doyle, lives in Prairie View and despite Annie’s blistering past betrayal, Jill still desires her. Fortunately, Sheriff Rae Terabian, a woman with a uniform, power, and shady associates, deliciously distracts Jill from her obsession with Annie.

Amidst her customary confusion over women, Jill is forced to confront her father’s treacherous legacy, battle the extremes of the northern Montana wilds, and face down survivalists bent on silencing her. Despite the remote location and severe peril, she discovers the possibility for one more chance at love.

About the Author
Kristin Marra spent the first thirty-five years of her life in Montana where she never learned to love snow. Conceding defeat, she moved to the Pacific Northwest and freely admits she adores the clouds and gloom. Overcast days encourage delightfully obscene hours of reading and more hours for writing. Besides books, cooking, and movies, Kristin enjoys sharing adventures with her partner Judith, daughter Rachel, and varmint canine Spud. Kristin is employed in the public sector.

Friday, July 24, 2009

Tasting my own medicine

It's official: Radclyffe made the announcement from Bold Strokes Books and now I have to deliver the goods.

Revision. I'm always harping at my students about the joys of revision. And, boy oh boy, do they hate it when my famous green pen is used at the bottom of their papers, "Better, but re-write using the suggestions I've supplied."

Okay, so now I have to joyfully revise in whatever way requested. I sorta think I can do that. I'm wondering if my editor used green font. Poetic justice in that. I can hear my students snickering now.

Tuesday, July 14, 2009

Why I wrote Wind and Bones

Here I was, helping a writer with her fiction, giving opinions and basically telling her what to do with her story. I grew three gray hairs when she asked to see some of my fiction to give her an example of my suggestions.

Busted. I hadn't written fiction in years. Studied it...yes. Critiqued it...yes. Got drunk on it...yes.

Having just buried my last parent and coming to terms with my childhood in northern Montana, I decided to write a tribute to one of the last forgotten places in the U.S.

I have two goals for Wind and Bones: First, to entertain. Second, to share a unique place with the reader.

Years of traveling to my hometown, Shelby Montana, to care for failing parents were finally over. I had discovered something important in all those hours in the nursing home, the bars, the hotel. Northern Montana, its geography, history and people, are extraordinary.

There was no way to do the Highline (nickname for northern Montana east of the Rockies) justice unless I wrote the only novel I know how: lesbian romance action.

Okay, so it's not about homesteaders or cowboys or Indians. Well, not exactly, but all those elements inform the lifestyle on the contemporary Highline. Most lesbian novels about Montana focus on the mythical past, on a Montana that never existed or existed only briefly. I wanted to write about the real Montana that exists now with references to a fascinating past that has shaped its current colorful condition.

I wanted to write about the Montana I know; hence, Wind and Bones.