Kathleen's New Book and Lifelong Love

RIDE A PAINTED PONY comes out this week for the first time in paperback. It's the best of times; it's the worst of times. It's the best because I've always been embarrassed about the price of my hardcovers, so I love it when the "affordable" version goes on sale. Readers tell me not to sweat it. Many of them want the hardcover, and I'm grateful for that. But, personally, I'm cheap. I buy a lot of books, and I have to wait for some paperbacks.

This book was named one of the "Top 5 Romances of 2006" by Library Journal, which means a lot to me. Librarians know their stuff. It was a RITA finalist, which means my peers (Romance Writers of America) found it worthy. But rank and file readers are the ultimate test. So this is the "worst of times" because a writer's career goes on the line every time a book hits the stands. I have no more fingernails, folks.

This is a story about a loner--a "wounded warrior"--and a woman in jeopardy. I love the maverick hero. We all know the appeal. He knows not what he needs. We do. The woman in jeopardy knows exactly what she needs: safe haven. Someone she can trust. She's trying to figure out what to do, where to go, how to fight back, and her situation is so desperate that she doesn't always think straight. Women know this situation intuitively, even if they've never actually had to flee a would-be killer. They know vulnerability. Men? They deny it. They have to, because when the wolf knocks on the door, men are expected to answer.

So here's the deal with this book.

In RIDE A PAINTED PONY readers get a contemporary Western, an Indian cowboy, a woman in jeopardy, a romantic suspense, and a heroic journey. That’s one heck of a ride!

When loner Nick Red Shield rescues a woman left for dead on an isolated road, it’s a case of scarred survivor meets scared one. What will Nick sacrifice to keep his mysterious rider safe from her powerful enemies?

But where's the pony? Well, Nick raises horses. And the mysterious woman rides them.

And so do I . Raise them and ride them. Okay, husband Clyde (my original Indian cowboy) does the raising, and I'm not as good at riding them as my heroine is. Far from it. I've ridden since I was in college, when my instructor told me that she had never had a less coordinated or more determined student. She predicted that I would own a horse someday. I bought the first one from my future husband for $55.00.

Horses are mystical. They're big and powerful, but they're flight rather than fight animals. The majority of horse owners are women. We understand each other, I think.

No wonder horses often play a role in my stories. Take the horse in this picture, taken last weekend in ND the day after a very difficult funeral. The Eagle family got together for breakfast at Clyde's sister's house, and one of our nephews brought over this sweet Paint. It was the perfect way to celebrate the life of our family. Everyone took turns getting pictures taken, doing some sort of "pose." (That's me, doing the royal wave.) Everyone. Elders, children, people who hadn't been on a horse in ages--one even left her wheelchair for a lift onto the saddle. And here's the mystical part: this horse had been gone for 5 weeks. Disappeared from the pasture. Nephew thought he'd been stolen or worse, but he showed up the day before the funeral. And he took part in this activity like an angel. I just shipped a stack of pictures back to our family, and I know they'll be cherished.

The sequel to RIDE A PAINTED PONY is due out in late February--appropriately titled MYSTIC HORSEMAN. But it's the horse who's mystical.

Animals can be incredibly sensitive to human emotions, can't they? Any animal lovers among us who have stories of animals offering aid and comfort?