Hi, Kazza! Thanks for having me today.

Happy blog-versary. I hope you are still going strong for many more years to come.

I thought I would talk about writing atypical paranormal stories. Sounds a bit redundant, doesn’t it? But I have a knack for writing unusual things and I must admit there is nothing I enjoy more than a well written otherworldly story.

Save a Horse, Dive a Cowboy is one such story that I wrote in response to a challenge by a group of authors spearheaded by Josh Lanyon. The story required that a cowboy—a diving cowboy, if you can imagine it!—with a broken leg be rescued by his horse.

As you might imagine, setting up such a tale required some rather creative plotting. The horse evolved into a Native American horse shifter with a magic horseshoe who required saving as much as his cowboy did.

Coming up with a plausible excuse for the cowboy to be diving was more challenging and required Coyote’s intervention. Coyote has always been a trickster and this time was no different. He does his best to prevent Shep from rescuing Hoss.

I chose a quirky title to emphasis the unusual nature of the story, from inception to the final word.

Shep’s just your average all-American cowboy. He runs his own ranch and rides the occasional saddle bronc. Nothing special there. Unless you look too closely at his boyfriend.

Descended from a long line of Native American mustang shifters, Charlie “Hoss” Running Horse is anything but average.

When Coyote takes a shine to Shep, he decides that Hoss has got to go. With the theft of the medicine horseshoe that allows Hoss to shift from mustang to human, Coyote sets his evil plan to have his way with Shep in motion.

Will Shep be able to save Hoss before it’s too late? Or will Coyote’s plan come to fruition?

You can purchase Save a Horse, Dive a Cowboy at Amazon or read on Kindle Unlimited. Amazon Buy Link

 

 

My current WIP, Valravn, is set in Iceland during the early part of the viking age.

About a year ago I read Still Waters by Alex Gabriel. It was a unique tale of a Nix and a hunter who find a common cause against a threat to the world they now call home. I enjoyed the way the Nix fought his nature and became capable of protecting the world from an even more dangerous creature. And I wondered if I could manage to capture a similar vibe in a story of my own.

I spent some time trying to determine what characters would be necessary to achieve this. Somewhere along the way I stumbled across the myth of the valravn. It was something I had never heard of before and the mythos had all the elements I was looking for. And as an added bonus, the setting would require a pre-mediaeval era. Whoo hoo hoo!!!! An ancient historical. If you know anything about me, I love historicals, the older, the better.

I was in love. Now I just had to write the story.

The main story is written. I just have to do some restructuring, and hopefully soon, Valravn will make its mark on the world.

I don’t want to give away too much. I want people to read the story, as much for the mystery, as the setting, and of course, the romance. So I will just leave you with the blurb and the opportunity to try to figure out what has been left unsaid.

For millennia Father Odin has watched over the battles of men, ready to welcome slain warriors to Valhalla, to feast at his table. When robbed of one of his own, his valravns seek swift revenge—none can escape their wrath.

Thorbrandr awakes on the battlefield, wounded and alone, save for a stranger, a warrior of uncanny beauty with raven’s feathers woven into his braids and strange ways. Who is he, this man who captures Thorbrandr’s attention?

Rafnsvartr struggles to remember how he came to be on an abandoned battlefield, haunted by memories not his own and moving through a confusing world of honor and rivalry. Unequalled in battle, he soon establishes himself as a warrior of renown. Honors do not matter, only completing his duty—and the rugged Norseman he has come to admire.

**GIVEAWAY**

Since Valravn isn’t ready for publication yet, I am giving away two copies of Save a Horse, Dive a Cowboy. Just comment below before Midnight (US EST) Sunday October 27th and Kazza will pick two lucky winners.

Good luck!

You can find me on Facebook and occasionally Twitter. I look forward to hearing from you.