• Rainbow Award Finalist!

    I have two books in the Rainbow Award finals! I was really excited to see Cronin’s Key and Red Dirt Heart 4 on the final list!

    Rainbow Award_finalist

    Cronin’s Key

    CroninsKeyNRWalker1500

    BUY LINKS : Amazon | All Romance eBooks
    BLURB:

    NYPD Detective Alec MacAidan has always been good with weird. After all, his life has been a string of the unexplainable. But when an injured man gives him cryptic clues, then turns to dust in front of him, Alec’s view on weird is changed forever.

    Cronin, a vampire Elder, has spent the last thousand years waiting for Alec. He’d been told his fated one would be a man wielding a shield, but he didn’t expect him to be human, and he certainly didn’t expect that shield to be a police badge.

    Both men, strong-willed and stubborn, are still learning how to cope with the push and pull of being fated, when fate throws them another curveball.

    Rumors have spread quickly of turmoil in Egypt. Covens are fleeing with news of a vampire who has a talent like no other, hell-bent on unleashing the wrath of Death.

    Alec and Cronin are thrown into a world of weird Alec cannot imagine. What he learned in school of ancient pharaohs and Egyptian gods was far from the truth. Instead, he finds out firsthand that history isn’t always what it seems.

    Red Dirt Heart 4

    Reddirtheart4300

    BUY LINKS: Amazon | All Romance eBooks | B&N
    BLURB:

    Moving from a Texas ranch to an Australian Outback station was a life changing decision for Travis Craig. Though it wasn’t really a decision at all. Something in his bones told him to go, though he had no clue as to why.
    Until he met Sutton Station’s owner, Charlie.
    Loving Charlie shouldn’t have been easy. The man was stubborn, and riddled with crippling self-doubt. No, it shouldn’t have been easy at all. Yet somehow, falling in love with Charlie was the easiest thing in the world.
    Loving him was easy. Living with him, teaching him how to love in return and, more importantly, how to love himself, was not.
    But Travis knew all along it’d be worth it. He knew the man with the red dirt heart was destined to be his. Just like he knew the red dirt that surrounded him was where he was supposed to be.
    In the final instalment of the Red Dirt Series, we see Charlie through Travis’ eyes. We see how much he’s grown and how much he loves. We go back to Texas with them, and we see Charlie get everything he truly thought he never deserved.
    Red Dirt Heart 4 is Travis’ story.
    And this is the story of not just one red dirt heart, but two.

  • Red Dirt Heart 4 Rainbow Awards Honourable Mentions

    I am so very honoured and flattered to have Red Dirt Heart 4 receive one or more Honourable Mentions in the Rainbow Awards!! And I’d like to give Elisa and the judges a HUGE thank you for all their hard work!!

    Rainbow Awards Honorable mention

    Rainbow Awards Honorable mention 1

    You can check out Elisa’s mammoth effort HERE  <3

    Red Dirt Heart 4 is the last book in the series. In Travis’ POV, we finally see Charlie as Travis sees him.

    Reddirtheart4300

    BLURB:

    Moving from a Texas ranch to an Australian Outback station was a life changing decision for Travis Craig. Though it wasn’t really a decision at all. Something in his bones told him to go, though he had no clue as to why.
    Until he met Sutton Station’s owner, Charlie.
    Loving Charlie shouldn’t have been easy. The man was stubborn, and riddled with crippling self-doubt. No, it shouldn’t have been easy at all. Yet somehow, falling in love with Charlie was the easiest thing in the world.
    Loving him was easy. Living with him, teaching him how to love in return and, more importantly, how to love himself, was not.
    But Travis knew all along it’d be worth it. He knew the man with the red dirt heart was destined to be his. Just like he knew the red dirt that surrounded him was where he was supposed to be.
    In the final instalment of the Red Dirt Series, we see Charlie through Travis’ eyes. We see how much he’s grown and how much he loves. We go back to Texas with them, and we see Charlie get everything he truly thought he never deserved.
    Red Dirt Heart 4 is Travis’ story.
    And this is the story of not just one red dirt heart, but two.

    <3

    And the epilogue, of course…

    ReddirtheartEpilogue1500

    Because Sutton Station was its own character in these books, so it was only right that we saw it would be in safe hands.  <3

    BUY LINKS:

    Amazon

    All Romance eBooks

    B&N

  • Retro Read: Red Dirt Heart 3

    Reddirtheart3300

    BUY LINKS: AMAZON | B&N | ARE

    BLURB:

    Life for Charlie Sutton has never been better, or busier. With Travis now a permanent fixture of Sutton Station, a permanent fixture at Charlie’s side, Charlie’s convinced he couldn’t do anything on his ever-growing to-do list without him.

    He can run a multimillion dollar cattle business, finish his degree, try and further the local beef industry, deal with staff issues, Ma’s failing health, and an attention-demanding wombat. He can even deal with an unexpected visitor and some shattering news.

    He can deal with it all, as long as he has Travis.

    But what happens when he doesn’t?

    Red Dirt Heart 3 is the story of Charlie Sutton finally realising he can be the man Travis Craig deserves, even if he doesn’t have Travis. It’s a story of love, family, holding on, letting go and coming home.

     

    Introducing Nugget

    Nugget is the little wombat that Travis brought home with him at the very end of RDH2, and he plays a very important role in RDH3.  It’s Charlie who cares for him, and who Nugget has decided in the only human allowed to feed him.  He’s quite possibly  the cutest, most adorable character I’ve ever written…

     

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    Excerpt:

    CHAPTER ONE
    Where Travis changed seats and changed Sutton Station.

    We boarded the plane at Darwin, fully expecting the flight back to Alice Springs to be a non-event. People were still boarding when Travis decided he wanted to sit by the window, and then he didn’t, then he did, then he didn’t. And then he did.

    “Too bad,” I said, refusing to move seats again. “I pity the person you sat next to for twenty-something hours when you flew to Australia.”

    “You really wouldn’t,” he said. He leaned in real close. “We ended up joining the mile-high club.”

    My eyes shot to his, and I glared. Instantly jealousy, anger and hurt flared in my belly.

    Travis threw back his head and laughed, making a few of the other people still boarding the plane look at us. “Just kidding. I totally didn’t.”

    “I hate you.”

    He snorted. “I like making you jealous. You’re too easy,” he said, smiling. He could tell I was still a bit peeved by his comment. “Honestly, it was some woman with two kids who, if they weren’t yellin’, they were crying.”

    “Serves you right.”

    He laughed again. “You know, you were so much more relaxed at Kakadu,” he said. He leaned in and spoke quietly, “And I just happen to know how to really relax you, so if you want to head to the bathroom first, I’ll follow.”

    I coughed as some poor bastard took his seat next to Travis. I wasn’t particularly hiding my sexuality anymore, but I wasn’t up for lewd comments in front of the unsuspecting public either. I gave him a behave-yourself glare, and as Travis struck up conversation with the guy next to him, I bid that man a silent good luck, put my earphones on and closed my eyes.

    I’d barely shut my eyes for ten minutes before Travis tapped my leg.

    I blinked, realising we were now up in the air. I pulled off the headphones. “What?”

    “Swap seats,” he urged, standing up.

    I looked at the guy who was sitting on the other side, and without time to wonder what had happened, I slid over—with some degree of difficulty given the tight space and Travis standing in front of me. Travis didn’t look pissed off or even worried, so I figured the guy now next to me was harmless. I gave the man a nod and indicated Travis. “Did he say something inappropriate?”

    He was mid-thirties with short brown hair that was kinda greyed at his temples. He had a thick-set build, and the stereotype that he played rugby was typified by his been-broken nose. He laughed. “No. Not at all.”

    “Good,” I answered flatly. “I wasn’t gonna apologise, I just could have sympathised with you, that’s all.”

    Travis whacked my arm with the back of his hand. He leaned forward so he could include all three of us in conversation. “Charlie, I wanted to introduce you,” Trav said with a would-you-shut-up look in his eye. “Blake Burgess, this is Charlie Sutton.”

    The name meant nothing to me, but Blake’s eyebrow flicked. “Charlie Sutton? As in Sutton Station?”

    “The one and only,” I said, wondering who the hell this guy was and how he’d heard of me. I gave a quick glance to Travis to get him to explain.

    “Blake here was just telling me what he does for a living,” Travis said. “Thought you two might like to chat.”

    I was confused, and when I turned back to Blake, he was smiling at me. “I’m a buyer for Woolworth’s. More specifically, I source out beef suppliers for supermarkets across the country.”

    I blinked. Slowly. Twice. Like an idiot. Travis laughed quietly beside me and mumbled something that sounded like “thank you Travis” before putting on headphones and before I composed myself to actually speak to this guy.

    But speak we did. For the next hour and a half—the remainder of our flight—we talked beef: prices, stock rates, ratios, buying, selling, exporting, breeding. For a suit-wearing guy, he knew his stuff. He probably thought that for an outback dirt junkie, I did okay too.

    As we were landing, Blake said, “Your friend was telling me you’ve just been to Kakadu.”

    I nodded. “Yep.”

    “How was that?”

    “Wet,” I answered. “And green.”

    Travis, who I had thought was asleep, chuckled. “Charlie thinks anything that’s not red desert sand is abnormal.” Trav sat up straight, took the earphones off and straightened out his long legs.

    I shrugged. It was kind of true. We’d been gone a week. A whole week! And as incredible as the holiday with Travis was, I was keen to get home.

    “I’d love to see it,” Blake said.

    “Kakadu?” I asked. “It’s beautiful,” I agreed. “If wet and green is your thing.”

    Blake laughed. “No, I meant your farm.”

    The plane had taxied in and people started to move, collecting bags from overhead lockers, and our conversation kind of ended with that. We disembarked and headed toward the luggage conveyor belt.

    “Thanks for the company,” I told Blake as I shook his hand. “It was good to talk to someone who appreciates what we do.”

    He collected his bag, but seemed to hesitate before leaving, like he was making a decision in his head. He turned back to me. “Look, Charlie, I was serious when I said I wanted to see your place,” he said. “In an official capacity. I’d like to oversee what you do out there. I’ve spoken to enough farmers in my time to know who’s legit or not, and I’ve seen enough stock rate figures to know your name when I hear it.”

    “Oh.” Shit. Shit. Shit. This was kind of a very big deal. His offer threw me for a six. “Oh, um…”

    He smiled. “If you’re interested, that is. I’ll need to check my schedule, and I’ll let you know when I can fit you in. I hadn’t planned on meeting you, and I’m only here for two days, so it’s real short notice. But I’ll need to see some sales-to-weight reports and I’ll require your vet to be onsite. Can you arrange that?”

    “Sure.” I swallowed down my excitement and gave him a nod. “Sounds good.”

    We swapped phone numbers and shook hands, and when he walked away, Travis and I stood there for a long while in complete silence.

    “Holy shit,” I whispered.

    Travis laughed. “Thought you might like to talk to him.”

    That made me laugh. “I can’t believe you did that.” I looked at him, still not quite believing what just happened. “Travis, this could be kinda important for us.”

    “I know,” he said like I was stupid. “That’s why I swapped seats.”

    “I owe you something big.”

    “Big as in eight inches?” he asked. “Or big as in a pizza oven or a week in Kakadu?”

    Laughing, I pushed him to the luggage conveyor belt. Ours were the only two bags left. When I looked over to the reception area, George was there watching us, smiling and shaking his head.

    Man, it felt good to be home.

     

    AUTHOR’S NOTES:

    I really wanted people to see that Charlie Sutton had grown. Yes, he needs Travis in his life, but on the flip side of that, he needed to know he could stand on his own two feet if he had to.  I had worried that Charlie’s dependence on Travis, his mindset of “I couldn’t do anything without him, I wouldn’t have any of this without him” really wasn’t healthy.

    Of course, we all knew Charlie was capable. It was Charlie who doubted himself.

    A family crisis back in Texas sends Travis stateside, and both boys have to stand on their own for a while.  Naturally, Charlie believes Travis won’t come back – not  a reflection on Travis – but rather a reflection of Charlie thinking he’s not worth coming back for.

    But, survive, they do.  And in this journey – the chapter’s aptly titled “Longing in the Loneliness” and “Strength in the Solitude”  – show that Charlie, although heartbroken, can get on with life just fine. And maybe it’s Travis who struggles with the absence.

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  • Retro Read: Red Dirt Heart 2

    Reddirtheart2

     LINKS: AMAZON | B&N | ARe
    BLURB:

    Up until Travis arrived on his doorstep, Charlie had lived a very solitary life. He had surrounded himself with isolation; a couple million acres of red dirt, scorching sun and loneliness.

    Six months on, winter has settled over the desert, and Charlie has the life he never dreamed possible. But living and working together, twenty four hours a day, seven days a week, for six months straight starts to take its toll.

    Charlie is a stubborn, stubborn man, who tends to have more conversations in his head than what comes out his mouth, whereas Travis has no problem saying what’s on his mind. And even as they both struggle to communicate, struggle to make sense of need versus want, Charlie can see that he’s pushing Travis away – yet seems helpless to stop it.

    When it all boils down to whether Travis should stay or go, maybe the decision won’t be theirs to make.

    About RDH2

    You can watch a pretty cool cattle mustering by chopper video here (link takes you to National Geographic site)

    EXCERPT:
    CHAPTER ONE
    Four days. Four bloody long it-wasn’t-like-this-before-him days.

    Leaning against the kitchen counter, I looked at my watch for the twentieth time and sipped my tea.

    “He won’t be much longer,” Ma said.

    I pretended not to know what she was talking about, and she pretended not to smile. Ma was trying to get dinner ready, and I was under her feet and in her way. I put my still-full cup in the sink and sighed. “It makes no sense,” I said. “I spent twenty-six perfectly capable years without him, how can four days be so fu—” I stopped short of swearing and tried again. “How can four days be so bloody long?”

    Ma smiled her eye-crinkling, that’s-so-cute smile. “You miss him. It’s only natural,” she said. “Can you lift this tray for me?”

    I carried the old heavy cooking tray of roast beef to the centre table where Ma usually cut it for serving. “But still. Four days. It’s pathetic,” I mumbled. “And they’re late! How long does it take for them to come in from the southern fence line? It shouldn’t take them this long.”

    Ma ignored my whining and asked me to get the platters down from the shelf. Then she asked me to get the plates and set the table. I knew she was just keeping me busy and getting me out from under her feet. I’d annoyed her enough for the most of the afternoon. And possibly some of yesterday as well. Day three hadn’t been much fun either.

    Travis had been gone for four days. Four freakin’ days. Four days when time stretched thin, draggin’ its sorry self forward. Four days of keepin’ myself busy, four days of being a miserable disgrace.

    He was fixin’ fences on the southern line with Ernie, Bacon and Trudy. I wasn’t surprised the fencing needing doing; it was too many years of sun and rust in the making. There was a stretch of fencing a few kilometres long that needed restumping and rewiring. It was a big job and about a hundred kilometres from the homestead. It wasn’t worth coming in each night for. We kept in constant radio contact, and George flew fresh supplies down to them on the second day, similar to what we do when droving cattle.

    When Travis said he’d join the others for the job, I’d said I could go too. We were in bed, and Travis rolled us over so he was on top of me and laughed at me. “Can’t you live without me for four days?” he’d asked.

    “Don’t be stupid,” I’d shot back at him. “Of course I can.”

    He’d grinned in the darkness, kissing me with smiling lips. “You totally can’t.”

    “Don’t flatter yourself,” I’d replied.

    “You’ll be useless without me,” he’d goaded, pinning my hands above my head and nudging his nose to mine. “You’ll see.”

    And the smug bastard was right.

    “You know,” I told Ma as I pulled out the tray of condiments from the dry store pantry. “You know what I hate the most? I hate that he has to be right all the time. It really pisses me off.”

    “Hm mm,” Ma hummed in that sure-it-does-honey tone.

    “And I hate that he thinks he’ll be the one to decide whether or not he goes fencing for four days, when I said the others were more than capable. I mean, I’m not his keeper, but I am his boss.”

    Ma said nothing, just looked at me as she stirred the pot of gravy. She had one eyebrow raised in a ’course-you-are-honey kind of way.

    “And he didn’t seem to think leaving me for four days was a problem. He volunteered to camp out for four days rather than be with me, for shit’s sake. So what does that say about me?”

    “Charlie,” Ma chided.

    “And you know what else I hate? He leaves his towels on the bed. I really hate that. How hard is it to hang it back up again? It’s not hard. At all. And he grinds his teeth when he sleeps. I really hate it when he does that. And what the bloody hell is that letter from my old uni addressed to him for—”

    Then we heard the sound of motorbikes and the old ute pulling up at the gates near the shed.

    And my chest got all tight and my stomach knotted with butterflies.

    Ma burst out laughing. “Hm mm. I can tell by your smile just how much you hate all those things.”

  • Retro Read: Red Dirt Heart

    Reddirtheart300

     BUY LINKS: Amazon | All Romance eBooks | B&N
    SOME INFO FIRST:

    Sutton Station, while fictional, is based on a real working station  by the name of Lucy Creek Station, in the Northern Territory, Australia. 

    A link to “Sutton Station”  on  Google Maps (zoom in to have a proper look)

    http://goo.gl/maps/Fpjle

    Makes the RED DIRT part of the title pretty obvious, yes?  😉

    Sutton Station is big. As in 2.58 million acres big. Roughly the size of a small country (Lebanon, for example)  and is approximately three times the size of the largest ranch in the US. 

    THE LINGO:

    There is a glossary for Australian terminology at the beginning of the book. Australians are renowned for nicknames and shortening of every day words.  As this book is based in Australia and has Australian characters, regional lingo is used.

     Australian Terminology Glossary:

    Station: Farm, ranch.

    Paddock: Large fenced area for cattle; a pasture.

    Holding yard:  Corral.

    Swag: A canvas bedroll.

    Ute:  Utility pick-up truck.

    Motorbike: Motorcycle, dirtbike.

    Akubra: Australian cowboy hat.

    Scone:  American sweet biscuit, usually eaten with cream and jam.

    CHARACTER INFO:

    Getting to know a little more about these boys…

    ABOUT CHARLIE:  

    Five foot ten inches tall, stocky build and brown eyes. Born and raised on Sutton Station, he spent three years in Sydney at college but came back to the family farm when his father died.

    There are two songs that reflect Charlie:

    http://youtu.be/gJEoxeW7JvQ

    ABOUT TRAVIS:

    Just over six foot, lean with blue eyes and a striking smile, he knows what he wants and isn’t shy to ask for it.  Studied Agronomy and when offered a place in a Diversification Exchange Program, something in his bones told him to choose Sutton Station. 

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    BLURB:

    Welcome to Sutton Station: One of the world’s largest working farms in the middle of Australia – where if the animals and heat don’t kill you first, your heart just might.

    Charlie Sutton runs Sutton Station the only way he knows how, the way his father did before him. Determined to keep his head down and his heart in check, Charlie swears the red dirt that surrounds him – isolates him – runs through his veins.

    American agronomy student Travis Craig arrives at Sutton Station to see how farmers make a living from one of the harshest environments on earth. But it’s not the barren, brutal and totally beautiful landscapes that capture him so completely.

    It’s the man with the red dirt heart.

    EXCERPT:  

    CHAPTER ONE – Where the American guy walks in, all blue eyes and disarming smiles, and my life goes to shit.

     ~

    Just on sundown, I got off the motorbike, kicked the stand down so the bike stood upright without me and closed the gate. I’d been out all day in the South paddocks doing a final check of fences and water trough pumps before we bought the cattle down from the North. I’d seen the ute back at the homestead as I came in so I knew George was home.

    George was my leading hand. He was in his fifties, with greying hair and sun-hardened skin. He’d worked here for as long I could remember, but he was more than a loyal employee. He was my friend, and in a lot of ways, more of a dad to me than my own old man ever was.

    He’d been out all day.  Left before sun-up and headed into Alice Springs. We were a good three hours from the nearest town, and with a list as long as his arm from the Station cook, Ma – who also happened to be his wife – he needed a few hours in town before heading out to the airport to pick up the real reason for his trip.

     An American agronomy student by the name of Travis Craig.

    When my father ran this farm, every year we’d have people from another country come and spend a couple of weeks as part of some Diversification exchange program. My old man always said it was a good way to source out what other countries were teaching, but really I think he just liked the extra pair of hands at the finish of the dry season.  And when we’d had a phone call back in July to ask if we’d be interested in hosting another student, and given it’d been a few years, I thought it seemed like a good idea. Now I couldn’t help but wonder if this Travis Craig would be a help or a liability.

     

    I rode the bike into the yard and pulled up in the shed. I figured they’d know I’d arrived, having heard the bike, so I headed straight for the house. Like most homesteads built almost a hundred years ago, it was a weatherboard home, with an old iron roof and a veranda around four sides to try and keep it cool.

    I kicked the red dust from my boots on the veranda steps and tried to brush the same from my jeans, took off my hat before I opened the door and walked inside. There was a suitcase and a duffel bag near the front door, and voices at the back of the house.

    “In the kitchen,” George called out.

    I followed the sound of chatter and the smell of something good to find a meeting of sorts in the old country-style kitchen. The worn, solid wooden table that graced the middle of the room was covered with plates of scones and trays of cups and tea, and three people were in chairs around it. My right-hand man, George, his wife the cook, Ma, and a stranger with short light-brown hair and pale blue eyes.

    George was the first to his feet, and the man beside him soon followed. “Here’s the boss, Charles Sutton,” George said, introducing me formally. “Charlie, this is Travis Craig.”

    Travis, who looked about twenty-two years old, held out his hand and smiled. “Mr Sutton. It’s a pleasure to meet you.” His accent was strange to hear at first, but his smile was warm and wide.

    I wiped my hand on my shirt and held it out for him to shake. “Travis,” I said with a nod. “Please, call me Charlie.”

    FBBannerReddirtheart1

  • Red Dirt Heart cover and excerpt and Starting Point cover reveal!

    RED DIRT HEART

     The absolutely gorgeous cover, made by extremely talented Sara York.  

    Reddirtheart300

    Blurb:

    Welcome to Sutton Station: One of the world’s largest working farms in the middle of Australia – where if the animals and heat don’t kill you first, your heart just might.

    Charlie Sutton runs Sutton Station the only way he knows how, the way his father did before him. Determined to keep his head down and his heart in check, Charlie swears the red dirt that surrounds him – isolates him – runs through his veins.

    American agronomy student Travis Craig arrives at Sutton Station to see how farmers make a living from one of the harshest environments on earth. But it’s not the barren, brutal and totally beautiful landscapes that capture him so completely.

    It’s the man with the red dirt heart.

    FBBannerReddirtheart1

    I’d like you to meet Charlie Sutton and Travis Craig, the two main characters in my newest book, Red Dirt Heart.

    Charlie Sutton
    Charlie Sutton
    Travis Craig
    Travis Craig

    Set in the Australian Outback, Sutton Station is the eighth largest cattle station in Australia. With landscapes of red earth, blue skies and blistering heat, Red Dirt Heart is the story of how one American Agronomy student turns up at Sutton Station for a one-month-long working holiday, and subsequently turns one Australian cowboy’s life upside down.

    Having surrounded himself with isolation, Charlie is quite content to spend his life ensuring Sutton Station remains one of the most respected properties in the Outback. Convinced he’ll spend his life alone, just as his father did before him, Charlie isn’t prepared for Travis Craig.

    Confident and a competent farmhand, Travis offers Charlie a ‘few weeks of fun’ while he’s there. What could possibly go wrong?

    Excerpt:

    CHAPTER ONE – Where the American guy walks in, all blue eyes and disarming smiles, and my life goes to shit.

    ~

    Just on sundown, I got off the motorbike, kicked the stand down so the bike stood upright without me and closed the gate. I’d been out all day in the South paddocks doing a final check of fences and water trough pumps before we bought the cattle down from the North. I’d seen the ute back at the homestead as I came in so I knew George was home.

    George was my leading hand. He was in his fifties, with greying hair and sun-hardened skin. He’d worked here for as long I could remember, but he was more than a loyal employee. He was my friend, and in a lot of ways, more of a dad to me than my own old man ever was.

    He’d been out all day.  Left before sun-up and headed into Alice Springs. We were a good three hours from the nearest town, and with a list as long as his arm from the Station cook, Ma – who also happened to be his wife – he needed a few hours in town before heading out to the airport to pick up the real reason for his trip.

    An American agronomy student by the name of Travis Craig.

    When my father ran this farm, every year we’d have people from another country come and spend a couple of weeks as part of some Diversification exchange program. My old man always said it was a good way to source out what other countries were teaching, but really I think he just liked the extra pair of hands at the finish of the dry season.  And when we’d had a phone call back in July to ask if we’d be interested in hosting another student, and given it’d been a few years, I thought it seemed like a good idea. Now I couldn’t help but wonder if this Travis Craig would be a help or a liability.

    I rode the bike into the yard and pulled up in the shed. I figured they’d know I’d arrived, having heard the bike, so I headed straight for the house. Like most homesteads built almost a hundred years ago, it was a weatherboard home, with an old iron roof and a veranda around four sides to try and keep it cool.

    I kicked the red dust from my boots on the veranda steps and tried to brush the same from my jeans, took off my hat before I opened the door and walked inside. There was a suitcase and a duffel bag near the front door, and voices at the back of the house.

    “In the kitchen,” George called out.

    I followed the sound of chatter and the smell of something good to find a meeting of sorts in the old country-style kitchen. The worn, solid wooden table that graced the middle of the room was covered with plates of scones and trays of cups and tea, and three people were in chairs around it. My right-hand man, George, his wife the cook, Ma, and a stranger with short light-brown hair and pale blue eyes.

    George was the first to his feet, and the man beside him soon followed. “Here’s the boss, Charles Sutton,” George said, introducing me formally. “Charlie, this is Travis Craig.”

    Travis, who looked about twenty-two years old, held out his hand and smiled. “Mr Sutton. It’s a pleasure to meet you.” His accent was strange to hear at first, but his smile was warm and wide.

    I wiped my hand on my shirt and held it out for him to shake. “Travis,” I said with a nod. “Please, call me Charlie.”

    ~

    Here’s some picspiration for Red Dirt Heart

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    3

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    Red Dirt Heart will be self-published and will be available on Amazon, ARe and Smashwords in the next few weeks. Stay tuned!! I’m working on the sequel, which apparently has turned into a possible third book. 🙂  I figure no one will mind…

    And another new cover!

    Yes, I have a cover to show off…

    Starting Point, the third and final book in the Turning Point Series, which will be released in April.

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    startingpoint_postcard

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