26 December 2010

Guest Author: Elizabeth Lane

This week on Unusual Historicals, we're helping contributor Elizabeth Lane launch her special holiday time-travel treat, CHRISTMAS MOON. Stick around to see how you can win a free copy. Here's the blurb:

Pregnant, unwed and down on her luck, history teacher Emma Carlyle is facing the worst Christmas of her life. Needing some research for her master's thesis on legendary Wyoming lawman J.D. McNulty, she makes a Christmas Eve drive to South Pass City, where J.D. was buried. Heading home, she loses her way in a storm. After her car vanishes, she ends up in 1871, half-frozen, on the doorstep of a remote mountain cabin.

When J.D. himself opens the door with a pistol in one hand and a bottle of whiskey in the other...well, let's just say that sparks start flying. These two lost souls are clearly meant for each other. But there's one problem. Emma has studied everything about J.D.--and she knows he has only a few weeks to live.
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"Five Spurs! This is a marvelous story filled with the spirit of Christmas miracles... The romance between J.D. and Emma evolves from suspicion to amazement to a sizzling, unbridled love. Resolving a time travel romance is always tricky but Elizabeth Lane does a terrific job of making it all work--including that little detail of J.D.'s imminent death. An engaging, intriguing and thoroughly enjoyable story of timeless love." ~ Love Western Romance

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Tell us about yourself.

I'm a westerner by birth and upbringing. My grandparents lived like pioneers and my great-grandparents were pioneers. I grew up in a small town, in a family of people who loved the outdoors. Maybe that’s why writing Western romance comes so naturally to me. But I can and do write other things. My earliest books were big historical sagas. Then the market changed and I found a new home at Harlequin Historicals. Counting a couple of ghost writing projects, I'm coming up on 35 books. Twenty-eight of those books have been for Harlequin--3 of them contemporaries, the rest historicals. CHRISTMAS MOON is a step in a new direction, my first e-book and my first time travel.

CHRISTMAS MOON is something new for you. How did you come to write it and publish it as an e-book?

I'd written about 30 books for Harlequin and wanted to try something different. I've always loved time travel, and the old West seemed a natural setting for me. My agent encouraged me to add the Christmas element. I loved every page of this book, but we couldn't sell it, not even to Harlequin, because it didn't fit their format. No major publisher wanted a Christmas/western/time travel. My agent has his own e-book publishing venture, E-Reads. We decided to publish it there. The timing couldn't have been better. With the recent boom in e-publishing and plenty of promotion on my part, CHRISTMAS MOON has received a lot of attention. I couldn't be happier. This is a special book, and I wanted to have it read and enjoyed.

What can your readers expect next?

I'd planned to end my "Bride" series with THE HORSEMAN'S BRIDE. Then a stunning, strong-willed woman strode into the last chapter of the book, and I knew I wasn't finished. Those of you who've read, or will read THE HORSEMAN'S BRIDE, will be happy to know that Ruby gets her story. Look for THE WIDOWED BRIDE in March.

After that, I'll be leaving Dutchman's Creek, Colorado for the northern California coast and a haunting post-gold rush story, final title and release date TBD. More news, I've just signed to do two more full length historical westerns and a novella for Harlequin. That should keep me busy for a while.

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Tis the season, readers, for some Christmas magic. Would you like to like to win a free copy of CHRISTMAS MOON? Leave a comment or question for Elizabeth for your chance. I'll draw a winner at random next Sunday. Void where prohibited. Best of luck, and the best of the season to you!