New Cover on The Man from Shenandoah

It's hard to believe that The Man from Shenandoah was first published 15 years ago. Yes, that's FIFTEEN years.

It's time for a bit of a sprucing-up, so I've put a new cover on the novel:

Here's what the novel is about.

Carl Owen doesn’t intend to lose anything—not his land, not his cattle, and certainly not his girl—ever again!

The young cavalryman returns from the Civil War to find the family farm destroyed, his favorite brother dead, food scarce, and his father determined to leave the Shenandoah Valley to build a cattle empire in Colorado Territory. Crossing the continent, Carl falls in love with his brother’s fiancée while set to wed another girl, but he might lose everything if the murderous thug Berto Acosta has his way. Carl battles a band of outlaws, a prairie fire, blizzards, a trackless waterless desert, and his own brother—all for the hand of feisty Ellen Bates.

~~~~~

The new cover is on the e-book right now at the major online retailers, and will appear on the print book soon. Here's where you can buy it, if you don't have it in your digital library yet.

E-Books: Smashwords (all formats) | Kindle | NOOK | Kobo | Apple iTunes Bookstore

New Reading Order for Owen Family Saga?

by Marsha Ward @MarshaWard

July was such a stressful month. Some of the stress was bad and some was good. I'm just very happy to have survived it!

* I've been mulling over a re-vamp of the suggested order of reading the books of the Owen Family Saga. I'll let you know my thoughts on order below, then you can tell me YOUR thoughts.

* The first step of doing a re-order would be to go into the back end at Kindle and change the book number designations on the five books so they would show up on Amazon with a new order.

* The second thing to do (at my leisure, as I don't want to take away from writing time and effort) is remove all references to book number on the ebook covers, just in case I change my mind and want to change to some other order. Sheesh!

* That's simple enough to do for THE MAN FROM SHENANDOAH, RIDE TO RATON, and TRAIL OF STORMS. GONE FOR A SOLDIER already gives only the series title. I would have to contact the designer of the cover of SPINSTER'S FOLLY to take the book number off and send me revised covers.

* Some of the paperback covers never were numbered, fortunately. I can do new covers for a couple of them, but SPINSTER'S FOLLY, as I said above, requires contacting the designer.

Here's the reading order I've been thinking about:

1. Gone for a Soldier

2. The Man from Shenandoah

3. Spinster's Folly

4. Ride to Raton

5. Trail of Storms

If you've read them all, or even only a few of them, what do YOU think about changing to this new suggested reading order?

Sample Saturday Returns

With one thing and another, I've been missing here for a few weeks. Now I'm back, and here's a scene from Book 1 of the Owen Family Saga, The Man from Shenandoah. Carl Owen has returned home after the close of fighting in the American Civil War, and is down at the creek fetching a couple of pails of water and washing up.

Carl had to use the creek because General Phil Sheridan's troops marched through the Shenandoah Valley and caused a bunch of destruction to the Owen family's farm, including wrecking the well.
~~~

As night fell, Carl shrugged his shoulders to rearrange the damp shirt, picked up the pails, and headed back to the house, guided by the lamplight from the kitchen window. Breeze on the shirt chilled him, and he walked a little faster. At the steps he re-scraped his boots, then opened the door and went inside.

“We’re just fixing to eat,” Julia called. She turned and saw the water buckets. “Thank you, son. You saved me a trip.”

Carl pulled up a chair to the table and joined Rod and Albert.

“It ain’t much, Carl, but it’ll keep you from blowing away.” Julia waved her hand toward the food. “We’re lucky to have greens. They popped up down by the crick, and I picked them late this afternoon. ‘Course, there’s corn pone, and we have milk, but there ain’t no real coffee, just roasted chicory.” She sighed as she sat at her place. “We’ll have real food again once we get a crop up.”

“That’s something we need to do some talking about,” Rod declared. “First, let’s give thanks for Carl’s safe return, and for this food we got.”

At the end of the grace, Carl glanced across the table at his father. There’d been something in his voice that foretold serious business. Rod must have felt his stare, for he looked up, his beard wrinkling as he chewed.

Rod swallowed. “Tell me how it looks south of here, son. What did Sheridan leave for the folks in the south end of the Valley? You came from Staunton, I reckon?” Rod took a bite of greens.

“He burnt or pulled down homes, barns, crops, orchards, ‘most everything, all the way to Staunton and beyond. It’s a famine time. A crow flying by would have to bring his own rations.” He paused to chew a piece of pone. “Ma, it’s a wonder to me the Yankees left our house alone when they came back through.”

“I had my good Sharps rifle, and I set right there in the doorway and wouldn’t budge none. After a while they left me be and went out back to burn the barn.”

“Marie could-a been killed,” Albert said, frowning. “Them dirty Yankees didn’t wait ‘til she was out of the barn to set it afire.” Albert’s eyes looked dark and fierce. “I wish I’d a been down here shooting me some Yankees instead of up in the hills with Clay and all them cows!”

“Likely they’d have shot you, Albert,” Carl said. “Praise God you was up there!”

Rod’s mouth tightened. “What about livestock, son? What did you see?”

“I reckon we’ve got more cattle than any five stock men down the Valley, Pa. Maybe five pigs, thin stuff; not more’n ten hens anywhere. I reckon Grant didn’t want no more supplies coming out of the Shenandoah. He meant for little Phil Sheridan to clean us out, and he did the job.”

“Lucky I was warned some,” Julia said, “or I wouldn’t have had time to send the boys off up the hill.”

Rod chewed his food slowly, his face looking thoughtful. “I reckon we’re eating about as well as Rand Hilbrands. The Yankees missed burning the store in Mount Jackson, so he still has food to put on his table.”

“What happened over to Chester Bates’ place, Pa?”

“He lost his barn, and the house is gutted out. They burned his fields bare. The Bates family is about wiped off the face of the earth, I’d say.”

“Are they all dead?”

“They’ve got their lives and little else.”

“That’s sure a pity.” Carl wiped his mouth with his hand. “They had the prettiest stone house I believe I’ve ever seen. Where are they living now?”

“Right on the place, in the old tool shed.”

“Hush, that’s a shame. There’s no finer man than Chester Bates, ‘cept for you and John Mosby, Pa.”

“Andy Campbell says his pa’s so mad about his place being wrecked, he wants to clear out and go someplace else,” Albert reported.

Rod Owen cleared his throat. “That’s just what I aim to do.”
~~~

Thanks for visiting. You can purchase The Man from Shenandoah in your chosen version from the vendors below.

The Man from Shenandoah: Book 1 - in print and ebook formats
Print: (new edition) CreateSpace | Amazon | Barnes and Noble | ebooks: Smashwords all formats | Kindle | nook | Kobo | iTunes Bookstore

Holy Week (Semana Santa) Contest

In commemoration of the events that changed the world 2000-odd years ago, I'm holding a

HOLY WEEK CONTEST

which begins today (Palm Sunday) and ends at noon on Monday, April 21 (Easter Monday in Canada). The prize for the

HOLY WEEK CONTEST

is an autographed copy of one of my Owen Family Saga novels, The Man from Shenandoah, Ride to Raton, Trail of Storms, or Spinster's Folly.

If the winner is not from the United States, I will email him or her instructions for downloading a free copy of the novel of their choice as an e-book. They then can go to Authorgraph.com and put in a request for a digital autograph (or they can do it from the gadget over in the left sidebar).

Each person who follows the rules below and comments on this post with the desired information will have his or her name placed in my ten-gallon contest-drawing hat. The winner's name will be drawn from the hat on Easter Monday, April 21, at 12:30 p.m. Mountain Standard Time (because, you know, I live in Arizona).

Here are the Rules: 

1. Think about the novels you have read from the Owen Family Saga. 
2. Determine which is your favorite character.
3. Figure out why they are your favorite character.
4. Comment on this post and tell me who that character is and why he or she is your favorite.
5. Tell which book you want autographed and sent to you if you win.
6. Include your email address for winner notification.
7. You may only enter the HOLY WEEK CONTEST one time (but see the Bonus Rules below).

Bonus Rules:

• If you also include in your comment which book made you like this character best, I will put your name into the hat a second time.
• If you include a favorite passage from one of the novels that is no longer than three paragraphs long and is pertinent to why you like your favorite character, I will put your name into the hat a third time.

Remember: This contest starts today and runs through Monday, April 21. Each commenter may enter only one time, as you know, favorite is favorite, after all... even if your opinion of your favorite character will change next time you re-read one of the Owen Family Saga novels... or read the next one, Gone for a Soldier, coming later this summer.

Good luck to all of you!