Shirl Henke: MADE FOR EACH OTHER:

I never set out to write about Indians. Okay, Native Americans. But you see, when I began my career in historical romance back in the late Pleistocene, the name—or misname (blame Columbus for that one)—was Indian, or American Indian. I’d grown up reading Zane Grey, Luke Short, Edison Marshall and many more western writers. Not a big surprise that my first two novels were western romances, tales of Old California about horse breeders, gold miners and ranchers. I don’t do cowpokes, lonesome or otherwise.

But then this idea with a hero as an outsider came to me—a man disowned as unworthy by his father. The father (villain of the piece, of course) would force a young woman into marriage, intending for her to give him a pure-blooded heir. Now this could be anything from a Medieval to a Victorian. It could be set lots of places. But I’d just watched a PBS special on the High Plains Horse Indians (yes, they did have televisions back then). After some research, I decided my hero’s mother would be Northern Cheyenne and his cruel father would be a cattle baron. The lovely, unhappy young wife (who becomes a widow midway through the book) would fall in love with the half-breed hero.

The thought of a mystical bond between the lovers was not part of the equation. This was going to be a relationship-oriented love story about a man finding acceptance through the love of a woman who was brave enough to defy the bigotry of white society. But when I began to write the opening chapter, a peculiar thing happened (cue the eerie music…or maybe a slowly beating tom-tom). The hero came to me as a youth on his vision quest. When he saw the hawk swooping down from the sky to carry away a wolf cub, my seven-year-old heroine awakened a thousand miles away from a frightening nightmare. She had just shared his medicine dream.

I swear I am not making this up.

Well, okay, I’m a fiction writer. I did make it up. But I had never consciously considered it when I outlined the plot. Hawk and Carrie shared a bond that endured over miles and years until destiny brought them together, through the mystical power of his Cheyenne grandfather.

Since then I’ve written many romances with Cheyenne, Apache, Taino, Muskogee and Sioux characters. Some were heroes or heroines, others wise medicine men or women. Armchair shrinks could say I’m just using another manifestation of Jung’s “Old Wise Man Archetype. I won’t disagree. Like the idea of “the West” itself, this is a primal, powerful myth.

Through Native American mysticism a grand design created for special lovers completes the circle. Their lives are guided so that they fulfill their destiny by learning to understand each other even though they come from different worlds. Being part of this mystical universe allows them to understand themselves and how they are fated to live out their lives together. That is the bedrock of any good romance.

In my July release, Chosen Woman, I added another layer of conflict to the mystical elements. Fawn, my Cheyenne heroine, is the Chosen Woman who inherits her grandfather’s gift of prophesy. Her recurring visions while she is being educated back East involve a red prairie wolf that she comes to consider her totem, her protector. But when a cocky red-haired Irishman appears to guard her on her journey home to her people, she feels an irrational aversion to him. He, in fact, terrifies her. This arrogant white man could not be her protector…could he?

At first Jack believes Fawn is simply a spoiled brat, but after she saves his life by knocking him from his horse just before a bullet whizzes by his head, he gets a creepy feeling. Maybe there is some truth to what her white adoptive father told him about her ability to see the future. On the trip from St. Louis to Oklahoma Territory, Fawn realizes that she is developing greater control of her powers with Jack at her side. When evil men kidnap her, she projects her vision of them to him. Through her eyes, he sees them and the place where they hide. At story’s end, he understands and she accepts that he is her Red Wolf, her spirit guide and protector. Neither is complete without the other.

Call it a match made in heaven…or a design decreed by the Powers. Either way, it’s pure romance magic.

Introducing--Parker Blue

Parker Blue asks--

Who would you have killed in print?

My young adult urban fantasy, Bite Me, is out this month from Bell Bridge Books. In it, eighteen-year-old Valentine Shapiro got a raw deal in the parent lottery. Her father was part incubus demon, and her mother's never forgiven her for that. Thrown out of the house by her mother, Val does the only thing that seems to make any sense—she takes aim at the town vampires, figuring a stake a day keeps the demon at bay. Soon enough, she finds herself deep in the underbelly of the city, discovering the secrets of the Demon Underground with the help of her faithful hellhound, Fang, and fighting to save those she loves. Whether they love her back or not.

When I was writing Bite Me, I was asked to contribute something to a charity auction on eBay benefiting a fellow author. So, I offered to have someone killed by a vampire in print--the person "killed" to be selected by the winner of the auction. I envisioned people wanting to see their boss bloodied, their mother-in-law murdered, or their ex exsanguinated. Instead, the winner of the auction-- Lorena Kott of Louisiana--surprised me by wanting to see herself fanged to death.

I didn't ask why. I assume it was because she wanted to see her name in print. At least I hope that's the reason. Anything else might be just a tad...disturbing. So, Lorena got her wish and my heroine, Val, trips over Lorena's dead body--literally--on the River Walk in San Antonio. Because Lorena chose to have herself "killed," I gave her a relatively easy death-by-vampire in Chapter Twelve.

But the experience made me wonder. If someone else had won the auction, would they have chosen to see themselves killed as well? Or, would they have chosen to get revenge by killing a boss, a co-worker, a teacher, an ex? Maybe they'd have used it as a practical joke, to shock a friend or lover by seeing their death in print. Or maybe they'd have some totally weird, awesome, or creepy idea I haven't thought of.

If you had won the auction, who would you have chosen, and why? Post your answer here and whoever writes the most interesting comment (as determined by my entirely biased opinion, of course) by November 15 will win a copy of Bite Me signed by moi. Let the madness begin....