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Monday, April 26, 2010

Blackwolf's Redemption: a very different Harlequin Presents - Sandra Marton


I love writing for Presents. I especially love that they’re always willing to let me try new things. So when, more than a year ago, my editor asked if I wanted to try something really, really different, I took notice. Two reallys? How could I resist? I asked what she had in mind.

She said that Presents was considering a mini-series called Men Without Mercy. I loved that title. It was pure Presents. She wanted me to write the first book. A different book. There was that word again. Different, how? I asked…

She gave me an amazing answer.

She wanted a retro book, a Presents in which a 21st century heroine is thrown back into the 20th century and comes face to face with a gorgeous, sexy, arrogant hero who thinks men are men and, well, women are women. Would I do it?

My reply? Just try and stop me!

The characters, the plot, the conflict, the theme of BLACKWOLF’S REDEMPTION came to me with amazing speed. My heroine? She’d be Sienna Cummings, a graduate student in anthropology. My hero? I know it sounds crazy but he pretty much introduced himself to me! Jesse Blackwolf. Part Sioux, part Cheyenne, part plain vanilla Westerner… and all man.

My story begins at an ancient site in a wild Montana canyon at dawn. Sienna and her colleagues are there to observe the start of the summer solstice, an event the ancients considered sacred.

The year is 2010.

Jesse Blackwolf owns the canyon. He’s there to observe the solstice, too, though he no longer believes in the ancient ways. His years as a Special Forces warrior have left him bitter. Still, something impels him to paint his face as his people once did and ride out to watch the start of the solstice one last time.

For Jesse, the year is 1975.

The sun rises majestically over the canyon. Its rays illuminate the sacred site. Lightning flashes in the clear sky. And Sienna falls unconscious.

When she comes to, the world she knew is gone. She’s alone, except for the half-naked, gorgeous, hard-bodied warrior holding her in his arms. He thinks she’s trespassing, that she’s there to steal artifacts. His assumption infuriates Sienna but her anger gives way to disbelief and then terror when, slowly, she starts to realize that she’s gone back in time……

I loved every moment I spent writing BLACKWOLF’S REDEMPTION. I very much hope you have the same reaction, reading it.

Love,
Sandra

6 comments:

Estella said...

Your book sounds wonderful!

Sandra Marton said...

Thanks, Estella. I admit, I'm biased. I loved creating Jesse, and I loved creating this story!

Pat Cochran said...

Everyone out of my way! I'm on the
pathway to my favorites bookstore!
I hear your book calling my name!
Oh, wait, I have to finish cooking
dinner for which Honey is patiently
waiting! I'll get Honey to stop on the way home tomorrow and pick up
a copy. I can't wait to read it!!!

Pat Cochran

Sandra Marton said...

Pat, your comment made me laugh out loud--a very good thing to happen on the kind of gloomy, damp day we're having here in New England!

Thank you... and I hope you enjoy the book! (Your Honey's a great guy to pick it up for you.)

Michele L. said...

Loved the pictures Sandra! Your book sounds amazing! How do you always find such fantastic subjects to write about? Your books are fantastic!

Sandra Marton said...

Michele, thank you! The story and characters of Blackwolf's Redemption came to me so quickly that I started scribbling notes on the back of a shopping list! Actually, Jesse came first. I could really see him in my mind's eys... and then everything else just followed. This book was a complete joy to write. Let me know what you think of the story after you've read it. This is such a departure for Presents and for me that I'm really, really curious how readers will react!