Whether it’s the gunslinger or the lone cowboy, the west has always captured our hearts and imaginations. When it comes to romance, they seem to go together naturally. In ROUGH EDGES, we have brought together seven different stories, from the old west to the modern cowboy, from women on the run to women looking for a good time.
As we continue to take a closer look at the stories and get to know the authors better, this week we welcome Christine Morgan.
EMMA’S RIDE
Emma is a demure young lady from Back East, or so she appears until her stern parents discover her inclination toward lusty leanings, and decide she’d best be safely married off before she can ruin the family reputation. She finds herself on a stagecoach bound West, set to wed an old man she’s never met. When a strapping cowboy boards the same stage, Emma realizes this might be her last chance to give in to her wild and wanton ways, but the journey may yet have some surprises in store for them both.
EXCERPT
Jake. She liked the name, a good strong cowboy name. He did not belong here, in this stagecoach. He should have been out on the range, tall and easy in the saddle. Riding along, and at night he’d be hunkered down at a campfire, eating chili out of a tin cup and getting ready to sleep in his bedroll under a black sky made brilliant with stars.
She started to place herself, in her imagination, there with Jake in that bedroll. The two of them naked and cuddled together, their bodies close and warm while the cool night air stirred their hair around their faces and the distant howl of the coyotes made music to the moon.
1) Where did you get the idea for Emma’s Ride?
These days it’s easy to take transportation for granted, quick travel or delivery, overnight instant worldwide, etc. But, what people had to go through to get anywhere … I think about how much we’d whine on long drives as kids, when once that same distance would have been a trip of days or weeks … so, I wanted to write a stagecoach story, and see what happened.
2) Tell me a little about the characters in the story?
Emma is a healthy, lusty, frustrated young lady whose appetites are not for polite parlor society. She reads porn (and Victorian porn was some filthy, filthy stuff!) and has vivid fantasies. But when she gets caught attempting to act on them, her more uptight and repressed parents flip out and decide to marry her off before she can ruin the family’s good name and reputation. She feels trapped, doomed, and so when the stagecoach trip presents her with a possible opportunity (the handsome, friendly Jake), she can’t help but be tempted to take it.
3) How long did it take you to write this story?
The original draft, probably a couple of weeks, and then a few more weeks spread out over various rounds of edits and revisions. I usually have a lot of projects juggling at once.
4) Why did you decide to place Emma’s Ride in the time period you did?
I love historical fiction, the challenge of writing in other time periods, the language, the differences, the feel of another era. So, the theme of a cowboy anthology to me just automatically said Old West. The contrast between the cities Back East and the wild frontier, the sense of danger but exploration.
5) What other work do you have out there?
My other most recent erotica publication is Mythic Lust: The Minotaur, from New Kink Books … I’ve been into mythology for as long as I can remember, and wow, is a lot of it packed with smut! Looking to do a series for them, maybe Medusa next, in which I’ll take on the age-old question of whether the carpet matches the drapes.
6) What do you do when you’re not writing?
I work in a residential psychiatric facility to pay the bills, and I also read, review, edit, undertake various craft and cooking projects, and shamelessly dote on my four cats.
7) What’s the best part about writing?
Being able to play with language and words, to evoke images and emotions, to experience countless other lives, do things that might not be possible or feasible in the real world.
8) What’s the hardest part about writing?
Sometimes, getting the motivation. Like many writers, I am no stranger to depression, and that takes its toll. Aside from that, the nitty-gritty business aspects, from doing a synopsis to the anxious wait on responses… there are lots, but, the good parts must be worth it because I can’t stop.
9) What inspires you?
Everything and anything, sometimes ideas springing from the oddest places, sometimes from events and people I see around me or know in real life. I also read a lot, across a broad range of genres and styles, because seeing what others have been able to accomplish with similar tools, what works and what doesn’t, what resonates … I store it all up, hoard it like a dragon.
10) What are some of your favourite books/authors?
Bernard Cornwell’s Saxon series. Robert McCammon (hugely underrated, it’s a shame!), especially his Matthew Corbett historical novels. I love the hardcore/extreme horror and bizarro stuff. But I also love older classics, and lighter fun fare, and some YA, and graphic novels (ElfQuest shout out!).
CHRISTINE MORGAN
Christine Morgan spent many years working the overnight shift in a psychiatric facility, which played havoc with her sleep schedule but allowed her a lot of writing time. A lifelong reader, she also reviews, beta-reads, occasionally edits and dabbles in self-publishing. Her other interests include gaming, history, superheroes, crafts, cheesy disaster movies and training to be a crazy cat lady. She can be found online on Facebook and at her website.
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