ROMANCE IN THE BONE WARS-by Alison Henderson

Please welcome our guest.

She grew up in Kansas City on the edge of the prairie.  One of her favorite memories is of the fringed turquoise cowgirl outfit she received for her fifth Christmas.  She went off to New York to study art history at Vassar College but never lost her admiration for the fortitude of the pioneers who settled the frontier.  She began writing when her daughter entered pre-school and was quickly captivated by the creative process. The Treasure of Como Bluff is her first novella but her third western historical romance.

A girl after our own hearts--a true Sweetheart!

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Thank you, Celia and the rest of the Sweethearts, for inviting me to join you today to talk about the historical setting for my new novella, The Treasure of Como Bluff.

 Romance in the Bone Wars

I’m sure many of you are familiar with the Wyoming Bone Wars that took place during the last quarter of the nineteenth century between Professor O.C. Marsh of Yale’s Peabody Museum and Professor Edward Cope of the University of Pennsylvania.  I’ve always found this conflict fascinating for several reasons, not the least of which was the lengths to which these two academics were willing to go to foil each other’s efforts in pursuit of fame and fortune.  Additionally, the combination of the settling of the West with the explosion of scientific discovery at that time makes it doubly interesting.

 

Marsh and Cope began their paleontological careers as colleagues, but all that disintegrated when Marsh publically humiliated Cope by pointing out that he had incorrectly connected the head of one of his major finds, a plesiosaur called Elasmasaurus, where the tail should go.  From that point on, the gloves were off. 

 

Although Marsh did lead an expedition to Wyoming in 1870, guided by William F. (Buffalo Bill) Cody, as a rule nineteenth century paleontologists did not do their own digging.  They relied on fossil hunters to ship crates of bones east for study.  They then paid the diggers by the pound or container.  These fossil excavators might have been railroad employees or merely fortune hunters, but whatever their background, there were not scientists.  They used any method available to get the bones out of the ground as quickly as possible with little care for what might have been damaged or destroyed in the process.

 Como Bluff is a barren ridge of rock east of Medicine Bow and west of Rock River.  It is also the site of one of the largest deposits of late Jurassic dinosaurs and early mammals in North America and a primary focus of the rivalry between Marsh and Cope.  There, diggers in the employ of both factions were ordered to do everything they could to disrupt the operations of the other, including dynamiting excavation pits and diverting fossil shipments.

 Sounds like the perfect setting for a romance, right? I thought so when I dreamed up (literally!) the premise for The Treasure of Como Bluff.

 Here’s the blurb:

In her race against rival bone hunters, the last complication paleontologist Caroline Hubbard needs is an unconscious stranger cluttering up her dig site. Nicholas Bancroft might have the chiseled features and sculpted physique of a classical statue, but she's not about to let him hamper her quest to unearth a new species of dinosaur and make her mark on the scientific world.
Nick has come to Wyoming in search of silver but, after a blow to the head, finds himself at the mercy of a feisty, determined female scientist. Despite his insistence that he's just passing through, he agrees to masquerade as Caroline's husband to help save her job. Once their deception plays out, they face a crucial decision. Will they be able to see beyond their separate goals and recognize the treasure right in front of them?

 And an excerpt:

              Nick laughed. “Are you always this grumpy when you’re working?”

            “I’m about to face the biggest challenge of my life, one that will affect my entire future, and you refuse to take it seriously.” She glared at him through narrowed eyes. “I have every right to be grumpy.”

“Perhaps, but remember, you asked for my help. You need me to pull off this deception.”

He was right. She did need him, and if she wasn’t careful he’d get back on his horse and ride out of her life forever. The thought pushed her near the edge of panic. “I know, and I’m sorry. It’s just that this is so important to me.”

Nick slid his arm around her shoulders. “I know. Don’t worry; I won’t abandon you. I owe you. You saved my life, remember?”

When he didn’t release her immediately, Caroline breathed a tiny sigh and allowed herself the luxury of leaning against him, wrapped in the safety and comfort of his arm. She closed her eyes and rested her head against the warm solidity of his chest, absorbing the reassuring rhythmic thump of his heartbeat. She’d always been alone in her quest; it would be a relief to have someone to share it with, even if only for a few days.

She thought she felt something whisper-soft touch the top of her head, almost like a kiss of breeze, but the air was still. It couldn’t have been Nick...could it? She lifted her head and turned until she could see his face. The devil twinkled in those sea-blue eyes, and a lazy smile played across his lips.

“Flip you for the bed.”

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Thanks so much for stopping by to share this fun bit of our history with me.
Alison
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She invites you to visit her website at www.alisonhenderson.com

This Novella can be found on Amazon as an ebook-$2.99

http://www.amazon.com/Treasure-Como-Bluff-ebook/dp/B00AI5TD32/ref=sr_1_12?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1354811782&sr=1-12&keywords=Alison+Henderson

 Please leave a comment for Alison! 

BORDER STATES AND THE CIVIL WAR

Quantrill's Raiders

Those of us who love American history are acutely aware of the devastation the Civil War brought to the Southern states, but we don’t always remember the effects of the conflict on the Border States, where slaveholders rubbed shoulders with abolitionists and bloodshed often ensued.

I grew up in Kansas City on the border of Missouri (a "slave" state) and Kansas (a "free" state), and reminders of the conflict still remained in many neighboring towns when I was a child. One of my father’s law partners owned a farm in Lane, Kansas, with a small house that had once been a stop on the Underground Railroad. I was always fascinated by how little the building had changed during the hundred-plus years since the last slaves passed through on their way to freedom. Whenever we visited, I half-expected to run face-to-face into John Brown. For me, a trip to that farm was like a step back in time.

The small town of Weston, on the Missouri side of the state line north of Kansas City, is the setting for my first historical, HARVEST OF DREAMS. Weston represented the other side of the conflict. Around 1840, farmers from Kentucky settled the area and founded the town, bringing with them their heritage of tobacco farms and slaves. The Southern influence was so strong the county later became known as "Little Dixie." During the war, Union and Confederate troops took turns commandeering supplies from the citizenry until there was nothing left to take. By the time the war ended, the local economy was in tatters and freed slaves accounted for a significant portion of the population.

The setting was ripe for rootless men to form outlaw bands and take what they wanted by force. Some of those men had pillaged the area during the war under the command of guerrilla leaders such as the infamous Silas Gordon and William Quantrill--among them Frank and Jesse James. The James brothers were local boys, born in Clay County. They were credited with the first daylight armed bank robbery in peacetime in U.S. history—the robbery of the Clay County Savings Association in Liberty, MO, on Feb. 13, 1866, and continued to plague citizens and lawmen alike until Jesse’s death in 1882 at the age of 34.

My latest historical romance, A MAN LIKE THAT, takes place in the Ozark Mountains of central Missouri just after the end of the Civil War when the wounds were just starting to heal. A MAN LIKE THAT is a story of healing, redemption, and the value of family – all as important today as they were in 1867

During the war years, Missouri was officially still part of the Union (unlike its neighbor, Arkansas) but recognizing slavery (unlike Kansas). The Show Me state was a veritable "No Man’s Land", with neighbors and families split by competing loyalties.

In truth, many people changed sides depending on which army was in the neighborhood because the soldiers, both Union and Confederate, uprooted civilians, burned towns, and confiscated provisions whenever they passed through. The thin, rocky soil and steep terrain of the Ozarks provided a sparse living in the best of times, and 1867 was not the best of times. But for the fiercely independent folk who called them home, the lure of the mountains remained strong, and my hero, Morgan Bingham, is no exception.

Morgan bears the scars of fighting with the notorious Confederate guerilla, "Bloody" Bill Anderson, and joining a band of renegade outlaws after the war. His brother, Ethan, was conscripted by the army then sent home after losing a leg. Only love can save these damaged brothers from the demons that haunt them.

Here’s a blurb:

Jessamine Randall, fearless crusader and champion of the downtrodden, is not a woman to be left waiting at the altar. When her fiancé disappears hours before their wedding, the ever-resourceful Jessy hatches a plan to track him down and bring him back where he belongs.

Morgan Bingham knows he’s no good. Never has been. Never will be. A former outlaw is no fit husband for the only daughter of the town judge, despite her misguided notions. Besides, after ten long years away from home, it’s time to return to the hills and face his demons.

Ill-prepared, but armed with unshakeable certainty, Jessy follows Morgan to his family’s cabin deep in the Ozark Mountains where she’s sucked into a whirlpool of deep secrets and old hatreds. While she struggles to bring light and hope into their dark lives, her greatest challenge is Morgan himself. Can she ever convince him he’s worthy of love?

Thanks so much hosting me today. It’s been great fun! For more details about HARVEST OF DREAMS and A MAN LIKE THAT, I invite everyone to visit me at www.alisonhenderson.com

Alison