SIX SENTENCE SATURDAY--FIRE EYES BY CHERYL PIERSON

I’ll start off the “SIX SENTENCE SATURDAY” feature here at our new and improved Western Fictioneers blog. I had to go ahead and include the rest of the paragraph for it to make sense, so I guess we can call it “SIX SENTENCE OR FIRST PARAGRAPH SATURDAY” to make it fit.

This is from my debut novel, FIRE EYES. Here’s the story of what happened: Three years ago in May, 2009, my debut western historical romance, FIRE EYES, was published by The Wild Rose Press. I was thrilled! Finally, my dream had come true, with the help of a wonderful editor and publishing company.

When I got my first box of books, I sat and gazed at the covers—just like any first time author would. My husband teased me about “rubbing off the paint”—but I was so proud of them, and justifiably so. A lot of very hard work had gone into that story, not just from my perspective, but also from many other people. My editor at The Wild Rose Press, Helen Andrew, was wonderful. She really explained in detail why certain things couldn’t stand and had to go or be changed.

But part of what ‘had to go’ was important to the story, in my mind. Still, there were company guidelines to be followed, and neither of us could do anything about that. So we worked together to find a way to take out the parts that made it more “western” than “romance” and still came out with a fine story.

However, in the spring of 2012, I asked for my rights back for FIRE EYES and got them. I submitted the story to WESTERN TRAIL BLAZER. I was able to re-edit the book and add in much of what I’d had to take out or rewrite in the first version, and it was released with a brand new Jimmy Thomas cowboy cover and lots of renewed interest.

The book is available now at Amazon, Lulu, Monkeybars, Barnes and Noble, Sony and Apple and many other retailers.

I’m very happy about breathing new life into this wonderful story. Once again, when my print copies arrived, I sat on the floor and ‘rubbed the paint off’ all over. I’m so grateful that I’ve had two chances to get my story out there—another thrill, a second time around!

The set up: Kaed Turner, U.S. Deputy Marshal, has followed a younger, more inexperienced deputy, Mitch Beckley, who had set out to pursue a ruthless gang of border raiders in Indian Territory. He’s caught up with him, all right. The gang has captured Beckley and is killing him slowly and mercilessly. From where Turner sits, he can also see something else—the green deputy isn’t the only captive. Andrew Fallon’s gang has stolen two young Choctaw girls Turner knows well—the granddaughters of the chieftain who raised him. Alone with no backup, there’s not much he can do for Beckley. His focus has to be on the two young children.


"Don't kill me! Please!"
God, Beckley, don't beg.
The other marshal's tortured screams ripped through Kaed Turner like a war lance. And he couldn't do one damn thing to save Mitch Beckley. Right now, he had no choice but to sit where he was and listen to the young marshal's pleas, knowing that Beckley was going to die, no matter how he begged. Even though Kaed was tempted to do something, walking into Andrew Fallon's camp would be suicide for him. He had to wait. Hunker down here in this damn undergrowth, hide, and wait.


Blurb:
Marshal Kaed Turner is given a rare second chance at love with the mysterious woman the Choctaw call “Fire Eyes.” But can he quiet the ghosts from his past and protect the love that was stolen from him once before? There’s only one way: Kill outlaw Andrew Fallon, along with the murdering band of men he leads.




FIRE EYES


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