Loretta got the inspiration for Cloud Woman’s Spirit by putting two beliefs together to create a paranormal western romance. “When researching Native American history I learned the Comanche were known as the Horse People, and several other Native Peoples believed in reincarnation,” Loretta said.
The title was created through the main protagonist, Tessa Cloud Woman Sawyer. “When she is murdered, her spirit will not rest until she leads her husband to the men who killed her,” Loretta explained. “Thus, the title, Cloud Woman’s Spirit.”
The theme of Cloud Woman’s Spirit is vengeful justice, and the concept is good always overcomes evil.
Cloud Woman’s Spirit takes place in Texhoma, Oklahoma Territory. The majority of the story takes place during the winter and on the prairie and in the forested areas of Oklahoma while Deputy US Marshall Jim Sawyer hunts down the four brothers who murdered his wife. The wind is frigid enough to freeze men and animals; a land of treeless plains, and spring-fed creeks, in a backdrop of red granite mountains where clouds coil through the mountain valleys like puffy white snakes, and a thousand stars litter the night sky.
“Texhoma, Oklahoma is like most prairie towns with dirt roads, hitching rails for the horses, and rough built buildings, but with the stage line stopping in town there is opportunity for growth, and a connection to a larger town,” Loretta said. “The church serves as the school house and the town hall. There is a boarding house, a general store, and a couple of saloons, and a bank. There isn’t much crime in Texhoma because US Marshall Hank Edwards keeps a tight rein on drifters and would-be trouble makers. Town folks are friendly and don’t hesitate to help out their neighbors.”
In Cloud Woman’s Spirit you’ll meet the hero, Jim Sawyer who is a Deputy US Marshall and owns a small horse ranch. “He is an honorable man who loves the law and despises injustice,” Loretta said. “He is cunning, an excellent tracker, and a dead shot with a revolver.”
You’ll also meet the heroine, Tessa Cloud Woman Sawyer who is part Comanche. “Her blue eyes are only clue to her other heritage,” Loretta said. “As an infant, she was found by a white man who raised her as his daughter. Tessa Cloud Woman had a mystical connection with animals. When she and her unborn child are murdered, Tessa calls on the Great Father to let her spirit live. She is able to shift into different animals, but principally she shifts in and out of Spirit Dancer, her appaloosa mare.”
“Jim’s goal is to find the men who murdered his wife and unborn child, and bring them to justice. The problem is the men burned his ranch, stole his horses, and his wife’s appaloosa mare, and left no clues for him to follow. Tessa’s spirit seeks vengeance. Her spirit leads Jim to three of the murdering brothers. But, her main goal is to lead the worst of the brothers to the place where ‘evil’ lives.”
Two principle secondary characters are Cherokee Charlie and Katie Em. “As the son of a white mother and a Cherokee father, Charlie was raised during the time before the Trail of Tears,” Loretta explained. “He was raised in an affluent family with monetary wealth. Forced from his family, he soon discovered he didn’t belong in the white man’s world or that of the Indian. As a result he made the whiskey bottle his best friend, until he met and was befriended by Jim Sawyer. Katie Em is an outlaw girl. Like most women in the old west, she had no employment so to survive she became an outlaw. The thing she wants most is to live a decent life. Her opportunity comes when she falls in love with Jim.”
And there are four bad to the bone brothers. “In today’s society the Dobbs’ brothers would be considered sociopaths,” Loretta said. “They kill for pleasure. The underlying story of the brothers is they were raised in an abusive environment, and use that to excuse their actions.”
The key elements Loretta hopes readers learn from Cloud Woman’s Spirit are, “No matter how difficult life is or how many times life knocks you down there are solutions to problems and it doesn’t have to be alcohol or crime. To value friendship. When you’ve lost a loved one, it’s okay to find love again.”
Loretta added, “When readers close the book, I want them smiling in ultimate satisfaction because they are happy that the protagonists overcame great obstacles, defeated the antagonists, grew in character as a result of those obstacles, and in the end true love was found, and life-long friendships were formed."
You can find more about Loretta and her book here:
Web Site: www.lorettacrogersnovels.com
Amazon.com: https://amzn.to/2EJSYb8KOBO https://bit.ly/2H068qj
The Wild Rose Press https://bit.ly/2GWb7bA
Let’s get a closer look at Cloud Woman’s Spirit.
United States Deputy Marshal Jim Sawyer returns from another bout of chasing outlaws and bringing them to justice to find everything he holds dear taken from him — his pregnant wife and his father-in-law brutally murdered and his ranch home a heap of smoldering ruins. Before her death, Tessa Cloud Woman Sawyer cursed the men who killed her. After months of healing from a near-fatal wound, with a cold trail to follow, Jim relies on Cloud Woman's resolute spirit to lead him to the men who destroyed his family. During the search, Jim encounters an outlaw girl he’d helped years before. As attraction blossoms between Jim and Katie Em, will Cloud Woman's spirit release him into the arms of another woman?
3 comments:
Thank you, Still Moments Magazine for featuring Cloud Woman's Spirit on your blog.
Looks interesting!
Thanks for stopping by, AZ.
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