Interview with Heather Blanton and giveaway!

Heather is graciously giving away one copy of her book, A Promise in Defiance to one commenter! Please include contact information.  

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BLURB—

~~~The haunting final chapter in the Defiance series!~~~

CHOICES HAVE CONSEQUENCES...EVEN FOR THE REDEEMED. 

When Charles McIntyre founded Defiance, he was more than happy to rule in hell rather than serve in heaven. But things have changed. Now, he has faith, a new wife...and a ten-year-old half-breed son. Infamous madam Delilah Goodnight wants to take it all away from him. How can he protect his kingdom and his loved ones from her schemes without falling back on his past? How does he fight evil if not with evil?

Logan Tillane carries a Bible in his hand, wears a gun on his hip, and fights for lost souls any way he can. Newly arrived in Defiance, he has trouble, though, telling saints from sinners. The challenge only worsens when Delilah flings open the doors to the scandalous Crystal Chandelier. She and the new preacher have opposite plans for the town. One wants to save it, one wants to lead it straight to hell.

For Tillane and McIntyre, finding redemption was a long, hard road. God's grace has washed away their sins, but the consequences remain and God will not be mocked. For whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap...and the harvest is finally at hand.

Where did you grow up and attend school? Are there any other authors in your family?

 

I was born in Florida but moved to the mountains of Western North Carolina when I was 9, and that was when I truly came home. My hometown is a tiny community (there were 26 seniors in my graduating class) and I miss it every day. I live in Raleigh now. I’m convinced my 12-year-old will be a writer one day, he has such an incredible imagination, but he hates reading. Breaks his mother’s heart.

How did you get started writing? How old were you? What made you want to start? What did you enjoy reading as a child? 

I am loathe to admit I grew up in a century when, as a child, I only had three tv channels to watch. Yes. I know. The horror of it. Forced from shear boredom to find other activities, I gravitated to writing. There used to be a cartoon called The Funky Phantom. I adored it and wrote my first story as a way to spend the afternoon with my favorite teenagers! My mom typed it up for me. I am still mad about some of her editorial changes, but we have finally agreed to disagree … 45 years later!

How and when did you and your husband meet? Was it love at first sight? What does he think about your being an author?  

How apropos is it that my husband and I met at The Long Branch Saloon? I kid you not. Wearing a baby blue button-up, he was leaning over a pool table, muscles in his shoulders bulging all sexy-like, and I said, “I like him.” But we didn’t make eye contact. A few minutes later he came up and asked if my friend and I would like to play pool. He told us later that he had actually lost the game he was playing and therefore the table as well. He gave the other guy twenty bucks to scram so he could invite me to play. He was not a big fan of my writing “hobby” until I finally hit the best-sellers list at Amazon. Now he’s a whole lot more enthusiastic.

How do you research the communities and people you write about? Do you find yourself having to do a lot of research? 

I have travelled throughout the West, but especially Colorado and Wyoming. I love those two states. That’s one reason I set my stories there. I’ve hiked to the top of Independence Rock; rode horses in the mountains above Telluride; even held an outlaw’s note in my hands. I’ve worked as a journalist, too, and know how to research. Besides the Library of Congress, one of my favorite places to visit is the Wyoming newspaper archives http://newspapers.wyo.gov/). Everything you could ever want to read about the Old West is in there! I read lots of old diaries and letters, too. I highly recommend the collection called Covered Wagon Women, the diaries and letters of women who went west on the Oregon and California trails. And to my family’s dismay, I never pass up a museum when we’re on a roadtrip.

Which is your favorite book? Do you have a character in your books you identify with the most

Hearts in Defiance is my favorite book. It’s book 2 in the Romance in the Rockies series and I love it because God presented me with so many wonderful plot twists! It was such fun to write. And while there is a little bit of my sisters and me in all three of the fictional sisters, Naomi is my gal. Like me, she is a work in progress. Flawed, but lovable, God shows her a lot of grace.

BIO

Heather Blanton is the independent bestselling author of several Christian Westerns, including the Romance in the Rockies series, which has sold over 40,000 copies. Intrigued by the concept of three good sisters stranded in a lawless Colorado mining town, a few notable Hollywood producers have requested the script for her first book in that series, A Lady in Defiance. Heather’s writing is gritty and realistic. In fact, her books have been compared to AMC’s Hell on Wheels series, as well as the legendary Francine Rivers book, Redeeming Love.

A former journalist, Heather is an avid researcher and skillfully weaves truth in among the fictional story lines. She loves exploring the American West, especially ghost towns and museums. She has walked parts of the Oregon Trail, ridden horses through the Rockies, climbed to the top of Independence Rock, and even held an outlaw's note in her hand.

She writes Westerns because she grew up on a steady diet of Bonanza, Gunsmoke, and John Wayne movies. Her most fond childhood memory is of sitting next to her father, munching on popcorn, and watching Lucas McCain unload that Winchester!

She can be reached several different ways:

http://ladiesindefiance.com/

https://www.facebook.com/authorheatherblanton/?ref=hl

https://twitter.com/heatherfblanton

https://www.pinterest.com/heatherfblanton/