Kim Redford: August 2017

Thursday, August 24, 2017

Kim Redford Shares Little Free Library

On my most recent visit to California, the small town of San Juan Capistrano captured my imagination in so many ways—from the famous timeless mission to a Victorian tea parlor to the small library nestled beside a comfy bench on a dusty side street.

Perhaps you’ve noticed the tiny libraries springing up outside businesses or in front of homes or near schools. Books are nestled behind the front glass of a brightly painted birdhouse or more elaborate structure. Of course, there’s a fascinating story (and group) behind Little Free Library.

In 2009, Todd Bol of Hudson, Wisconsin, built a tiny replica of a red schoolhouse in his mother’s honor, a former teacher and booklover. Not long after he made free books available, folks from around town were stopping by, chatting, and picking up novels or nonfiction to take home. A University of Wisconsin-Madison professor saw the little library and recognized a golden opportunity to spread the love of books.

They partnered to promote literacy and reading through free book exchanges worldwide. As a model, they looked to Andrew Carnegie's support of public libraries and the popular "take a book, leave a book" found in cafes and hotels. Andrew Carnegie funded 2,510 libraries, and they hoped to reach that number.

Once their idea caught the interest of readers everywhere, they quickly met their goal and went way beyond it. Now Little Free Library (map) is available in countries as far away as Australia, France, and China. Plus, stewards of these book exchanges are busy maintaining and creating communities of literacy every day.

Kim Redford is an acclaimed, bestselling author of Western romance novels. She grew up in Texas with cowboys, cowgirls, horses, cattle, and rodeos for inspiration. She divides her time between homes in Texas and Oklahoma, where she’s a rescue cat wrangler and horseback rider—when she takes a break from her keyboard. Visit her at Kim Redford.

Kim Redford and Her Classic Cadillac Convertible

When I got a call from my editor (the incomparable Deb Werksman) about my new book, A Very Cowboy Christmas, I sat up and took notice. She said to me, “Will you please, please, let the heroine (Sydney Steele) keep the Cadillac she rents. I don’t care how you do it, but will you find a good reason why she owns the Caddy?” Well, that request had my mind whirling in several directions as I tried to figure out how she’d arrived at her request. Finally, I said, “You want to drive that classic car, don’t you?” When she enthusiastically agreed, I knew readers would feel the same way, so I was up for the challenge.

Now here’s a little background to bring you up to speed on this snippet of conversation. In my novel, Sydney is promoting Christmas at the Sure-Shot Drive-In—a brand-new event in Sure-Shot, Texas, at the recently renovated 1950s drive-in, also known as the Passion Pit—by driving a pink 1959 Cadillac convertible with longhorns on the front grill (after all, it’s Texas) and wearing vintage clothes. Originally, I simply had Sydney rent the car and give it back at the end of the book, since she’s a cowgirl who normally drives a pickup. Now I was chomping at the bit to figure out a clever way to change my storyline to give Sydney a reason to own a vintage Caddy.

After galloping down several dead-ends, I realized that a 1959 Cadillac still in pristine condition had to have been loved by somebody for a long time. And that somebody would have given their beloved vehicle a very special name. Celeste. Right away, I realized that was the only name that would do. And once I had the name, I had the backstory. Sydney inherited Celeste from a man who trusted her to value his Caddy and keep her in tiptop shape just as he had since buying his car brand new.

And that’s how Celeste became an important character in A Very Cowboy Christmas,leading the Christmas parade with Sydney behind the wheel and the Christmas Queen wearing a cowgirl hat with a rhinestone tiara ensconced above the backseat. Of course, I might add, it’s all thanks to an editor who has a yen for her very own 1959 Cadillac.

Kim Redford Shares Her Wonder Woman Collection

First off, I want to claim total and absolute innocence in the hundreds of Wonder Woman items, as well as comics, that made their way into my home over the years. Ha, you don’t believe in my innocence when it comes to Wonder Woman, do you? You might be right, so let me explain while you are looking at some photos of selections from my Wonder Woman collection..

Once upon a time, there was a fun event called the Dallas Fantasy Fair run by my good friend Larry Lankford. The DFF featured books, comics, collectibles, gaming, dealer room, and panels for writers and artists. I sort of accidentally washed up on that shore when invited to pontificate (like I actually knew much about anything, but I’m a writer, so . . .) on panels. Okay, that was all well and good, but everybody there collected something and insisted I must collect something. I’d always been a Wonder Woman (created by William Moulton Marston with artist Harry G. Peter in All Star Comics #8, 1941) fan, so the great WW seemed like a good choice.

And here’s where the innocence comes in. Collectors were horrified that I didn’t have much of a collection (well, I did have a few raggedy Wonder Woman comics), so they immediately began solving my problem. They found WW items at garage sales, flea markets, antique shops, estate sales, con dealer rooms, and who-knows-where, and then presented them to me at DFFs. I never knew what I’d see next because I had no idea there were all these terrific vintage items just waiting for a home—my home.

About this time I began to feel like a real Wonder Woman collector, so I started amassing backlist titles, along with current ones, and new Wonder Woman action figures. I snagged the complete and fabulous Lynda Carter Wonder Woman television series (1975-1979) that is positively inspirational for all.

And yet, my WW collection crew and I were greedy. We wanted Wonder Woman up on the big screen in her own live action film. Rumors about the much anticipated WW movie came and went, but they usually went bust. At one point, Josh Whedon stepped in to direct WW, so we were over the moon, thinking of the fine job he’d done with Buffy the Vampire Slayer, the television series (1997-2003), and Serenity, the film (2005). But, once more, we were let down when he dropped the project. About the time we were losing hope, here came news that Wonder Woman, the movie, was actually in the works. Could it be true?

By now, you know the answer to that question. Yes! Well, we went to see Wonder Womandirected by Patty Jenkins (2017), and we just kept pinching ourselves to be sure we were actually viewing WW on the big screen. What can I say? It’d been a long wait, but well worth it—not just for us but for folks around the world. Wonder Woman broke all kinds of opening weekend records, and we weren’t in the least surprised at her big win. She’d won our hearts a long time ago.

Kim Redford Discovers Ranch & Range Romance Comics

How had I never heard about Cowgirl Romances comics from the 1950s till my friends Scott and Sandi sent me a postcard of a terrific cover? What fun, I couldn’t help but think when I read, “All new romances of ranch and range!” I had to know more about these comics, so I went online and discovered ComicBookPlus, free and legal public domain books. Under Westerns, I found Annie Oakley and many others, but I was still looking forCowgirl Romances, so I kept going till I came to the Western Romance section. Now we were getting somewhere.

ComicBookPlus lists fifteen titles and seventy-one issues in the Western Romance category of contemporary and historical comics published between 1949 and 1958. They include Fiction House's Cowgirl Romances of twelve issues and Fawcett's Cowboy Love with an eleven issue run. These comics appear to be exciting pulp fiction with titles such as “Dowry Paid in Lead,” “Call Her Gun-Girl,” and “Koln Dilgen Tames Rocking River, but He Can't Tame Mary Mercer!”

I couldn’t wait to get started looking between the covers. First, I picked the comic to match my postcard that turned out to be issue eleven of Cowgirl Romances published in the fall of 1952. I set to reading “Love Is Where You Find It,” and I soon discovered four more illustrated stories in the same issue, “Fight for Your Love,” “Honeymoon Range,” “Heartbroken Buckaroo,” and “I’ll Love You Always.” I enjoyed them all. They’re short, easy-to-read, feel-good stories that evoke the time period when lots of folks were finding love on ranch and range.

Range Romances also caught my eye at DigitalComicMuseum, so I took a look at the December 1949 issue—all historical stories— with “Gunsmoke Heartbreak,” “Petticoat Law,” “Outlaw Love,” and “Tenderfoot Sweetheart.” I also peeked at an issue of Real West Romances with a contemporary setting . . . “Sometimes a cowhand can’t figure whether to pursue them or run away from them—Wild Hosses and Ornery Gals!”

What wonderful entertainment with a vintage touch of clever stories and gorgeous illustrations. What can I say? I’m hooked to learn more, read more, and share more. And now I’m well aware that authors writing Westerns have been building on a large body of work for a long time that includes beautiful comic books and graphic novels. I guess we’d better thank the Gutenberg press for starting the process of getting our writing into the hands of a large audience on a wide range of topics.

And who knows, maybe in my next Smokin’ Hot Cowboys novel, I might just come up with a character that can’t resist collecting cowgirl and cowboy romance comics set on ranch and range. Now that’d be fun, wouldn’t it?

Kim Redford Travels to Baja Texas for Inspiration

Inspiration comes in a lot of ways from a lot of directions. I like to take advantage of research opportunities—particularly when they come on gilded wings.

When I started writing my Smokin’ Hot Cowboys series, I had horses and cattle and country on my mind. Out of the blue, or maybe because I’d been whining about my lack of inspiration, the cowboys and cowgirls of the Gee Cattle Companyand a local forestry firefighter who knew all the backroads volunteered to take me deep into the mountains of Southeast Oklahoma. Okay, I admit when Texans call Oklahoma Baja Texas, they hear Texas is Baja Oklahoma in return. If it weren’t for the Red River separating us, then . . . anyway, back to my point, the cowboys believed Gilbert Jones’ famous mustang ranch located near Medicine Spring would inspire me.

And so we loaded into two big pickups and headed out on a main highway. Pretty soon we turned down a smaller road, crossed a dry creek bed, drove between two houses on somebody’s ranch, splashed across a stream, and . . . are you getting the idea? I’d never have found Medicine Spring by myself. Fortunately, I was on a guided tour, complete with snacks, kids, and country music under a blue sky with fluffy white clouds.

We turned onto a narrow lane, all red dirt shaded by a canopy of green pines and huge oaks. We drove under a tall rusted metal pipe ranch sign that announced “Pure Spanish mustangs and Catoosa Champions.” As we eased down the road, we didn’t see mustangs or anybody. I quickly realized I’d probably missed this ranch in its prime by about fifty years, but even that idea was inspirational.

We parked on a gravel drive near Medicine Spring across from Gilbert Jones’ now empty, former white house with a tall red-brick chimney. As the truck engines cooled, pinging now and again, the only other sound came from the wind in the trees and the trill of birds in the distance. Even on a hot summer day, the air was cool due to the forest. I looked for the famous mustangs, but I didn’t see any, so I tried not to be disappointed since there was so much else to see.

I turned my attention to the spring, since I wanted to feature one in my series. Medicine Spring was an obvious WPA Project. A beautiful round structure of native rock dated 1929 had been built around the ancient spring known for its medicinal qualities. Inside, water tinted orange due to high iron content constantly gurgled into a wide and deep basin before overflowing onto one side of the stone floor and into a stream outside.

We followed the stream to an area of collapsed buildings made of wood and corrugated tin nestled in the shadow of tall trees with insects buzzing here and there. I saw an overturned table with an orange Formica top and metal edge that spoke of a bygone era. Folks had obviously once come here to dine and sleep when they raced horses in the nearby arena. I wished I could’ve been standing on the raised platform to watch the equestrian events back in the day. Of course, at this point I’d have been happy to see a single mustang.

We finally agreed we wouldn’t see horses that day, but we’d had a grand adventure and I’d gotten lots of inspiration. We headed out, taking it easy on the narrow red road. Suddenly, the forestry firefighter beside me slammed on his breaks and pointed across the road. I looked in that direction. Two beautiful mustangs ambled over, eyeing us curiously just as we eyed them. I couldn’t have been happier. My day was complete.

Kim Redford Discovers a Bit of Texas in California

One of my favorite tours in Texas is the string of five missions along the San Antonio River. Most people have heard about, or even seen, the Alamo (1718) in downtown San Antonio because of the famous Battle of the Alamo on March 6, 1836. Yet there are another four magnificent missions in the area.

From north (upstream of the San Antonio River) to south (downstream), you can follow the Mission Parkway with fifteen miles of hiking, biking, paddling trails, and culture bus routes. The Park connects Mission Concepcion, Mission San Jose, Mission San Juan, and Mission Espada to the San Antonio Riverwalk through a series of park portals (http://www.lsjunction.com/facts/missions.htm)

San Jose (1720), San José y San Miguel de Aguayo, was once a major social and cultural center, as well as the strongest garrison of the five missions. San Juan (1731), San Juan Capistrano, supplied agricultural and other products to the region. Concepcion (1731),Nuestra Señora de la Purísima Concepción de Acuña, became the center of local religious celebrations. Espada (1731), San Francisco de la Espada, was renowned for its unique bell chapel and stone entry.

When I recently made my way to Southern California, I had San Juan Capistrano on my mind because I knew there was another mission in the area with the same name as the one in Texas. I quickly found the mission famous for its returning swallows in the lovely village of San Juan Capistrano.

Mission San Juan Capistrano California (1776) (https://www.missionsjc.com) is an inspirational historical, cultural, and religious site. The adobe wall enclosed compound consists of outstanding architecture, stunning oil paintings, religious artifacts, agriculture implements, horse tack, and rich landscape. Restoration and preservation is ongoing as public contributions fund this exceptional educational site for current and future generations.

Mission San Juan Capistrano California (1776)

Did I compare San Juan Capistrano Texas with the sister mission in California? I couldn’t help doing just that. I even met a lady in the gift shop who was buying—wouldn’t you know it?—a gift for a friend in Dallas. After hearing my Texas accent, she wanted my opinion on her choice. I assured her the present was perfect. And so we parted ways, even as she kept her connection to Texas and I kept mine to California.

I must admit there is definitely more glitz and glamour in the Golden State mission, but San Juan Capistrano sparkles big and bright in the wide open spaces of the Lone Star State. And yet, the missions in Texas and California—even after almost three hundred years—exhibit the same peace, serenity, and beauty deep in their heart of hearts.