Margaret Tanner Shares Her Writing Story

 Hi Friends,

It is a sad day having to say goodbye to Romancing the Genres. Sarah and Judith have done a magnificent job over all these years to keep us entertained and informed.

Author, Margaret Tanner

Well, what can I say about me? I am an Award Winning, Best Selling Australian author.

I like to think my stories will always tug at your heartstrings and evoke strong emotions.

I do not use AI in the telling of my stories.

On a personal level, I am a widow who lost her husband of fifty years at the end of Covid. I have three grown up sons and two lovely granddaughters.

I was one of the early, regular contributors on Romancing the Genres. It was a long time ago and yet it sometimes feels like yesterday.

At the time, I was writing historical romance and was with a publisher. I think I had just started my self-publishing career. Over the last several years, I have concentrated on self-publishing and now only write Sweet Historical Western Romance.

Writing westerns might seem strange for an Aussie author, but I have always loved watching the western movies on TV. Little Joe Cartwright from Bonanza was my hero.

Surprisingly, or maybe not, frontier America and frontier Australia had many similarities – a large single male population, few respectable women of marriageable age, and vast distances to travel. Hence, mail-order brides were a popular way of finding a wife. I have written quite a few Mail-Order Bride books for this very reason.

One of the few differences between our countries were your cowboys wore their guns in holsters, whereas here in Australia, our frontier men mainly stuck their handguns in their belt or just carried rifles on their horses for protection in the wild, untamed wilderness, where danger could lurk around every corner.

Our early settlers, built log cabins or sometimes only bark huts, using what material there was at hand. Like you, there was often warfare between the white man and the Aborigines/Indians, leading to death and destruction.

We also had long cattle drives like you did, sometimes lasting for months.

We had large landholders, squatters for us/ranchers for you. And off course, there were selectors/nesters who were given small parcels of land by the government. Often this land was in the middle of a rich landholder’s property. This brought on trouble, leading to intimidation and even range wars as the squatters/ranchers fought to keep what they believed was theirs, even though they hadn’t paid for most of the land. I have written a Range War series because the topic so interested me.

We had bushrangers/outlaws who held up stagecoaches, banks etc. Most of these wanted men ended up with bounties on their heads. The authorities weren’t too fussed about whether they were brought in dead or alive. Sound familiar? And yes, I have written stories with my heroes being bounty hunters.

I have about 190 books up on Amazon now. Most of them are around the 30k mark, perfect for a quick read. They are all in KU.

Many thanks to Sarah and Judith, and of course all of you loyal supporters, who made this blog such a special place to visit.

As I mentioned Mail Order Brides in my article, I thought you might like this five book Collection.

BETRAYED MAIL-ORDER BRIDES COLLECTION

Discarded Mail-Order Bride

Betrayed by a friend, Dalton McManus spent years in jail for a crime he did not commit.

Dalton McManus lives on his isolated ranch, brooding and  resentful.

Mail-order bride, Jessica Eames is accused of being a sorceress by the grandmother of her intended groom. Discarded and alone in the wilderness, she stumbles on to Dalton’s ranch seeking sanctuary.

Can these two people, whose lives have been blighted by injustice, forget the past and find happiness together?

Duped Mail-Order Bride

Is Fletcher a friend or a foe?

Sara Brady has been corresponding with a man who doesn’t exist.

When she arrives in Carson City as a mail-order bride, she discovers she has been duped by a man thirsting for revenge.

Abandoned in a rundown fort, she finally escapes with the help of a man called Fletcher.

But what will she do when she discovers it was Fletcher’s uncle who duped her? Can love flourish under such clouds of mistrust?

Barefoot Mail-Order Bride

Mail-Order Bride, Sarah Linley, waits for her groom in church. Instead of marrying her as promised, Jason Thomas robs her, even taking the shoes off her feet. After tying her and the preacher up, he steals from the church and leaves.

Bounty Hunter, Dillon McMahon, knows his stepbrother is no good, but even he is shocked at Jason’s latest crime.

Rather than let Sarah be ruined by a further series of disasters, Dillon reluctantly agrees to marry her.

Marriage between these two people is certainly not a match made in heaven. Or is it?

Deceived Mail-Order Bride

New Orleans and Texas 1876

Anna Simpson loses her home and job. The streets of New Orleans beckon unless she can quickly find another job.

Unemployed and desperate, she decides to become a Mail-Order Bride for a wealthy businessman.

She arrives at Dry River with six-year-old orphaned Max to a drunk and abusive prospective groom.

Connor Grey believes he is not worthy of a woman’s love because of his scarred face. He sees Anna being abused, and after stepping in to help is left with her and the child.

Anna’s situation is now dire. She came to marry one man, dare she wed another?

Forgotten Mail-Order Bride

Miranda Kingston’s feckless brother takes out a mortgage on their ranch, then leaves town and she is left to pay off the debt.

With the bank clamoring for their money and threatening to foreclose, she takes the desperate step of attempting to become Rowan Carstairs’ Mail-Order Bride. After exchanging several letters, they agree to marry. Then the letters suddenly stop.

Why would Rowan propose marriage then forget about his bride-to-be?

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0D2MDZDSS

If you would like to follow me on Amazon or just go in to check on my books. The link is:

https://www.amazon.com/Margaret-Tanner/e/B003T5216E