Margaret Tanner: What Is She Doing Now?

Thank you Judith and Sarah for welcoming me back as a guest for RTG Anniversary. I am very pleased to be here with you again.

Margaret Tanner

For those who don’t know me/or remember me from earlier times. I hail from Australia and write Australian Historical Romance and Western Romance. Up until recently, all my Historical Romance novels were with publishers, and my Western novels were self-published. Once I received my copyright back, I proceeded to re-publish my Historical Romance stories one by one.

Why did I do this you might ask?  My last publisher was excellent. Due to changed family circumstances I needed the flexibility of being able to publish as many or as few books as I wanted. I wasn’t on a deadline, and if I didn’t have time to promote, that was fine because I was the only one affected.

I accidentally fell into writing westerns. I have always been a western fan, and I used to watch endless westerns on TV, Bonanza, Little House On The Prairie, Wagon Train, the list goes on and on. A friend, who writes Western Romance novellas, suggested that I should try my hand at writing a western, and I did. I wrote a short story for a Western Anthology which whetted my appetite, and I was honoured to be part of the American Mail Order Bride series (50 brides from 50 different states). Well, after that I was hooked.

Surprisingly enough, there are many similarities between frontier Australia and the American West, including a large single male population with few women of marriageable age. Isolation, lawlessness and hardship, not to mention wild animals and hostile natives. Only the brave and resilient would survive such a hostile environment, fighting to carve out a life for themselves and their families in the harsh, untamed wilderness. Yes, we had stagecoaches, which were often held up. Our men carried guns, but not in holsters like they did in America, usually it was stuck in the man’s belt. Many of our pioneer women could shoot a rifle and ride as well as any man. Their homes were built of split logs. Sound familiar?

My other era I fell compelled to write about is the 1^st World War, or the Great War as it was called. 1914 – 1918 are the centenary years of this terrible conflict, so I wanted to mention it here.  I have visited the battlefields in France, Belgium and in Turkey. Beautifully kept cemeteries, but so many young men lying so far from home, the poignancy of it brought tears to my eyes.

All my books are available in Kindle and print format on Amazon.

I will briefly mention only two of my books here, one a Western, and the other set during the Great War.

The Sheriff’s Outcast Bride.

A Western Cinderella story. Becky’s reputation is ruined by a lie. Her only hope of salvation rests with Blackwood’s Marshall, Ryan Mulligan. Will he prove to be a saviour or a sinner?

http://amzn.com/B018QIFB38

Daring Masquerade:

When Harriet Martin masquerades as a boy to help her shell-shocked brother, falling in love with her boss wasn’t part of the plan.

http://amzn.com/B071R7R42J

Margaret’s Links:

https://www.facebook.com/#!/margaret.tanner.399

http://mjljtanner.wixsite.com/fictionalromance

http://www.amazon.com/author/margarettanner

 https://www.facebook.com/AmericanMailOrderBrides/…

My book is Cora, Bride of South Dakota and will be published on December 28. The books are in KU for the first 90 days.
Cora will be available for pre-order in the next day or so and I will post the link.

THE ORDER OF THE WHITE FEATHER

For several hundred years the white feather was handed out as a symbol of cowardice. 

Who could forget the powerful movie, The Four Feathers, taken from a novel by A.E.W. Mason? It starred Heath Ledger and Kate Hudson? Set in 1884, against the background of the Sudan War. A British Officer, who resigned his post just before going into battle, is handed four white feathers. One is from his fiancée and the other three from his army friends.

In England, in August 1914, The Order of the White Feather was founded by Admiral Charles Fitzgerald, to shame men who would not enlist for the 1^st World War. Women mainly handed out these feathers to young men who were not in uniform. Sometimes they would stick the white feather in the lapel of the man’s coat.  Of course, these women didn’t know or obviously care, that many men who may have volunteered for the army had been rejected because of health reasons, or perhaps they had a vital job to perform in munitions etc.

Many men were persecuted or shamed into joining the army, sometimes with deadly results, or if the army would not take them, they were driven to suicide. The stigma of having been handed a white feather stayed with some men for a lifetime.

Here is a short extract from my novel, Daring Masquerade, which shows how unfair and cruel the act of handing out a white feather could be.

Ross is the hero, Harry the heroine and Gil is her wounded soldier brother and the recipient of the white feather.

                                                ***
Harry stared into the shop windows as they sauntered along the street. Poor Gil had pushed his stump into his pocket so no one could see his missing hand. Her heart bled for him. She went to slip her arm through his. Remembering at the last moment that she was supposed to be a boy, she hastily drew back.

The verandah covered shops were made of the same yellow sandstone as the pretty little church they had passed coming into town. A small rotunda set amidst lawns and colorful flowerbeds, stood at the end of the main street.

“We need to support our soldiers after their valiant battle in the Dardenelles. They’re crying out for reinforcements,” a portly gentleman said. “What type of man would loaf around here while his fellow Australians are dying in the trenches?” 

“Here, here,” a well-dressed young woman cried out. “Conscript all the shirkers who won’t enlist.”

“What are you doing here, young man? Aren’t you ashamed to be so cowardly as to let other men fight for you?” A middle-aged matron shoved a white feather into Gil’s hand.

“You old bitch,” Harry yelled, knocking her hand away, while Gil stood pale and shaking. “How dare you accuse my brother of cowardice?”

“Why doesn’t the coward enlist?” someone else called out.

“You despicable creatures!” She screamed back. “You should be arrested.”

Back and forth, Harry and several of the women hurled insults as more people milled around listening to the argument. Harry became so inflamed she didn’t care what came out of her mouth. “You parasites, living comfortably here while forcing someone else to die.”

“Your brother is a coward, young man,” the portly gentleman said. “He should enlist and do his bit for the Empire.”

“Here, here, Mayor,” someone endorsed his views.

“He’s done his bit,” she shouted. “You pompous, overstuffed pig. Show them, Gil, show them your arm.”

From the corner of one eye she saw Ross striding toward them, but didn’t care. She dragged Gil’s arm from his pocket and raised it high. “He’s given one hand to the war, isn’t that enough?”

Silence reigned. Amidst the embarrassed muttering, Ross’s voice rang out loud, clear and deadly.

“What the hell are you up to, Harry?” He strode forward and grabbed her arm. “Are you mad?”

“They gave Gil a white feather for cowardice.” She fought him as he dragged her kicking and screaming from the dais. “They gave Gil a white feather.”

“Shut up,” he snarled, “before you get arrested. What happened, Gilbert?”

Gil tried to speak, but the words would not come out. He opened up his hand and a white feather fluttered to the ground.

http://www.amazon.com/Daring-Masquerade-ebook/dp/B0081CJECY/ref=sr_1_10?s=books&ie=UTG8&qid=13364772888&sr=1-10