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.

WHORE HOUSES IN THE WILD WEST - MARGARET TANNER

The movie, The Best Little Whorehouse In Texas, was made in 1982, and featured Burt Reynolds and Dolly Parton. It was based on a story by Larry King and inspired by the real life Chicken Ranch in La Grange, Texas.

The Chicken Ranch was an illegal but tolerated Texan brothel operating from 1905 until 1973. It was located in Fayette County a couple of miles out of La Grange.
The original brothel that became the Chicken Ranch opened in 1844. It was forced to close during the civil war but later re-opened.
There have numerous books published with a brothel or bordello, as some people like to call them, as a central part of the story, particularly in Westerns. I prefer to deal with high class brothels in my stories.

In my historical novel, Fiery Possession, there is a high class brothel known as Glory’s. In my novel Savage Possession, there is also a high class brothel called the Black Stallion. Both of these establishments figure prominently in my stories. Like the old West, in frontier Australia, there was a huge single male population but very few women.

FIERY POSSESSION - A SCENE FROM GLORY'S 

They passed through the almost empty main street of town, and about half a mile further on pulled into the drive of a large house. It was a double storied place, with delicate cast iron lace work on the balcony. An impressive entrance door had a huge fan light with pictorial stained glass side panels. Surely this wasn't where Glory operated from? 
In the cobbled backyard, the man helped them down before depositing the bag on the ground.
“Thank you.”
He acknowledged this with a nod, touched his hat, and drove towards a red brick coach house.
Glory hurried over, her large breasts bulging from the low cut bodice of a bright green dress. “You’re here at last!  Come to Auntie Glory.” She scooped Mark out of Jo's arms, and left her to carry the bag inside. “I thought,” she spoke over one shoulder, “you might prefer to come in through the back entrance because it's private.”
Inside this section of the house, Jo was surprised to find it tastefully decorated. In the hallway stood a seventeenth century, long case clock with marquetry inlay and a glass 'bull’s eye' at the bottom of the trunk. Entering the sitting room, she noticed several miniatures on the walls.
“How lovely.” She tried to hide her surprise at finding such a tasteful décor.
“Surprised, are you?”  Glory might well have been a mind reader.
“It's different than what I expected.”
 “I've had a bath house built recently.” Glory sounded almost childlike in her endeavor to impress. On the back lawn, almost concealed behind tall shrubs, stood a brick building with arched windows and doorway. The central bath had water pumped through pipes from the river.
“It's the latest thing, Jo.”
Out in the daylight, the thick make up could not conceal the deep wrinkles creasing Glory's face.
“It's all very nice, but maybe a bit pretentious, if you don’t mind my saying so.”
The other woman patted her on the shoulder, laughing uproariously. “Don't quite know about pretentious, but I like it. So do the customers.”
They passed a large pond with pink water lilies floating on top. Jo averted her eyes from the centerpiece of a white marble statue of a naked woman mounted on a rearing horse.
“Whereabouts do, well, the girls, work from?” 
“Upstairs. I'll show you around inside now.”
The gaming room had mahogany tables and chairs. Another room, obviously a private bar by the numerous bottles displayed at the back of a circular counter, was upholstered in velvet. Glory did not offer to take her out to the public bar, to Jo’s relief.
In all the rooms, Jo noticed that the ceilings had white plasterwork and intricately crafted cornices. Basket-shaped chandeliers formed the lighting. No expense had been spared to cater for everyone's comfort.
The bar room consisted of a small highly polished dance floor and a large piano set on a raised platform. Frescoes of naked cherubs decorated the ceiling in this room, and one wall was crafted out of beaten copper. Classy, all right, where a local man with money might indulge himself for a few hours, or a wealthy traveler could stay for days.
Glory explained that the girls circulated round the tables, letting the men choose their drinks and a partner if they felt so inclined.

Fiery Possession and Savage Possession are both available from my publisher,

Books We Love, in various formats

http://www.bookswelove.net/tanner.php

http://www.margarettanner.com/