Interview & Giveaway with Anna Meadows {COWBOY LUST Anthology}

Book Blurb:These cowboys ride hard… 

There’s a reason Western romance novels never go out of fashion. The cowboy is an iconic figure embodying the dichotomy of the fiercely independent, earthy alpha male crossed with the male as a nurturer and protector. Cowboys take care of their women in every possible way. Wild and wayward women are gentled by the scent of horse and cow and the sight of sun-kissed skin, the feel of work-hardened thighs and arms, and the sound of a deep-voiced Texas drawl. 

Contributors at the top of the Western romance genre, including Charlene Teglia, Randi Alexander, Cat Johnson, and editor, Delilah Devlin, have corralled strong and memorable characters ranging from ranch hands to cattle barons, to a rodeo star and a feisty female gunslinger. Traversing romantic settings from Montana, Texas, California, Mexico, and the Outback of Australia, the stories in Cowboy Lust are risky and risqué, full of studs in spurs hot enough to send you to a vacation on a dude ranch!

Please tell us about COWBOY LUST.

The stories in Cowboy Lust vary in place and theme, but they all acknowledge both the iconography and the eroticism of the cowboy. He’s an archetype and a real man. He’s a figure, and he’s flesh and blood. In my story, She Don’t Stay the Night, a homeless teen ends up on a Mexican family’s land, and his presence challenges what narrator Adabella knows about vaqueros, gringos, and even her own body.

What was the inspiration behind your story.

The vaquero, the Mexican predecessor to the American cowboy, played a key role in shaping my image of both my heritage and the Southwest, where I grew up. The cowboy is a major figure in American imagery; the vaquero was the version I knew. When I saw Delilah’s call for submissions for Cowboy Lust, I wanted to write a story that started with the vaquero. Without him, I wouldn’t have known how to access the idea of the cowboy.

Is there anything from your daily “real life” that has played a fundamental role in the inspiration or creation of the story line or characters?

Nearly all my stories are rooted in my experience as a Mexican-American. Chicana culture—the folklore, the language, the food—almost always plays a role. Sometimes it’s peripheral, as simple as a character’s name or a memory of her abuela. Other times, it’s central, such as a re-imagining of an Olmec legend.

What was the latest amazing book you read?

Poetry Like Bread, a collection edited by Martín Espada. It features some of my favorite poets, like Gioconda Belli and Naomi Ayala, and the pages show both Spanish and English translations. I love looking at translations. My favorite writers taught me that the right word, the right phrasing, the right sound can be very sensual. And when you click with a translation, it’s a little like romantic chemistry.

What can readers expect next from you?

More stories about falling in love! My upcoming releases include a romantic retelling of a C.S. Lewis story, my first contribution to a young adult anthology, and a tale of a down-on-her-luck ballerina who finds love in rural Nevada.

What is one particular aspect about the book that you want readers to take away from this interview?

The double meaning of the anthology’s title gives you a good idea of what you’re in for. Cowboy Lust plays to the fascination with and desire for the cowboy, and gets up close to him in his own state of desire. But he takes a different form in every story. Though the vaquero has always been my image of the cowboy, he’s something a little different to everyone. Whatever a reader’s idea of him, she’s likely to find him in the pages of Cowboy Lust, along with many other interpretations of him.

Can you leave readers with a teaser from the book?

Adabella watched him in the wintertime as he wrapped the red faja around his waist and tied it in place. She stayed quiet as he pulled on his jean jacket or, in colder whether, a heavier chaqueta, and set his espuelas, the stars of metal on his heels glinting like ice in the riverbed. In summer, she made out the muscles in his back through his shirt, and the shadow of his hair as it fell in his face. She always wondered how he kept his fingernails clean even when the dirt weighed down the hems of his jeans.

She was almost eighteen when her mother told her she would go to live with her aunt up north at the end of the summer. That was about the time Buckley tried his first paso de la muerte, a death ride on a wild horse, bareback. Only a handful of the men on the cortijo were crazy enough to try it, and more than a few of them had needed a bone or two set after.

Adabella’s mother had seen that wildness in Buckley’s eyes before anyone else had. She saw him thinking of the stories of los pasos de la muerte. “Don’t do it,” she said. “You’re a fine vaquero as you are. You don’t need a broken arm to prove it.”

But Buckley took his favorite mount from the remuda and rode out onto the llano.

AUTHOR Bio and Links:Anna Meadows is a part-time executive assistant, part-time housewife. She writes from her Mexican-American heritage in the Southwest and her passion for stories about women in love. Her work appears in numerous anthologies, including fifteen from Cleis Press, and on the Lambda Literary website. She lives with her Sapphic husband in California.http://meadowstories.blogspot.com/

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Delilah Devlin

Delilah Devlin is an award-winning author of erotic romance with a rapidly expanding reputation for writing edgy stories with complex characters. Ms. Devlin has published over a hundred stories in multiple sub-genres and lengths with Atria/Strebor, Avon, Berkley, Black Lace, Cleis Press, Ellora’s Cave, Kensington, Kindle, Running Press, and Samhain Publishing. 

Website: http://www.delilahdevlin.com/

Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/DelilahDevlinFanPage


Twitter: http://twitter.com/DelilahDevlin

Where can readers find you on the web?

For more about Cowboy Lust, visit www.cowboylust.net. You’ll find news and reviews, more about the book and the authors, and posts from Delilah and the contributors. For more about me, stop by meadowstories.blogspot.com—check out my latest releases, read a few facts you won’t find in my bio, or just say hi!

Giveaway Details:

One randomly drawn commenter at each stop will win one of the following:

• Cowboy Bad Boys (digital) by Randi Alexander

• Reader’s Choice of any backlisted ebook by Lissa Matthews

• Reader’s Choice of any backlisted ebook by Charlene Teglia during her stop

• Reader’s Choice of any backlisted ebook by Cari Quinn (x4)

• “I’ll show you my e-reader if you show me yours” T-shirt (Large size) from Kimber Vale

• Reader’s Choice of any backlisted ebook by Delilah Devlin during her stops (x2)

• Signed copies of Cowboy Fever by Delilah Devlin to two winners

• Love in Short Order (digital), a romance by Michael Bracken writing as Rolinda Hay

• Stud (digital), an erotic romance by Michael Bracken writing as Rolinda Hay

Plus one randomly drawn commenter during the tour will win a $50 Amazon GC grand prize

• Please leave a meaningful question or comment for Anna along with your broken up email addy.

• Contest is open the duration of the tour. The winner(s) will be randomly selected and notified.

Tour Stops:
http://goddessfishpromotions.blogspot.com/2012/07/virtual-book-tour-cowboy-lust-anthology.html