WHEN THE COWBOY RIDES AWAY - Molly Noble Bull - One Free Book

Dear Readers, Molly is a really long-time writing friend. She’s also a fellow Texan. I was privileged to read this book for endorsement. Here’s what I said:

Molly Noble Bull produces another western novel that is so authentic I felt as if I were there in south Texas. I've been there a number of times, and she has the setting perfect. I loved the characters who tugged at my heartstrings throughout the story, and I kept turning pages to find out how it would all end.

--Lena Nelson Dooley - award-winning, best-selling author of over 30 books. Her latest releases are a novella in the Christmas collection Warm Mulled Kisses and one in A Texas Christmas

Welcome back, Molly. What are some of the spiritual themes you like to write about?

I love to tell the Good News of Jesus Christ in my novels, and I often use verses from the Bible as the premise of my novels. I also like to weave Biblical principals within the pages of my books, and I do that by having my characters ask each other questions on these topics. In Gatehaven, my scary Gothic historical, I had the hero, a pastor in training, ask his Christian mentor questions on witchcraft and the occult according to the Bible, and the mentor provided answers. Some of my readers said they learned Bible truths right along with the hero of Gatehaven.  

What other books of yours are coming out soon?

Thanks for asking. The Secret Place, my long adventure story set in England, Scotland, and ending in the state of South Carolina in 1784, was published by Hartline Literary as an e-book and in paperback about three weeks ago, but The Secret Place was first published under the title of Sanctuary. Sanctuary won the 2008 Gayle Wilson Award in the inspirational category and also tied for first place in another national contest for published authors that year. So if you read Sanctuary, you read The Secret Place. Nothing was changed but the title. The reason I changed the title in the new version is because the original publisher went out of business and because there are too many novels titled Sanctuary.

 

If you could spend an evening with one contemporary person (not a family member of yours), who would it be and why?

Rabbi Jonathan Cahn without a doubt. Jonathan wrote The Harbinger and other books, and I was given the honor of interviewing him for my blog before he became so well known. He talks like an Old Testament Prophet, and I would love to sit down and spend hours just asking him questions about the Bible from the point of view of a Jew who found Jesus and made him his Messiah and listening to his answers.

How can you encourage authors who have been receiving only rejections from publishers?

If they like to write, there is a good chance it is because God gave them the desire and ability to write for a reason. Keep writing and never give up.

Tell us about the featured book.

I might be called a Genre Jumper because I write everything from sweet romances to historical novels set in Europe to scary Christian Gothic novels to westerns to books and stories for children to non-fiction, but today, I want to introduce When the Cowboy Rides Away, my western with a touch of romance set in South Texas in 1880. I have a special love for westerns because I have a Texas ranch background.

My late father and my grandfather were real Texas cowboys, and I spent part of my growing up years on a sixty thousand acre cattle ranch in South Texas where When the Cowboy Rides Away takes place, and all three of our grown sons are involved in ranching in Texas today.

What makes When the Cowboy Rides Away different from most Christian westerns? Jeanette Pierce, a retired English teacher, wrote study guides for home school families based on When the Cowboy Rides Away—one for teachers and one for students.

And now for the blurb.

Maggie Galagher, twenty-one, runs the Gallagher Ranch in South Texas and has raised her little sister and orphaned nephew since her parents and older sister died. No wonder she can’t find time for romance.

When the Cowboy Rides Away by Molly Noble Bull opens two years after Maggie loses her family members. Out for a ride with her sister, she discovers Alex Lancaster, a handsome cowboy, shot and seriously wounded on her land. Kind-hearted and a Christian, Maggie nurses him back to health despite all her other chores. How could she know that Alex had a secret that could break her heart?

Please give us the first page of the book for my readers.  

Southern Texas

Early May 1880

Somebody was coming.

           

Maggie Gallagher slowed her sorrel mare. A small dust cloud hung over the north pasture like a puff of smoke. As she continued to eye the trail of sand and dust, it grew larger. 

           

She glanced back at her younger sister. “Hurry up, Sarah. A rider’s headed this way. See if you can get ole Short Legs to trot.” 

           

The little red-haired girl covered a yawn with the back of her hand. “I said I was coming.”

           

“Well, can you get that pony of yours to move a little faster? We need to go on out to the cemetery, leave our flowers, and rush right home. A caller will probably be waiting for us at the house when we get back.”

           

The main house was over a mile from the ranch cemetery and a mere twenty miles from the Gulf of Mexico—and it was almost always windy there. In fact wind and South Texas were like many married couples—together, but sometimes fighting.

           

The morning breeze felt cool on Maggie’s face, but that wouldn’t last long. By noon the temperature could reach 100 degrees. Her aunt often said that South Texas was the only spot on earth where the wind could be hot, even in the shade.

           

She loosened the bow under her chin and pushed back her blue-flowered bonnet. She might as well sit back in the saddle and enjoy herself. It was obvious Sarah was in no hurry. 

           

Maggie thought about the dust cloud she’d seen. She wasn’t expecting visitors. But since company appeared to be on the way, she hoped it was Roger. He’d said he might ride into town. On the way back to his place, he often stopped by the Gallagher Ranch to leave Maggie the mail he picked up for her, and she was hoping for a letter from Aunt Violet. 

***

He’d watered his horse in a creek with only a trickle of water in it and crossed a bridge. Now, Alex Lancaster guided his black stallion through thick brush, leaving a trail of dust and sand behind. He had to find Dee. Until he did, nothing else mattered.

           

But his horse needed rest. The animal wouldn’t hold up much longer without it, and he’d pushed him relentlessly since he rode north from the border, stopping at creeks and lakes when he found them, sleeping and then moving on again. 

           

Now he wasn’t sure exactly where he was. The entry gate said Ranch Headquarters, One Mile, but it didn’t include the name of the ranch.

He thought the ranch he was searching for was at least fifty or so miles north of here, but as long as he was in the area, he might as well stop and check. At the least he could water his horse again, and maybe the ranch owner would give him directions.

How can readers find you on the Internet?

My web address is http://www.mollynoblebull.com and my blog at Writers Rest is

http://writersrest.blogspot.com

To find When the Cowboy Rides Away at Amazon, click

http://bit.ly/cowboyrides 

To find The Secret Place, click http://bit.ly/secretplacebook.

Thanks for the opportunity to do this interview, Lena, and for introducing me to all your wonderful friends.

I love hosting you, Molly, and letting my readers know about the featured book.

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