My Blog

 Leslie Hachtel

Leslie Hachtel was born in Ohio, raised in New York and has
been a gypsy most of her adult life.  Her various jobs, including licensed
veterinary technician, caterer, horseback riding instructor for the disabled
and advertising media buyer have given her a wealth of experiences.

However, it has been writing that has consistently been her
passion. She sold an episode of a TV show, had a screenplay optioned and has so
far produced five novels, including three historicals. “Texas
Summer”, her contemporary, is now available as an e-book and in print on
all major book sites. Her second historical, “The Defiant Bride”, is also
available as an e-book and in print. “Captain’s Captive” will be published by
Black Opal Books this year. And “Hannah’s War” was just contracted to
Eternal Press.

Leslie lives in Cordova, Tennessee with a fabulously
supportive engineer husband, a wonderful stepson, Matt and her writing buddy,
Jakita, a terrier.

Blurb for “The Defiant Bride”

Furious at being used as a political pawn, the Lady Dariana
defies King Henry VII by faking her own death to avoid marrying a man she has
never met. Praying the king will not retaliate against her father, she seeks
refuge in the forest and learns to fend for herself.  When William, a
warrior knight, is felled by an arrow, she saves his life and arranges his
rescue before fleeing to avoid discovery.

William awakes from his injury to be told he imagined the
beautiful woman in the forest. Besotted and determined to make her his own, he
hunts her down and tricks her into marrying him, intent on turning her defiance
into love. But even as he begins to succeed, their enemies join forces to end
the marriage—even if it means that Dariana must die.

When Dariana is abducted, William must track her down to
fight for her life and their happiness. And, Dariana, once the most defiant of
brides, must channel her own strength of will into survival, both for
herself—and for the child she now carries.

              

The Defiant Bride   Amazon buy link  http://amzn.to/1AM6jNj 

Texas Summer    Amazon buy link  http://amzn.to/1EXruLK  

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Twitter: @lesliehachtel

Lisa
Medley

 

Every story has a genesis. Something that sparks the
imagination and begins the what-if process. For Space Cowboys &
Indians that spark was an NPR (National Public Radio) story I
listened to in my car one morning as I was driving for my day job.

You can read the story here: When Science Beats Fiction courtesy of NPR

The gist of it is that after 10 years and 4 billion miles, a
probe called Rosetta was about to harpoon a comet, and then place Philae (an
exploratory lander) onto that comet. What? What? What?

Space?! Comets?! HARPOONS?!

What is this? The Wild West?

I was hooked. Of course, the writerly wheels began to spin,
and I sped down the Google rabbit hole. I followed the Rosetta lander and the
exploration of comet 67P. You can too. There are several stories here at

NPR:http://www.npr.org/templates/search/index.php?searchinput=rosetta 

You can Google Rosetta or Philae or Comet
67P and find more than you could dream of. The Rosetta Probe even has
a Twitter account. https://twitter.com/ESA_Rosetta 

I incorporated a few
of the real-life details into Space Cowboys & Indians,
then tweaked them to my liking. Instead of a comet, my astronaut explorers are
commissioned by a space profiteer intent on mining an asteroid called Amun,
reportedly rich in precious metals and other resources. The first to reach the
asteroid and mine its resources is sure to enjoy a financial boon that’s never
been seen before opening the last frontier up the prospecting of
near-Earth asteroids far surpassing to the California gold rush.

Want to read more?  Sign up for my New release Newsletter so
you don’t miss out! http://wwpurl.com/9Zhcz 

Space Cowboys & Indians is available on Amazon now.  http://amzn.to/1ZFLrOV

How can the chance of a lifetime go so horribly wrong?

Mining Engineer Cole Hudson signed up for NASA astronaut
training, but after washing out short of getting his gold wings, he retreats to
Alaska where he stakes out a gold claim. When billionaire
entrepreneur Duncan Janson offers him an opportunity to join a mining team on
an asteroid, Cole jumps at the chance.

But nothing is as it seems. Former NASA reject and rival
classmate, Tessa Hernandez, is also a member of the team, and from the
beginning of the mission test flight, things go wrong. They soon discover
they’re not the only ones on the asteroid. As they try to escape, they are
pulled through a wormhole and back to the early 1800s New Mexico desert where
aliens and Apaches may be the least of their problems.

Lisa has always
enjoyed reading about monsters in love and now she writes about them, because
monsters need love too.

She adores beasties of all sorts, fictional as well as real, and has a farm
full of them in her Southwest Missouri home, including: one child, one husband,
two dogs, two cats, a dozen hens, thousands of Italian bees, and a guinea
pig.

She may or may not keep a complete zombie apocalypse bug-out bag in her trunk
at all times, including a machete. Just. In. Case.

The Last Word From Tierney James
I would love for you to drop by and say hello at Park Central Library August 7th 5:30-8:00 in Springfield, Missouri. 


Missouri Historical Society in Columbia, Missouri August 15th


If you are in Oklahoma, Missouri, Illinois or Arkansas I would love to be your next speaker for a community event or writer’s group. I’m sure we have a lot in common.