Thursday, March 16, 2023

Fun New Series

 



Hello everyone, Winnie Griggs here. I’m very excited to report that I’m participating in a fun new multi-author project. As most of you know, in addition to Seekerville, I’m also the member of another author blog, Petticoats & Pistols. The authors on that blog specialize in Western and Americana romance novels.

Late last summer we started kicking around the idea of doing a group of connected stories. But there's a lot of work that goes into setting up a project like this, especially when there are so many authors involved.

After some discussion to determine interest and availability a few of the members took the lead in developing a suitable premise. There were several iterations of this as the development team came back to the group with ideas and continued to refine them until in the end I think we landed on a very fun and exciting concept.

The series is called The Pink Pistol Sisterhood and is about - wait for it - a matchmaking pistol! 

Here's the setup for the series: A one-of-a-kind pink-handled pistol is gifted to Annie Oakley. The pistol comes with a legend, one promising that whoever possesses it will find true love. Annie passes the gun on to one of her students and sets the whimsical journey in motion as it passes from one heroine to another. 

Once the concept was decided there were many other parts and pieces to take care of. One of the members took the lead on the artwork, including the series logo, cover concept and the development of most of the covers themselves. Another member volunteered to help with the book formatting so that we had consistency throughout. A release schedule was determined and then we all had to figure out where we plugged into that. And then there was brainstorming around promo and marketing, release venue and pricing as well as wordcount targets. But in the end it all came together, thanks in big part to our fabulous core team: Pam Crooks, Karen Witemeyer, Shanna Hatfield, Jessie Gussman and Kari Trumbo. 

All told 11 of us were able to participate. All the books are sweet western romances, and they span the time period from 1893 to the current day. Some of the stories are historical, some are set mid-century, and some are contemporary, but the thread that binds them all together is the journey of the pink pistol and the loves and lives of the women it touches.

The books will release every ten days, starting on March 30th with Karen Witemeyer’s story In Her Sights and wrapping up on July 10th with Jessie Gussman’s book Pistol Perfect.

As a gift to our readers we've created set of magazines to go along with the series. There will be four in total and each will contain excerpts, puzzles, author interviews and lots of other fun content. Two of the magazines are already available and can be acquired via the links below. And note, these are free and  you can absolutely rest assured that you are NOT signing up for anyone’s list.




There is also a facebook reader group where we post behind the scenes info, celebrate good news, host release parties and just generally have fun. If you’re interested in joining here’s the link: Pink Pistol Sisterhood Reader Group

The participating authors, in order of release date, are: Karen Witemeyer, Shanna Hatfield, Cheryl Pierson, Kit Morgan, Kari Trumbo, yours truly, Linda Broday, Pam Crooks, Jeannie Watt, Julie Benson and Jessie Gussman

Mine is the sixth book in the series, the exact middle. Here is a little bit about it:

DISARMING HIS HEART

A sharpshooter hiding her identity. A preacher with a guilty past. Will secrets ruin their shot at love?

Violet, who performs in a traveling show as the mysterious Masked Marvel sharpshooter, has an accident that puts her arm in a sling. To maintain the mystery of her identity she secretly swaps places with her identical twin, a “townie” dressmaker, until it heals. Of course that means Violet also has to take on her sister's role as director of a children's church program. Before slipping out of town, her sister informs Violet that she’s sweet on Carson, the pastor and co-director of the children's program, so she’d appreciate it if Violet doesn’t mess anything up with him.

Carson became guardian to an orphaned eight-year-old six months ago and to his frustration he hasn’t been able to make any progress in building a relationship with the boy. It’s to the point where he’s begun to wonder if he’s even fit to be a pastor.

As Violet and Carson work together on the children’s program the attraction between them grows. But the knowledge of her sister’s feelings and guilt over her deception hold Violet back.

Little does she know that Carson is harboring guilty secrets of his own…


 My book isn’t yet available but I’ll be sure to let you know when it is
😊

This series uses a unique object as a connecting thread - a pistol with a pink mother-of-pearl handle - that is passed on from one person to the next. Do you have a special keepsake that was passed on to you? Tell us about it in the comments along with a note about what meaning it holds for you and you'll be entered in a drawing for one of my books. I'd also welcome any thoughts you might have on the Pink Pistol series itself.


20 comments:

  1. I'm so excited about this new series revolving around the pink pistol. Can't wait to start reading, just wish more of them were in paperback, as I do not have a kindle. I have a victorian glass slipper that my grandmother gave to me. She rec'd it as a small girl for Christmas around 1910 and I treasure it greatly, and will pass it on to my niece some day as a keepsake from her great grandmother.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Oh what a lovely keepsake that must be! I'm sure your niece will treasure it as much as you do.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Oh and FYI, several of us are planning to publish in paperback as well as eBook

      Delete
  3. What a creative idea! I love how the pistol allows so many different stories to be told from so many different perspectives in so many different time periods and still ties them together as a unit. Brilliant!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thank you! We're very pleased with how it all came together so that we could each play to our strengths.

      Delete
  4. Oh, my goodness, Winnie! This sounds like such a fun series. And I'm very intrigued by Violet's blurb. Keep us posted.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks Mindy! And you'll definitely be hearing more about this in the future :)

      Delete
  5. This sounds like a great series. It reminds me of the Wedding Veil Trilogy on Hallmark, which was also a book, that said whoever possessed the historic wedding veil would find true love.

    ReplyDelete
  6. oh my this sounds like an awesome book I'm going to have to add to my read pile.
    ABreading4fun@gmail.com

    ReplyDelete
  7. Winnie, I love the idea of a pink pistol and the love that blossoms for the owner! Great premise! Your book is filled with conflict! I'm wondering which twins gets the hero! And free magazines! You've thought of everything! Congrats!

    ReplyDelete
  8. Thanks Debby, this has been a really fun project to work on

    ReplyDelete
  9. Great post, Winnie! Sounds like a great series. How does the pistol get passed around from book to book? Or is that part of each story? Special keepsake: it's kind of silly, but when I first moved away from home years ago, my step-dad gave me a knife with a hand-carved handle. When my daughter moved out, I passed it on to her. At the time it was given to me, it wasn't that big a deal, but it was something special when I handed it to her.

    ReplyDelete
  10. Thanks Sally. Yes, the way the pistol is passed down differs from story to story. And what a unique keepsake! I'm surre your daughter treasures it.

    ReplyDelete
  11. This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.

    ReplyDelete
  12. Hi Winnie, I'm excited to see that you're a part of this new venture, and I love the concept of that pink pistol being passed on. I am the recipient of my paternal grandmother's treadle sewing machine that she used to make most of her family's clothes. You can only imagine how many items she made over the years for her 8 children and then her numerous grandchildren. I was one of the youngest of those grandchildren and I loved it when she sewed for me. One of my vivid memories is of the blouse and skirt that I proudly wore to school that she hade made out of feed sacks! My daddy was her youngest child and I received the sewing machine after my mother died a few years ago. It sits in my living room and is definitely a conversation starter!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Oh this definitely speaks to me. I also have the treadle sewing machine my grandmother used, in my case my maternal grandmother, and it is something I truly cherish.

      Delete
  13. I cant wait to start reading The Pink Pistol Series.Love the name of your group.I have a bracelet my dads came my mom Dec.21,1929 the day they hot married.My mom turned 18 that day.My dad was 20.Moms bracelet means a lot to me cause it was en to me on my16th birthday.Knowning the hard ships they went through makes me appericate it more .My dad died when I wa s 34my was from cancer my mom turned 94 Dec.21 2022

    ReplyDelete

If you have trouble leaving a comment, please "clear your internet cache" and try again. You can find this in your browser settings under "clear history."