Tatia Talbot: Western Historical Romance Writer

When I first set about designing this website, I wanted to create a place that reflected my personality and my novels, a place that blended seriousness with humor, dignity with frivolity, and ruggedly romantic stories of the American west with a light, bantering tone. For those of you that know me, the dichotomies make sense. For those of you that don't, I hope you feel welcome nonetheless.

I believe that love can bloom in any time period, in any country, and during any season. When a woman and man are destined to be together, neither location nor year can dilute the power of their love story. (Except perhaps for those set in beastly hot summers during periods of low bathing frequency.) That heady rush of attraction, the first glancing touch, and the thrill of a first kiss before falling headlong into love is a universally satisfying journey I've traveled through books time and time again. But for me, somehow, the journey becomes magic when set in the raw, uncivilized towns and ranches of the American frontier.

In the rough-and-tumble land of John Wayne and Mae West, good triumphs over evil. Outlaws and drifters find redemption. Women are simultaneously feminine and fiercely independent. They can dress in men's clothes and tackle men's issues without apology. Justice is worth fighting for, even if someone ends up dead, and the hero always comes out on top. A man's pedigree and wealth won't mean squat if his character is rotten, and his survival demands honor, integrity, and loyalty. In the American west of my favorite stories, ordinary people become extraordinary, their mettle tested by adversity and their fight to thrive in a harsh, unsettled land.

It is amid the rugged mountains and lawless territories of Colorado, Montana, and Idaho that I set my historical romances. My most recent novel, LILY'S OUTLAW, is a 2008 Golden Heart finalist in the Romance Writers of America's annual contest for unpublished writers.