Please join us in welcoming author Tara Lain today, on the tour for her newest DSP release, Cowboys Don’t Ride Unicorns.
Welcome, Tara!
What You Always Wanted to Know about Unicorns!
Hi! I’m so happy to be here at The Novel Approach today celebrating the release of Cowboys Don’t Ride Unicorns, my first book about a bull rider and my first book about a unicorn! LOL. Maybe not an actual unicorn, although my guys are horny devils, but my hero Danny feels that my other hero Laurie is as rare as a unicorn — a beautiful femme guy who likes to top!
So I thought I’d share a few facts about unicorns that you’ve always wanted to know!
- People originally thought that the cave drawings from Lascaux France, dating from 15,000 BCE, showed a unicorn. It turned out to be a creature with two horns very close together.
- Greek historian Ctesias from the 5th century BCE does in fact describe a unicorn as having a multi-colored horn and treats it as absolute fact.
- Marco Polo described the unicorns he saw as very ugly brutes. Apparently, he was watching rhinoceroses.
- The King James version of the Bible mentions unicorns nine times, due to a mistranslation of the Hebrew word for a species of wild ass.
- The legend says that a unicorn horn can counteract poison and purify water.
- Narwhals were often been killed for their single tooth, which were sold as counterfeit unicorn horns.
- At the height of their popularity, unicorn horns were worth staggering sums. A so-called unicorn horn was sold to the pope in 1560 for over $20,000, an unimaginable sum in that day.
- During the Middle Ages, the idea of a virgin’s power over a unicorn was first put forth.
Over the years, the unicorn has slipped into legend, but the unicorn remains a symbol of beauty, purity and rarity. I hope you’ll enjoy my lovely unicorn. Below is a nibble from the new book.
About the Book
Cowboy Danny Boone—a name he made up one drunken night and has regretted ever since—harbors a big past and yearns for a small future. A short, bright career as a champion bull rider almost ended in his death when his homophobic father discovered Danny was gay. Now Danny longs for a plot of land he can build a ranch house on and enough money to make up for some of the education he missed.
Danny also hides a preference for beautiful femmes who like to top—a combo rarer than a unicorn. Then onto the guest ranch where Danny works drives San Francisco decorator Laurie Belmont, a young man so gorgeous he makes horses gasp, and so ballsy he almost kills Danny’s attacker.
Laurie’s trying to find his way out from under the thumb of a domineering mother, helpless father, and rich, privileged boyfriend.
But no matter the attraction, their lives are worlds apart, and cowboys don’t ride unicorns.
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Excerpt
They all shot the breeze for a few minutes. Weirdly, the banter with a bunch of bull riders should have relaxed him, but he kept getting antsier. When two of the men started arm wrestling, Maury leaned over. “You feelin’ okay to ride, Danny?”
“Yeah. Doc gave me a clean bill.”
“You sure? Maybe another week off would be good.”
Danny mustered a grin. “Getting’ rid of the competition?”
“No.” He snorted. “Well, yeah, but I don’t think you should ride when you’re hurt.”
“I’m okay. Really.” He stared at his hands.
Lots of noise coming from the arena now, cheering and yelling. Maury nodded. “You’ll be up soon.”
Lorenzo asked, “What bull did you draw, Danny?”
Danny released a slow exhale. “Scorpion.”
“No way. Who has bad enough luck to draw Scorpion twice in a month?”
“That would be me.”
Maury mumbled, “Shit.”
Danny nodded. “Yeah. Bull—shit.”
Okay, here goes. He stood and grabbed his gear.
Maury gripped his arm. “I really think you oughta reconsider—”
Danny heard an intake of breath from Lorenzo, who sat on Maury’s right. Danny glanced at the man’s face. He stared past Danny looking like he’d seen—what? In fact, all the guys were staring
Danny followed their line of sight. Holy shit.
There stood Laurie between Danny and the bull chutes. Black shiny boots, skin-tight black jeans tucked in, a black turtleneck jersey, and the pink mane hanging on his shoulders. Shining in the middle of his chest was the unicorn charm. Half angel, half dominatrix.
Danny glanced at the men around the table, who’d all turned to stone. Clearly no man in the arena had ever seen anything quite like Laurie. Hell, who had?
“Uh, hi, Laurie. For a guy who hates rodeos, you sure show up at a lot of them. How’d you get here?”
“Drove.”
“No, I mean why’d you come here?”
“You wouldn’t return my fucking calls.”
“I didn’t think there was anything to say.” He flicked his eyes toward the cowboys who all stared like this was their own soap opera.
Laurie held out a slip of paper. Danny stepped forward and took it. A cashier’s check for eighteen thousand dollars.
“Your dad sold the business?”
“It’s in progress.”
A young cowboy rushed up. “Danny. You need to get in the chute.”
Laurie said, “No!”
The guy looked at him like he was crazy. “Come on, Danny.”
Laurie put his hands on his hips. “Danny Boone, you’re not getting on that fucking bull. You’re not healed. It’s too dangerous. You don’t need the money anymore.”
Somebody said, “Who the hell is this guy?”
A voice whispered, “Looks like a fag to me.”
Maury’s voice came from behind him. “Shut the fuck up if you want to keep on living!” Then he said, “Listen to him, Danny. You need to pay attention to the people who care about you.”
Laurie glanced at Maury and nodded, then looked back at Danny.
Danny just swallowed. Cared about him? Maybe. But it didn’t change shit. He cleared his throat. “Why didn’t you just mail the money?”
“Because I called the ranch and heard about this fucking suicide mission, and I wasn’t going to let you do it without a fight.
The young cowboy pulled on Danny’s arm. “Come on.”
Laurie stared, narrow-eyed.
Danny yanked his arm back. “So you drove here just to stop me?”
“Yes. And to give you the money so you’d know you don’t have to be crazy.”
He gritted his teeth. “I don’t want Grove’s fucking money.”
Laurie scowled. “How do you figure this is his money?”
“Community property.” He spit the words out.
The crease between Laurie’s brows deepened. “I’m not marrying Grove.”
“Since when?”
“Since ever. If you hadn’t run off like an adolescent martyr, you’d have heard me turn him down.”
“Danny! You gotta come now.” The kid looked frantically over his shoulder.
Danny stared at that beautiful face. The L word. L—for Laurie.
About the Author
Tara Lain writes the Beautiful Boys of Romance in LGBT erotic romance novels that star her unique, charismatic heroes. Her first novel was published in January of 2011 and she’s now somewhere around book 36. Her best-selling novels have garnered awards for Best Series, Best Contemporary Romance, Best Paranormal Romance, Best Ménage, Best LGBT Romance, Best Gay Characters, and Tara has been named Best Writer of the Year in the LRC Awards. In her other job, Tara owns an advertising and public relations firm. She often does workshops on both author promotion and writing craft. She lives with her soul-mate husband and her soul-mate dog near the sea in California where she sets a lot of her books. Passionate about diversity, justice, and new experiences, Tara says on her tombstone it will say “Yes”!
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