Hey y’all! I’m here to chat about my newest release at Dreamspinner, an older story of mine that’s been out of print for too darned long! It’s called Sparkle and Shine, and it’s about rodeo cowboys Evan and Brooks, who are best friends who become lovers.
I’m a rodeo fan from way back. When I was little bitty, my mom would take us to the rodeo practice at NMSU in Las Cruces. I’ve been to tiny local rodeos and state championships, to the Professional Bullrider Finals in Vegas to the tiniest bullriding amateur show in Belton, TX.
Something weird always happens at the rodeo. Someone gets hurt, an animal tries to jump into the crowd, someone gets poop flung in their face…
My Top Five Weird Rodeo Moments
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- National Western Stock show in Denver, CO. There was a mounted drill team called the Westernaires doing a show, and two horses collided at top speed during a thread the needle maneuver. Both horses and both riders were okay, but man that was scary and I’ve never seen it but the once.
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- A horse had a heart attack in the arena at rodeo Austin. No kidding. Chad Cervi’s, who was a rodeo company owner and pick up man, was riding his horse after a bronc rider, and the horse collapsed. I know, it’s awful, but don’t be too sad for him. That horse was getting on up in age and he died doing what he loved rather than being retired to pasture. Never seen a cowboy vry o hard, though.
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- At a restaurant owned by famous PBR rider Guilherme Marchi, I got an entire tray of after dinner cordials dropped down my back. By Guilherme’s brother in law. I’ve never been surrounded by so many beautiful Brazilian men apologizing to me and hugging me… Uhn.
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- My wife and I were sitting at the Denver Stock show when the clown walks up to the rail in front of us, laughing into his microphone. The announcer asks him what plans he has for after the show and he points back and forth to me and BA and says, “Twins.” Now, I’m 5’9” and blonde. BA is 5’5” and dark. Twins. Lord.
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- The great bull escape. We were at a tiny bull riding event in Wimberley, TX, when a bull who had just been out for his 8 seconds escaped the gates and ran off into the parking lot. Man, he was mad. He was kicking all the way through all those big pick ups and setting off car alarms one after another… Two years later we were talking to an older roper who had been there that night and he said, “You know, they never did catch that bull…”
So many honorable mentions, but I’ll leave you with those!
XXOO
Julia Talbot
About the Book
All that glitters is not gold. No-frills cowboy Evan learned that lesson the hard way while married to a rodeo princess, a relationship that was all flash and no substance. At least Evan held on to his daughter, Cheyenne, and his best friend, Brooks, when the sparkle wore off and things fell apart. Life could be a lot worse.
But it could also be better… if Evan and Brooks took a step beyond friendship. Just as they start to explore their feelings, Evan’s ex-wife sticks her nose in to sabotage them. Suddenly everything is up in the air, and they have difficult choices to make about the rodeo, Cheyenne, and the romance they both want so badly to pursue
First edition published by Torquere Press, November 2007.
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About the Author
Stories that leave a mark. Julia Talbot loves romance across all the genders and genres, and loves to write about people working to see past the skin they’re in to love what lies beneath. Julia Talbot lives in the great mountain and high desert Southwest, where there is hot and cold running rodeo, cowboys, and everything from meat and potatoes to the best Tex-Mex. A full time author, Julia has been published by Dreamspinner and Changeling Press among many others. She believes that everyone deserves a happy ending, so she writes about love without limits, where boys love boys, girls love girls, and boys and girls get together to get wild, especially when her crazy paranormal characters are involved. She also writes BDSM and erotic romance as Minerva Howe. Find Julia at @juliatalbot on Twitter and Facebook, or at www.juliatalbot.com. “The mountains are calling, and I must go”
