Curtiss Ann Matlock

Apr 26

The hill on this cover is the hill on the small ranch where we lived in Oklahoma. Yes, that's me.

The Loves of Ruby Dee

A wonderful antidote to glitz romance. Ruby Dee is so sweet, so loving, so wise, that you know she’ll get it right in the end, and you stay with her all the way to make sure she does. ~Detroit Free Press, on The Loves of Ruby Dee.

From the Author’s Note in The Loves of Ruby Dee:
The stories I write spring from my strong beliefs: in the beauty and endurance of the land and of those who work the land, in horses and pickup trucks and in boots and blue jeans, and in the hope that tomorrow is going to be a better day. I like to mix in a little mischief–maybe a lot of mischief–and add a touch of country blues, such as found in the songs of Mary Chapin Carpenter, Kathy Mattea, John Berry, Don Williams, and Patty Loveless (my favorite singers), to name a few. If you like all those things, you might enjoy this book. If you don’t enjoy this book, find one you can. A good book lets us escape our lives, and gives us heart to live them, too.

I wrote that introduction in 1996, when The Loves of Ruby Dee was first published. I smile at reading it now. Little has changed in my attitude and the things I find valuable in life on earth.

Blessings,
CurtissAnn

Apr 20

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If Wishes Were Horses

“It was not so much her husband dying in another woman’s bed that had sent her into shock, but his dying at all. Roy had been only thirty-five years old, and while he had been in many a woman’s bed, he had never died on her before.”

With comic invention and warm tenderness, Matlock brings a time and place to life: windswept Oklahoma of the 1950s, prohibition, bush-track horse racing–and a man and woman who discover hope in new beginnings, and the tender promise of love.

If Wishes Were Horses tells the story of Etta Rivers, who is left grief-stricken, humiliated, and pregnant when her husband dies. With creditors taking things right and left, Etta is in danger of losing the only home she has ever known.

On the day of her husband’s funeral, a new man enters her life – Johnny Bellah, a broken ex-rodeo cowboy with a lame leg, who comes presenting an IOU from Roy. In lieu of payment, which Etta cannot pay, Johnny accepts a room in the barn and the use of the ranch facilities to train horses for customers. It is the beginning of a tentative relationship, one in which Etta and Johnny set out to see if they can train a winning horse, and find themselves helping each other.

* * * * *

If I have one fault as a writer –and I’m not admitting to any faults, but I might admit to a tendency– it is to be wordy. I think it is a trait of being Southern and fascination with details and what belongs to us. Southerners talk slow, but some of us talk a lot at times. And I can’t seem to see things without a bit of humor, even the darkest of subjects. I find people just pretty funny. I do a lot of explaining because of this.

I did at one time write genre romances, and I got caught up in the romances that were so popular at the time about cowboys. Only, I knew real cowboys, and let me just say I have never in my life met a real cowboy who would put a woman above his horse. It is always the ‘next’ horse, too, with a cowboy. They’ll have a horse that they are sure is a ‘winner’, and they’ll have it for a year, but come spring, they will already have spied another one that’s better by far. I find this a rather dear trait, actually, a sign of perpetual hope, which is a good way to live.

Knowing all of this, the cowboys in my books are always a little different. Yes, the way I want them to be, but the way they are, too. Isn’t that how each of see the people around us?

~blessings,
CurtissAnn

“You won’t find millionaires or supermodels between the pages of If Wishes Were Horses. Oh no. This is something far more valuable: real romance, between people so genuine they could be our neighbors.” ~ Cathy Sova, The Romance Reader

“There is something magical about this story of second chances, and the power of a woman’s heart.” ~ Ionia Martin, Top 500 Reviewer, Amazon.

You can read more about the writing of If Wishes Were Horses here.

Apr 15

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The Gardens in Springtime–Garden Bloggers Bloom Day!

Spring has come to South Alabama, and I plunge into a sort of gluttony, grasping far more than I can afford in time and energy to plant and transfer and tend, a lot of triage gardening, and the forced practice of balance. My method is to work outside until I cannot stand it anymore and have to take time to write and read, and when things get really out of control in the kitchen, I clean. I’ve actually picked up hens and put them in a few garden spots to weed for me. They do a great, if careless job. We’re having many a night of hotdogs and beans for supper. I would like to remember that spring does this to me, so I can prepare myself.

St. Joseph’s Lily. My first, and it is grand. I’ve read it is hardy. We shall expect the best from it.

Ajuga is a magical plant. Do you believe it–I’ve read the description of the ajuga flower as being of no consequence. Not to me!

Louisiana Iris, had them several years, and this is the first they’ve bloomed, thanks to abundant rain this season. I have deep purple one’s too.

Homestead verbena. The fragrance is a delight, and the blooms lasting in a vase.

They come up like magic. These showed up between the ponds three years ago. I thought the sword leaves must be some sort of weed, but they were pretty. Then I began having these sprout in various places around the yard. I learned here on GBBD that they were heirloom gladiola plants. Each year the group has gotten larger between the ponds, and this year they are blooming like crazy, to my heart’s delight.