Blog Tour: Interview, Excerpt & Giveaway — Pat Henshaw – Foothills Pride Vol. 2

A warm Love Bytes welcome to author Pat Henshaw joining us today to talk about her new release “Foothills Pride Vol 2”.
Pat kindle answered some of our questions and she brought a giveaway which partly is only for our readers!
Welcome Pat 🙂

The second half of Pat Henshaw’s Foothills Pride series is finally coming out in print – four of her stories in one volume:

During the recession at the beginning of the 21st century, many gays and lesbians moved from the San Francisco Bay Area and Sacramento to the Sierra Foothills. FLAG (Foothills Lesbians and Gays) was formed. This series was written for them.

The influx of San Francisco Bay Area gays is now commonplace in Stone Acres, California. But that means big city problems—much to the dismay of long-time residents of the small community.

In Relative Best, Zeke Bandy’s hotel becomes a haven for a battered youth. Native American Vic Longbow, who escaped a similarly brutal upbringing, comes face-to-face with it at Zeke’s place. With trouble surrounding them, can Zeke and Vic find their own peace and love?

On the outside, hardware store owner Frank McCord is the town’s bachelor handyman in Frank at Heart. Inside, he’s pining for true love, particularly the regard of software designer Christopher Darling. But recently divorced Christopher isn’t looking for another husband.

Country contractor Ben in Waking the Behr has always believed he’s heterosexual…until he meets city entrepreneur Mitch O’Shea. Mitch never thought he’d settle down with a guy from the country. Can a gay city mouse and a sexually confused country mouse find love?

When UC Davis horticulture grad Fen Miller agrees to help out in his cousin’s nursery over Christmas, he rents a room in sous chef John Barton’s Victorian house. John, another shorter than average man, catches Fen’s interest. But John’s past comes back to threaten them both in Short Order.

Dreamspinner Press 

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If you had the opportunity to live one year of your life over again, which year would you choose, and why?

 

I would choose to live the year I married my first husband. He and I married right before I graduated from the University of Nebraska with a Master’s degree and moved to Houston to work at the Alley Theater. What would I change? I wouldn’t marry him. I think my life would have proceeded exactly the same since I met my current husband at the Houston Post where we both worked for the same editor. So I don’t think I would have missed anything but a year of heartache, which would be fine by me.

 

If you were stuck on a desert island all alone with only three things, what would they be?

 

Food, shelter, and my Kindle with a solar charger. I’d need a source of good, nourishing food that wouldn’t kill me and be easy to recognize as such like coconuts, berries, something with protein, and filtered water, maybe through a stream. Then I’d need something that could be used as shelter that I didn’t have to build myself. I’d be okay with making clothes from native plants, but the bigger construction? No, I’d need to have it ready-made. And finally, even though I’m pretty good at making up my own stories, I’d have to have the Kindle with my favorite books and some music on it. And to keep the Kindle running, I’d need the solar charger. But I count that as one unit.

 

Tell me one thing hardly anyone knows about you.

 

I’ve talked to some pretty amazing people as a writer. At the Houston Chronicle, I ran into Jody Foster in the bathroom when she was a teenager publicizing the movie Bugsy Malone. I’ve interviewed Caroll Spinney, who is Big Bird and Oscar the Grouch on Sesame Street, and the actor Sam Neill. I also interviewed Liberace. When I was the television editor at a D.C. newspaper, I talked to Scott Rasmussen, a man who had a crazy idea about starting a television channel dedicated to sports broadcasting, which became ESPN. I worked with Bill Hinds and Jeff Millar, creators of the comic strip Tank Macnamara, which was called Jock Strip originally. And finally, I sat next to Supreme Court Justice Byron “Whizzer” White at dinner one night. Talk about having a wonderful life! That’s been mine.

 

Were you a voracious reader as a child?

 

Absolutely. I read everything I could get my hands on when I was a kid, and that includes the World Book Encyclopedia my dad bought for our family. I also read through my dad’s Ed McBain mystery books. Anyone who wants to build a vocabulary should read McBain/Evan Hunter. Then as a high school student, I worked as a page in my local branch library where I took home almost as many books as I shelved! I’m still a voracious reader to this day.

 

What action would your name be if it were a verb?

 

My name is a verb! It means “touch quickly and gently with the flat of the hand” or “a light blow especially with the hand or a flat instrument”. According to Merriam-Webster, the first known use of the word was in 1578 and it’s origin and etymology are “Middle English patte, probably of imitative origin”. My favorite book to give new parents is Pat the Bunny for obvious reasons. If you understand all of this and agree with what a great name it is, you’ve earned a pat on the head.

From Relative Best:“I want to thank everyone for coming out tonight. You’ve been a great audience.” The couple at the center table looked up at me with almost identical grins. Despite this being an extra gig in a very busy week, I’d enjoyed playing for their bachelor party—even if it made me feel my loneliness more sharply.

“I’ll leave the happy couple with these words from an old Native American chief who, if he was smart, said them to his other half: ‘I will fight no more forever.’” I raised my glass of water and shouted over the noisy crowd, “To Sammy and Ned—may they have a long, happy, peaceful life together!”

The raucous audience at Stonewall Saloon whooped and hollered through my words and got even louder after my last sentence. Rising from their seats, Sammy and Ned raised their clasped hands like boxers who’d won a particularly hard bout but now were on their way to a great wedding.

As they gushed about how happy they were that everybody could make it to their wedding, I started to pack up my banjo and guitars. Tonight I’d left the fiddle backstage because I was so tired. I’d been burning too many candles from both ends. After locking away the instruments in the storeroom and breaking down the mic and the amps, I caught the end of Sammy’s speech.

“If you enjoyed Zeke Bandy’s guitar and banjo playing, remember he’s here at Stonewall Thursday and Friday nights. We’re honored to have him play at our wedding.”

When the crowd cheered, I stood, turned, and waved to the fifty or sixty bobbing heads on the other side of the stage. Whistles and catcalls joined the shouts and cheers. I had my fans and a lot of regulars in the audience.

“See ya tomorrow, Red! I love you!” some drunk yelled, and the crowd cheered louder.

“Oh, cut it out, guys! You’re making me blush.” And they were, with all their yells and waves and hoots and hollers.

A cry went up about more beer from one side of the room, and the night proceeded like all the others when I played. Attention spans flew out the window as the beer and hard drinks flowed.

Completely sober, I put away the rest of the equipment and shut off the power on the platform that bar owner Guy Stone had designated as a stage.

Jimmy Patterson, Stone’s significant other and owner of Penny’s coffee shops here in Stone Acres, California, waved at me as I returned to the barroom from the storage area in the back.

“I got a table!” He was trying to shout over the noise.

As I limped toward him, men slapped me on the back and told me how much they enjoyed my playing. I kept moving, even though guys tried to stop me and give me requests for Thursday night. One guy even grabbed my face and kissed me, which would have been really flattering, even hot, if he hadn’t stopped, stared at me, and said, “You’re not Tom.”

I turned to walk away, only to hear him shout, “Red, you’re cuter than Tom.” I didn’t turn back but heard him yelp like he’d been hit.

I ended up sitting at a big table in the corner of the drinking area with a decent view of the tiny new dance floor. At the table with Jimmy sat four guys—flamboyant designer Fredi Zimmer and his husband, staid, reliable Max Greene, both of whom I knew fairly well, and two guys I didn’t know.

My eyes were drawn to the one who had strong cheekbones, long blue-black hair, and vibrant adobe-colored skin. He could easily have been a poster boy for the California Native American Heritage Commission. If I could pick a guy to kiss me unexpectedly, he’d be my choice. The libido I thought dead from overwork rose from its grave.

While the guys wrangled over who was paying for the next round, I took in the other man to the left of my preferred eye candy. This guy flaunted nearly white-blond hair, startling blue eyes, and a California tan, like the ultimate surfer dude. He did nothing for me, but I appreciated the effect he’d probably have on a lot of other guys here tonight.

I could easily see the humor in the three of us sitting at the same table, though. Considering I’ve got bright red hair, porcelain white skin with a thick spattering of freckles, and cornflower blue eyes, this table covered a large portion of the rainbow.

Jimmy introduced us while he partially stood to get Stone’s attention. “Zeke, these are two of the groomsmen, Vic Longbow and Hayden Weller. Zeke Bandy.”

Both of them nodded, a nod I returned.

“Hey, man. Nice pickin’ up there.” Hayden, the beach god, waved his nearly empty glass of beer at me.

“Thanks.” I never knew what to say when someone complimented me after a performance. While part of me was floating on the post-performance high, the rest of me was critiquing what I’d done and what I’d like to do over.

“Are you recorded?” Vic’s voice was low and soothing, the kind of sound that oddly created a center of calm in the middle of the barroom noise. I gladly stepped into the peace and took a deep breath.

I looked down, fleetingly taking in the scarred tabletop, and balanced momentarily on the pinpoint of serenity Vic had presented me.

“No, no recordings. I haven’t ever had the time or energy.” I shrugged. I owned and ran the historical hotel in downtown Stone Acres. When was there time to record?

“Where do you get the songs? Are they yours?” Vic was focused on me so much that the rest of the table dimmed.

“No. God, no. They’re all old tunes that have been knocking around forever, mostly by bluegrass and folk groups. I take it you don’t listen to this kind of sound?”

He smiled. “You’ve opened up a whole new door for me, and I can’t wait to explore what’s inside this new music room.”

His look caressed me enough that my dick perked, and suddenly I dared to believe my dream of finding a boyfriend and possibly a husband wasn’t as nebulous as I’d always thought. If someone this fine could look at my skinny ginger self and respond even half as much as he was, I was on the right path. I grinned at him and he at me.

Yeah, he was too hot for me with his high cheekbones and exotic hair, but I could practice on him and dream, right?

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Pat Henshaw, author of the Foothills Pride Stories, has spent her life surrounded by words: Teaching English composition at the junior college level; writing book reviews for newspapers, magazines, and websites; helping students find information as a librarian; and promoting PBS television programs.

Pat was born and raised in Nebraska where she promptly left the cold and snow after college, living at various times in Texas, Colorado, Northern Virginia, and Northern California. Pat enjoys travel, having visited Mexico, Canada, Europe, Nicaragua, Thailand, and Egypt, and Europe, including a cruise down the Danube.

Her triumphs are raising two incredible daughters who daily amaze her with their power and compassion. Fortunately, her incredibly supportive husband keeps her grounded in reality when she threatens to drift away while writing fiction.

Author Website: http://patbooked.blogspot.com

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