Fact to Fiction, Guest Post by Paty Jager

Fact to Fiction, Guest Post by Paty Jager

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Guest Post by Paty Jager

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I’m always on the lookout for premises for my historical western stories, so when I read the book- Oregon Outlaws by Gary and Gloria Meier, a story in the book caught my attention. First because it happened in the county where I grew up, and second it seemed like the perfect type of miracle story that went with Christmas.

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Dave Tucker was a young man who grew up in Wallowa Valley, Oregon and made friends with the wrong people. They talked him into helping them rob the First Bank of Joseph. During the get-a-way several, including Tucker (who lost a thumb and finger) were wounded and captured. Only one man with a money bag got away and was never caught.

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Tucker pleaded guilty to bank robbery and was sentenced to seven years in the Oregon State Penitentiary in Salem. He served over four years of his sentence working in the prison shops and mail office. Being a model prisoner he was released and returned to Wallowa Valley to face his family and friends and rebuild his life.

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Twenty-seven years after his release from prison Dave Tucker became the vice-president of the very bank he’d robbed.

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This story intrigued me so much, I set up a similar situation in my novella, Christmas Redemption. My hero, Van Donovan was younger, fifteen, and rebelling from a strict father. His job was the lookout for the robbery. Only one man was killed, a bystander, and the outlaws got away with the money leaving Van to go to prison. Which is another plot line in the story. 😉

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Van doesn’t return and become the bank president, but he does return with a trade, boot making, and to make amends with his family.

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Only upon his return, Van learns the fate of the wife and daughter of the innocent man killed during the robbery. His guilty conscience pushes him to help the daughter, and he discovers the strong-willed young woman squatting in the building he purchased for his boot making shop is one and the same.

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While Van is hardened from his belief his family never contacted him while he was in prison because they were disappointed him, he has a benevolent side that reaches out to anyone in need. And a toughness he learned from his father as well as defending himself in the prison.

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You can find Christmas Redemption and nine other historical western romance Christmas novellas in Silver Belles and Stetsons. [Silver Belles and Stetsons might be in your library! The bundle was discontinued, as planned. Please look for our titles individually.]

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Silver Belles and Stetsons: Ten Western Romance Christmas Novellas Available as a boxed set for $.99 for a limited time.

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Bestselling and Award-Winning Authors bring you ten western romance novellas featuring alpha-cowboys from the past. This boxed set will take you back in time when men were rugged and handsome and the women who loved them, courageous and daring.

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The Greatest Gift: A Montana Cowboy Christmas by Kathleen Ball, Amazon Bestselling and Award- Winning Author. Looking for the man who ran out on her, Ginger finds a cowboy worthy of love but he doesn’t want or need love.

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Catherine’s Cowboy by Cait Braxton, Amazon Bestselling and Award-Winning Author. During a supernatural dust storm, Fate steps in when rugged army tracker Elam helps Catherine deliver her child.

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Stone Mountain Christmas by Caroline Clemmons, Amazon Bestselling and Award-Winning Author. Can Celia restore the town’s Christmas spirit? “A beautifully written story about love and hope and all the emotions Christmas brings out in people.” Karren Lucas

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Angel and the Texan from County Cork by Carra Copelin,  Amazon Bestselling and Award-Winning Author. Does Angel trust marriage to the man she suspects of killing her husband or the stranger who promises to pay off her debt and set her free if she decides their marriage of convenience won’t work?

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The Drifter’s Proposal by Kristin Holt, USA Today Bestselling Author. The baker’s man is home for Christmas… “Compelling. Heartwarming. Tender.” ~Diane Darcy, USA Today Bestselling Author

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The Perfect Gift by Lyn Horner. Friendship has blossomed into young love, but it seems destined to die on the vine…until an unexpected Christmas gift promises happiness.

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Marshal Mistletoe by Susan Horsnell. She married the wrong man. Will fate intervene?

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Christmas Redemption by Paty Jager, Amazon Bestselling and Award-Winning Author. Can two battered hearts find solace or will the past continue to haunt their lives? “A story of forgiveness that has a wonderful hero who has worked hard to redeem himself.”

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A Hard Candy Christmas by Hebby Roman, Amazon Bestselling Author. Two damaged souls. Can their budding love and the healing power of Christmas bring them together?

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Cowboy Christmas by Margaret Tanner. Will a miracle Christmas baby unite two tortured souls, or will it forever keep them apart?

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BUY LINKS: Amazon

Award-winning author Paty Jager and her husband raise alfalfa hay in rural eastern Oregon. On her road to publication she wrote freelance articles for two local newspapers and enjoyed her job with the County Extension service as a 4-H Program Assistant. Raising hay and cattle, riding horses, and battling rattlesnakes, she not only writes the western lifestyle, she lives it.

All her work has Western or Native American elements in them along with hints of humor and engaging characters. Her penchant for research takes her on side trips that eventually turn into yet another story.

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You can learn more about Paty at

her blog; Writing into the Sunset

her website; http://www.patyjager.net

Facebook; https://www.facebook.com/pages/Paty-Jager/132536633482029

Newsletter: Paty’s Prattle: http://eepurl.com/1CFgX

Paty’s Posse: https://www.facebook.com/groups/402519373168442/?ref=bookmarks

Goodreads http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/1005334.Paty_Jager

twitter @patyjag.

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Updated June 2022
Copyright © 2015 Paty Jager
Fact to Fiction, Guest Post by Paty Jager

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