**BLOG TOUR** THE RUBY QUEEN by Lori Beasley Bradley

Blog Tour:

The Ruby Queen

(The Soiled Dove Sagas Book 1)

by Lori Bradley

Apr 11th - Apr 20th

Mattie Wallace is rejected by her family and her community when she refuses to marry one brother because she loved the other. She is labeled a trollop and run out of town when she runs away with the brother she loves. He backs out after one night together on the road and returns Mattie to her parents, who turn her out.

While on the road with her meager possessions and little money, she meets Roxana North, a woman in the Trade. Mattie is impressed with Roxie's confidence, independence, and her lovely wardrobe. She is also impressed with the fact that Roxie is making her way in the world without having her life dictated by a man. She has her own money, she can travel when and where she pleases without the accompaniment of a husband, father or brother. She is an independent woman of means. Mattie joins Roxie on her way to a new and profitable life in the West where women are few and men will pay for the company of those who are. They make their way to Abilene Kansas, a cow town where cowboys spend their money on whiskey and women.

Mattie learns the ways of the women in the Trade and the hazards of the west where she becomes The Ruby Queen.

 "Good job, Red," Roxie told her as she started to help her up.

     Mattie was surprised at the difference in size between the two men. When she thought about it though, men were no different from women. She had much larger breasts than her sister or her mother. It would stand to reason that different men would have different sized things.

    Mattie wiped her mouth on her sleeve and tried to rise to get back into her seat, but the coach was going over a rough patch in the road, bouncing around so much she almost fell into Oliver's lap. He caught her and helped her to sit.

    "Thank y... Thank you," she stammered, but was much too embarrassed to look the man in the eyes.

    "Oh, no, thank you, Miss Mattie." He took out another little cigar and lit it.

    "Here Red." Roxie handed her one of the rock candies. "It will help to get the taste out of your mouth."

    Mattie popped the candy, a peppermint into her mouth and let it do its job. She closed her eyes, leaned her head back on the seat, and wondered.

    How could I have just done such a horrendous thing? Maybe I just a filthy trollop after all.

    I'm going to have to make a living somehow. Aren't I? She and Walt had enjoyed one another and it hadn't been bad at all. This wasn't too terrible and the men paid them a dollar for it. Fifty cents had been the cost of this stage ride. Fifty cents would buy a basket full of dry goods at the mercantile, and fifty cents would buy enough cotton fabric to make a dress. With a dollar I could buy Momma a whole set of iron skillets.

    All of this ran through Mattie's mind as she felt the coach slowing to a stop. She heard the high-pitched squealing of water birds and smelled the aroma of fish. They must be at the ferry crossing.

I was born and raised in a small town in rural southern Illinois. I have always had a love of reading, writing, and history. My first love was Gothic Romance, then Gothic Horror, in high school I read Dune and fell in love with Science Fiction, after high school I picked up a Darkover novel by Marion Zimmer Bradley and fell in love with Fantasy, now I read everything I can get my hands on by James Rollins or Steve Berry. As you can see, my reading has been all over the map. I would like to think that my writing has been inspired by them all.
I wrote and published my first novel, The Legend of the Swamp Witch, this summer. I am currently working on a project called The Soiled Dove Sagas about young women who find themselves making their livings as prostitutes in the 19th century Old West.
With my first book I realized, writing is not the hard part, Marketing is.
I have been struggling with different marketing techniques. Hopefully, I will find one that works very soon!

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