The Chris Voss Show - The Chris Voss Show Podcast – My Lord Husband’s Ring by Darlene Porter

Episode Date: May 16, 2025

My Lord Husband's Ring by Darlene Porter Darleneporter.com Amazon.com Quite near the center of south-central of Medieval France, in the Year of Our Lord, 1535, Lady Marie Therese Caron stepped off a heavy traveling carriage in the courtyard of Aufey Castle. Youthful, gracious Marquis Robert Moreau, one of the four noblemen vassals to the Duc de Languedoc, greeted her upon arrival. His family had been tasked with administering the northernmost territory of the duchy for generations. Death is seldom planned. And Lady Marie had been orphaned at the loss of her father, le Comte' (or baron), himself a vassal of the marquis. Since she had no brothers, her cousin assumed the baronry, essentially pushing her out. As it was but weeks prior to the marriage to Lord Robert's second son, Lord Dominique, the teenage girl had been invited to Aufey prior to the event. In this moving novel, we watch the couple, against the customs of the time, fall in love. The status of wife of the second son fit just fine with the quiet girl's nature. For Lord Dominque, his role as the anticipated future seneschal of the marquisette made him the man out of the spotlight but vital to its function. He and his bride were ready to play support roles to the larger personalities that were next in line of succession. Out of the dark of night came a force of attackers. In a traitorous act the Captain-of-the-Guard had deployed far too many of the vassal knights and garrisoned soldiers away from Aufey. It gave a fatal advantage to the invaders. The Moreau dynasty fell that night. Lady Marie managed to survive the bloodbath, flee the castle and surrounding area. She found herself taken in by a generous-hearted couple, Lady Marie became simple "Marie". She found herself doing naught but marking time. Then a rumor came to town¿ One of the Moreau lords survived the attack¿ About the author Darlene Porter’s education at the University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee, resulted in the degree of Bachelor’s of Science, Nursing, and a minor in history. The author spent 33 years working as an RN. She currently lives in Southern California with her husband and extended family in a multi-generational home. She places exceptionally relatable characters in authentic settings with interesting situations. This is her third title published since 2017. Her other titles are available on Amazon.

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With expert publishing to strategic marketing, they help authors reach their audience and maximize their book success. Today, we have an amazing young lady on the show. We're talking about her authorship, her books, and some of the stories she tells and how she became an author. Darlene Porter joins us on the show. Her latest book was out, My Lord Husband's Ring October 26, 2024. We're going to get into it with her, find out more about her and how she writes books, and maybe she can give some people some advice out there. She spent 33 years working as an RM, and all the while she devoted

what free time she had from that career, raising three rambunctious daughters to her secret passion of writing. Amid her education at the University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee, which resulted in the degree of bachelor's of science nursing and a minor in history, her professors off-commoned on her skill with the written word. On her final exam in medieval history, she received an A plus. The notes scrolled across the top of the page was, you should be a writer. And now she is and has been. She lives in Southern California with her husband, extended family.

Welcome to the show. Darlene, how are you? Darlene Porter-Dodd-Combs-DarlenePorter.com Thank you very much, Mr. Voss. I am very well, thanks. Thank you for coming. Thank you. Give us your dot coms.

Where do you want people to find you on the interwebs? DarlenePorter.com. And Porter is spelled the way it sounds. What do you want people to find you on the interwebs? DarlenePorter.com. And Porter is spelled the way it sounds. So give us a 30,000 over you. What's in your new book? This is a historical romance set in South Central France in the early 1500s. I noticed that most of the historical romances that

I've been reading and enjoying for decades were located in England in the 1800s, Regency and that sort of thing, and at Downton Abbey, et cetera. And I decided I wanted to do something that might stand perhaps a little above, definitely aside from the usual crowd. And I looked and studied the French history and I found that there was a lot of very interesting activity going on at that time. It was still the time of knights in shining armor, jousts, and deadly sword fights between mortal enemies.

And I thought that would be a fine place to put a good love story that also had a little spice to it, if you understand what I mean. Spice! Spice! Those romances, I don't know if you can turn the volume down a little bit on your end, I'm getting feedback. But spice, huh? I think most romance novels, they like the spice in there a little bit, maybe. Indeed.

Otherwise it gets rather boring. Oh, yeah. Life is boring, so you need a little spice in your life. That's what I mean. Indeed. Otherwise, it gets rather boring. Oh, yeah. Life is boring, so you need a little spice in your life. Indeed. I also found that it was a very interesting story that is true about the King of France, King Henry II, who had a joust to celebrate his daughters to the King of France. But as he was participating in the festivities, a sliver of a lance went through his faceplate, punctured his eye, and entered his brain. So, this culture was indeed quite violent. Pete Yeah, yeah. They played hard back in those days. Anna Yeah, they played hard.

Pete Definitely played hard. So, I imagine some of your study of history in college and different things helps you influence, helps you weave the tales of your stories you tell. Anna Indeed, indeed. I do extensive research for It helps you influence, helps you weave the tales of your stories you tell. Indeed, indeed. I do extensive research for any of the stories that I work on. I enjoy the process. The stories, I know a lot of authors are meticulous in writing out an outline and being very careful with their plotting. But I'm of the group, like

J.R.R. Martin and the lady who wrote Outlander, that I just sit down and the action just pours out of my brain. Pete Wow. So, talk to us about how many books you have and tell us about some of the other books you have. The other books I have, one is what they call creative nonfiction. I did a lot of genealogies studies and I came upon one of my great times 10 grandmothers who emigrated in 1635 from England to the United States. And her story started with as earth shattering is the transition of red comet in 1618 that influenced the whole world.

People were terrified, they were afraid to go out of their houses, they thought it was the end of the world, they thought it was the sign of the end of the Stuart line of English kings. And by George, the king who was in charge at that time did indeed end up being one of the last Stuart kings. And from there she departed from her home knowing she would never return and brought her family across the ocean, settled first in Boston where she was exposed to the puritanical government there and was far too uncomfortable and moved on down the road, so to speak, with Dr. Hooker as he settled

the new land called Connecticut. And the action follows that. And these are people and these are things that really happened. And the only thing that is creative about it is the dialogue. Oh, there you go. So historical fiction per se? Yes, I've had people complain about, oh, why did you kill this person? And I said, I'm sorry, that's what happened.

I can't make up history if I'm going to follow the genre. And that's the first one I published in 2017. But my heart always belonged to my Lord husband's ring. Because this is the story that first arrived in my heart, half formed when I was a teenager. Pete Is that when you started writing or started seeing you had a knack for writing? Yeah. Oh. I had a crush on a mysterious, dark young man in my high school. And this story evolved from that crush.

And that crush continues because we've not been married 52 years. Wow. That's a story right there. Wow. Story and then the next one that evolved out of my brain was one that was sparked by the story of Elizabeth Barrett Browning and her husband, Robert Browning. This actually happened in the 1850s when she and he, he fell in love with her poetry and he started writing her and the two of them fell in love through their letters.

And as I don't want to tell too much of their story, because that is what's evolved through the book that I wrote. And I had so much fun with these characters that I said, okay, let's follow them on their next part of their life. that I said, okay, let's follow them on their next part of their life. So these characters then, that was what happened in my book that I named, I Will Always Love You,

bit of a catchy title, wouldn't you say? Yeah, yeah. And to find it on Amazon, you have to put, I Will Always Love You and then Darlene Porter, because there's so many other books that have that name. But I couldn't change it. I love that title. Pete Slauson Love is love. It can't be denied. Darlene Porter And the very last book that I've written, that was published, I believe, February of this year. And that one is called forever and I'll

wish yours. And that is the story of the couple from I will always love you as they travel to the wild and untamed West, specifically Tucson, Arizona. And what happens to them there? And what happens to them there? Gun fights, horse chases, those kind of interesting things. So yes, I do have a little violence in my story. What's going on there? Who hurt you? I'm just, you know, I'm just a respectful, quiet little lady with a dark side. With a dark side. Don't mess with her. Don't

mess with her. Don't mess with her. So, how do you develop the characters in your book? You know, My Lord Husband's Ring sounds a little personal. Is there, is there personal characters in there for you? Mary Tse Well, as I said, I did style the hero after, did style the hero after, as I say, who eventually became my husband. I didn't actually marry Till after college, but as the story progresses, I think that the love that I have for my husband comes through and the two of them experience what I consider perhaps, I'm hoping more of a real love than just two dimensional. And I had so much fun.

My Lord husband's ring, I had so much fun weaving back and forth the presence of the signet ring that he gave her the night of the massacre of his family in the Family dynasties cast Enter the ring as sort of a I'm going off to die and I give you this to remember me. Wow. And as the story progresses, that ring pops up here and there in various places. And when at the happy ending, it's there also.

Ah, and so what's the future of books? Do you have any books that you have planned, anything coming out, anything in the works? Dr. Margaret Larson I have done the research for and I have several scenes plotted out in my brain about the third story of the couple from the first book about the cowboys. And so that would be a third one about what happens in Tucson in the wild and crazy history of the place. Pete What more should we know that I should ask you about that we need to know about what you do there when you're writing and how you write? How do you write? Do you sit down for an hour a day? Do you, how do you approach

your, like when you want to put something down to paper, how do you approach it and manage it as you go through it? Dr. Margaret Larson I compose it in my mind. A lot of it is like when I'm driving somewhere, living in Southern California, a person tends to spend a lot of time in their car behind the wheel and the traffic is just atrocious. And so that's when I plowed sit at my computer and start the scene. And I find myself in the middle of the night when the house is quiet and no one is about, even the dog is asleep. I will tap into that and go like crazy. I've stayed up all night writing.

And once I get into the zone, it's look out, I'll go back and I'll rewrite it. But the, the fun part is that 3am session. Yeah. The, yeah, it's, it's, it's something where, you know, you, you create the private time, the time that you can do stuff and, uh, and, you know, I like the night too, because everyone's quiet. There's usually no one bugging me. The email is pretty quiet and it's like the one time you can kind of think, maybe soak

up life, all that sort of things and everything else. Do you, do you think you're going to stick with the romance genre? Mary Flaherty I enjoy it. And it gives me an outlet to work on those spicy scenes. That's always fun. And then every once in a while I'll enter into that violence too. Pete Slauson Oh, you like the violence? Mary Flaherty What can I say? Sword fights, gun battles, what can I say?

That's what makes Hollywood movies work. Yeah, yeah, those brawls between brothers can get pretty rowdy, you know, and the more brothers, the better. Shani, the cowboy, the main cowboy, he's got three brothers, so they go at it in the story. So it's a lot of fun. Pete Slauson But a bing, bada boom. One thing I was going to ask you is you, I believe you set this in France and what time period is it in? Debra Larson Early 1500s before the advent of gunpowder and there's still into armor and the swords and the daggers. Was there a reason?

And the ladies dresses. Oh, the ladies dresses. Is that why you picked the time period? Indeed, indeed. I do have an example of the book. And as you can see, you know, the lady in her fancy dress, and I'm quite proud of the cover. This is the scene of him saying goodbye to her that happens like in the first chapter or so. Oh, that's the one in the cover. Him thinking he's on his way to his death. And that's the cover of the book then? Yes. Yes. I like all of my books to have artwork that represents scenes in it, not just, you know, hairy man with no shirt on.

There's a lot of those that are out there, isn't there? There are, there are. And like I said, I want my work to stand out. Yeah, they definitely do. And what was the other question I had for you here on the, let's see, doopadoopa, do any interest in this title can find a detailed review on a professional website? I don't know what that means. What do you, how do you feel?

What are some of the opinions of your work? What do you, what do you think? Oh, I have, I have a professional review on Pacific Book Review. Oh, it's actually the perfect term. The perfect title is Pacific Review of Books. And there's a review there that was solicited to be objective and I just love it. It's a wonderful review, reflects the story, gives you a little bit of a preview of what's going on and that also I am just about to add that to my personal website, DarlenePorter.com. I have full color pictures of the colors of the illustrations of the bone.

And the pictures of the ladies are authentic because they are engravings that have been colorized of queens from the time period. Pete So, great stuff there. And you see, I mean, you really love the historical era. Do you like it because it seems like a romantic period, even though there was a lot of violence and spicy stuff. I mean, does you like still the romanticization? It seemed like things were more formal back then and other things. Mary Flauhrt Oh, yes, more formal. The separation of classes was very much evident. And that was one of the reasons why I wanted my character to recognize that even the lower classes were people with lives and

loves and loss. And I wanted her to get involved with the lower class people, you know, the serfs, the peasants that a couple took her in and gave her sanctuary when she was sure that there were murderers chasing her being the last survivor from the massacre at the castle. Wow. So I wanted there to be a kind of a manifestation of both classes. Pete So, in your other series of books, the one that you did, I Will Always Love You, Forever and Always Yours, that's basically I Will Always Love You 1 and 2.

Why did you settle on Elizabeth Barrett Browning and Robert Browning as the feature of that? JG A good part of it had to do with him, the poet, Robert Browning, proposing to Elizabeth Barrett Browning and her husband, her father refusing and then cutting off all communication between the two. And finally what happened, and this is what won my heart over, finally what happened was he broke into the manor because the father was rich and so was Emily and he broke into the tower room that she was living in and he freed her from that confinement and whisked her off to Italy and they got married and lived happily ever after. Pete Wow. Happily ever after. What do you, what do you hope people come away from when they read your books? I want them to come away with a warm feeling of, that's the way I want life to be.

There will not be anything but happy endings in my book. So ladies, if you're ready to invest the time, you won't be disappointed at the end. Happy endings are always good. Julie Larson Happy endings, now. That doesn't mean every single character, you know, survives to the end, but it will be a happy ending, I promise you. Pete Slauson I've been, if you get stabbed by a sword, that's probably not going to be a happy ending.

You're probably going to be unhappy. Julie Larson Unless it's the bad guy. Pete Slauson Yeah, unless it's the bad guy. Yeah, I guess that's, yeah a good point. Do you, when you're writing your novels or thinking about them, do you think of Hollywood characters, Hollywood actors or actresses that might play in them? Dr. Marcia Nussbaum Yes, indeed. I noticed that the people in France have a tendency of having dark hair and dark eyes and lighter skin complexion.

And having been a fan of Game of Thrones, I couldn't help but picture the actor who played Jon Snow. His name is Kit Harrington. And of course, he has sword play in his repertoire. I can definitely see him being the Dominique of this story. And the girl also needs to have dark hair and dark eyes because she's just as French as Dominique and Mia Kunis, who is from that 70 show. I can see her playing the part of Lady Marie. That would work out pretty good.

Yeah, all that good stuff that you guys are working on there. So what would be your advice to wannabe writers, people out there that maybe are thinking about getting in the business of writing books or maybe you're interested or maybe they think they want to be a writer, but they're not sure if they can. KS Do it. Pete Slauson Do it. KS Sit down and write it down. My five-year-old grandson, he has a favorite creature called a sloth and he sat down and he wrote a book. And if a five-year-old can do it, anybody can do it.

And the interesting thing is the story grabs you and pulls you in. That's how I felt it. If you've got the writing gene, I guess that's how it's going to be because my daughter, my daughter that does not have this five-year-old, she had inherited the gene. Only one out of three, but that's okay. And so she feels that tug also to sit down and just write it. And if you've got that tug, go for it. Enjoy it. Eventually the time might come where your significant other might say, Hey, let's do this. Let's send it in and don't be frustrated by rejection. That's only part of life. And sooner or later, by hook or by crook.

By hook or by crook, it'll happen. Indeed. You know, it's, it's so important to just, just to start, start writing, write on a consistent daily basis. Do you use any sort of mechanisms like that? I used to use the thing where we would write an hour a day and I had an accountability crew that we would all try and do that and hold each other accountable. Do you recommend any of that sort of stuff or writing daily? What I usually did and still do is I have a special, it's a notebook, but it's bound

with leather that I keep track of the time and the word count. That helps me. I've had marathon sessions where I've written a thousand words and get a lot accomplished. And to look back at it and page through it, it makes you feel very accomplished that you've gotten that done. Pete Slauson Ah! You know, it's, I think more people have the ability to write books inside them. I think, you know, it's something everyone should try. I mean, the art of writing and learning to write, practicing it, is really important. And it's kind of like a muscle, you know, if you practice it, you keep writing stuff,

it will make all the difference for you in the world. Kirsten Yes, indeed. The more you do it, the better you get at it. Pete As we round out, give people a final pitch out to reach out to you, get to know you better, where to buy the books, etc., etc. Darlene Porter The books are available at Barnes and Noble and Amazon. And you can also find more information about them and see the pictures, full color pictures on my website, DarlenePorter.com. I am in process of getting the reviews. I have a review for the book about the Puritans. The name of that book is called Lives of Our Mothers, a true telling of the lives of women in Puritan New England. That review is available on the website.

There's also a Pacific review of books regarding I Will Always Love You, and also a Pacific review of books for My Lord Husband's Ring. The last one, the review hasn't arrived yet because as I say, it was just published. I believe it was February it was published. Awesome.

So good stuff there. Thank you very much for coming to the show. We really appreciate it. Thank you. And thanks so much for tuning in. Order up the book where refined books are sold. My Lord's Husband's Ring out October 26, 2024 by Darlene Porter. Thanks for watching and go to Goodreads.com, FortressCrisposs, LinkedIn.com, FortressCrisposs, Facebook.com, FortressCrisposs, and all those crazy places.

Be good to each other, stay safe, we'll see you guys next time. Thank you. Thank you.