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Tam DeRudder Jackson

Austin J. Jackson

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Tam DeRudder Jackson’s love of all things Celtic led her to write the Talisman Series. Steeped in Celtic mythology, these steamy, fated mates, fantasy romance adventures are set in the mountains of Tam’s native Montana and the Highlands of Scotland. Rogue, the most recent book in the series, was named a best book read in 2022 by the Independent Book Review.

An avid fan of rock music, Tam never misses a chance to see a live show. Her love of rock music inspired her contemporary rock star Balefire Series, a sexy fun ride following the lives and loves of the members of a fictional mega-band. Play For Me, book one in the series, was a finalist for the 2023 Amor Book Awards.

Tam earned her BA in English from Montana State University and her M.Ed. in literacy from Lesley University. After a short teaching stint in Bath, England, she settled in the wilds of Wyoming where she taught adolescents all about the Celts and a bit about writing before she stepped out of the classroom to pursue her writing career full time.

When she’s not writing, you can find her working her way through her mountainous TBR piles, alpine skiing, or traveling to some new place on her ever-expanding bucket list. To stay up to date on her adventures, connect with Tam on her website www.tamderudderjackson where you can subscribe to her newsletter and hang out with her on Instagram at https://instagram.com/tamstales32.

ROGUE Cover
ROMANCE

ROGUE

BY Tam DeRudder Jackson • POSTED ON May 23, 2022

Sparks fly between natural enemies in the latest installment of Jackson’s supernatural romance series.

In the fantasy world setting of the author’s Talisman series, the members of an ancient cadre of Celtic warriors live under a curse laid on them by the Irish goddess Morrigan: They must either find their perfect match, called a talisman, by their 28th birthday, or they are condemned to become rogues with no divine protection and forever surrounded by enemies. The rogue Baz Cormac is embittered because he has yet to find his talisman; Delaney Ferrell feels the call of her fighting blood but has found no warrior with whom to share it. Both are driven; Baz seeks to improve the training of his fellow rogues and create a new class of warriors, and Delaney is fiercely independent and at first wants nothing to do with somebody she considers a loose cannon. When the two meet, a clash of personalities—and a spark of romantic chemistry—is inevitable. Jackson works this admittedly familiar supernatural romance/urban fantasy terrain (readers of J.R. Ward’s Black Dagger Brotherhood series, for instance, will feel right at home) with winning energy, a good ear for dialogue, and a sharp sense of pacing. Her depiction of Delaney and Baz slowly falling for each other is seductively engrossing: “Delaney caught the ghost of a grin flit over his features, and her eyes nearly bugged out of her head,” Jackson writes. “A shiver stole over her at the thought of what her patroness might demand of her being mated to a rogue who apparently had no remorse for his prior bad acts.” Readers unfamiliar with the series may find this an unsatisfying jumping-on point (those who are curious will be better served starting with 2019’s Talisman and working their way forward), but longtime fans will love the deepening of series lore.

A complex and gripping new installment in the Talisman fantasy series.

Pub Date: May 23, 2022

ISBN: 9798985646702

Page count: 356pp

Publisher: Warrior Romance Press

Review Posted Online: May 5, 2023

Awards, Press & Interests

Day job

Author

Favorite author

Kristen Callihan

Favorite book

The Seduction by Julia Ross

Favorite line from a book

"We all live best in our own imaginations." --Brad Meltzer, Book of Lies

Favorite word

kaleidoscope

Hometown

Cody, WY

Passion in life

sharing stories

Unexpected skill or talent

swing dancing

Play For Me: Finalist, Amor Book Awards, 2023

ROGUE: Best Books Read, Independent Book Review, 2022

"Book Review: Rogue:, 2022

"Book Review: Talisman, 2020

"Booklife Talks to Tam DeRudder Jackson", 2020

ADDITIONAL WORKS AVAILABLE

Bard

A warrior tempts a wicked goddess… Seamus Lochlann is always up for a good time—or a battle. At least that’s how it looks to his friends and family who count on his infectious humor and lethal sword arm. Fighting the war goddesses’ rogue warriors on the dark streets of East LA to defend his best friend puts him on the radar of the lustiest goddess in the Celtic pantheon. Maeve wants to spend him in her bed—and she’ll stop at nothing to enjoy the pleasures she expects from him. A talisman knows his fate… Fallon Graham can’t shake the premonitions. Flashing through her mind are stories with an up-close-and-personal view of the war goddess stealing the life force of a noble warrior who fights back again and again. Her heart breaks as she watches the warrior’s desperate struggles for his dignity and a chance to die honorably on the battlefield. Never in a million years would she have predicted that dream-warrior would walk right into her office and ask for a date. Together, they can change the story. A chance encounter at a mountain cabin seals their fate. The woman Seamus has searched for, the woman the gods determined to be his mate, is the only woman who’s ever turned him down. Fallon can’t believe she’s fated to the warrior Maeve has marked for herself. When the goddess strikes, they have a choice—succumb to the unholy power of the goddess or believe their love can tell a different story.
Published: July 20, 2020
ISBN: 9781734266672

Druid

A vengeful goddess demands a sacrifice… Sloane MacIntosh has trained all her life. She knows her job. Unlike other talismans, as a seer, she knows her special skill, the one she’s only supposed to discover together with her mate. When the fates bring her warrior to her on the low feast day of the war goddess, Sloane’s happiness lasts only an hour. A druid wishes for a sword arm… Davy Sutherland is a storyteller whose incredible skills immortalize warriors for all time. But he yearns for the life of danger and adventure those warriors live. He also yearns for the special bond the fates give to talismans and warriors, a love at first touch that burns hot and intense, burnishing the iron of lust into the steel of everlasting devotion. The first time he sees Sloane MacIntosh, he wishes more than anything the fates had made him a warrior—her warrior. Love hangs in the balance… Sloane believes loss is her lot in life. Resigned to her fate as a widowed talisman, she accompanies her best friend to Conlan Manor in Scotland to stand as maid of honor at her friend’s wedding. One look at the manor’s hot resident druid puts ideas in her head she knows she can’t pursue. Yet when the goddess tries to take him, tempting him with immortal life as a warrior, Sloane discovers Davy Sutherland is worth battling goddesses and monsters over. Will their love be enough for Sloane and Davy to change their story?
Published: Sept. 20, 2020
ISBN: 9781734266696

Hot For Me

Adam A bonafide pop diva, all sass and scandal, Cristy Valor commands headlines wherever she goes. The tabloids love her—and love to hate her. From the first time her sexy alto voice rolls over me, she has all my attention. When she joins Balefire on our latest tour, she sashays across the stage in her wild-ass costumes and parties hard enough to keep up with my boys and me. She drives me batshit crazy—and I love every second of it. Sex on stilettos. Pure trouble. Our sizzling chemistry could shoot a rocket into space, and it’s not long before I crave her. For the first time in my life, I want to share everything with a woman. But Cristy is hiding something, something that holds her back from giving me all of herself. She’s about to find out that I’m a patient man—and I always get what I want. Cristy Adam Tron is the poster boy for tall, dark, and sexy. His bass rhythms are enough to make me cream my panties every time I hear them. Flirting with him during our live shows is a rush but nothing compared to what happens when I finally give in to my lust and share his bed. The problem is, sex isn’t all he wants. For my entire career, I’ve set the narrative, teased the tabloids with scandals that kept them too busy to look into my past, too busy to discover the secret that could end the party for good. Adam Tron could wreck me, steal my heart—and my music. I can’t let him in. I can’t let him discover the secret behind the nightmares I have nearly every night. He thinks he can slay all my monsters, and it would be so easy to let him. But if he finds out the truth, will he still be hot for me?
Published: Jan. 3, 2022
ISBN: 9781736469583

Play For Me

Jack When I made my deal with the devil, I thought I was on my way to my rock ’n’ roll dream. Too bad I didn’t read the fine print. Having it all meant giving up the only girl I knew I’d ever love. Five years later, I’m drumming in the hottest rock band in the country, but I live like a monk. Fate hands me an opportunity to reconnect with my perfect girl, giving me one glorious night with Clio Barnes. Our chemistry is off the charts. Too bad fate plays by her own rules. When Clio hears my bandmate’s idea of a joke, she believes I’ve used her, dissolved our love into a one-night stand, and she blows out of my life. When our tour ends, I’m determined to find her again, no matter how well she hides from me. Clio All my life, I’ve been invisible. For a brief moment five years ago, Jack Whitehorse saw me. And he made me feel like the center of his universe. But that was an illusion. Music was Jack’s only love. A chance encounter after a Balefire concert allows us to reconnect, but once again, I’m playing second fiddle to his rock ’n’ roll muse. When the pregnancy test comes back positive, I decide to keep our baby secret. I can’t force Jack to play for me—I wouldn’t want to. Then he shows up unexpectedly one day, knocking on my door and demanding to be let in. He leaves me no choice but to tell him about the baby. Turns out, I wasn’t the only one with a secret. But the one he’s been keeping might end us for good.
Published: May 1, 2021
ISBN: 9781736469521

Prophetess

Happily ever after is for other people. Though she traveled extensively in warrior circles throughout the community, both at home in America and abroad in Scotland, Shanley Conlan never discovered her warrior. When the war goddesses killed her sister and brother-in-law, she assumed guardianship of her orphaned niece and walked away from her dreams of life with her fated warrior. In private, she grieved the man who no doubt lost his life when he didn’t find her, a victim of the goddess’s curse. Resigned to her destiny… Called back to Scotland to participate in the Samhain rituals sealing the Conlan heir to their ancestral home, Shanley is shocked to find the family harboring a rogue warrior. How else can a man nearing forty still be alive without being mated to his talisman? Worse, she can’t seem to help the lightning-fast attraction she feels for Alaisdair Graham. Can detours lead to second chances? Alaisdair is desperate. Gone into hiding thirteen years earlier when he didn’t find his talisman in time, he knows the reprieve from the goddess’s curse is short. If he doesn’t find his mate in the next two weeks, he won’t live long enough to celebrate another Samhain. Thinking he was spared to marry the much-younger Conlan heir, his hopes are dashed when her true warrior arrives. Yet into his life walks Shanley, and he thinks the cosmos have taken his side at last. All he has to do is convince her—before the goddess strikes and takes them all.
Published: April 20, 2020
ISBN: 9781734266658

Sing For Me

Blu My entire life is my music—and all the trappings that come with it. Sex, booze, and rock ’n’ roll is all I ever wanted. Touring the world as the lead singer of Balefire, I have it all. Until on hiatus, I meet the girl next door. Ashleigh Baker is nothing like the groupies and celebrities who usually have all my attention. In her cute floppy hat with her knees stained with dirt, she spends her days creating a flowering show piece from her rented yard. She’s the most gorgeous woman I’ve ever met, and she acts like she doesn’t want a damn thing to do with me. But from the moment I laid eyes on her, she’s all I can think about. Ashleigh Growing up the only child of an Air Force Colonel, all I wanted was to stay in one place for more than a minute. When I score a pretty little house with a long-term lease, I just want to grow my flowers and my freelancing gig as a music reviewer. Then a loud Harley wakes me from a sound sleep and I discover my neighbor is Blu Connolly. Yeah, that Blu Connolly, lead singer for my favorite band Balefire. With his killer good looks and panty-melting voice, he’s a walking temptation to sin. Though I do my best to avoid him, it seems Blu has other ideas. He’s on a mission to wear me down, let him in, but what happens when he stops wanting to sing for me?
Published: Jan. 1, 2021
ISBN: 9781736469545

Stay For Me

Garrett I’ve made a few mistakes over the last decade, but the one I regret most was letting Olivia Carter go. When I see her again, the past crashes over me, reminding me of everything I ever wanted and gave up when I let our dreams separate us. Managing Balefire into the world’s biggest rock band came at a personal cost—walking away from my only love. When fate brings her back into my life, I’m determined not to screw up again. After Balefire hires her studio to produce their next music video, I have a second chance to rewrite our song—if I can convince her I’m a changed man. Olivia Ten years ago, Garrett Phillips chose to go with “his boys” and leave me in the dust of a ratty old tour bus. Now I’m working my ass off to make a name for myself as a Hollywood music video director. Unfortunately, my fledgling studio is bleeding money, and my only hope of saving it is to make a video with the biggest rock band on the planet. Too bad that means working with the man who tore my heart out of my chest when he chose his rock ’n’ roll dream over me. He says he’s grown up. He says we can make things work. But can I truly trust that this time he will stay for me?
Published: April 27, 2023
ISBN: 9798985646757

Talisman

Time’s running out… Rowan Sheridan is a warrior, a powerful being capable of bending time and space to take on the rogues and zombies the triple goddess unleashes on civilians. For centuries, his family has taken on the Morrigan, their successes against her legendary. But if he doesn’t find his talisman by midnight of his twenty-eighth birthday, he faces death—or something worse. To convince her she belongs to him… Wallflower Alyssa Macaulay has no clue a community of supernatural Celtic warriors lives alongside her. Nor does she know she’s a talisman, a member of that community. Orphaned at age four, she was raised by her grandmother, a druid of uncommon skill who deliberately kept Alyssa ignorant of her true self. A chance meeting in a bar on a cold winter’s night upends the bookish grad student’s life when Rowan introduces her to their world. Their love can end a centuries-old curse. Trying his sign on Alyssa and discovering she’s his talisman, his fated mate, should be cause for their celebration. Too bad Alyssa thinks Rowan’s only looking for a good time and she has no idea who and what they are. The goddess’s imminent arrival doesn’t give Rowan time to show her either. Somehow, he needs to compress the lifetime of training she should have had into a week—and convince her the one amazing night they shared is only the beginning of a lifetime of love. If they can live long enough…
Published: Dec. 20, 2019
ISBN: 9781734266610

Tracker

A skilled warrior with a life-changing task... Every warrior needs a talisman – but for Riley Sheridan, he cares more about partying with his buddies than finding the mate he’s supposed to bond with for life. That is, until a stunning raven-haired woman steps up to the keg and asks for a beer. A fiery beauty with untapped powers... Lynnette Montgomery came to the festival to relax, celebrate, and take her mind off her still-undiscovered magical powers. But after fate draws her to a suave and cocky warrior, she’s shocked to realize that she’s his fated talisman. But finding your mate is never supposed to be this easy. And the wrath of a goddess bent on their demise. Drawn by a ripple in the cosmos, the infamous goddess Morrigan sets her sights on the pair. She’s dead-set on stopping the next Sheridan from bonding to his talisman – and when they retreat to a remote cabin to complete the ritual, she sees her chance to strike. After the goddess kidnaps Riley, Lynette is thrust into a deadly battle with a seemingly impossible goal: to save him from a fate worse than death. Bursting with all the pulse-pounding action and rich worldbuilding of a riveting fantasy adventure, this gripping prequel is a must-read for fans of Tam DeRudder Jackson’s Talisman Series, or as a starting point for your adventure into a world of modern-day Celtic warriors.
Published: Oct. 25, 2023
ISBN: 9798985646733

Warrior

Rio Sheridan’s got it bad. Ceri Ross has obligations to the warrior community. Though she’s required to bond with her fated mate and not get involved with random unattached warriors, it seems she didn’t get the memo. None of which helps Rio: the woman calls to him like a siren. Ceri Ross needs a favor. Upon turning twenty-five, Ceri inherits an estate in Scotland. To avoid losing the druidic enchantments that have kept her alive since her parents’ deaths, she must spend a year at Conlan Manor. When she arrives, she discovers the old druid caretaker isn’t the only person sharing the mansion with her—an uninvited guest is lurking. She calls the security company run by her best friend’s husband, and anticipates he’ll set up a system to catch her midnight visitor. Business keeps him in the States, but his brother Rio is free—Rio Sheridan, the one man she can’t stop thinking about even though he can never be hers. A clan is counting on them. Hamish Buchanan has taken care of Conlan Manor for years. The energy swirling around the Conlan heir and the big American warrior she’s hired to protect the most secure stronghold in the Highlands gives him hope. If Ceri’s warrior discovers her within the confines of the manor, the clan will enjoy enhanced protections from the violent war goddesses for ten generations. If only she and Rio would stop sparring long enough to discover they belong to each other…
Published: Feb. 20, 2020
ISBN: 9781734266634

Wild For Me

Dakota Annabelle Stewart, all tight leather skirt and hot lace panties, thundered into my life for one night after a rock show and calmly drove away the next day. She should have been like any other one-night stand I’ve had over the last ten years touring with Balefire. But she wasn’t. At odd moments, I catch myself thinking about her, wondering if I made as big an impression on her as she did on me. Then I walk into the rehearsal for our drummer’s wedding, and who’s standing with the bride? The hottie who keeps me awake with thoughts of our one night together. Beautiful, smart, and sassy as hell, Annabelle sets me on fire with her kisses and leaves me hanging. But I’ve got plans for her. Annabelle I never expected to see him again. Two years after hooking up with Dakota Perri after a Balefire concert, I’d convinced myself that night was a fantasy. But the way he looks at me during Jack and Clio’s wedding, like he remembers every second of our one-night stand, lights me up. Too bad I blew it. Then I score a management internship with the band, an opportunity guaranteed to land me a scholarship with a top graduate program—if I don’t earn a reputation for sleeping my way to success. Which is a problem. I see Dakota every day. Every time we’re together, the sparks fly faster and hotter. If I want to achieve my goals, I have to resist him. But how can I resist a man as panty-meltingly hot as Dakota Perri when he says he’s wild for me?
Published: Oct. 21, 2021
ISBN: 9781736469569
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