A Walk on the Wylder Side

 “. . . Take warning, Mr. Saunders. I’m a woman who’s been labeled difficult.”

“That so? I’ve been known to wear that label myself. . .”

 

With that, Wild Women Authors is pleased to feature A Walk on the Wylder Side, part of The Wylder West Series out of the Wild Rose Press, written by Laura Strickland. Up first is former gunslinger Buck Standish.  

 Good morning, Mr. Standish. Tell us a little about yourself. Hello, ladies. I have to say, it’s a pleasure being here with a couple of wild women. I don’t often find myself in such company, even here in the wild west. My name’s Buckminster Delham Standish. I go by Buck Standish, a moniker you may have heard. I’m a well-known gun-for-hire, but I’ve come here to Wylder, Wyoming under the alias Burt Saunders.

Where are you from? Originally, I’m from England. My father brought the family over when I was still in short pants. We lived in a lot of different places, after arriving in America. He—my father, I mean—couldn’t seem to settle in one city or town. Maybe I inherited a little of that restlessness. I hope it’s all I inherited from that old sod.

Tell us a bit about A Walk on the Wylder Side. Well, it’s interesting. I came to Wylder on the advice of my old friend and mentor, Pete Beckinstall. Pete more or less took me under his wing after I had my fill of being on the receiving end of my father’s fist, and left home. Pete’s the one who taught me to shoot. He knew I wanted to leave the life of a gun-for-hire behind and go straight, so he put me on to the chance of a job working security at the Mountroy Bank here in Wylder. I expected some gunslinger to come after me, trying to prove something—one always does. But I didn’t expect any of the other things that happened in Wylder, and I sure didn’t expect to fall for a woman like Cissy Arkwright.

What did you think the first time you saw Cissy? I thought she was crazy. You see, the first time I laid eyes on that woman, she’d just chucked a bucket of dirty water in my face. Yup, hauled open the kitchen door, she did, and threw that water all over me. So you might say it got my dander up.

What was your second thought? I thought I’d better stay cautious around her. You never know what a woman like that will do. But you could say her appearance made an impression on me. She wasn’t what I’d call beautiful, but hers isn’t a face a man could ever forget.

Was it love at first sight? No, ma’am. I’m not sure I believe in that. I was struck with her, yes. But I believe feelings take a bit of time to grow.

What do you like most about Cissy? That’s easy. It’s her sense of humor. Never knew I could sit at a kitchen table with a woman and laugh like that. She’s got a sharp wit and an even sharper tongue. And she understands my dark side, which is purely unusual in my estimation.

How would you describe her? Cissy’s smart and well-educated, far more so than I’ll ever be. She’s talented in the kitchen, and makes the best pie I’ve ever tasted, hands down. As for the look of the woman—well, those blue eyes aren’t as innocent as you’d suppose at first glance, and the thought of all that white-blonde hair loose down her back could make a man lose his mind.

How would she describe you? Damned if I know. Don’t know what Cissy sees in me, to tell you the truth, besides a load of trouble. But when she looks at me…well, I can just feel she sees something she likes. And when a gift like that lands in your hands, you don’t ask questions.

What made you choose the life of a gun-for-hire? An empty belly. When you leave home as a young buck with no way to feed yourself, and your reflexes are quick, and you’ve got a good eye, well it’s better than starving to death.

What is your biggest fear? Used to be that I’d turn around some day and see a kid drawing his gun on me—just a boy like I used to be back when I left home—and I’d have to shoot him down. Now I live in fear that I’ll hurt Cissy. Not something I’d ever want to do.

How do you relax? Well, this will sound funny, no doubt, but spending time with my horse, Midnight, relaxes me. Used to be, I preferred the company of animals to people. That was before Cissy, though.

Who is your favorite fictional character? Don’t do a lot of reading. But back in the schoolhouse, we read about that fellow in England—Robin Hood. Seemed to me he had his priorities right.

A smile worthy answer, sir. What is the best piece of advice you ever received? When Pete was teaching me to handle my guns, he said, “Always shoot first, boy, because you might not get a second chance.” I never enjoyed killing men. But it’s better than lying dead in the street. I guess that advice stuck with me, because I did jump at the chance for a relationship with Cissy, even when I knew it would be better if I didn’t.

Before Buck leaves us, he offers an excerpt from A Walk on the Wylder Side:

The protestation had a soggy sound, probably because it came from the man who, standing in the gloom just outside the back door, had received the brunt of the water. Cissy, the bucket still raised between her hands, blinked at him in astonishment. Nobody should be in the yard, not at this time of night. And anyway, she didn’t know this fellow, did she?

Hard to tell, seeing as how the water had hit him in the upper chest and splashed up into his face. And hair. He sputtered and did a little dance, before reaching for his gun belt.

He wore a gun. No, two of them, one on either hip.

Cissy still hadn’t got used to that. People in Chicago owned guns, sure. And unsavory elements there went about performing even more unsavory deeds, with the help of those firearms. But they didn’t strut around with pistols strapped to their sides the way men—and some women—did in Wylder, Wyoming.

This man wore his weapons low, like some sort of gunslinger, and looked more than prepared to use them. Or maybe he just sought to shield them from the deluge of water.

Apart from that, he wasn’t one of Mrs. Culpepper’s roomers, all of whom Cissy recognized. He looked about thirty, a tall man and lean with it—those hips certainly were lean—with a well-sculpted face now expressing extreme shock. He wore black—black trousers with a black shirt and leather vest. His hair was also black, longish in the back, and at the moment sodden.

For an instant frozen in time, Cissy stared at him and he stared back at her as if nothing—no one—else existed.

Now, a few questions for Laura Strickland: What movies or books have had an impact on your career as a writer? I think every movie we’ve ever seen and every word we’ve ever read shapes us on some level. But I’d have to say the two writers who have influenced me the most are Louisa May Alcott and Sir Terry Pratchett. Oh, and I can’t forget Henry David Thoreau.

What event in your private life were you able to bring to this story and how do you feel it impacted the novel? I infused my hero and heroine with my own penchant for black humor. I hope that helped flesh them out into real and believable characters.

Tell us a bit about your publisher: how did you hear about them and what influenced your decision to submit to them? I learned about The Wild Rose Press online. They sounded like a “kinder, gentler” publisher, and since I’d spent a number of years being kicked around by the manuscript submission process, I wanted very much to submit to them. But I decided, if this was my one, best chance, I wanted to do it right. So I wrote my Scottish Historical Romance, Devil Black, to their specifications. And they snatched it up! It was a fortunate day for me, indeed.

What book[s] currently rest on your TBR pile? I don’t have any books actually in my To Be Read  pile. I’m an impulsive reader, and tend to grab up books that catch my interest, as I see them. I would love to be able to read and review someday, when I have more time.

Lastly, what's up next and when can we expect to see it on the shelves? Thanks for asking! There’s actually another Wylder West story in the offing. It’s A Wylder Undertaking, and the hero is—you guessed it—a long, tall undertaker with a soft heart. The heroine’s on the run with a load of stolen jewels on her tail. Not sure when that one will be out, but stay tuned to my web site!

 To learn more about Laura Strickland and the stories she creates, go to:

Web site: www.laurastricklandbooks.com

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100000002632317

Amazon page:  http://www.amazon.com/Laura-Strickland/e/B001KHSACW/ref=ntt_athr_dp_pel_1

Goodreads page: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/760146.Laura_Strickland

Twitter: Laura Strickland Author @LauraSt05038951