“. . . 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
