After a significant time away, Wild Women Authors is back and ready to roll. Today we feature Susan Payne’s historical romance, In From the Cold, a current release out of the Wild Rose Press. With Susan is former Nebraska rancher turned merchant, miner, and furniture maker Matthew Foster.

Good morning, Matthew. Let’s begin with where you are from. I was born on a small Nebraska ranch and lived there until I felt it best to leave my older brother, Luke, and his new wife, Lorelei, the space they needed. With the rest of my five brothers living at home, it was a little tight. Newlyweds need their privacy and I felt it time to do something I’d been dreaming about doing – heading to Alaska to make my own future.

Tell us a bit about In From the Cold. I left my family under strained conditions. I sort of got a crush on my new sister-in-law who I still have special feelings for – just not those kind of feelings. At the time Lorelei tried to explain it to me, but I was restless and feeling as if no one saw me for myself. Only another pair of hands to work around the ranch. It didn’t take me long once I left them to figure out how special my family was and how special I was to have such a close family. I appreciate all of them much more than I would have if I had stayed, plus I wouldn’t have found my princess.

What did you think the first time you saw Katarina, your Russian Princess? I didn’t know the frozen pile of rags I found outside my trading post contained a person and once I did, I thought it was a young boy.

What was your second thought? Hmm, can we skip that part? My mind might have gone to carnal thoughts once I knew she was going to be all right.

Did you feel it was love at first sight? No, certainly not love but you have to remember, I’d been out on my own for a long time. She was the first seemingly available female to come within reach. The fact we were stranded in a blizzard alone didn’t help keep my thoughts purely altruistic.

What do you like most about Katarina? She is so passionate about everything. Maybe that’s part of her culture…I mean, you ever meet her father? She is also tender hearted and feels we should give back to the serfs and other people living in poverty in her homeland and Alaska where I’ve been so lucky.

How would you describe her? Physically? She’s small. So small, I worried about her doing some of the things she insists on doing – like run her own dog team when we’re in Alaska. She has the most splendid silky dark hair and her eyes – I get lost in her eyes.

How would she describe you? Probably as uneducated and rough around the edges. I know how to wrangle a horse and brand a calf and mend a fence…but she speaks and reads several languages and has more knowledge about history than I ever will. She fences and dances and plays musical instruments. Her father tolerates me because Katarina loves me. If we had met anywhere other than Alaska, we probably would never have been able to be together.

What made you choose mining as a career? It kind of chose me. I sort of had an interest in mining, or rather getting rich quick only so I could get on with doing what I wanted to do which was make furniture. Good furniture that people would be proud of making and proud of owning. Pieces to pass on down in a family. I can do both now although I turned over the mining to others. Spreads the wealth around, you know?

What is your biggest fear? That Lorelei, Luke or one of the boys will get hurt. I’m with Katarina so I know she’s always safe with me, but the others… There are so many dangers to ranch life. I wish there was a way for us to remain together, but I need to keep Katarina close to her father. I promised.

How do you relax? I take time to work on a piece every night. Sanding or carving…anything to keep sawdust on my hands. That’s what Katarina says I’m doing. She doesn’t mind and keeps track of all the smaller pieces I’ve been working on.

Who is your favorite fictional character? Lorelei got all of us reading more than we had. She brought me some Jules Verne. So I guess, Captain Nemo because he built what he needed to travel the world. He went from one place to another in record speed. I sometimes wonder if his ship, The Catalyst, could be really built. It catches my interest at times.

What is the best piece of advice you ever received? It was from Lorelei, of course. She said something like I may think that I loved her at the time, but I only loved what she and Luke had found together. She encouraged me to become my own man. Not that she wanted me to leave like I did, but she understood me better than I did myself at the time.

Thank you for taking time out of your busy day to speak with us. Now we’d like to chat with Susan.

What movies or books have had an impact on your career as a writer? I would skip school to stay home so I could watch old black and white movies on TV. I loved seeing all the places and that set the stage, so to speak. I still love old towns and cities. Historical events and in particular, the old west. Alaska became our old west when the western territories were becoming states and getting safer and more respectable.

What event in your private life were you able to bring to this story and how do you feel it impacted the novel? That Matthew came from a loud, messy family mimics my own. That he was open to learning new things and could empathize with so many different types of lifestyles and yet remain true to himself.

Tell us a bit about your publisher. I found The Wild Rose Press through a friend I made on line. She had a book under contract and I thought to query a few of mine to see if they had an interest. As I studied their web site, I found they would help self-publishers on an ala carte basis which is what I did. I found them very helpful going through the process and allowed me to get my stories to the public in a relatively short time.

What book[s] currently rest on your TBR pile? Too many to list. I still have a wide taste and interest so I keep adding to my eBooks in my Kindle.

Lastly, what's up next for you and when can we expect to see it on the shelves? For the first time since I began publishing, I don’t have anything under contract although I hope to have my first contemporary novella become part of the One Scoop or Two series for Wild Rose Press. We’ll have to wait and see since they were complete for this year by the time I sent it in. I am also working on getting a new Regency completed.

Susan brought an excerpt from In From the Cold for us:

“Katarina, my love, we have discussed this and agreed Alaska is not a place for you. This trading post is not a place for you. Your place is with your father wherever that may be. St. Petersburg sounds like a grand place to me, and you should return to the life you were born to have.”

Sobs shook her shoulders, and he looked over to the man he hoped would help him say the right things to drive Katarina back to Russia. She would never believe Matthew had changed his mind about loving her. Glancing across the room, Matthew could see the bear of a man surreptitiously wipe a tear from his cheek and realized there would be no more help from that quarter. It would be up to him to convince her to go home.

“Listen, you know about my early life and I tell you truthfully I would do anything, give-up anything, to spend a little more time with my pa. He died suddenly without any of us being able to tell him a proper goodbye, to thank him for all he gave up for us, to promise him we would work hard and be grateful for what the good Lord provided. I envy you your father. He may be fit and hearty now, but things change, and you still have the time to spend with him doing all those wonderful things he keeps talking about.” He pushed her away from his body so he could stare into her eyes. “You know I love you, but that won’t go away. You have the chance I never had to spend time with your father. Take it, grasp it to your heart, hold on for as long as you can.”

To learn more about Susan Payne and the stories she creates, go to:

http://www.authorsusanpayne.com

Email: authorspayne@gmail.com

To purchase In From the Cold, go to: https://www.amazon.com/Cold-Susan-Payne/dp/1509237488

https://www.amazon.com/Cold-Susan-Payne-ebook/dp/B0994P5D88

URL: https://www.amazon.com/Susan-Payne/e/B001JXROQK

TWEET: http://twitter.com/susanreid460