The Wylder West

  When I write a western historical romance I do a lot of research. I mean, I have no firsthand knowledge of living in the west in the 1800s so Google is my friend!  I love every minute of poking around in the old-time facts and fancies. Just so much to learn — and it gives me such an overwhelming sense of respect for how things were done back in the day.  A Wylder Christmas features Violet Bloom, Wylder's schoolteacher. Researching one-room western schools, curriculum of the time, and even the yearly school calendar was enlightening. So much has changed, but the dedication of teachers has remained the same. Truly inspiring!   I'm currently writing the story of one of Violet's sisters (she has three!) and am learning about homesteading. Again, I'm amazed by the trials homesteaders faced and the way they lived while building. They were hardy, brave people who withstood a ton to carve a living from an unforgiving landscape.  Curious about the time and condit...

  Iconic Figures of the Old West By Laura Strickland   If, like me, you grew up watching Westerns on TV—and those of us a particular age certainly did—you probably have some iconic Western figures fixed firmly in mind. They populated the shows we watched, and most of the movies too. There was often a crusty rancher, struggling to make good for the sake of his family, or a young and extremely handsome one, up and coming. There was a valiant sheriff—he’d probably been kicking around the West a while and had learned his job the hard way, but boy was he good at it. There was the barman with an interesting backstory, the town doctor, the saloon girl with a heart who provided cowboys with the comfort they needed at the end of a long trail. Our town of Wylder, Wyoming is no different. For me, reading the books in this series has been like watching a fabulous weekly Western starring folks whose stories I just have to know. All the iconic figures are here: Doc Coyote Sullivan, ...

  The Wylder West Series launched in December 2020 with four books:  The Wylder County Social Club by Nicole McCaffrey Wylder Hearts by Kim Turner A Walk on the Wylder Side by Laura Strickland A Wylder Christmas by Sarita Leone In the last few months three more Wylder books have been added to the series:  Wylder's Magic by Sherrie Lea Morgan Home in Wylder by Jane Lewis A Wylder Undertaking by Laura Strickland Wylder's growing! This Wyoming territory town filled with intriguing characters, wild adventures, and western romance. It's the kind of place that invites a person to come on in and sit a spell.  I've read all the stories so far and have enjoyed each one. Between us? I'm waiting on the next Wylder release! If you like your cowboys hot, your women strong and sassy, and believe in love, then you'll enjoy this series, too.  Why not mosey on over? Sit a spell? Fall under Wylder's charms...

  I have a hankering for old recipes, dusty cookbooks, and vintage kitchen utensils. I love taking a peek into how meals were prepared and served way back when.  This recipe from an industrious homemaker has survived the century-plus since its publication. Recently I made this in my kitchen and the fritters were tasty--although my images of a handsome cowboy sitting across the table from me were purely in my mind. No matter how many fritters I fried, the cowboy just wouldn't show up to dinner!  In all seriousness, if you'd like to check out some interesting recipes from the days when the west was settled, this nineteenth-century cookbook called Catering for Two: Comfort and Economy for Small Households by Alice James is worth a peek!  Cauliflower Fritters 2-3 cups cauliflower florets butter 1 beaten egg pinch of salt 1T milk 1t flour Boil cauliflower in salted water for twenty minutes. Drain.  Add a pat or two of butter and mash. When cool enough to handle, for...

The Scout, by Frederic Remington This morning as I sit down to write, I'm thinking about those who rode into the wild west looking for places to settle and this painting by one of my favorite artists comes to mind.  Thought I'd share it with you. Want to learn more about the artist? Frederic Remington  is still wildly popular so a quick search will lead you to many fine paintings and sculptures. Happy "scouting"!  Hope you're having a great day!        

Ever wonder what life was like back in the wild west for a saloon girl? For most, life was hard. Seems at first glance to be fun, all that singing and dancing and such, but when it got right down to it, those women were strong. The profession certainly wasn't all fun and games! Many women took up the social professions as a result of being widowed, orphaned, or just alone. The women they lived with often became stand-in families.  They dealt with venereal disease, violence, and a host of other less-than-savory issues. Still, many did it because there was no shortage of positions for a woman willing to sing, dance, and drink with wild west men.  The pay varied but sometimes it was enough for a woman to build a new life. There are many stories of women who worked in saloons for a period of time, socked the earnings away, and then moved on to fulfill a dream.  Still wondering? Take a peek and get some more information.  And if you want to see what life for the "soiled ...

I can’t vouch for the historical accuracy of some of these, but they certainly are fun! I found these several years ago in a book called Uncle John's Bathroom Reader: He’s crooked enough to sleep on a corkscrew (refers to a dishonest person). Raised on prunes and proverbs (a religious person) Coffin varnish (whiskey) Fat as a well-fed needle (poor) Deceitful beans (meaning they’ll talk behind your back—as in give you gas) Got a pill in his stomach that he can’t digest (shot dead). She’s like a turkey gobbler in a hen pen (proud He’s like a breedin’ jackass in a tin barn (noisy) Fryin’ size but plumb salty (a senior citizen) Quicker ‘n’ you can spit and holler howdy (fast) Studying to be a half wit (stupid or crazy) Built like a snake on stilts (tall) She’s on melody but strong on noise (a bad singer) Weasel-smart (very crafty) Scarce as bird dung in a cuckoo clock (hard to find) Dry as the dust in a mummy’s pocket (very dry) In the lead when tongues was handed out (talks too much) ...

  Ever wonder what cowboys drank out on the range as the sun peeked over the horizon? Most likely, it was some strong coffee. Like, real strong.  Brewed by the gallon for wagon trains or parties of men riding the range, many days it was the wake-up call that summoned men from bedrolls to saddles.  One of the essentials for lone riders, the battered tin pot, boiled up coffee on an open flame in no time.  Whether riding solo or with a posse, one thing that remained constant was that good ol' cowboy coffee!  No fancy add-ins, either. Sometimes crushed egg shells or a bit of salt made the pot but nothing more than that. And there were no lattes or frothy creamers. Strong and black — that's the way the wild west downed it!  If you want to boil up a pot of your own cowboy coffee, Cowboy Coffee Co. offers a few tips.  And if you're looking to nail down authenticity, why not grab yourself a package of Arbuckles' ? Some say it's how the west was won but I don'...

  An Adventurous Spirit by Laura Strickland The women of the West were no ordinary women. Ordinary women stayed at home, back East. They got married, had children and kept a house. A few of the more stubborn among them might opt for a career in medicine or, more likely, midwifery. A widow could open her house to boarders, and an unmarried woman might hold a position in a shop. It’s my firm opinion that the ladies who came West wanted something more. Whether they came in search of freedom and independence, maybe to fulfill talents or desires denied to them at home, or they acted to escape some terrible fate, they were among the more daring of our forebears. The women willing to take a chance. To break the mold—and the chains their sisters wore. It took guts to hop aboard a Conestoga, a stage coach or a train, and head off into the unknown.   But the West offered them opportunities they would never have back home. While life was hard for many, like the wives of miners, l...

  Medicines in the Old West It’s easy enough to establish while watching a movie or television series about the “Old West” there was limited access to any kind of healthcare. Just watch a few episodes of Dr. Quinn Medicine Woman or something of Doc Cochran from Deadwood and you will see their hands were often tied due to lack of resources. Medical care in the 1800s was growing fast in the civilized eastern cities such as Boston and New York, but even there some of the care would be viewed today as widely lacking even in the best facilities at that time. But take it out west, and if a doctor could be found, it was more likely he’d given better care to animals and had little access to anything that might be considered modern at the time. As I write my historical novels and because I am a Registered Nurse, I get into a bit of trouble with my editor because I can get a little too graphic at times when someone in my stories is injured. (And someone always gets hurt when cowboys are invo...

  Ever wonder just what went on in the bunkhouses of the old west? Cowboys by the dozen, perhaps, living in close quarters for a season or longer, on ranches across the frontier.  All the distractions we rely on now—internet, television, karaoke machines, to name a random few—weren't options for those hardy men. So, how did they keep themselves amused between trips to town?  Well, it seems like a lot of men played musical instruments, like guitars or harmonicas. They sang beside campfires and belly stoves.  Others read or wrote poetry. That's right, cowboys wrote poems, probably influenced by the sweeping vistas and longing for sweethearts they'd left behind.  Card games passed long hours. Wagering on hands dealt and Lady Luck's benevolence—or lack thereof—surely kept games lively.  Sleep probably claimed a lot of hours. The men worked hard in an often harsh landscape under physically demanding conditions so any extra shut-eye was most likely welcomed....

                                                                           An Undertaker in the Old West                                                                           by Laura Strickland   Life certainly wasn’t easy for settlers in the Old West. If the journey to a new homestead didn’t get you, dozens of other perils could shorten—or, indeed, end—your life. A fall from a horse, an attack by bandits, or Native tribes defending their territory. Bears, wolves, and river crossings all presented clear danger. An illness, be it a fever or infection from a wound left untreated too long, had serious cons...

When town undertaker Gus Wright accepts delivery of a client's fancy casket, he certainly doesn't expect to find a beautiful young woman hidden inside. And when she throws herself on his mercy, his gentlemanly nature kicks in. He offers assistance despite his suspicion there's trouble brewing. On the run from a heist, Phoebe Corbet has a fortune in jewels following her, along with just a few pesky problems. If she can use Gus Wright as a refuge until her accomplice turns up, she'll do so. If she finds herself seduced by his unassuming manners and gentle kindliness, who could blame a girl? The tricky part will be convincing him there's a reason destiny has thrown them together. Excerpt:   He backed off a half step, his gaze consuming the casket’s contents. As corpses went, well— This one sure was beautiful. She lay on the padded interior of the casket—which was, indeed, covered with satin—like a princess in a bower. To be sure, she looked like nothing so much as the ...

             Outspoken, rebellious Cissy Arkwright was sent west from her Chicago home to work at a boarding house in Wylder, Wyoming. The last thing she expects is friendship with the handsome new boarder, a man with an air of danger and the power to make her smile.           Buck Standish is on the run from his past. He'd like to put aside the life of a gun-for-hire, especially once he meets Cissy. But experience tells him the past has a way of catching up, pistols in hand. He's lost his heart to Cissy—should he protect her by hitting the trail again? Or stay in Wylder and fight for their future?   Laura Strickland’s A Walk on the Wylder Side , book two in the Wylder West series released by the Wild Rose Press, introduces two new characters to Wylder, Wyoming: Cecelia “Cissy” Arkwright, newest in a long line of slave laborers at the Culpepper Boarding House and Buck Standish, a man trying desperat...

  In Kim Turner’s Wylder Hearts , the latest release in the Wylder West series by the Wild Rose Press, we find a classic tale of two people torn between what their hearts wants and what duty expects.       Rancher Caleb Holt raises horses for sale—but only to those who’ll treat the animals with respect. Buyers who fail to heed Caleb’s advice learn quickly, often painfully, to mend their ways.   While witnessing Caleb dole out advice , struggling seamstress and single mother Laurel Adams comes face to face—literally and figuratively—with an honorable man.     In the middle of Wylder County, Wyoming Territory and encouraged by the colorful populace we met in other Wylder stories, Caleb and Laurel fall in love. At long last, he finds the love he’s been waiting for. In Caleb, Laurel discovers a man vastly different from the wastrel who wed, then abandoned her and their infant son on an elusive hunt for gold.   Shortly before the nuptials...

       Eliza Jane O’Hanlan is prim, proper and snippy—and proud of it. Raised in the East by a maiden aunt, she rushes to the Wyoming Territory after learning the mother she barely knows needs help running her home for wayward girls. Hoping, she and her mother might mend their fractured relationship, Eliza wants to know Adelaide better, perhaps even to love her. Soon after arriving in town she learns the “home” is actually a. . . whorehouse.          And the hits just keep on coming in this rollicking story of mothers and daughters; pride coming before storms; acceptance then forgiveness. Perhaps the best “hit” of all is town physician, Samuel “Coyote” Sullivan. He’s one of those classic still-waters-run-deep types: totally yummy and every woman’s fantasy when it comes to a bedside manner. Do not miss the first in this fabulous series. We’re glad we didn’t.   On a scale of 1-5, The Wylder County Social Club deserves ...

            To escape gossip about her disastrous engagement, Sarah Miller flees to Wylder, Wyoming where her aunt owns a dress shop. But the danger she discovers in the wild west has her ready to board the next stagecoach out of town. Daniel Taylor rescues a damsel in distress only to fall in love with her at first sight. The past has taught him that gentle women don't make Wylder their home. He intends to court Sarah, but braces himself for a broken heart, knowing she will eventually leave town. When Sarah is forced to face down the men who have tormented her since her arrival in Wylder, she will have to make the most difficult decision of her life. Our Review: There are many good qualities to this story. Perhaps one of the strongest is the author’s ability to create a colorful setting, paying particular attention to the details surrounding the “old west”, then populating it with multi-layered, compelling characters—each one different from the next ...

"The Hunters' Supper" by Frederic Remington When families, friends, and food gather there's sure to be laughter, conversation, and fun —whatever the time or place. Back in the days when settlers made their way out west there may have been a train robbery, cattle rustling, or dustup at the local saloon, but folks did settle around camp fires and kitchen tables to share the day-to-day news as well as spicier tidbits. A WylderChristmas , set in the Wyoming territory in December 1878, features a holiday celebration. Every family in town contributes to the festive food tables—the way many of us do potluck dinners now. Gertie, one of Wylder’s most helpful citizens, bakes one of her family’s treasured treats. Her pumpkin bread is praise-worthy and loved by all. I bake pumpkin bread a few times each year so I’m sharing my recipe with you. It may not be as great as Gertie’s, but I hope it adds some goodness to your table!   Pumpkin Bread   ½ cup vegetable oil 2 eggs ...