Anybody know why Deadwood was named that? It’s because gulch was lined with dead trees. It’s not that way now but it was then. The town was a settlement on the Sioux Indian lands. It was total illegal. A no man’s land. There was no law, the government had no jurisdiction there. Men died daily, shot, stabbed or otherwise killed by someone else.
Seth Bullock was the first sheriff of Deadwood. He also owned the hardware store along with Sol Starr, just as it was portrayed in the HBO series DEADWOOD. I can’t say if the love affairs were correct. The HBO series, while being very historically accurate, using real people and such, is also entertainment not a documentary.
I did discover in my research that there were lots of actual people, Al Swearengen, Seth Bullock, Sol Starr and others that were real people. Al Swearengen was the real proprietor of the Gem Theater. Seth Bullock was really the first sheriff. And many more.
I learned a lot by watching the series and even more by reading some of the books that I got when my husband, editor and I visited Deadwood in September of last year. I needed to get the feel of the town and even though much has changed, much has stayed the same.
The town survives on gambling now rather than gold mining, but it survives. I guess that’s the thing that comes through most to me. It survives. Through all the years, Deadwood is still there and I see it being there for a long time to come.
Redeemed by a Rebel
(Book 1 in "Destiny in Deadwood Series")
Release Date: January 30, 2014
Genre: historical western (set in 1876 Deadwood, Dakota Territory.)
Formats to buy: Kindle and Paperback
Blurb
Jake Anderson killed a man defending his fiancée from a brutal attack, but lost her and his freedom in the process. Now he's on the run, hunted by one of her murderers and tormented by the need for vengeance.
Becky Finnegan will do anything to escape her drunken father's fists, including slave away at their mine. Her only hope is to strike gold and make a new life for herself somewhere far, far away from Deadwood. But then Jake arrives and does the unthinkable...forces her to feel, to hope...and to love.
Jake would give his life to protect Becky, but all he can offer her is a broken heart, a criminal's life, and a past haunted by failure. How can he save her when he's already lost himself? When the devil catches up to him, will he destroy everything, or can the beautiful rebel redeem Jake's lost soul?
Purchase REDEEMED BY A REBEL:
Excerpt:
PROLOGUE
February 1876
The man was dead. Deader than a doornail in a rotted-out door. Lily Sutter was not going to like this. She supposed she should call her the Widow Sutter now.
Becky looked at John Sutter’s body, splayed across the rocks like the annual sacrifice to some unknown god. She should probably try and wrangle his body onto the back of her mule, but didn’t really think she could manage the task alone. She heaved a sigh. Time to check and see if Billy was home or if she would have to collect him from The Gem. She hadn’t given him enough gold for the Bella Union.
She’d lied to him once again, only given him part of their gold. If she gave him all the gold, like he wanted, nothing would be left to buy food or the pans and other equipment she needed to work their claim. And then there’d be no gold for him to go drown his sorrows. Sorrows that were her fault, according to him, for having killed her Ma getting born. And then he’d beat her and she wouldn’t be able to work so there’d be no gold and the cycle would start again. Better to lie to him.
Resigned, she grabbed the mule’s bridle. Buster snorted at the small jerk she gave the gear as she started walking downstream along the narrow path that followed the creek. She’d made this path, going back and forth to their claim on a daily basis. After collecting Billy from the Gem, after he’d spent another night of drowning his sorrows. Better there than at their campsite where he’d just complain and then beat her for the hell of it.
She and her father, Billy, originally came from the coal mines of West Virginia. But that was so long ago and there’d been many, many stops along the way. Every time she hoped this might be the place, the one they could put down roots. But it never was. Billy leached the good will from the townsfolk until there was none left and they had to move on. She’d gotten lucky with her education. One of the ladies she worked for took pity on her and taught her to read, write and talk so she was able to get better jobs as time went on.
As for Billy, the fresh air was good for him, made him feel better but him feeling better was a two-edged sword. He felt better so, rather than working the claim, he took their gold and spent it on booze and whores at the Gem in Deadwood. He was smart enough to know he got more booze and whores for his money at the Gem than the Bella Union where they were classier but much more expensive. He was at the Gem so often she had to go and collect him about three nights a week. He’d get so drunk he couldn’t find his way out of the saloon much less back to their claim.
She’d get Dan Dority to load Billy on the mule and then, when they got back to camp, she’d untie him and let him slip to the ground. She used to try holding him up, to slow his fall, but too many times, she’d ended up trapped beneath him until she could shove his heavy body off her. And him, totally ignorant of the whole situation, blissfully sleeping off the effects of his alcohol fueled stupor.
There’d been just as many times she left him at the Gem and let them deal with his sorry ass. Now since she needed to tell someone about Sutter, she figured she’d go ahead and get Billy, too.
Becky got on the mule and headed back to Deadwood. She went to the Gem but rather than collecting her father, she told Dan about Sutter.
“I’ll see his body gets taken care of. In the meantime you get your father and get out. I keep telling you, this ain’t no place for a girl like you to be seen.”
“Oh, I don’t know, Dan,” said Al Swearengen, owner of the Gem and procurer of flesh. “We could give her a job that’s a lot easier than working that claim.”
He leaned on the hand rail of the second floor walkway looking dapper in his black three piece pinstriped suit. He wore no tie and his shirt was open at the collar. Becky craned her neck to look upward at him. “Not today, Mr. Swearengen, but I’ll be sure and keep your offer in mind.”
Swearengen laughed. A great rumble from deep in his chest. “You do that. Dan, help load Billy on to her mule.” He turned away and went back into his office. “See you tomorrow, Becky.” he called over his shoulder.
She nodded, then looked at the fancy women lounging around the room in varying states of undress and silently agreed with Dan. She should get out. She didn’t understand how they could do what they did. She’d rather work day and night in the creek than let a man touch her in that way.
The Author, Cynthia Woolf:
Cynthia Woolf was born in Denver, Colorado and raised in the mountains west of Golden. She spent her early years running wild around the mountain side with her friends.
Their closest neighbor was one quarter of a mile away, so her little brother was her playmate and her best friend. That fierce friendship lasted until his death in 2006.
Cynthia was and is an avid reader. Her mother was a librarian and brought new books home each week. This is where young Cynthia first got the storytelling bug. She wrote her first story at the age of ten. A romance about a little boy she liked at the time.
She worked her way through college and went to work full time straight after graduation and there was little time to write. Then in 1990 she and two friends started a round robin writing a story about pirates. She found that she missed the writing and kept on with other stories. In 1992 she joined Colorado Romance Writers and Romance Writers of America. Unfortunately, the loss of her job demanded she not renew her memberships and her writing stagnated for many years.
In 2001, she saw an ad in the paper for a writers conference being put on by CRW and decided she'd attend. One of her favorite authors, Catherine Coulter, was the keynote speaker. Cynthia was lucky enough to have a seat at Ms. Coulter's table at the luncheon and after talking with her, decided she needed to get back to her writing. She rejoined both CRW and RWA that day and hasn't looked back.
Cynthia credits her wonderfully supportive husband Jim and the great friends she's made at CRW for saving her sanity and allowing her to explore her creativity.
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