Blog Tour: All Bout My Lead, Female Protagonist

1)      What is the name of your character? Is he/she fictional or a historic person?

The name of my protagonist is Elucia Grey Alexis Howard; Lucy for short, and she is fictional.

2)      When and where is the story set?

The story begins in 1877, right before the Lincoln County War which officially begins in February 1878. I say officially because prior to the first shots fired, killing Cattle Proprietor John H. Tunstall, Lucy's fiancé and Billy the Kid's boss, indifferences and tempers rose high between town contractors who supplied the town with necessities.
 

3)      What should we know about him/her?

Lucy is a very, very strong woman in a time where strong women were scarce or frowned upon. That is not to say that women haven’t been strong throughout history, but Lucy is not afraid to show it or back down which places her in a lot of hot water. She finds herself in trouble as she lives in a world dominated by men who of course oppose back-talk from a woman, or who do not take women very seriously.

4)      What is the main conflict? What messes up his/her life?

The main conflict (that ultimately messes up her life) is that she is sent out west to Lincoln County New Mexico to marry a man whom she does not love, John Tunstall, in order to suit her father's prospective, robber baron needs in expanding his own financial interests through the west and beyond.

Due to this, she falls in love with one of John’s hired hands, William H. Bonney, and he vice versa, and the two are caught up in the famous, historic battle that rages in Lincoln caused by the death of John Tunstall, propelling William H. Bonney into stratospheric infamy as Billy the Kid.

Lucy’s own life is threatened, which places her in strict danger and drives her into the protective custody of the Lincoln County Regulators, one of which is Billy himself. Lucy then finds herself  caught up in and a part of the vicious war that will prove the true owners of the town once and for all; the evil Santa Fe Ring, whom the Regulators are up against, and who have a large army and are selfishly closing in on the monopolization of not only Lincoln County but its surrounding small farming residents (this is what the Lincoln Co. Regulators are fighting against).

5)      What is the personal goal of the character?

Lucy is desperate for her freedom from the role of a Victorian era, oppressed woman, and finds some semblance of this freedom in riding the trails with the boys. Even more so, she sees this as an opportunity to stay by the side of her true love, Billy.

6)      Is there a working title for this novel, and can we read more about it?

The title is called Bandita Bonita: Romancing Billy the Kid.  Initially the title was based on the old pulp nickel/dime books of the 19^th century as pertaining to outlaws, but my editor had a very smart idea and that was to maintain Billy’s name on the cover and to also point out on the cover that this is a romantic story, though there are also human-conditional aspects involed.

7) When can we expect the book to be published?

The book had launched on December 23, 2013 from Sunstone Press , but Book II is in the works, and afterwards, there will be a Book III.

This Blog Tour post was sent to me by Matthew Peters, author of "Conversations Among Ruins" and "The Brothers' Keepers". His blog can be found at: http://www.matthewpetersbooks.com/about-matthew-peters/ , and his website is: MatthewPetersBooks.com