Historical Fiction / Women’s Fiction Author

SPOTLIGHT ON:

Julie Howard

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All About Julie

Julie Howard is the author of the Wild Crime mystery series and Spirited Quest paranormal mystery series. She is a former journalist and editor who has covered topics ranging from crime to cowboy poetry. She is a member of the Idaho Writers Guild and editor of the Potato Soup Journal. Learn more at juliemhoward.com.

The Three Widows of Wylder

Release Date:

October 18, 2021

Publisher:

The Wild Rose Press

Welcome Julie to Jeny's TattleTales

What does being a successful author look like to you?

Having the time to write my books, getting them published, and having them read, feels wonderfully successful.

What’s one positive thing you’ve learned you’re capable of during the Covid lockdown?

I’m very resilient and determined. At first I didn’t know how I’d survive without going to restaurants, not traveling, and adjusting various small aspects of my life around restrictions and guidelines. But I’ve grown accustomed to the changes and found them to not matter at all. I have the ability to focus on the positive and put any negatives behind me.

How did Covid affect your writing? Did it change?

Not at all in a negative way. I still write almost daily and The Three Widows of Wylder is my second book published this year. If anything, Covid made me happy to escape into my stories, especially a historical fiction where my characters live in a very different world.

What genre have you never written that you’d like to write? Why?

I would love to write for younger kids. I fell in love with reading at a young age and I’d love to be the inspiration for other young readers. I’ve had an idea for years for a series for middle-grade kids and perhaps someday I will bring it to life.

What do you do for fun, besides writing?

I love to hike, go cycling and kayak. I’ve also recently re-taken up crocheting which is a great activity when I’m being a couch potato and watching movies.

If writing is your first passion, what is your second?

I love to travel though traveling has been curtailed quite a bit lately. Idaho, where I live, is a great place to explore and I’ve been to most parts of the state. My favorite place was camping in a fire lookout that was in the high country in a wilderness area. The structure was five stories up a ladder and all the walls were windows so the view was stunning.

What do you like best about your hero or heroine?

My three heroines are survivors. When the story begins they wouldn’t see themselves as strong people but they discover their strengths as the novel progresses.

The Three Widows of Wylder Blurb & Excerpts

Three women on the run.

After the death of her husband, Clara flees a hanging judge and seeks refuge with her brother in Wylder, Wyoming.

With secrets of her own and good reasons to flee, spoiled and vain Mary Rose joins Clara on the trek to Wyoming. Surely a suitable man exists somewhere.

Emma is a mystery. A crack shot and expert horsewoman, her harrowing past seeps out in a steady drip. She’s on the run from something, but what?

After the three women descend on Wylder, a budding romance leads to exposure of their pasts. As disaster looms, will any of them escape?

Excerpt 1

Emma stood, legs apart, one hand on the pistol at her hip. The covered wagon was the type used years ago by pioneers, before trains tamed the prairie, and they still lumbered across areas where tracks hadn’t been laid. Two women sat side-by-side, too focused on their argument to yet notice the camp they entered. Their one horse, overmatched by the heavy wagon, was damp with sweat, its mouth flecked with froth.

“We should have stayed on the main road.” The peevish one appeared much younger, curly gold hair topped by a large straw hat. She wore a light-yellow dress with lace at her wrists and throat, a perfectly inadequate outfit for travel. “Someone could have provided directions.”

The older woman had finely-drawn features, a few strands of gray threaded through her dark, uncovered hair. Dressed in sensible blue calico, she gripped the reins too tight and the poor horse gave a pathetic shake of its head. “The whole point was to avoid people,” she sniped.

Emma strode forward and seized the reins. “For God’s sake, you’re killing him.”

The two women gaped as though at an apparition. The horse, released from harsh hands, lowered its head and halted. Its sides heaved as flies drank at its sweaty flanks.

“Whomever let you two fools handle a horse should be whipped.” Tempted to dispatch the women to hell for their cruelty, Emma rested her hand on the pistol’s handle.

They two travelers spoke in tandem. “Who are you?” and “How dare you call me a fool.”

As Emma crooned into in the horse’s ear, her expert fingers undid the buckles at its shoulders and haunches. By the time the older of the two women climbed to the ground, the horse was unhitched and Emma led it to the creek.

“That’s our horse,” cried the one in yellow. “Clara, what is that insane girl doing? She’s stealing him.”

Emma halted, shoulders stiff. She turned and pointed the pistol at the one with lace at her throat. “I’m no horse thief.” She cocked the hammer. “Apologize.”

Excerpt 2

Few men were interested in courting a woman widowed twice over at the age of twenty-two. Unbeknownst to Mary Rose, her mother placed an advertisement in four cities, including the Emporia newspaper. Young beauty seeks kind, older man for respectable marriage. Cooks, cleans, complaisant nature.
Twenty-two men wrote back, all over the age of forty-five, citing their advantages as though they applied for a job. Three well-heeled men rose to the top of the pile, and letters were exchanged. Josiah Culver was the only one who didn’t ask questions about her previous marriage—they’d decided not to mention the union with Patrick. He also owned a two-story house along with a small carriage factory and had no children. After a respectable length of correspondence, Josiah sent a train ticket and declared he would marry her upon an “in-person inspection.”

Imprudent. The word rankled. Hadn’t she saved Josiah the cost of a ribbon that very afternoon by shrewd ingenuity? This, and other little faults, had crowded her letters to her mother. Josiah may not be the right man for me after all, she had written.

She stabbed the beefsteak with a fork and dark pink juices flooded out. Cooked enough. A clever girl like her should be able to handle a staid, practically prehistoric husband. But a decade’s worth of her last bloom of youth with a man in his dotage!

PURCHASE THE THREE WIDOWS OF WYLDER HERE:

Jeny's TattleTales

Look right…Name the most out of place item. I’m writing this at a beautiful park and a bicycle rider just went by with a radio loudly playing really bad rap music.

What is your most attractive feature? My eyes, I think. They’re green, but sometimes they look light blue or gray depending on what I wear. I swear they have changed color over the years.

Place you’d most like to visit? The Pacific coast. I haven’t seen the ocean nearly enough in the past two years.

Describe yourself in three words: Kind, determined, loyal.

Favorite season: Spring, Summer, Fall or Winter? Right now, autumn, with crisp mornings and warm afternoons.

Call or text? Text, most of the time.

Do you prefer to write indoors or outdoors? Outdoors. I join a small group of other writers by the river a couple of days a week.

Who do you admire most? My parents. They’ve overcome tough childhood times and persevered.

Traveling through Europe: Hostels or Hotels? Hotels please. I like comfy pillows and private showers.

Mountains or beaches? Both. I can’t decide.

Movie you can watch again and again? Anything Jane Austen.

Are you a morning bird or night owl? Morning.

Driver or passenger seat? Driver.

Forgiver or a forgetter? Forgiver – I’m unlikely to forget.

Optimist or a pessimist? Optimist.

Do you believe in love at first sight? Absolutely.