Howdy! And I hope your day is going well.
In case you are not on my newsletter list, let me tell you a little about what I’m offering as a gift for one blogger today: I’m offering as a gift the three (3) book series of The Medicine Man series in e-book format.
Book #1 is SHE STEALS MY BREATH;
Book #2 is SHE CAPTURES MY HEART and
Book #3 is SHE PAINTS MY SOUL, my most recent release only a little over a month now. Over to the right here, you’ll find our Giveaway Guidelines, so be sure to check them out.
Okay, this having been said, I was recently asked to interview the hero of my story, STRIKES FAST. And so I did, but I didn’t expect his response, and, this being the case, let me post the interview here so you can see what happened.
Interview with Strikes Fast
From the book, SHE PAINTS MY SOUL
By
Karen Kay
Karen Kay here. When I approached Strikes Fast to interview him for Coffee Time Romance, his response to my request surprised me. But let me explain.
At this time in history, American Indian men did not talk to a woman in their own tribe who was not their wife. There were, of course, exceptions to this.
One could speak to a sister to show her respect. Indeed, a man was expected to come to the defense of his sister and his wife. At this time in the West, an Indian gentleman called his wife, “my woman.” And a wife of an Indian gentleman called her husband, “my man.”
Even a chief who had been scolded by a woman did not retaliate back. Instead, he listened and thought about what she’d said and discussed her concern with others, including his wife — who might have even more insight on the woman’s problem.
An Indian man was strictly forbidden to talk to or even be in the presence of his Mother-in-law. Of course, there were times when the rule was scrapped and the two conversed happily.
At this time, it was well known what the desires and inclinations of many men were in regards to a woman, and so the young women of the tribe were watched very carefully by their mothers and grandmothers who would think nothing of striking a man if he dared to bother her daughter. The man never — to my knowledge — fought back. It simply wasn’t done.
But, since I’m the author of this book, it didn’t occur to me that Strikes Fast might balk at talking to me I mean, he talked to me when I was writing the book. But, in fact, Strikes Fast would not permit me or any other woman to interview him except his wife. And so, here is the interview of Strikes Fast as done by his woman, Sharon.
Sharon: “Hello, my darling husband. Are you prepared for me to ask you some questions?”
Strikes Fast: Shrugs his shoulders.
Sharon: “Well, good. Let’s start with your name. How did you get the name, Strikes Fast?”
Strikes Fast: “A man does not speak his name to others.”
Sharon: “Oh? Why not?”
Strikes Fast: “It is considered bad manners and perhaps boasting.”
Sharon: “But, I promise you, we won’t think you are ill-mannered or boasting. Won’t you tell us how you came to be called, Strikes Fast?”
Strikes Fast: “Humph!”
Sharon: “Did you win the name in a fight?”
Strikes Fast: “Áa, yes.”
Sharon: “Please tell me about it.”
Strikes Fast: “Very well, I will, but only because you ask it of me. I was young, perhaps fifteen snows old. One day while hunting, my father was attacked by a grizzly bear. He had only his knife to defend himself against the bear because his bow and arrows were on his back and he could not reach around to get them. You see, his arms were trying to ward off the claws of the grizzly. I ran to the bear and attacked the creature from behind with my war club, wounding the huge animal and causing him to let my father go. The grizzly turned on me, but I was young and strong—and I have never been a coward—and, instead of running away, I attacked the bear again, over and over, allowing my father to regain his bow and his arrows. He then shot the grizzly in the eye, causing the bear to stop his attack on me and to run away. From then on I was known as Strikes Fast.”
Sharon: “I did not know this, my husband. I wish I had asked you about this sooner. No wonder you became my hero.”
Strikes Fast: “Humph!”
Sharon: “Well, very good. Will you tell me about the first time you saw me?”
Strikes Fast: “I do not wish to embarrass you.”
Sharon: “Please?”
Strikes Fast: Deep sigh.
Sharon: “Please?”
Strikes Fast: “How could I not notice you? You, a white woman, who dared to come into and be a part of the Pikuni
people.”
Sharon: “For those who don’t know, the Pikuni people are the Blackfeet tribe. So, tell me more.”
Strikes Fast: “From the first moment I saw you, I could not take my eyes off you. You, with your beautiful hair that is the color of a newborn fawn. You, with your white man’s style of clothing that showed off your womanly figure to perfection. Of course I noticed you.”
Sharon: “I didn’t know that.”
Strikes Fast: “I know you did not. A true man learns to look at a woman without being seen doing it. You were, however, off limits to me. You were under the care and protection of my friends, Eagle Heart and Gray Falcon and I wasn’t certain if you were married to The-white-man-who-paints because you were always with him. But, I noticed you from the very start and I looked at you, long and hard.”
Sharon: “I never knew this. For my part, I admit I didn’t really become aware of you until you rescued me from the charging buffalo that day on the prairie. Only then did I look at you, really seeing you. After that, however, I discovered more about you: for instance, where you pitched your lodge within the camp. I was confused when I never did see a woman waiting for you there. And, I did look because I was curious about the woman whom my hero would have married. What would she be like? How would the two of you act together? But, there was never a woman to be seen there.”
Strikes Fast: “Humph! I was not worthy of taking a wife then. And, I would never have asked a Pikuni woman to be my wife. How could I? Especially after a Pikuni war party killed my entire family, except for me, my sister and her baby. I am Crow and the Pikuni tribe is a deadly enemy of the Crow people.”
Sharon: “But wait! If you are Crow and the Pikuni are deadly enemies of your tribe, why did I find you there within the Pikuni camp?”
Strikes Fast: “Because I owed my allegiance to Eagle Heart, his brother, Chief Chases-the-enemy, and to Gray Falcon, who together rescued my sister and her baby from a fearsome creature. In truth, I was hoping to discover a way to repay my friends for their acts on behalf of my remaining family. When I first rescued you, I was wishing for the feat of saving your life to be such a deed.”
Sharon: “Really? I didn’t know this. So, if you had already committed an act that would repay your debt to your friends, why did you rescue me again only weeks later? After all, it was a terrible magician who had captured me, and he was a man who might have taken your life.”
Strikes Fast: Smiling, Strikes Fast takes a moment before answering. But, at last, he explains and says, “Because your kind heart and your beauty enchanted me. I think I fell in love with you on the day when I saved you from the mad buffalo, but I didn’t know it. After the danger from the magician was behind us and we left his camp, I wished to know you better. But I could not approach you or even talk to you because I thought you might be married to The-white-man-who-paints.
Sharon: “But I wasn’t.”
Strikes Fast: “I know it now. But I didn’t then and I dared not present my feelings to you until the day when you told me you were not yet the wife of The-white-man-who-paints. How happy I was when I discovered I might still have a chance to win your heart.”
Sharon: “What beautiful words these are that you are saying to me. I admit I was a little afraid of you, but even still, after our first encounter, I couldn’t get you off my mind.”
Strikes Fast: Smiling. “I know. But remember: I am a patient man.”
Sharon: “Well, you won my heart, my darling husband.”
Strikes Fast: Reaching out to take Sharon’s hand in his own, Strikes Fast brings his wife’s hand up to his lips and gently kisses her fingers, the palm of her hand and the precious point on her wrist where even now, her heartbeat is racing. Then gazing up into her eyes, he says, “With all my heart, I love you. Now and forever. I will always carry your image within my heart and my soul.”
Sharon: “As I will always love you. And now, my darling husband, our interview is at an end. I thank you very much for consenting to the interview, but, I think our lodge awaits us.”
Strikes Fast: “So it does. Come closer my wife and let us go there at once. I am glad the interview is over. I have much more pleasant ideas of how we might spend the rest of the night together….”
END OF INTERVIEW
Author note: I guess this concludes Sharon’s discussion with her husband, Strikes Fast. It is my hope this brief glimpse into their lives will give you a greater insight into this daring hero, Strikes Fast, and his big-hearted woman, Sharon Wells.
The entire series is available here: https://www.amazon.com/The-Medicine-Man/dp/B09X4V1HRT/ref=sr_1_5?crid=1MHFERW5BBX9G&keywords=She+Captures+My+Heart+by+karen+kay&qid=1694481112&sprefix=she+captures+my+heart+by+karen+kay%2Caps%2C109&sr=8-5&tag=pettpist-20
KAREN KAY aka GEN BAILEY is the multi-published author of American Indian Historical Romances. She has written for such prestigious publishers as AVON/HarperCollins, Berkley/Penguin/Putnam and Samhain Publishing. KAREN KAY’S great grandmother was Choctaw Indian and Kay is honored to be able to write about the American Indian Culture.
Please refer to https://petticoatsandpistols.com/sweepstakesrules for all contest rules.
Hi Karen, Sounds like you had a good interview. Seems like they have a lot of different ways that we weren’t aware of. Your books are Awesome!!!! Your reader.
Hi Lois! Thank you so much for your comment and your compliments. Goes right to my heart. And, nice to see you here!
nice interview
I like that Strikes Fast at least talked to his wife at last! Otherwise it would have been a very short interview!
Tee-hee-hee. Yes, it was something to get him talking. : )
The book is awesome!
Thank you, Rhonda, for your wonderful and gracious praise. Means a lot to me.
Great post and character study.
Hi David! Great to see you here and thank you for your compliments. Hope you are doing well! : )
Hey Karen! I loved all three books! And the last one with Sharon and Strikes Fast was probably my favorite. I loved the interview!
I would be interested to the next subject. These were about mystical medicine men. So, what is next Karen? Heh. What would you like to write about that you haven’t quite touched on with the American Indian?
One more thing. I might change tribes a bit with the medicine men, but not certain yet — also the hero of the next story is Stands Strong, the boy from book #3 — he is Lakota, although he’s living with the Blackfeet.
Hi Tracy! Thank you very, very much. And thank you for your kind words.
As to what’s next, am actually planning either a 3 or a 4 book connected series, but still with the mystical medicine men. Am coming forward a bit in time and will probably continue to come forward in time up to Buffalo Bill’s Wild West Shows because I’ve been really inspired by Black Elk who was a medicine man of the Lakota and he also traveled with Buffalo Bill’s Wild West show when he was young, as did Fools Crow, who toured with a different Wild West show (he lived in our times) and he was even in a movie.. I’ve actually barely touched on the medicine men cause I guess it’s been a real education for me, too. I’ve had to let go of what I would call…wrong impressions all through the last century in movies and some of my own wrong ideas. Sometimes it’s hard to write about them because they were very secretive. But, Fools Crow was asked by God to relay — at least a little — the medicine man’s beliefs and frame of mind. Truly fascinating.
Because each tribe was different, there’s so much color and drama to still touch on and write about.
Thank you for asking.
I’ll be starting this book soon!! This sounds so good, and I had no idea that they couldn’t talk to each other!!
Hi Trudy! Well, boys and girls found ways to talk to each other, regardless. The Lakota had an entire way a man courted a girl beneath a robe — there were often lines of men waiting to talk to the girl.in the same way. And, of course, the flute was a Lakota man’s means of courting a girl, too. The Blackfeet were a little different, often the parents arranging the marriages — but not always And, of course, men often had to steal their sweetheart, inviting war from his potential father-in- law. So very, very interesting. Hope you’ll enjoy the book! : )
Sounds really good. Loved the interview.
Thank you, Barbara, for your kind words. : )
What a great interview! I definitely want to read this whole series!
History always paints the Indians as warring and treacherous people. But it was the white man that moved in and pushed the Indians off their land. I always thought if it could have been handled better, more peacefully, We all could have lived together in Harmony, and learned so much from each other.
Oops. I entered a comment instead of a reply. Been doing that a bit today. Reply is below. Sorry about that.
Hi Nancy,\
First let me thank you very much for your kind words. Then, wanted to let you know that I feel the same way as you do about how it was all done. What we could have learned from each other would have made this country a beacon, I think. Love the coment.
One more thing: I think Hollywood also did a disfavor to the American Indian Medicine Men, painting them now and again as though they were witch doctors instead of the healers they sought to be — using all of God’s creation to help people to heal. It’s quite an education I’m getting as I research this out. Just wanted to add this to the post. I think, Nancy, that you are so right.
The male-female dynamics of different cultures has always interested me. The number of tribes (world-wide) that have matriarchal positions of import or power would surprise many. Many “primitive” cultures recognized the importance of women and valued their wisdom and importance to the community. They had respect and a degree of power and independence. For example, in some tribes, the wife could divorce her husband by putting his possessions outside their lodging. Though the relationship and restrictions portrayed in this series seem overly restrictive, they serve to protect women and girls and the relationships within the family. As restrictive as they are, they are based on showing respect to the females and protecting them. The men may show indifference, but they are anything but uninterested. The women may seem subservient, but they wield their own power.
Your post shows the power of the woman to get answers from a recalcitrant male. No powerless woman there.
Oh, Patricia, I love this post. I hadn’t looked at it this way. But you’re right. Actually, with a few exceptions most American Indian tribes I’ve studied are matriarchal. And, even in this, he is showing some respect that she has to get around. But, she does seem to be able to get her questions answered. : )
I have been enamored of the Indians for a long time. I have great empathy for the way they were treated by the whites as they were ever pushed further and further away from their sacred lands to less livable areas to live. One cannot blame them for striking back. That is what we do today if dealt unjustly. I have read two of your books and really love them. Thank you for your truth in telling them, Kay. You are very skilled in your writing.
Hi Judy,
Thank you so much for your kind and gracious comment. You honor me and I thank you for it. I agree with what you’ve posted here. Very much. In truth, I consider it a duty to try to discover the truth from men who lived with the Indians early on and became part of the tribe. There are a few men who did this and left a record of their legends and their adventures and true stories and their beliefs and way of life. I so wish it had been different. In a perfect world, both cultures would have learned from the other and would have figured out a way for each of them to prosper. Wouldn’t it be a good world if we could figure out a way to get what we want, but also to let the other person/culture get what he/they wanted, also? My goodness what a rich history that would be, huh? A history to be proud of.