Karen Kay

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.
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Who Was Polly Cooper? And why is she important? Also, why is her shawl so important?

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The date is 1777-1778.  This is the time of the Revolutionary War in America in her bid for freedom.  The place is Valley Forge in an extremely harsh winter of 1777 and spring of 1778.  George Washington’s troops are starving.

The Continental Army had no money to give these troops to purchase food.  The merchants could not give them food or supplies because there was no money to pay them.  The colonists would not supply the troops with either food or clothing because they, too, could not be paid.  George Washington tried his best, but he could not feed or clothe his men.  As it was, about 1/4 of the troops died from the bitter cold and starvation.

The Oneida Indians (part of the Iroquois Confederation) had already fought with the American Patriots.  When they heard about the starving troops of General George Washington, they looked into their hearts, and, led by Chief Skenondoah (sometimes spelled Shenondoah), they decided to bring food to George Washington’s starving soldiers.

 

Th Oneida Indians were excellent farmers and hunters.  They had some food and they decided to help George Washington’s troops.  Led by their leader, Skenondoah, and some warriors, they walked about 100-200 miles to Valley Forge, bringing with them many bushels of dried corn and other goods.  Polly Cooper made the journey with these warriors and their leader.  She volunteered to go with Skenondoah and his men because she thought the soldiers might not know how to prepare the corn so it was edible.

She was right.  As soon as the soldiers at Valley Forge saw the food, they would have eaten the dried corn, which, had they done so, would have increased in size in their bellies and could have killed them.  Polly forbid them to eat it until she had prepared it.  She cooked it as she did most every day (the Indians knew how to make corn into a full protein using wood ash, but that’s another story).  Once it was cooked, she fed the troops.  But, when Skenondoah and his men left, having given the troops their supplies, Polly stayed to cook for the men every day and care for them with Oneida medicines (herbs, roots, etc.).  

Polly showed the men how to cook the food so it was nourishing and she often was seen going onto the field after a battle and helping the men who were injured with herbal medicines and food.  She helped not only the Americans, but, because her heart was so big, she attended to the British/German soldiers, as well, believing that all men are sons of mothers, and as a mother, it was her right to help them all.

At the end of the war George Washington praised the Oneida Indians for their help during the war.  Polly was offered payment for her services and her help, but she refused it, saying it was her duty morally under the laws of the Creator.  Martha Washington was so taken by what Polly Cooper had done, she took Polly to Philadelphia and then to Washington.  While they were in Washington, Martha Washington took Polly into different shops, and Polly was taken by a beautiful black shawl and a bonnet.  Seeing this Martha Washington and other women in Washington DC asked the Continental Congress to purchase the shawl as a recognition of Polly’s generous and wholehearted help during the Was For Independence.  And the Congress did buy the shawl to Polly as a thank you for her help.

This is a picture of the shawl.  It’s important because the Oneida had a long history of recording their agreements with the newly forming American government by using wam-pam to record their agreements.  These agreements were honored by the Oneida.  This shawl is considered to be an agreement of friendship and cooperation between the newly forming government and the Oneida.

The Oneida gave the newly forming country as much help as they could.  One third of their men died in battle and at the end of the war, and for four years afterwards the Oneida, once a rich, prospering community, had fallen on very hard times, becoming victim to small pox and other diseases.  But despite their troubles, the Oneida remained friends with the people who had fought for an won their Independence.

 

Here are some of the acknowledgements to the Oneida Indians for their help during the War for Independence:

1777: “We have experienced your love, strong as the oak, and our fidelity, unchangeable as truth. You have kept fast hold of the ancient covenant chain, and preserved it free from rust and decay, and bright as silver. Like brave men, for glory you despised danger; you stood forth in the cause of your friends and ventured your lives in our battles. While the sun and moon continue to give light to the world, we shall love and respect you (Journals 9:996).”

1784: “The immovable firmness with which you have preserved our faith to Congress and attached yourselves to the fortunes of America has justly raised your glory among nations. It is a glory that will last as long as any memory of these times shall remain. Congress has not forgot your fidelity and attachment (Campisi 1988:58).”

1794: The Oneidas “adhered faithfully to the United States, and assisted them with their warriors; and in consequence of this adherence and assistance, ” the Oneidas “at an unfortunate period of the war, were driven from their homes, and their houses were burnt and their property destroyed (Kappler 2:37).”

To the left is a picture of Martha and George Washington.

Unfortunately, as our country grew in size, corporations grew up in Washington who had influence over the Congress and the land of the Oneida was swallowed up by land speculators and opened up to colonists.  But the Oneida continued to survive, and, although their villages have long since disappeared, they remain one of the long-living tribes of the Iroquois Confederation.  They have not disappeared, and they are proud to this day of having given their aid to the Patriots in a time of need.

I believe the shawl remains in the custody of the descendants of Polly Cooper.

We know of this story from people who recorded it at this time in history and by oral tradition.  Indeed, William Honyost Rockwell (1870 – 1960), an important Oneida Indian recalls hearing this story in oral tradition when he was a lad.

We celebrate our 250th year Anniversary as a country this year.  And, as we celebrate it, perhaps we might remember those kindhearted people who, in friendship, came to the aid of those fighting for freedom when it was most needed.

Source:  https://www.oneidaindiannation.com/the-polly-cooper-shawl-testimony-to-a-pact-of-the-revolutionary-war

Hoping you enjoyed this little bit of history today.  I’ll be giving away a free e-book of my latest story, SHE BELONGS IN MY WORLD, to each of you who leave a comment here today as a Valentine’s gift. 

 

 

 

 

Welcome to a New Year!

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Howdy!  Welcome to a New Year!  Hope your holidays were full of fun, family and lots of treats!

Have you made any New Year’s Resolutions?  I won’t necessarily ask you what they are because I realize how personal these resolutions can be.  But, perhaps we could share what we hope to accomplish this next year, since these aren’t quite so personal.  So I’ll begin:

The first thing I’d like to accomplish is to finish the next Historical Romance I’ve been writing.  I’m almost done with it and hope to have it done in the next week or so and get it into editing.  It’s new title is IF SHE WERE MINE.

And then, the good Lord willing, I have three other books I’m hoping to write this year:  one is a book in a series with other authors; another is a new Young Adult, and lastly another Historical Romance in this same series featuring the medicine men, and, the good Lord willing, I’d also like to publish another 25th year Anniversary Book.  It would be a lot of writing I’ll have to do, a lot of editing and a lot of “keeping my nose to the grind-stone” so to speak.  But again, the Good Lord willing, it might be something I could do.

So what about you?  What are you hoping to accomplish in this next year?  I’d love to hear your plans and your hopes for the New Year.

I’m hoping also that you might like a sneak peek at the new cover for this new book, IF SHE WERE MINE.  And, if you will bear with me, I thought I’d do a little side-show of the other books in this series:

She Steals My Breath, Book #1 in the series.

The first time Eagle Heart sees the white woman, Laylah, her beauty steals his breath.

When a blizzard forces them together, a forbidden love blossoms between them.

 

She Captures My Heart,  Book #2 in the series. 

United only in love, Is their love strong enough to beat back a world threatening to force them apart? Or will love triumph, after all?

 

She Paints My Soul, Book # 3 in the series

Caught together in a blizzard, can these two heal one another’s hearts?

 

 

She Brings Beauty To Me, Book #4 in the series

Are their star-guided paths meant only to briefly cross?

 

 

She Belongs In My World

Is this their second chance at love? 

 

 

 

 

 

 

And here is the new cover for a book I hope will be coming your way in February or March of this year.

And a brief description of the plot:

Briella Feher and Red Fox are in love, and have been in love for most of their lives.  But both sides of their families forbid the marriage.  

Will their love conquer their forced separation and their parents’ prejudice? Or is their love doomed from the very start?

 

I’d love to hear about what you hope to accomplish in the coming new year.  So come on in and let’s chat!

 

 

 

Toast the Holidays with Karen Kay

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Howdy!

Fermented Lemonaide

This recipe is one of my favorites and although it is easy, some of the ingredients (like whey) you might not find at your local grocery store.  However, your local Health Food Store would probably have some whey.  However, one can easily do a substitution for the whey.  This recipe comes to me from The Healthy Home Economist — https://www.thehealthyhomeeconomist.com — and it is a favorite of mine, as well as a favorite of my grandchildren (especially in summer).  But, it is a refreshing drink in winter, too.

RECIPE:

** 6-9 lemons

**1/2 cup whey — whey is the golden liquid one sees on plain yogurt — or one can substitute with 1/2 cup filtered water with one tablespoon lemon juice or yogurt or vinegar) — I do not recommend buying whey from the grocery store because the brands carried in grocery stores often contain MSG — an allergen.

DIRECTIONS:

** Juice the lemons

** Combine with 2 (two) quarts of filtered water

** Add the whey or substitute as stated above

** 1/2 cup sugar (as much as 3/4 cup if one prefers their lemon juice sweeter)

** Mix

** Ferment for 2 (two) days in a warm place

** Refrigerate — one can bottle it.

We enjoy this drink year round.  Hope you’ll enjoy it, too!

 

 

 

 

Cowgirls in the Kitchen – Karen Kay

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Howdy!

Here’s hoping you’ll excuse my late response.  Too much going on over the weekend, and for some reason I did not list it on my calendar that I work off of.  So, please forgive.

This following recipe is an easy one and what my grandson requested for his birthday this year…which we celebrated yesterday.

So, here we go:  This is a recipe from an older version of the Fannie Farmer cookbook, but is not now in my newest edition.  It’s a brownie recipe, but it’s one my grands love the best.  Now, I’ve made several other brownie recipes, but this one is their favorite:

 

Parker Brownies:

Oven temperature 300 degrees

2 Oz. unsweetened chocolate (can substitute 3 tblsp. cocoa and 1 tblsp. butter for each oz. of chocolate)

1/4 cup butter

1 cup suger

1 egg

1/’8 tsp. salt

1/2 cup flour

1 tsp. vanilla

Confectioners Sugar

 

Directions:

  • butter and lightly flour a 8 inch square pan
  • Bake 30 minutes — no longer
  • Decorate with confectioner’s sugar on top

Easy meezy.  This year, because my grandson had requested brownies, I made 2 batches in 2 separate pans, although you could double the recipe, using a 9 in by 13 in pan.

I’ll get this posted and then come in and say a little more.

Addition:

Yesterday, I topped one brownie on top of the other and added homemade ice cream on top.  Here’s this very, very, very, very simple and easy recipe for homemade ice cream:

3 cups heavy cream

1 cup maple syrup — it must be maple syrup and not sugar.  The sugar will not work with this recipe

2 egg yoks

1 tbsp. vanilla.

Directions:

Put in a blender or Food Processor.

Blend until firm and then freeze in a large, square pyrex bowl.  There will be a thin line of butter milk on the bottom of the ice cream.  In truth, this thin line of buttermilk my grands often say they love best.

Enjoy!

Congratulations to Karen Kay’s Winners

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Howdy!  Please excuse my delay in getting the word out on the winners of the mass market edition of SOARING EAGLE’S EMBRACE.  Because this is coming late, I drew two names for the book instead of one.  Yay!

And the winners are:

 

Joannie Sico

&

Danielle B.

 

Since these are mass market editions, I’ll need a physical address from you both.  You can email me at:  karenkay(dot)author(at)startmail(dot)com.

Many thanks go out to all of you who came to the blog on Tuesday and who left a post.  I loved them all!

 

Old Bull’s Heavenly Visitor & Give-away

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Howdy!

Welcome to another tantalizing Tuesday!  Hope y’all are doing well today.  And I have a special story for you today.  A true story — one I ran across in doing research for the story I’m currently working on.  This is from the book, BEAR CHIEF’S WAR SHIRT by James Willard Schultz, who is writing about his own true experience.

In June of 1877, Schultz’s mother had given him permission to go out west into what was then called Indian Territory on a buffalo hunt — he was to return that same year where he would attend a military academy, but he didn’t return until 1880 and even then, he was there for only 3 months before returning to Indian Country.  Indeed, James Schultz stayed with the Blackfeet and married into the tribe and became a white Blackfeet Indian.  There is a book he has written entitled MY LIFE AS AN INDIAN, and oh my, what a wonderful book it is — filled with thrilling stories.

This story is about one of Schultz’s adventures as a warrior going with a war party to retrieve Bear Chief’s War Shirt.  On the way to determining what tribe might have stolen the shirt and a way to retrieve it, he had many adventures.  The story I’m about to tell you he declares in his book is true. and is one he saw with his own eyes.

First let me tell you a little about a Blackfeet war party.  There was a man who led the party and it was his responsibility to sleep and live (to some degree) apart from the others so he could pray for a vision that would tell him what lay ahead of the war party.  Old Bull was part of this war party –he was a “Bringer of Plenty” — a man who called the buffalo to a cliff and over it so the tribe would have enough food to get through the cold winters of Montana.  He had what the Indians called much medicine.

Schultz describes Old Bull as a man about forty winters (years) in age.  Here is what Schultz writes about Old Bull:

“…I liked Old Bull best [of the war party}; in fact, I revered him.  He was a man of about forty winters — tall and well muscled, with long hair, keen eyes, and a pleasant face; calm, dignified, and honest; moreover, he was a sacred pipe man, a medicine man, as the whites say.  Old Bull was possessor of the powerful Eagle Head pipe, master of its long ritual of sacred prayers and songs.”

Old Bull was a man whom the war party needed to have a vision so as to alert the war party as to what they might face and it if would be successful.  But, so far, he had not been able to have a vision.

Old Bull stated that oftentimes he had to go someplace alone so that his spiritual helper would come.  He had told Schultz that often his spiritual helper would come to others as Old Bull prayed to their God, the Creator.  His spiritual helper would then tell the others gathered there the answers to what Old Bull was asking.  And so, not having a vision to help the war party, Old Bull went into a hollow tree and there began to pray.

And, I will quote from the book:

Bear chief was praying — “He had no more than spoken these words when his body stiffened, his face becoming tense and his eye balls rolling upwards in his head.  He leaned back against the inside of the tree.  Bear Chief and I were standing close to the tree when this happened….  Before us a white shadow was forming starting up from the ground and spinning up like a whirlwind, building higher and higher until it reached the height of Bear Chief.  Then the fluorescent white cloud began taking a man’s shape, the ears, nose, mouth, eyes, and the rest of the face forming first, then the body, arms, and legs. The figure took on such details as moccasins, a full head dress to the ground, necklaces, and some face coloring.  As I stood there, it seemed as though I could look through the Heavenly Visitor as one would look through a light colored window pane.

“The Visitor spoke in Blackfeet.  ‘Bear Chief, I am your helper.  I have been helping you all your life.  I have helped you in battles, I guide you and give you good thought.  My name is Gray Eagle.

“‘There is trouble for you ahead.  How much trouble will depend on how careful you are in your movements.  Do not travel this night.  You all will go to the Sand Hills someday, but those who are needed here now will stay for a while; those who are needed over there to help do the work of the Above Ones will go earlier.  Bear Chief, you will be rewarded.’  and with that the almost transparent visitor vanished into the sky in a streak of light.

“As Old Bull awakened from his trance, I asked him if he remembered anything that had gone on.  Said he, ‘I remember only that I slept.  What happened?’ I told him about the ghostly visitor and of his message.

“Old Bull continued, “Ever since I was a young man, there have been times over which I have had little control, when I have been seized by the Above Ones and when, as afterward related to me by my friends, Spirit people have built up and have been seen and heard by all present.  I would much rather have a vision, where I get the message direct, but when day after day has passed and I have received no message, often if I pray in an enclosure, as I did here, I am seized, and Spirit people come forth.”

The war party went on to be successful in regaining the war shirt.  Interestingly, Schultz writes, “After passing through several hands [the war shirt], the shirt came to the collection of Indian Americana at the Denver Art Museum.  No myth, this famed Indian relic is now on display for visitors to marvel at for its color, design, and decoration.”

Well, I hope you enjoyed this story.

Now onto other news:  My latest release, SHE BELONGS IN MY WORLD, is on sale starting today for $.99.  Don’t miss this chance.  Pick up your copy today.

Also, I will be giving away a mass market paperback of the book, Soaring Eagle’s Embrace, to one lucky blogger.  So come on in and leave your thoughts on this blog.  I love hearing from you.

SHE BELONGS IN MY WORLD:  https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0FBPKBXBZ?tag=pettpist-20

 

We have a Winner in Karen Kay’s Giveaway!

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Howdy!

I want to thank every one of you who came to the blog yesterday and left a post.  I loved each and every one of your posts.  And we do have a winner! Just so you know, I write down all your names on little sheets of paper and do a drawing.

The winner of the American Indian earrings is:

 

Audrey Stewart

Yay!  Yay!

 

 

Audrey, what I’ll need from you is a physical address to send your gift to you.  You can contact me at karenkay(dot)author(at)startmail(dot)com

Again, Congratulations!  Here a wish for y’all to have a great rest of the week.

American Indian Jewelry & Other Fashions Plus Giveaway

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Howdy!

Hope you are having a terrific summer!  Did any of you go on vacation this last August?  If so, where did you go?  And most of all, did you have fun?

Well, to start off September, I thought I’d tell you a bit about the American Indian style of jewelry, Plains style specifically.  All tribes were different, and this included hair styles, jewelry, moccasins, clothing and many other things that, if one knew how, could identify the tribe.

But let’s go a little deeper into Jewelry, what was used and how it was worn.  To the left here is a young man who can be identified by his style of hair, as well as his clothing and jewelry.  He is Blackfeet, I believe, and probably the picture was taken in the 1850’s or 1860’s.  His hair with his bangs cut and pulled straight up could be either Blackfeet or Crow.  But the style of his rifle case and the capote (his “blanket coat”) he is wearing looks very Blackfeet.  He wouldn’t be part of a southern tribe because there would be no need for the capote in the south.

It looks to me as if he is wearing ermine fur as earrings — the fur of the ermine was white in the winter and the fur could be used for jewelry or could ornament anything, including headdresses.  He is also wearing the bow clips with large beads attached and they are hung from each side of his face.  His necklace is beaded with the beads (most likely the color blue) used as a choker and a looping necklace of white and various colored beads.  It also looks to me as if the necklace has another loop to it, barely seen because of the capote he is wearing.

His moccasins look to be made from a substantial material, probably buckskin, which might identify him again, as Blackfeet.  His friend is dressed in the classic kind of outfit worn by traders during this time period.

The gentleman to the right is definitely Blackfeet, and is Chief Old Person, circa the late 1890’s or early 1900’s.  He is an ancestor of Chief Earl Old Person, who was chief of the tribe for very many years…and also who was very beloved by his tribe.  In this picture, his headdress identifies him at once as Blackfeet because the top part of the headdress stands almost straight up, which was the style of the Blackfeet headdress.  He wears many ermine furs, which hang down from his headdress.  He is also wearing what looks like a brass armband and has a tomahawk in his hand.  Note, also his white clothing, which is usually made from a buffalo hide and tanned until it is soft and white.

Glass beads were a trade item and were used to make earrings, necklaces and decorations on clothing, including dresses, leggings, moccasins, robes, bags, cradle boards and adorned many other things.  Bead work could be identified by tribe and by color schemes.  Before there were glass beads (imported from Europe), porcupine quills were used (soaked in the mouth until they were soft) and then used to ornament much of their clothing.and other items.  Men and women might wear shells as necklaces and earrings.  Men might wear horns, antlers, claws…a grizzly’s claws worn around the neck denoted a man of distinction.  Chokers could be made from otter skin and beads and another items highly valued.

 

Here to the left are a couple of Blackfeet girls.  Interestingly, these girls are not wearing as much jewelry as the men.  Could it be that the Blackfeet men wore more jewelry in attempt to attract a woman?  In the world of eagles, hawks and many other birds, the male of the species is often more colorful than the female, partly as a way of protecting the female as Nature has planned, but also, most likely to attract a lovely female’s attention.

Did you know that female prairie chickens sat in a circle around males in the middle who were dancing and strutting, showing off their stuff?

But, in this picture to the right, what we see is the traditional American Indian style braids, with a part in the middle.  The shells that are ornamenting the dress on the girl on our right appears to be elk teeth.  Notice they are both wearing a belt and at this time period (perhaps the late 1890’s), they are both wearing trade-cloth dresses and what looks to be wide leather belts.  In the background is a beautifully painted tepee.  Men painted these tepees, by the way.

Well, I hope you have enjoyed this quick look into traditional style of jewelry and clothes and the beautiful bead work and ornamentation.

And now for the give-away: I will be giving away a pair of American Indian hoop earrings to one of the bloggers today.  They are beautifully beaded with orange, yellow, green, blue, red and white seed beads.  There are three hoops that make up the earrings and the size of each earring is about 2 inches wide and long.  They are for pierced ears only.

Please see our Guidelines for giveaways.  All you have to do to enter into the drawing is leave a post here on the blog.

Am hoping you enjoyed this quick look at the beauty of the American Indian jewelry and clothing.

On sale right now are two of my stories:

She Steals My Breath

Currently on sale for $.99.

And


The Adventures Of Good Eagle and Miss Starling

by Genny Cothern — my pen name for this new Young Adult Series.

Currently on sale for $.99

 

 

 

Have a super day and Do Well!

 

 

 

We Have a Winner for Karen Kay’s e-book Giveaway! Yay!

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Howdy!

Hope y’all enjoyed out 18th Birthday of the Blog today.  And y’all entered into the drawing.  But I did another drawing for a free e-book of my most recent book, SHE BELONGS IN MY WORLD.

AND THE WINNER IS:

Bonnie!  

Bonnie, I’ll contact you by email to get your e-book to you.

Have a wonderful rest of the evening!

 

New Interview From Coffee Time Romance & e-book giveaway

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Howdy!  And welcome to another terrific Tuesday!

Hope your summer is going great!

Well, I recently had the pleasure of being interviewed by Coffee Time Romance, the subject being the writing of my newest series about the Medicine Man.

Hope you’ll love the interview and hope you’ll leave a comment and let me know your thoughts on this new series of writing about the American Indian Medicine Man.  And, I will be giving away a free e-book to one of the bloggers — your choice.

To the left here is a Kiowa Medicine Man with his wife and child.  I love this photo.  This is a handsome young man and his wife is very pretty.  She’s also wearing long, braid holders.  They might be beaded; it’s hard to tell.  Or they might be made of cloth.  He looks to be wearing a cotton shirt  and a cloth breechcloth.  But he is wearing what looks to be hide moccasins and perhaps she is, also.  She also has a very pretty trade blanket around her waist.  When the buffalo were slaughtered and no longer roamed the Great Western Plains, cloth often became the material of choice which they would get from the trading posts and this was commonly used for their clothing.  Their baby looks to be wearing a homemade dress of cloth.  The medicine man is also holding rattles and a stick with quite a few feathers attached.  I do not know the significance of this stick, if there is any.  Anyway, this is what I see from their picture.  And now for the interview.

 

Welcome. Today I’m talking with Karen Kay, and her books revolve around the American Indian culture. What an interesting theme. Tell us why you wanted to write about this.

Well, historically, the American Indians have pretty much had a bad rap.  I can say this now having mounds of historical documents in my library of their own writings and/or stories they told to friends that they had personally been a part of, and those friends wrote those stories down.  History in movies, in texts and other means of communication has been pretty much written by the victors and, until more recently, lies about them and their ideas of government, culture, freedom, the spiritual nature of man, the institution of marriage, of honor, of truth and the willingness to come to the aid of a friend has been hidden or simply not taught.  And it is this culture which is unparalleled in many ways than any other society I have studied.  Later, after I had started writing about the American Indians, I found out through a neighbor and a family tree (now lost) that I had Choctaw heritage that was hidden from me.  This alone has given me a reason to try in my own humble way to write it the way I have found it to be.

How is your approach different?

I’m not sure my work is entirely different from others who write in this genre.  The only thing I try to add is to make (though I write in fiction) many of the happenings in my books based on or inspired by real people who lived through some of the events I write about.

In order to write about the American Indian Culture, you have to be knowledgeable. Where do you do your research?

Well, almost all of my research is done from reading historical accounts of true happenings told by the person who lived them.  The writings of James Willard Schultz; Charles Eastman; Walter McClintrock; Jeffrey Prather; Frank B. Linderman; Frederick E. Hoxie; William Tomkins, George Catlin and many, many others.  I have many, many books on the fur trade, the steamboats, the bull trains, the railroads, etc.  And that’s just in the West.  I have a whole other assortment of books on the Eastern Indian Iroquois Confederation.

Tell us a little about your sources — the people you’ve met, and how you contacted them.

When I first started writing these stories — all those years ago in 1994 — I was determined to learn as much as I could about what I was writing about and to write entertainment, it’s true, but to be as accurate as I could about the actual history of the American Indians.  Besides books, I visited all the reservations in Montana and many of the reservations in South Dakota.  I’ve been to reservations in Arizona and New Mexico.  My husband and I have visited every reservation in Montana personally and have gone to pow-wows and we were instrumental in bringing a literacy project to the Blackfeet reservation in Montana that was open and was helping people with literacy for about five years.  I have two almost-sisters on the Blackfeet reservation to this day.  And, in 2007, I was adopted into the Blackfeet reservation.

You’ve written several books in your Medicine Man series. Tell us about the role of the medicine man in American Indian culture. Who were they?

Well, this is a subject I am still learning about, to tell you the truth.  I had wanted to write about the medicine men for a while, but didn’t because I simply didn’t know enough about them.  And, it’s a subject that doesn’t have a lot of information about who they were or what they did because these men did not necessarily tell others their secrets.  But slowly, reading a lot of stories about them, I’ve come to know more about them through stories their children have told (Blackfeet), through Frank B. Linderman’s book Pretty Shield, Medicine Woman of the Crows (Crow), Jeffrey Prather’s book, INITIATION Boys are Born. Men are Trained (Apache), Thomas E. Malls book, Fools Crow (Lakota) and of course, Black Elk Speaks (Lakota) by John G. Neihardt.  There are many more.

One thing I have learned is that the medicine man’s path was not an easy path to follow.  There was a code of honor and a code of ethics they adhered to if they wished to be successful.  And one the of biggest things I discovered is that the medicine man was very aware that he was doing the Creator’s work and his life consisted of prayer every day.  The Creator or God was the one who was doing the healing through the medicine man.  These medicine men were very aware of this and believed that the spirit of the Creator, alone, healed.  He was a part of everything they did to help their people to heal.

There were/are those who use what might be called black magic to do deeds contrary to the Creator, but these men were not usually known as medicine men — often they were known as witches or a shaman and they were as different from a medicine man as day is to night.

I go into this in more detail in my book, SHE BELONGS IN MY WORLD.  I do try to share what I have learned with my readers.

What did they do to help people get well?

All medicine men and medicine women knew how to use herbs, teas, muds, the bark of trees and their leaves and other plants found in nature to heal.  But, they had their own way of healing that was theirs alone.  They used the rhythm of drums, a special song, dances, putting hands on the body of a person to discover their ailment to help heal.  But, their main way to ensure the person they were asked to help was through prayer and the prayer was usually done in a very certain way.

A medicine man is a fascinating — and highly interesting — person. What started you on this quest to know more?

That came to me in an entirely American Indian fashion — through a dream, really.  I used to talk a bit about this, but no longer do — having now the knowledge that one should not share the dream with anyone else except with a medicine man.

Are there still medicine men (or women) around today?

Yes, there are, although from the book, Fools Crow by Thomas E. Malls, I’ve learned that some medicine men in the present might not fully follow the path of honor that was so essential in the olden days and these men, according to Fools Crow, can tend to be not as successful as they might otherwise be.  But yes, there are definitely medicine men who still follow this difficult path and who are dearly loved by their people.

What was the greatest challenge writing this series?

I think it would be learning about who these men and women truly were.  It’s hard to discover who they were and what they accomplished and some of the things they used to heal when there is really not a lot written about them.  But, over time I’ve learned enough to at least show what they could accomplish and a little of how they did what they did.  And, again, the importance of the Creator or God was paramount in all they did to help another.

What in your opinion makes good chemistry between your leading characters?

In my stories, the one culture and its ideas and ideals are pitted against the other, and their cultural ideals rarely match one with the other.  It is the love and admiration they each have for one another, despite very real problems and differences they deeply hold, that cause them to be determined to be together despite what is going on around them and despite sometimes, even the characters, themselves.

Now a little about you, Karen Kay. What inspired you to become a writer?

It was during a very rough time in my life when my children were quite little (toddlers) that I began to really read a lot of romance.  Those books became friends.  Because I was raised in a household of music when I was young, I was used to being inspired by the aesthetics of music.  And during this tough time in my life, when I really needed some aesthetics in my life, books and writing became my outlet and to this day, my characters become my friends.

How long have you been writing?

My first book was published in 1994 by AVON BOOKS.  But I was writing this and that for about thirteen years before actually becoming published.  When I discovered historical romance, I was thrilled and my very first historical romance, LAKOTA SURRENDER, was bought and published by AVON BOOKS.

Are you a disciplined writer with a strict schedule?

Mostly, I am.  But, with four adopted new pets and helping out with grandchildren and all kinds of chores I have to do at home, my schedule has been disrupted and I am trying my best to get to a schedule that works for me now.  But, mostly I am a disciplined writer.

What inspires you?

Gosh, a lot.  I get inspired by the people around me, by my readers, by the research books I read and by happy every afters.  My heroines are based usually upon people I know and the same could be said about the heroes.  But, the main hero who inspires me is my husband.

Any other works in progress?

Yes.  I’m at work on book #6 in the Medicine Man series.  The working title for the book right now is IF SHE WERE MINE.  I’m also writing a Young Adult series under the pen name of Genny Cothern and I’m at work on book #3 in the Untamed Frontier series.  These Young Adult stories are novellas and they are a short, and I hope are easy to read, too.  They are sweet historical romances of adventure and young love.

Do you have any final words you’d like to share with your readers or anything else you want to tell us about your books?

I love hearing from readers.  Usually these emails I get from my readers are a bright spot in my day and so I would like to encourage readers to email me.  My email address is:  karenkay.author@startmail.com

Thank you, Karen Kay. And best of luck with your Medicine Man series.

Petticoats & Pistols