Celebrating newly released Lone Arrow’s Pride for its 25th Anniversary
Interview: Karen Kay
The Legendary Warriors, Book 2
Buried treasure shines brightest in the dark…
Ten years after she survived a cholera epidemic that wiped out her entire wagon train, Carolyn White is on a quest to shake off the bad luck that follows her everywhere and which now threatens her adopted family. The unending string of mishaps can have only one source: the gold piece that she, in childish innocence and wonder, once took from a stolen cache.
She tells herself her journey to Crow Country is merely to put the piece back in the cave where she found it. Yet in her heart, she knows it’s the memory of Lone Arrow, the boy who sheltered her there. The boy whose face, now that of a man’s, inhabits her dreams.
Lone Arrow’s anger knows no bounds. Anger with the white woman he suspects isn’t being truthful to him. Anger with himself that he cannot ignore the beauty who captured his heart even as a boy. Though trust is in short supply, he can’t deny his burning need for her. Whatever else she may be, she is his destiny.
Warning: Contains a passion that could lead to soul-stirring love.
This is the 25th Year Edition of this story.
Interview with Karen Kay
Amazon #1 Newest Release author in American Historical Romance, KAREN KAY is a multi-published Author of romance and adventure in the Old West, American Indian. She has been praised by reviewers and fans alike for bringing insights into the everyday life of the American Indian culture of the past.
As Reviewer, Suzanne Tucker, once wrote, “Ms. Kay never fails to capture the pride, the passion and the spirit of the American Indian…”
KAREN KAY’s great grandmother was Choctaw Indian, and she is adopted Blackfeet. Ms. Kay is honored to be able to write about the American Indian culture.
“With the power of romance, I hope to bring about an awareness of the American Indian’s concept of honor, and what it meant to them to live as free men and free women. There are some things that should never be forgotten.”
Interview with Karen Kay
Interview by Holly Hewson
HH: Lone Arrow’s Pride is being re-released for its 25th anniversary. Congratulations! What are your fondest memories surrounding this particular book?
Karen: Great question. I wrote this story when I was working for AVON Books. The story I had submitted to them in synopsis form was not something my editor wanted at that time. So it was my job to go back to the drawing board. I was telling my husband and my brother-in-law about needing a story idea, and they then regaled me with story after story of their mining adventures in the Superstition Mountains in Arizona, going into its history all the way back to the Jesuits who were recalled back to Spain. So I took a bit of what their true adventures were and brought it into the Bighorn Mountains in Wyoming/Montana. The stories they told were true and incredible and some quite funny.
HH: It’s the second in your Legendary Warriors series. What can you tell us about the series and where this book fits into it?
Karen: At this time period, I had bought a book on various American Indian Legends and was fascinated by them. So I decided to do an entire series based on some of these ancient legends. I still tell some of these legends to my grandchildren.
HH: What do you like best about Carolyn and why will readers like her?
Karen: This heroine is a survivor, and, although there are many setbacks, she manages to keep going despite stormy weather. I also liked this little fact: throughout most of the story Carolyn possesses a gold cross she knew was cursed, but she was only 12 I believe at the time when she was led to the cave where the treasure was by a Crow Indian boy in order to avoid a bear. And, she took a small gold cross while she was there, knowing it was cursed.
Because the cross is cursed, she becomes clumsy and things around her keep happening — none of them fatal to anyone, but I liked that she was clumsy because of this and completely unaware of the accidents happening around her…until one day she becomes aware that all these accidents are because of this cross she took, even knowing it was curse. This, then is what causes her to have to go back to Crow country and convince Lone Arrow to take her back to the cave where she got it so she can replace it.
He of course is very unwilling to do this, suspecting her of theft.
HH: What do you like best about Lone Arrow and why will readers love him?
Karen: Lone Arrow, though only a little older than Carolyn at the time when they first “meet,” protects and defends her against many obstacles — like a bear and a stampeding buffalo herd. He may not trust her and she annoys him no end, but he is there for her anyway.
HH: What do you enjoy most about writing romance for these legendary heroes?
Karen: I think I like these heroes because they have not only other tribes or enemies to fight, but the supernatural, as well. And, one of these stories was what I call my “musical” although, of course, it’s can’t really be a musical. But it’s Soaring Eagle’s Embrace, book #4 in the series and it is based on a legend that I have found in almost all the tribes that I have read about.
HH: What do you enjoy reading?
Karen: Probably I would have to say…besides romance, of course, it would be real accounts from 100-200 years ago — preserved and written down. At the beginning of my books, I usually list down the books of real, true adventure stories as well as many, many paranormal true stories that have inspired me.
A particular story that appears in fiction form in two of my books in the Medicine Man series comes from a book called Pretty Shield, a Crow Medicine Woman. (Pretty-shield, Medicine Woman of the Crows by Frank B. Linderman) They are fascinating…because they are true happenings, she having experienced them. One of her stories is a basis of a kind of healing she experienced herself as a youngster of about 12, I think. It’s in the story, SHE BRINGS BEAUTY TO ME and also in my newest book (in editing at present) SHE BELONGS IN MY WORLD.
HH: What is life like for you on a typical day?
Karen: Extremely busy, I would say. From my duties around the house (including pets) to writing to going to my grandchildren’s house (1:20 – 2:00 away depending on traffic), life is busy. I keep revising my schedule, hoping to find more time, but I’ve learned it’s just trading one thing for another. : ) So busy is how I would define my typical day.
HH: What do you have coming soon for lucky readers?
Karen: As I mentioned above, I have a new book that is in editing right now and it’s entitled: SHE BELONGS IN MY WORLD and I hope to have it released sometime in late March to early April or this year, 2025.
HH: What are the things that keep you writing such poignant and beautiful stories?
Karen: I think we all have a creative urge that takes different forms: art, music, writing, poetry, fashion, design…all of these are creative activities and I think we, as human beings, have this innate urge to create. But, there’s also my desire to write down (in romantic fiction form) some of the real history I read about — the landscapes and the ideas of a people who were truly free.
HH: What advice would you give to a new writer just starting out?
Karen: I would say the best advice I could give would be to set a time each day to write (except days off, of course) and to simply work at writing — it might be reading through books or looking at pictures to get an idea of the places you’re writing about — it might be promotion (which takes up a lot of an author’s time) but it is writing and just write, knowing one can always go back and edit it to make it “stronger.” It’s the story that’s important, not sentence structure or even spelling—to think about these things when one is trying to create a world and scene is simply too much. The important thing is to write and write and write and not to worry about voice or anything like that. The more you write, the more your voice will come out naturally. Tell the story as though you’re the storyteller in some village, and you have all kinds of people listening to you who want to hear your story. Tell it to them.
Thanks for the interview and your delightful and thought provoking questions.
Look for SHE BELONGS IN MY WORLD soon (end of March or early April 2025).
With love,
Karen Kay