By Cynthia Hand, Brodi Ashton and Jodi Meadows.
I have vaguely seen this sort-of-book-series around and found the most recent two of them at the library. As far as I can tell, these three authors team up to write books from three different points of view, taking historical figures with common first names and writing alternate, more cheerful histories of them, while throwing in say, paranormal stuff and authorial fourth-wall-breaking snark.
I am DEFINTELY DOWN FOR THAT.
Anyway: this one retells the story of Calamity Jane, Frank Butler, and Annie Oakley....with garou (werewolves). Wild Bill Hickok was a famous garou hunter and now is doing a traveling Wild West show that's secretly doing undercover garou investigation. They're trying to track the "Alpha" who seems to be biting people without their consent and brainwashing them.
- Jane grew up with a garou mother--this didn't go well--and early in the book, gets bitten and becomes a garou herself. After being informed that there's supposedly a cure in Deadwood for this, she travels there and is....well, quite surprised at what's going on there. (I will note that the authors take some fun and creative historical liberties with the Deadwood story.)
- Annie Oakley's a sharpshooter who really wants to join the Wild West show and also falls for Frank (and his dog George, who she's not allergic to) at first sight, and she figures out they're secret garou hunters early on. She's excited to join that, since she had a horrendous experience with some bad garou in her childhood and is totally down for killing them.
- Frank Butler got bitten and turned garou as a small child and was rescued/adopted by Wild Bill. He's kept the secret, learned to tame his inner wolf, and helps the recently bitten to manage to have a good life without getting violent. (Their gang only goes after badly behaving garou.) He falls in love with Annie at first sight, but when she starts spouting off that she hates garou, well, that hurts his feelings.
Overall, I loved this, it's really fun. Once everyone gets to Deadwood, the plot details you know about Wild Bill and Al Swearengen get thrown for delightful loops that I really enjoyed. I also really enjoyed the overall authorial fourth-wall-breaking snark, and throwing in historical exposition, and using famous lines from modern times just for the heck of it. I loved the other characters, such as Edwina/Edward, a reporter that Calamity Jane goes for and vice versa, but her writing career gets in the way. I also really liked the Lakota sisters, Many Horses and Walks Looking, that Annie befriends later on, those were great girls. (I note that the authors consulted with a sensitivity reader on this topic.) And Wild Bill himself is very endearing as the proud papa to this bunch.
Here's some quotes so you get the feel of what reading this is like:
- On Jane's various claims: "Again, reader, this was not exactly the truth. Or even a little bit the truth."
- "The truth is, up to this point in her life Jane had never been in a skirmish with the Sioux. She had never actually met a Native American in person, let alone in any kind of combat. In her past adventures, as a scout or driver, if Jane ever had reason to believe that an Indian was thereabouts, she'd turn right around and go quick as she could in the opposite direction."
- "And thus, dear readers, the very first game of H-O-R-S-E was played, Of course, now the game uses trick basketball shots instead of trick gun shots, and this change is probably a good thing, because no one was as good at shooting as Frank and Annie, and therefore if other people tried to replicate the game, there would be blood. Anyway, back to this delightful scene of a boy and girl, flirting with the rules of propriety and shooting guns at each other."
- Annie: "Hey, big guy. Sun's getting' real low." "Still hours 'til sunset," muttered someone outside. "how long's this girl been drinking?"
- "Ahem, narrators here. We know, we're supposed to be writing a comedy, and this whole part is pretty sad, but sometimes bad things happen and people are sad. That's the truth of life. Still, even the saddest of times can have moments of humor to help pull you through to the other side of grief. We'll get you there. We promise."
I'm going to put one more quote behind the spoiler space, for my own amusement.
Anyway, this is four stars, highly recommended, great fun! I'll get the rest of them when I can.
Spoiler space quote:
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"Wait. You've been a woof this entire time?"
"Since you were a toddler," Bill confessed. "You went through a bit of a biting phase."
Frank's mouth dropped open. "You're a garou because I was teething?"
"I didn't take it personally. I was just relieved you didn't bite the nanny."
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