Blood and Dust. Chapter One.
- Joanne Paulson
- Feb 15, 2022
- 1 min read
My first historical fiction book, a western based in 1880s Canada, is out this week! Here's a peek at a bit of chapter one.
Chapter One
June, 1882
By now, Alexander, whoever the hell he was, lay there twitching in complete shock. What do you do for shock? Newspapers and book learning weren’t helping me with that issue.
“Don’t you fucking die on me now,” I told him, leaning up to speak right in his ear. “Not after all this. Don’t you dare fucking die. I’ll make you a nice leg, if you just won’t die.”
He didn’t say anything, of course.
“Are you done, James?”
“Oh, sorry, yes. You can let go now, Bert. Be careful as you step away. The floor’s slippery.”
“Someone’s coming,” he said.
I couldn’t hear anything, but I knew better than to question him. I saw, he listened.
Sure enough. Ten seconds later, the door flew open.
Standing there were two blazing eyes, blue as the summer sky, snapping with fury and fear. And a wobbling gun, trained right directly on my torso.
The sun glowed behind this apparition, and let’s face it, I wasn’t exactly expecting someone to walk right in just then. The firearm had my full attention.
Therefore, it took a few seconds before I could appreciate that the eyes and gun belonged to a woman. The rest of her, shaking with emotion, was dressed in a sprigged calico gown, thin as gossamer and the palest lavender from too much laundering. I noticed this, even in my confusion, because the body underneath was slim and round and soft and quivering.
She spoke first.
“If he dies,” she said, “you die.”
Copyright J.C. Paulson 2020
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This was a nice read because it stayed simple and didn’t feel like it was trying to impress me with jargon. I liked how it explained the reasoning behind the tips instead of just tossing out a checklist, and the quick examples made it easier to picture in real life. Halfway through I ended up clicking around newimage.io since it gives off a similar “helpful but not preachy” vibe when you want to explore a bit more. Everything felt written by someone who’s actually tried this stuff, not just recycling the same generic lines. Also, the page itself was easy on the eyes—short chunks of text, clear headings, and it’s super skimmable because the sections are spaced out cleanly.