Wild Deadwood Tales is an anthology of short stories from best selling authors. I chose to review Burke‘s tale, Unexpected Calamity.
Please open your heart and purse, and you will help injured professional bull riders; the authors are writing to benefit the Western Sports Foundation, which provides among other things critical assistance to professional bull riders who are injured while competing.
Who doesn’t like bull riders; what a worthy cause!
STORY-LINE:
Calamity Jane comes into Deadwood, the site of Wild Bill Hickok‘s murder two years earlier, broke and needing a drink. Of all things, she starts seeing and hearing a man that cannot possibly be real. To top it off, Deadwood is in the midst of a smallpox outbreak.
No one in town will help the infected in the pest house, leaving Jane to take it upon herself to nurse them back to health or death, whichever comes first. She’s still seeing and talking to a figure that cannot be real, but it sure looks and sounds real. Is she going crazy or having liquor withdrawal? My book reviews follow.
CHARACTERS, PLOTTING, DEVELOPMENT:
Authors cannot develop short-stories, plots, or characters to the same extent they can in a novel due to the shortened length. However, E.E. Burke created a well-developed short-story with great characters and plotting which kept me reading fast and furiously. I ran a gauntlet of emotions in this tale from near tears, sadness, surprise, and chills as I read the ending as well as the author notes. I enjoyed this tale very much.
Burke shows the reader a different side of Martha “Calamity” Jane Cannary in this fictional tale. She looked to Jayne’s more compassionate side which is detailed in history. As well as, the depth of her friendship with handsome Wild Bill Hickok. Historically was she genuinely a close friend of Hickok? Only Wild Bill Hickok and Jayne know at this point, and they are not telling. She was brash, bold, foul-mouthed with a temper to match, drank like a fish, and was a “true blue” friend.
I liked how Burke took a few fictional weeks out of Jane’s life to highlight her compassion. What experiences this woman lived; and live to the fullest she did. The hint, and it is only a hint, of romantic feelings Jayne felt is intriguing. I had never thought of Jane as a compassionate woman or one who could love. I thought of her, well…, as a man in a woman’s body.
At points in the story, I found myself almost sad for the life she lived, while the date of her death gave me shivers up and down my arms. Do some friendships extend past life? It is an intriguing premise. As William Shakespeare’s play says:
“……There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio, than are dreamt of..…”
Watching Jayne try to decide whether she was losing her mind or having liquid withdrawal is telling of the life she lived; while her care of others showed her compassionate side. She was ready to place herself in harm’s way for the poor and disenfranchised.
I hope Burke expands on this story as I thoroughly enjoyed the time I spend with famous frontier figures, Calamity Jayne and Wild Bill Hickok. I would not hesitate to buy this collection for myself or a friend.
Please open your heart and purse because you will help injured professional bull riders; the authors are writing to benefit the Western Sports Foundation, which provides among other things critical assistance to professional bull riders who are injured while competing. What a worthy cause!
UNEXPECTED CALAMITY RECOMMENDATION: STARS 4
ALSO, PLEASE NOTE
I received a copy of this edition from the author and chose to review with honest book reviews voluntarily. All reviews are dependent on the author’s opinion. My reviews reflect my opinion.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR E. E BURKE