Novel PASTimes: Where have you lived?
Harrison: Family home in Straight Creek, KY; New Orleans; drifted around a bit, and landed in Federal, Wyoming Territory
Novel PASTimes: What job have you had?
Harrison: Cavalry officer during the War of Southern Rebellion, and now, U.S. Marshal
Novel PASTimes: What person do you most admire?
Harrison: That’s a toss-up between two people—my wife and A.J. Adams. Rachel is head-strong, determined, smart as a whip, and I’m not ashamed to admit, most of the time, she’s a better person than me. Doesn’t hurt I think she’s the most beautiful woman I’ve ever seen, even when she’s dressed in denims and a chambray shirt. A.J….he’s the most honorable man I’ve ever known.
Novel PASTimes: What is you overall outlook on life?
Harrison: Life’s what you make of it.
Novel PASTimes: What if anything, would you like to change about your life?
Harrison: Right now, not a single thing. Guess you could say I’ve got everything a man needs to be happy and content—a good woman at my side, a job that most of the time should kill me with sheer boredom interspersed with moments of utter insanity, a kid that’s as smart as his mother, and another one on the way.
Novel PASTimes: How are you viewed by others?
Harrison: Most people would say I’m a straight shooter.
Novel PASTimes: How would you describe yourself?
Harrison: I’m a little taller than most men but appearance wise, I’m no better looking than the next man.
Novel PASTimes: What is your strongest and weakest character traits?
Harrison: Rachel says that I can’t see shades of grey, that everything is black and white in my world. Guess that could be both a strength and a weakness.
Novel PASTimes: How much self-control do you have?
Harrison: When I was younger, I had a wicked temper. I’ve learned to control that.
Novel PASTimes: Do you have a talent?
Harrison: I’m pretty good at reading people. Made winning at poker a lot easier.
Novel PASTimes: What do people like best about you?
Harrison: I don’t beat around the bush.
Novel PASTimes: What’s your favorite food and drink?
Harrison: I’m a steak and potatoes man. Never did like all that fancy French food in New Orleans. And, give me a smooth, mellow bourbon over anything else.
Novel PASTimes: What book are you reading at the moment?
Harrison: Reading one by Robert Stevenson called An Inland Voyage.
Novel PASTimes: Best way to spend a weekend?
Harrison: What is a weekend? Rachel and I own one of the largest spreads in the Territory and I’m a deputy U.S. Marshal. Friday and Saturday nights get a little busy in town and I’m spending those nights breaking up fights in the saloons. There’s times, I think the ladies of the morality preservation group have it right, that the saloons should be shut down.
Novel PASTimes: What would a great gift for you be?
Harrison: If someone could turn back time for me to June 30, 1863. I would have let A.J. go back to his troops and not taken him prisoner.
Novel PASTimes: When are you happy?
Harrison: When I’m with Rachel. Don’t even need to be doing anything, just sitting on the porch with a cup of coffee and knowing she’s in the house…
Novel PASTimes: What makes you angry?
Harrison: Look, I know this isn’t a popular sentiment and when there’s a war, someone has to win and someone has to lose, but that anger aimed at the South in this country right now makes me angry. I’m not arguing that the War of Southern Rebellion mowed down more than half a million lives. I’m saying that the men who fought for the Confederacy were just like me and almost all the other men who fought to save the Union. I won’t say if they were right or wrong in their assertions of state’s rights and over-taxation. But, I will say that for the most part, those men were as steadfast and brave as any man who wore Union colors. And, to blame them for the war—it was a war, like any other. Rich man’s war and a poor man’s fight. I guess someone has to take the blame for tearing this country apart but it makes me angry to hear it.
Novel PASTimes: What makes you laugh?
Harrison: Rachel. And her—no, our son, Joshua.
Novel PASTimes: Hopes and dreams?
Harrison: That Joshua never experience anything like that war.
Novel PASTimes: What’s the worst thing you have ever done to someone and why?
Harrison: I told you that Rachel says I can’t see grey areas, that it’s all black and white to me. She’s wrong. After the war was over, I realized that there has to be grey, somewhere, but orders are orders. At Tullahoma, I captured my best friend. I was personally responsible for sending him to a prisoner camp in upstate New York. And, he’s dead because he was in that camp and I blame myself to this day for his death.
Novel PASTimes: Biggest trauma?
Harrison: Seeing Rachel held at gunpoint and not being able to keep her safe.
Novel PASTimes: What do you like best about the other main characters in your book?
Harrison: I like that Rachel doesn’t take any guff from me and she gives it right back in full measure. It makes me real happy when Joshua says I’m his father, even though I’m not. I’m the only father he’ll ever know.
Novel PASTimes: What do you like least about the other main characters in your book?
Harrison: I can’t and I don’t hold it against either Rachel or Joshua, but it does bother me who that boy’s father is.
Novel PASTimes: If you could do one thing and succeed at it, what would it be?
Harrison: I want to be a better father to Joshua than my father ever was for me.
Novel PASTimes: Fast Facts
Parents: Joshua and Kyla
Siblings: Two sisters and a half-brother, Jason
Eyes: Hazel, I guess.
Hair: Rachel says it’s a brownish-blond. I never thought about the color—though there is some grey in it now.
Voice: Deep
Right- or left-handed? Right-handed
About Lynda J. Cox: Once upon a time there was a little girl who said when she grew up, she was going to have dogs like Lassie, own horses, and live on a ranch just like the Ponderosa. Two out of three isn’t bad. If she can’t live on a ranch, Lynda J Cox writes about characters who do. She writes steamy westerns, what one reviewer called an authentic blend of Old West action and happily ever after romance. She has won The Laramie Award for best debut novel, short listed for The Laramie for her third book, and her last three books have all been given 4.5 to 5 stars by InD’Tale Magazine. You can found out more about Lynda on her Amazon Author Page, FB Author Page, or Author Web page.
Novel PASTimes 