From the desk of Sage Sweetwater Firebrand Lesbian Novelist, this month's newsletter delivers the fe-MAIL...by way of STAGECOACH MARY FIELDS, a quarter of the inspiration for Sage Sweetwater's AD poem STAGECOACH!
http://www.authorsden.com/visit/viewpoetry.asp?id=169370

Well built, Mary Fields was born a black slave in 1832 in Tennessee. She was ambitious and daring, like Sage Sweetwater. With no formal education, Mary forged her way to Ohio and Montana territory. She declared herself a protector of the Ursuline nuns, of which Sage Sweetwater has written about the nuns in her lesbian pulp fiction dime store novel THE BUCKSKIN SKIRT OAR TRAVELER. Her character, Paris, learned how to embroider using needles from the Ursuline nuns in Quebec. As Sage Sweetwater does, Mary Fields defended those she loved and herself from predators on two legs as well as four. Mary delivered mail by stagecoach. She never missed a day until she was around 80 years old. Mary died in Cascade, Montana in 1914.

FAMILY BACKGROUND: Born a slave, grew up an orphan, never married, had no children. The nuns were her family; Mother Amadeus was her mother. She loved the children of Cascade County and supported the local baseball team as their number one fan.

DESCRIPTION OF ACCOMPLISHMENTS: Mary Fields lived by her wits and her strength. She traveled north to Ohio, settled in Toledo and worked for the Catholic convent. She formed a strong bond with Mother Amadeus. When the nuns moved to Montana and Mary learned of Mother Amadeus' failing health, she went west to help out. Having nursed Mother Amadeus back to health, she decided to stay and help build the St. Peter's mission school. She protected the nuns. Mary was a pistol-packing, hard-drinking woman, who needed nobody to fight her battles for her. When turned away from the mission because of her behavior, the nuns financed her in her own business. She opened a cafe. Mary's big heart drove her business into the ground several times because she would feed the hungry. In 1895 she found a job that suited her, as a U.S. mail coach driver for the Cascade County region of central Montana. She and her mule Moses, never missed a day, and it was in this capacity that she earned her nickname of "Stagecoach", for her unfailing reliability. Mary is a living vignette of notable women of history. Sage Sweetwater hopes her own name will surface as one of a notable woman in history.

Women outlaws are nothing new. We exist in every century, traveling with copyright as our companion. Sage Sweetwater acknowledges lesbianism of the Old West in much of her poetry to promote her writing in a dramatic increase of curious sales with the acceptance given to romantic friendships between women who are telling their stories and printing their books. Authors Den is a viable "stagecoach" in which Sage Sweetwater may travel with sizzling page turners in her satchel that Calamity Jane and Wild Bill Hikcok may just take out in trade for pistols and whiskey. Sage Sweetwater says it's a fair trade, a story for a Colt and firewater...be well, dear readers, until we meet again, Happy Spring to you all. Plant a flower for Sage Sweetwater and watch it grow...I love you all!


~~~~Sage Sweetwater, firebrand lesbian novelist~~~~~