Gun Shy Read online

  B O O K S B Y

  Lori L. Lake

  ====================

  The Gun Series

  Gun Shy: Book 1

  Under The Gun: Book 2

  Have Gun We’ll Travel: Book 3

  Jump The Gun: Book 4

  The Public Eye Series

  Buyer’s Remorse: Book 1

  A Very Public Eye: Book 2

  Romances

  Eight Dates

  Like Lovers Do

  Different Dress

  Ricochet In Time

  Historical

  Snow Moon Rising

  Short Story Collections

  Shimmer & Other Stories

  Stepping Out: Short Stories

  Anthologies

  Time’s Rainbow: Writing Ourselves Back into American History

  Lesbians on the Loose: Crime Writers on the Lam

  The Milk of Human Kindness:

  Lesbian Authors Write about Mothers & Daughters

  Romance for Life!

  Praise for The Gun Series

  “Lake’s Gun Shy is the story of two somewhat reluctant women who finally learn to believe in themselves and each other enough to commit to love. Covering just over a year in the lives of these women, the novel reads like a season’s worth of episodes from a television show that you wish was on TV.”

  ~MIDWEST BOOK REVIEW

  “[Lori L. Lake] is a keen observer of the telling detail, be it a bit of clothing, a perfectly named character, a sound, or the expression on a human face, and she can find the words to inspirit them with life. She’s a superb seat-of-the-pants linguist, and she puts all of her skills to work in the service of her engaging stories.”

  ~ANN BANNON, author of The Beebo Brinker Chronicles

  “Ride along with veteran police officer Dez Reilly in this exciting genre-bender by Lori L. Lake. Gun Shy is a fast-paced story with a true-to-life mix of drama, action, and love.”

  ~MARIANNE K. MARTIN, author of Mirrors, The Indelible Heart, and The Liberators of Willow Run

  “It is no wonder that Lori Lake’s books are best sellers. Her characters are deep-bodied, multidimensional, and convincing. Her plots unfold like petals on a flower, coming to full bloom at just the right moment.”

  ~FOREWORD MAGAZINE

  “Considered one of the best authors of modern lesbian fiction, her work—part action, part drama, and part romance—gleefully defies categorization.”

  ~LAVENDER MAGAZINE

  “Lori L. Lake writes richly detailed novels that are full of heart. Her characters are real people who seem to have stepped out of real life to share their stories with us.”

  ~JENNIFER FULTON, author of the “Moon Island” series and many other novels

  “Lori is a first-rate storyteller. She pulls you in with beautifully crafted tension from the first few sentences, and then keeps you in the story with prose that is as smooth as silk.”

  ~ALAN CHIN, author of Island Song, The Lonely War, and Butterfly’s Child

  Gun Shy

  Book One

  The Gun Series

  Lori L. Lake

  Launch Point Press

  Portland, Oregon

  A Launch Point Press Trade Paperback Original

  Gun Shy is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons living or dead, business establishments, events, or locales is entirely coincidental. Internet references contained in this work are current at the time of publication, but Launch Point Press cannot guarantee that a specific reference will continue or be maintained in any respect.

  Copyright © 2019 by Lori L. Lake

  All other rights reserved. Launch Point Press supports copyright which enables creativity, free speech, and fairness. Thank you for buying the authorized version of this book and for following copyright laws by not using or reproducing any part of this book in any manner whatsoever, including Internet usage, without written permission from Launch Point Press, except in the form of brief quotations embodied in critical reviews and articles. Your cooperation and respect supports authors and allows Launch Point Press to continue to publish the books you want to read.

  ISBN: 978-1-63304-004-5

  E-Book: 978-1-63304-005-2

  20th ANNIVERSARY EDITION

  First Printing: 2019

  Cover: Sheri!

  Editing: Nann Dunne,

  Day Petersen, Barb Coles

  Proofreading: Verda Foster, Luca Hart

  Formatting: Patty Schramm

  Published by:

  Launch Point Press

  Portland, Oregon

  www.LaunchPointPress.com

  Musical Permissions

  Road of the Heart by Ann Reed

  © 1991 Turtlecub Publishing

  Used with Permission

  Second Chance by Ann Reed

  © 1991 Turtlecub Publishing

  Used with Permission

  Love’s A Long Road Home by Ann Reed

  © 1991 Turtlecub Publishing

  Used with Permission

  Lift Every Voice and Sing by James Weldon Johnson

  © 1900 Public Domain

  Used legally from the public domain

  Author’s Note

  When MaryD at AUSXIP first published the original version of Gun Shy at The Bard’s Corner in 1999, I had no idea that her generosity and support would eventually lead to such a fulfilling career in writing. Mary, however, never doubted it.

  I dedicate this 20th Anniversary Edition of the novel to her for always believing in me, and I thank Mary for writing the Introduction to this new edition.

  The subsequent novels in The Gun Series will also be reedited and reissued as part of this 20th Anniversary celebration. I hope you enjoy them all.

  Lori L. Lake

  Portland, Oregon

  June 2019

  “Love opens the doors into everything,

  as far as I can see,

  including and perhaps most of all,

  the door into one’s own secret, and often terrible

  and frightening, real self.”

  ~May Sarton, Mrs. Stevens Hears the Mermaids Singing (1965)

  INTRODUCTION

  TO THE

  20th ANNIVERSARY EDITION

  by MaryD

  I was chuffed to be asked to write the introduction to one of my all-time favourite series by Lori L. Lake. It wasn’t a difficult decision because The Gun Series is extremely special to me.

  It was the dawn of a new age when I sat down in 1996 to tape (for the youngsters, we used Video Cassette Recorders (VCR) to record television programs onto VHS tapes) a new show called Xena: Warrior Princess for a friend. Little did I know that December 14, 1996 would be a day that would change my life (it’s not hyperbole, it’s fact). That day saw me getting hooked on a show that changed the face of fandom forever.

  How did we get to that point? I need to relate a little bit of history because it will explain how we got to The Gun Series. I’m taking the scenic route to this trip down Memory Lane, so get comfortable because we’re going through the time tunnel for this.

  Back in the late 1980’s and early 1990’s, fandoms for various TV shows sprung up and flourished. The creativity of these fan writers was astonishing, but the work was limited in its reach. Not everyone in the world could have what those in North America enjoyed until fanzines were born. Fanzines were a collection of fan-written stories in the genre of their chosen show. Fancy, eh? I know about these fanzines because my Star Trek short stories were featured in several editions of a fanzine called “Eridani.” You could buy the fanzines from the fan-run publisher and on the back of various sci-fi magazines.

  Those were the days when
getting anything fast to fans was as fast as your postman delivering your mail. There’s a reason it’s now called Snail Mail.

  An astonishing thing happened in the late 1980’s and early 1990’s. The internet was opened up to the masses, and anyone who had a modem could have the world at their fingertips. The speeds ranged from 1200, 2400, 4800 and 9600 bps, and then in 1991 it reached 14.4 kb. In 1994 it reached 33.6k and then it hit the motherlode in 1996 at 56k.

  Right on time for a new show to be born and a new fandom to emerge (see, I was getting to this point). That show was Xena: Warrior Princess, and it would set the bar for all other fandoms to follow.

  Xena came along simultaneously with the September 04, 1995 birth of the Internet, and in 1996 the modem speeds went up allowing everyone with a decent connection and a basic knowledge of Unix or that perennial favourite, America Online (AOL), to connect. The new breed of webmasters emerged, ready to take on the new frontier. (I am writing with Captain Picard’s voice in my head). I was one of those webmasters (but don’t even look at my early designs because they will make your eyes bleed).

  What the Internet and Xena did was open the door for creative souls to reach as many people as they could, allowing a fledgling webmaster and writer such as myself to explore so much more. It also allowed me to discover the baby fandom after I was hooked on the show.

  The Xenaverse. Getting onto the Information Superhighway (don’t laugh—that’s what it was called then) to find like-minded souls was exhilarating, and find them I did. After I got done falling in love with Xena on that December evening, I found a site called Tom’s Xena Page and his fan fiction archive.

  Oh, my goodness. I was used to Star Trek and Babylon 5 fan fiction and waiting for weeks to get my fanzines by Snail Mail, but here, in all its glory, was Xena Fanfiction, and I could have it in a minute (or twenty depending on how slow the modem speed was that day).

  On December 15, 1996, I opened up my own website called The Australian Xena Information Page (AUSXIP) to feature my artwork. I didn’t feel confident yet to write Xena fanfic myself, so I concentrated on my art. But I loved reading fanfic.

  Around March 1997 I decided to open an invitation-only fan fiction section on my site (which had veered off its mission of being just for my art in spectacular fashion). The Bard’s Corner was born. I invited authors whose work I loved to share their stories on my site.

  Meanwhile, the Xenaverse hit the motherlode, attracting all kinds of creative souls to the fandom, and bringing together new writers who were finding their feet, fans who sent feedback, and those who were beta readers. Writers flourished in this supportive environment.

  Xena fanfic up to that point was confined to the show’s canon (as most fanfic is because you’re writing about characters set in that timeline). Then on January 13, 1997 something extraordinary happened in Xena: Warrior Princess. An episode titled “The Xena Scrolls” was screened that literally opened new floodgates.

  Whereas Xena fanfiction was centered around Xena and Gabrielle in Greece, “The Xena Scrolls” gave birth to the notion that the essence of the Xena & Gabrielle characters could be transplanted to other time periods while still retaining the characters and personalities of Xena and Gabrielle.

  That magic came to be called UBER Xena Fanfiction, and boy did it blow up. Combine that idea with the creative genius of the Xena Bards, and you have an explosion of incredible storytelling. They could and did take Xena and Gabrielle to other time periods with finesse.

  In 1999, a writer with the pen name Lorelei Bard of the Lakes contacted me and gave me a story to read, still in its beta stages (as it was known then and what we would call an early ‘draft’ now). I remember thinking that this story was going to take the Xenaverse by storm. She asked if I would publish it on The Bard’s Corner? My mama did not raise a stupid girl. Of course I would!

  Gun Shy is the story of a police officer who goes to the rescue of a rape victim and makes a huge impression on the victim's friend—enough for the friend to enlist in the police force herself. We follow the life of Desiree "Dez" Reilly—the big cop with a heart of gold—a loner until she meets Jaylynn Savage. I can say so much about this story. I loved the characters from the moment I read the beta version. I still love Dez and Jay and the story.

  Another extraordinary thing happened around that time. While we were now all used to fanzines and fanfiction on the Net, it was not commercial in nature. There weren’t any print editions (forget ebooks, that wasn’t going to happen until long after Amazon was born in 2004 and then add a few years after that). So we made do with printing out reams of paper to fashion our own collections of “books.”

  UNTIL another innovation from the Xenaverse arrived. In 1999 Justice House Publishing opened its doors and published extraordinary Uber Xena fanfiction stories that held their own even without the Uber tag. The first novel was Tropical Storm by Melissa Good; the second was Accidental Love by BL Miller; and the third was Lucifer Rising by Sharon Bowers.

  With the advent of desktop publishing, the success of those books being published opened the floodgates for quality lesbian fiction to appear and become available all over the world. Other publishers opened their doors and also began publishing some amazing fiction.

  So that was where I came into the picture, in relation to Gun Shy. I created the first cover for Lori’s first published release. It was an absolute pleasure to be responsible (at that time) for the covers of two of my favourite novels: Tropical Storm by Melissa Good and Lori’s Gun Shy. I went on to create more cover art for Lori and other Xena writers, and since then, the ingenuity and creativity of the authors who came out of the Xenaverse has been a blessing all over the world.

  Over two decades have passed, and AUSXIP is still online and thriving, and these days I’m writing my own fiction and have opened my own publishing company. It’s been quite a ride. And now Lori Lake is issuing a 20th Anniversary version of her first published novel! I couldn’t be more excited or proud. It’s a huge achievement and a road that everyone who has the desire to write should travel down. It’s never easy and there is a lot of hard work, but it will you give you extraordinary joy.

  Who could ever have imagined what a ground-breaking experience this would all become! I guess we never know where new innovations will come from, but I’m sure there will be more to come.

  As Xena would say, “Battle On!”

  MaryD a/k/a Mary D. Brooks

  Australia

  www.ausxip.com

  www.ausxippublishing.com

  www.nextchapter.net

  July 2019

  The 20th Anniversary Edition

  Gun Shy

  By

  Lori L. Lake

  CHAPTER ONE

  A white and gold squad car swung around the corner onto Como Boulevard, no headlights and little sound but tires squeaking on hot pavement. To the left, in the heart of the city of Saint Paul, was Como Lake, a small body of water only a half-mile in diameter. The street ran parallel to a walking and biking path that ringed the lake. To the right, up on a slight slope, sat a row of darkened homes, which were heavily shaded by huge elm and oak trees.

  The driver of the police car paused four houses away from a white, two-story stucco house. Officer Desiree “Dez” Reilly turned off the air conditioning and powered her window halfway down, staring intently at the stucco house. With a weary sigh, she listened for the nighttime noises over the engine of the car. The neighborhood was silent, almost too quiet. She should hear crickets, but all was still. She cut the engine, picked up her flashlight, and stepped out of the car, shutting the door so it clicked quietly. As she strolled along the sidewalk, the hum of nighttime insects started up, and she stood in front of the stucco house, waiting, listening. Somewhere down the street came a faint bass thump of music as a car passed through the intersection and faded off into the distance. Otherwise, no one was out.

  Her eyes scanned the street and the houses with practiced speed. Nothing seemed out of place, but som
eone had reported the sound of a woman screaming and pinpointed the noise as coming from the house in front of her. A string of residential break-ins had occurred over the last two months, all centered in this area. Even more disturbing was that in three of the seven cases, a woman had been raped. Cops at roll call were tossing around the words “serial rapist,” which was more than enough to make Dez take notice, living as she did within a mile of the lake.

  Outside the air-conditioned car, the August humidity seeped into her pores through the short-sleeved blue uniform shirt, through the bulletproof vest, and through the white cotton T-shirt she wore, adding to her fatigue more than she thought possible. She took a deep breath of the dank air and felt sweat rolling off her. August in Saint Paul was no fun, but at least the mosquitoes weren’t after her. Yet.

  She was tall, lean-hipped, and broad-shouldered with long black hair caught up in a French braid. She walked with a confident stride across a strip of grass, over the sidewalk, and up the cracked walkway to the house, pausing periodically to listen. There were six stairs to the porch, and the first-floor windowsills were slightly above her eye level. The front windows were dark, but a shaft of golden light shone from an open second floor window around the corner of the house. Leaving her flashlight off, she strode around to the south side and paused for a moment. Now she heard angry muttering, the sound of an urgent, high-pitched voice, and a frantic scream quickly muffled.