Denver’s Hardscrabble Beginning [Denver] is infested with hordes of villains of the blackest dye, murderers, thieves, and blacklegs of all kinds. It appears to be an asylum for renegades and outlaws from surrounding regions. Nearly every day we hear of depredations being committed . . .1 Denver’s origins are murky and unsettled. While other cities […]
randi samuelson-brown
Posted inSunLit, SunLit Interviews
SunLit interview: Raised on Colorado history, Randi Samuelson-Brown gravitated to its notorious elements
The following is an interview with Randi Samuelson-Brown, author of “The Bad Old Days of Colorado.” Tell us this book’s backstory. What inspired you to write it? Where did the story/theme originate? As a child, my father used to make it a point to tell me the history of locations as we drove through Colorado […]
Posted inBook Excerpts, SunLit
Old West brothel worker searches for love, and a life worth living in Denver’s early days
Colorado Authors League finalist in Genre Fiction “The Beaten Territory” finds Annie Ryan running a second-rate brothel in 1890s Denver with an eye toward expansion. Annie’s fortunes at the brothel turn on her niece Pearl, a pretty young girl swept up in Denver’s underworld of jealousy, booze, and vice–until murder stalks the good-time girls and […]
Posted inSunLit, SunLit Interviews
Author felt haunted by the forgotten history of Old West prostitutes and madams
Randi Samuelson-Brown, originally from Golden, is a writer who lives in Denver. “The Beaten Territory” is her first published novel. She holds a B.A. in history and is passionate about preserving Colorado’s little-known history through both historical fiction and non-fiction. She is currently working on a non-fiction book scheduled for release in the spring of […]