Billy Bonney: aka The Kid

Skywater Fiction

By: Frank Carden

Narrated by: Jennifer Caldwell

1875, Silver City, New Mexico Territory

In the barn, sixteen-year-old Wilma smelled the deputy sheriff, whiskey, and stale sweat, as he crept up behind her.

“Herb, what do you want?”

He grabbed her hair and tugged at her Levis. She twisted free, ran to her saddlebags, and yanked out her pistol.

“You skinny bitch, you don’t know how to shoot.”

“Try me!”

His hand went for his holstered pistol.

Her gun roared. The slug slammed into his forehead. He fell, dead.

It didn’t matter that the deputy sheriff tried to assault her. Wilma had killed a lawman. She was now on the run and needed a disguise. She dressed in some of her brother’s old clothes. She changed her name to William, Billy for short, with the last name of her step-dad in New York.

Billy Bonney rode into the history books, a gunslinger with twenty-two notches on a colt forty-one, a legend, even during her short life.

©2014, 2022 Skywater Publishing Cooperative (P)2025 Skywater Publishing Cooperative

A Great Western with a Female Heroine

Carden's specialty is spinning historical fiction tales, and again, he gives us a story of a female heroine rising up and fighting to survive in a male dominated world.

A Great Heroine

In his tale, Carden shows that woman can also be deadly gunslingers just like the famous outlaw sixteen-year-old Wilma is nicknamed after.

Not Your Everyday Gunslinger

A unique and interesting (and fictional—as many legends are) take on Billy Bonny and the stories surrounding him (or in the case—her!).

Fantastic narrator and story!

A delightful and fascinating take on Billy the Kid! The narrator is wonderful - heartfelt, great characters and she really keeps the story moving. Her descriptions are so vivid I felt like I was in the book.

A Bold Reimagining "Billy Bonney: aka The Kid"

Frank Carden's Billy Bonney: aka The Kid reimagines the legendary outlaw Billy the Kid as a woman named Wilma living in disguise.

Carden deserves credit for tackling the very real constraints women faced in the 1800s American West. The opening scene (and I'm not giving away anything here) where young Wilma kills a deputy sheriff attempting to assault her and then must flee her identity entirely, is both harrowing and believable.

The historical detail is impressive. Carden has done his homework on the Lincoln County War, and the political machinations feel authentic. Weaving a fictional female protagonist through these real events creates genuine tension—we know how history "ends," but now we're wondering how our secret heroine will navigate it, especially, her relationship with the famous lawman Pat Garrett.