My Throwback Thursday re-blogging continues with another Wild West post from a previous Sisters of Suspense group blog.
Heroes. What shapes them? Why do we love them? Grab your popcorn! I’m flashing back not only in blog-land but movie-land 😊
The Wild West is full of heroes strong enough to defeat the best villains.
Bonnie Tyler may have recorded Holding out for a Hero for the 1984 movie Footloose, but for me the song always conjures images of larger than life Wild West heroes. Here’s a link to the song, if you want to listen while you read: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OBwS66EBUcY
Two of my favorite things are books and movies. One non-fiction writing book that I love is The Complete Writer’s Guide to Heroes & Heroines—Sixteen Master Archetypes” by Tami Cowden, Caro LaFever and Sue Viders.
Below are several of the archetypes described in the book and my movie picks to match.
THE WARRIOR – “a noble champion, he acts with honor”
MY MOVIE PICK: Chris Larabee Adams (played by Yul Brynner) in The Magnificent Seven. Fighting the odds, Chris convinces six other gunmen (including those played by Steve McQueen and Charles Bronson) to join him in defending a poor farming village terrorized by forty Mexican bandits.
FAVORITE LINE (after the villagers tell Chris they collected everything of value in their village to hire gunmen): I have been offered a lot for my work, but never everything.
United Artists
THE BAD BOY – “dangerous to know, he walks on the wild side”
MY PICK: Doc Holliday (played Val Kilmer) in Tombstone. A cocky ladies’ man and gunfighter dying from tuberculosis, Doc lives only for himself until his friend Wyatt Earp (played by Kurt Russell) faces his own death.
FAVORITE LINES:
Billy Clanton (in response to Doc Holliday drawing his revolver): Why, it’s the drunk piano player. You’re so drunk, you can’t hit nothin’. In fact, you’re probably seeing double.
Doc Holliday (pulls out his second revolver): I have two guns, one for each of ya.
Buena Vista Pictures / Buena Vista Worldwide Home Entertainment
THE SWASHBUCKLER – “Mr. Excitement, he’s an adventurer”
MY PICK: Alejandro Murrieta (played by Antonio Banderas) in The Mask of Zorro.
A masked daredevil, Alejandro wants to avenge his brother’s death but finds a higher purpose in helping poor Californians best their rich and selfish countrymen.
FAVORITE LINES:
Captain Harrison Love: The lady and I were trying to dance.
Alejandro Murrieta: You were trying. She was succeeding.
Sony Pictures Entertainment
THE LOST SOUL – “A tormented being, he lives in solitude”
MY PICK: Rooster Cogburn (played by John Wayne–1969, and Jeff Bridges–2010) in True Grit.
A drunken reprobate of a U.S. Marshal, Rooster is challenged by a fourteen-year-old girl who hires him to capture her father’s killer.
FAVORITE LINES:
Rooster Cogburn: I mean to kill you in one minute, Ned. Or see you hanged in Fort Smith at Judge Parker’s convenience. Which will you have?
Ned Pepper: I call that bold talk for a one-eyed fat man.
Rooster Cogburn: Fill your hand, you son of a bitch!
Everett Collection, Paramount Pictures
And now back to present day
In my original blog post, I shared that in my novel Between Love & Lies (Gambling Hearts, book 1) my hero Noah Ballantyne is a LOST SOUL of a different type than Rooster Cogburn. He’s a Texas cattle drover and rancher tormented by a crippling guilt. Noah doesn’t believe he has the strength to fix his mistakes, but he can’t stop trying. One of his mistakes is Sadie Sullivan (and she is a CRUSADER on a mission archetype).
In this post, I’m thinking about Noah’s best friend and neighbor, Lewis Adams. Lewis is everyone’s best friend, and I gave him his own story in Between Home & Heartbreak (Gambling Hearts, book 2). And, yes, the BEST FRIEND is an archetype!
So who is the best and worst woman for an honest, easygoing Texas horseman? How about a scheming Wild West trick-riding superstar named Eldorado Jane?
Between Home & Heartbreak (Gambling Hearts, Book 2)
Texas Hill Country—1879
Plain Jane Dority vanished while riding in a storm beside her childhood best friend. Eighteen years later, Wild West trick-riding superstar Eldorado Jane returns to claim her birthright: the Dority homestead now owned by the steadfast Texan cowboy who never forgot Jane or forgave himself for her disappearance.
Lewis Adams would give anything to see his friend come home, but he’s certain Eldorado Jane isn’t his Jane. So why does this mesmerizing woman—with the talent and fame to have anything she desires—want the remote patch of land that he loves? There’s only one way to find out: accept a wager with a deceiver who holds the power to bring back his friend or break his heart. The outcome rests in her hands. Or does it?
Friendship. Betrayal. Blackmail. Eldorado Jane holds every card… except the one that matters most.
Excerpt
Lying flat on his back, squinting at the sycamores swaying against a hazy blue sky, every bone in Lewis Adams’ body ached, berating him for letting the half-broke Appaloosa Cayuse toss him out of the saddle and over the fence. The land he loved reverberated beneath him. He’d be tempted to stay here if he didn’t have nine more prickly horses requiring his attention. Training them in time was all that mattered.
The silhouette of a woman, framed by a sunshine halo, leaned over him and cast a soothing shadow. “You almost had him.” Her smooth-as-honey voice held a hint of amusement.
At last, an angel had descended from the heavens to ease his burdens. One bearing encouraging words as well as laughter. Exactly the kind he liked, and needed.
~ * ~
To celebrate Throwback Thursday, I’ve made Between Home & Heartbreak FREE on Amazon today & tomorrow (Aug 17-18, 2017). If you haven’t read the story, now’s your chance!
– Kindle US: www.amazon.com/dp/B01L9RZRKK
– Kindle UK: www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B01L9RZRKK
– Kindle Canada: www.amazon.ca/dp/B01L9RZRKK
– Kindle Australia: www.amazon.com.au/dp/B01L9RZRKK
– Read for FREE any day on Kindle Unlimited
Got a favorite hero or heroine?
Hope you’ll share what you love about them. I’d love to hear your comments.
