[Angela here, and for the next month we are going to have a little fun here every Wednesday as
authors
from Barbour's Backcountry Brides collection share a little about their
villains! I'll let Debra take it from here:]
My novella, A Heart So Tender, has two villains that often travel together: Fear and Hate.
The story is set in 1764 at Fort Niagara, and its hero, Lieutenant Archibald Walsh must deal with his commanding officer’s tirades. Captain Porter faced the worst day of his career when men under his control were massacred as they went to help their fellow soldiers. In fact, it’s believed that the initial attack of the true event now called The Massacre at Devil’s Hole, was played out not to kill a few wagon drivers taking supplies between Fort Niagara at the north, to Fort Schlosser to the south (and very near the Niagara Falls) but to draw British soldiers into an area where they’d be unable to escape.
It can’t be surprising that soldiers tend toward hatred of their enemies once they’ve faced them and lost their comrades, and most soldiers and frontiersmen feared the Indians. To settlers and the ‘folks back home’ the native people were demonized. Soldiers who felt they did not fear battle with the French, generally had a great fear of what ‘savages’ could do.
Ephesians 4:31 Get rid of all bitterness, rage and anger, brawling and slander, along with every form of malice.
My story delves into this fear, and hatred as my hero, Arch, examines his own anger at the brutal loss of his dearest friend, and watches how his superior officer has been altered by giving in to hate. Hate is a sneaky sin that grows out of frustration, anger and fear. We are told only to hate evil, but often we determine what evil is and place that on a person, or in the case of Captain Porter, a group of people. Obviously every story in our human history has faced this component!
I hope you find my hero’s journey an interesting one.
Find Debra E. Marvin on twitter- https://twitter.com/DebraEMarvin
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Thanks for hosting me Angela! I look forward to reading what the other authors have to say about their villains!
ReplyDeleteThank you for joining us today! Villains are an interesting subject we don't talk about very often.
DeleteI’m reading this story right now! So far the novellas are just excellent. I love history!
ReplyDeleteThanks, Paula! I loved the history behind this story.
DeleteA Heart so Tender sounds like a great read, Debra. This collection is a must for me.
ReplyDeleteWhat you said, Debra, is so true, "...often we determine what evil is and place that on a person or...a group of people." Good observation. Sounds like a great story!
ReplyDelete