Sarah McNeal is a multi-published author of time
travel, paranormal, western, contemporary and historical fiction. Her stories
may be found at Publishing by Rebecca Vickery, Western Trail Blazers, Prairie Rose Publications and Painted Pony Books
Heroes Should Go To The Dogs
.
I
love and respect animals. They know stuff I don’t know, see things I can’t see,
hear things I can’t hear and they’re in tune with nature. They know what’s what
way before I do. Have you ever had a dog that had an instant liking to a
person, or even more telling, an instant dislike of someone? When my easy
going, friendly Golden Retriever, Lily, acts stand-offish with someone, I
immediately get the impression I need to be wary of that human. I may never
know what it is about that person that turns Lily off, but I trust her
instincts. My dog has given me silent warning to stay alert.
A
simple, but effective way , to show the reader a character has the heart of
a hero is to have that man show kindness to a dog—or rescue a kitten, or stop
someone, maybe a villain, from brutalizing a horse. It’s especially efficient
when you have to make the hero known quickly. In Harmonica Joe’s Reluctant
Bride, I had the villain shoot Joe’s beloved dog, Argos. I figured, if the
reader hadn’t gotten the message that Turner meant serious business, they would
surely get it with his attack on an innocent dog. For all that Joe Wilding kids
around a lot, drinks, plays poker and doesn’t take his life very seriously, the
love a dog made it clear what kind of man he truly was.
In
my new release, Fly Away Heart, I show how disgusting and mean Edgar and Sid
Effird really are when their starved and beaten dog sits chained outside their
shack of a house bony and wet. Robin Pierpont, the hero of this tale, releases
the poor dog from its misery and takes it home with him. Robin is worried sick
about Lilith Wilding, yet he had it in his heart to save that dog. By this
compassionate action, I hope to portray Robin as a good man and a real hero. I
loved him right then and there. I hope readers do, too.
Do
animals in a story win your heart? Is there an instant connection to a hero
when he shows concern and love for an animal? How do you feel about a character
who mistreats an animal?
Prayer
for Animals
Hear
our humble prayer, O God, for our friends the animals, especially for animals
who are suffering; for animals that are overworked, underfed and cruelly
treated; for all wistful creatures in captivity that beat their wings against
bars; for any that are hunted or lost or deserted or frightened or hungry; for
all that must be put death. We entreat for them all Thy mercy and pity, and for
those who deal with them we ask a heart of compassion and gentle hands and
kindly words. Make us, ourselves, to be true friends to animals, and so to
share the blessings of the merciful.
~
Albert Schweitzer
The
Great Depression…Rum Runners and Old Fears…Love Against the Odds
Blurb:
Lilith
Wilding can’t remember a time when she didn’t love the English born Robin
Pierpont, but she knows he loves another so she hides her feelings beneath a
hard veneer of self-protection.
Robin
Pierpont dreams of flying airplanes and winning the heart of the one he loves,
but when he gets involved in illegal rum running to help a friend, those dreams
seem to turn into just a fantasy. When he is called upon to face his worst fear
to save Lilith’s life, his fate may be sealed in death.
Excerpt:
The dog drew
his attention when it whined pitifully. Its brown eyes seemed to plead with
him. Somehow, he just couldn’t bring himself to walk away from the suffering
creature. If he couldn’t get to Lilith, at least he could get this dog to safety.
He knew, if he left the poor thing here, it would die a slow death for certain.
He made his way to
the shaking pile of bones that resembled a dog and removed the clamp on the
heavy chain. The dog could barely walk, and it made Rob sick to see the bones
protruding from the animal’s ribs and hips. What
kind of human beings were these two men? Did they eat babies for breakfast? He hoisted the dog into his
arms, walked back to the car, opened the back door and placed the dog on his
jacket on the back seat. Something in its brown eyes looked like gratitude,
mixed with fear. Rob felt his heart crack.
“Don’t you worry, little girl,
I’m going to see to you now. You don’t need to be scared or hungry anymore.”
Thoughts of Lilith drummed through his mind. Please, please God, look after my Lilith and don’t let them hurt her.
Buy
Links:
If
you’d like to get in at the beginning of the wonderful Wilding tales, then read
the first book, Harmonica Joe’s Reluctant Bride. You can find out how Lola
knows the future and what Joe’s terrible secret is.
A haunted house,
a trunk and a date with destiny.
Lola
Barton discovers a warp in time in an old trunk when
she falls into 1910. She finds herself married to Joseph Wilding,
a stranger shadowed by secrets. Mistaken for Callie McGraw,
a thief and a woman of ill repute, Lola
finds her life is threatened by a scoundrel. Joe
stands between her and certain death. With danger threatening all around and
secrets keeping them apart, can Joe
and Lola find their destiny together?
Or will time and circumstance forever divide them?
Excerpt:
Lola knelt on the floor beside the dog and worried over
him. “Is he going to be okay, Joe? He looks
so awful.” She ran her hands through his
thick fur and said a silent prayer that Argos would recover. Her heart squatted in her chest, dark and
heavy.
Kneeling beside
her, Joe whispered. “Not to worry, darlin’, Argos is going to
have a hard time, but he’s going to come out on the other end just fine. We’re going to make damn sure of that.” He reached out a hand and ran it in a light
stroke along Lola’s cheek to wipe away
the tears that had fallen without her realizing how much she needed to
cry.
She wept for the
dog, for the loss of her parents and her own pathetic life. Lola wept for all the things she had ever
wanted and never got, all the dreams that never came true and the never-ending
loneliness that seem to surround her like a thick fog that separated her from
the rest of humanity and happiness.
Joe laid a big hand on her shoulder and squeezed it
gently. The feel of it warm and firm
somehow steadied her riot of feelings.
Buy
Links:
You
can find me at the following places:
And, of course, my blog here at Prairie
Rose Publishing the first Wednesday of every month.
The first interaction between humans an animals was purely for food (yes, they ate each other) and skins (only humans skinned their prey and wore them). Later, people learned they could raise a herd of cattle and not have to go hunting for them. And bonus! Milk. If you've ever seen wild cow milking contest at a rodeo, you'd think the first brave soul who milked a cow must have been a bit on the barmy side. You notice not a whole lot of people milk pigs. They bite. Goats are smaller so more manageable. And so it goes--milk the girls and eat the boys.
And then there are the transportation animals, camels, burros, and horses. Plus the working animals--yaks, water buffalo, oxen, horses, donkeys, and mules. 
And that's why there are animals in nearly all my books and stories. It all started off with my first novel, Down Home Ever Lovin' Mule Blues. I tried to write a book for Harlequin but the story bored me. One night, I dreamed Socrates the mule, and now he's the star of that book. Socrates knows what's right for his human, Brody Alexander, and in collusion with the other animals--an Australian Shepherd named Perseus and a skunk named Guinnevere, sets out to bring Rita into Brody's life whether he wants it to happen or not.
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