Guest Blog: Cate Masters: Rounding Up Heroes

So many great Western shows were on TV while I was a girl, young and impressionable and easily susceptible to Little Joe Cartwright’s boyish giggle and warm brown eyes. :) Bonanza, The Rifleman, The Virginian, and my earliest crush, The Lone Ranger. (I’m really looking forward to the movie version with Johnny Depp as Tonto!)

These heroes endured harsh conditions and difficult situations nearly every day, sometimes with life-or-death consequences. No matter what, the true heroes faced it all with stoic grace. They were protectors and dare devils, men who played as hard as they worked because who knew what challenges the next day would bring? They made the most of every moment because they didn’t know when death would rob them of another. These characters imprinted on my impressionable brain as true heroes.

A few years ago, I read about a mountain man named Jim Bridger. He’s well known out West, but I’d never heard of this remarkable man, who knew several languages, had several wives, and scouted through the Wild West before much of it was settled, the pristine territory in all its wild glory. Wow, I would have loved to have seen it back then.

Jim Bridger couldn’t read, but that didn’t stop him from loving books. Most of all, Shakespeare. He’d travel to mining camps and Native American tribes, reciting passages. Several of the camps were named for Shakespeare’s works because of Bridger.

So many books already have been written about this mountain man, I knew I wouldn’t be able to do him justice. But the idea captured my imagination, so I created Jebediah Greene. A mountain man, multilingual and multitalented, Jeb is one of those true heroes. On his own since his early teens, he’s lived a hard life but enjoys fine books such as Shakespeare.

Like the heroine of The Last of the Mohicans, Winona Young comes from a cultured background, but has never felt at home until she finds herself in the wilderness. Jeb’s knowledge of everything about the territory and its people makes her realize education doesn’t always come from books, and she finds her greatest challenge in trying to tame him. When she discovers they share a love of Shakespeare, she finds it’s not so difficult as she imagined.

A Midwest Summer Night’s Dream is available from Book Strand:  
http://www.bookstrand.com/a-midwest-summer-nights-dream

I’d love for you to check out the book video, Casting Call, reviews, an excerpt and more at: http://catemasters.blogspot.com/2011/04/midwest-summer-nights-dream-western.html

BLURB:
Open sky, Shakespeare, solitude. All Jebediah Greene needs. Alone since his teens, he’s never known loneliness, until he leaves Winona Young in California. Worse, he fears she’ll trap herself in a loveless marriage of convenience. After acting as her guide to San Francisco, how far will Jeb go to win her heart?

Reading provides escape for Winona Young. Usually. Fleeing Philadelphia, she learns her distant suitor isn’t who he seemed. Neither is her mountain man guide, in a good way. Intelligent, but mule-headed, Jeb’s impossible to speak to, in any language. Winona falls in love with the stunning beauty of the wilderness, with the simple ways of the Osage people, and with Jeb. But books can’t teach her how to tame a mountain man.

BIO:
Cate Masters loves romance with a dash of magic and mayhem! Multipublished in contemporary to historical, sweet to erotic, fantasy/dark fantasy to speculative, she sometimes mashes genres. Reviewers have described her stories as “so compelling, I did not want to put it down,” and “such romantic tales that really touch your soul.”

When not spending time with her family, she can be found in her lair, concocting a magical brew of contemporary, historical, and fantasy/paranormal stories with her cat Chairman Maiow and dog Lily as company. Look for her at http://catemasters.blogspot.com and in strange nooks and far-flung corners of the web.

Cate loves to hear from readers! If you’re too shy to post here, friend her on
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Cate-Masters/89969413736?ref=ts
http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/2944596.Cate_Masters, or email her at: cate.masters AT gmail.com