Monday, February 10, 2020

OSKAR AWARD: Best Hero in Zina Abbott Books






















Last night was the big Oscar Awards ceremony to honor the best-of-the-best in movies released in 2019. I decided to review my books written in 2019 and hold my own "Oskar Awards" ceremony to honor those characters I feel offered the best impact in the roles they filled in their story, and what I consider to be my best novel of the year. 

From the six books I published last year, here are my nominations for my best hero:

Charlie Gray Cloud in Charlie's Choice:
          I wrote this as the prequel to my Atwell Kin series. So far, the other books in this series are also part of Sweet Americana Sweethearts multi-author series books. Charlie is half-white American and known as Charles Jones in his fathers' world. He is also half-Kansa (Kaw) with a childhood name of Gray Squirrel in his mother's world. He plays a secondary or tertiary role in each of the Atwell Kin books. This book tells Charlie's story. He must choose which world he will align himself with as well as where he will seek romance.

Hank Cauley in Diantha:
          Hank, after failing at his first business attempt in Salt Lake City, accepts a part-time postmaster position in a remote Utah mining town. He learns he has displaced a widow who operates the post office out of the hotel she has inherited. He persuades her to allow him to rent a vacant room in the hotel for the post office and his stationary and book shop--his second attempt at the business of his heart. Temperamental and outspoken, he is perfect for helping sweet Diantha deal with the scoundrel, Mortimer Crane.

Avery Wilson in Virginia's Vocation:
          A quiet professor who aspires to be published in the political magazines of his day, once he discovers the identity of his greatest competition, he must make a decision to advance himself or assist Virginia succeed in her assignment.

Luke McDaniels in Escape from Gold Mountain
          A young man seeking to flee family conflict, Luke finds himself in eastern California's Mono County hoping to find work. He gets mixed up with a couple of scoundrels and ends up being caught up in an abduction of a Chinese woman. As he works to free her from her captors, he begins to find himself and what he wants from life.

Michael O'Hare in Two Sisters and the Christmas Groom:
           A miner in line for a company house once he marries, Michael comes to know two sisters--one his mail order bride, and one who had come to work for the daughter of her former employer.

And my choice for best hero is...

Charlie Gray Cloud

          Charlie is a conflicted character who, as a young man, finds the complex problems he had dealt with all his life lead to his moment of truth. He faces discrimination by both white Americans and some Kansa (Kaw) who resist interaction and intermarriage with whites. Even in his choice of possible mates, he runs up against rejections by the fathers, one Irish-American and one Kansa. 
          His father married his Kansa mother according to "Indian tradition" which was recognized at the time. However, by the time Charlie is a young man, Kansas Territory is subject to American laws which regards him as illegitimate because it does not consider his parents' marriage valid. He learns he is unable to inherit his father's trading post. 
          A child of two nations, Charlie must decide his future based on where he thinks he will fit best. 

For the full book description and purchase link, 
please CLICK HERE.

(For the month of February, Charlie's Choice is reduced to $.99.)

 

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