Guest post by author Ginger Smith
Ginger Smith has worked as a record store employee, freelance writer, bookstore assistant manager and high school teacher of English. In the past, she has played in many tabletop RPG groups and even run several of her own. She collects vintage toys, sci-fi novels and comic books, as well as mid-century furniture. She currently lives in the southern USA with her husband and two cats, spending her free time writing and watching classic film noir and sci-fi movies.
Ginger can be found on Twitter and at her website. The Rush’s Edge is available for purchase.
I’ve always loved stories about heroes. When I was a kid, I waded my way through so many: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, Watership Down, and The Hobbit to name a few. Later, I graduated to other sci-fi and fantasy books by greats such as Bradbury, Herbert, and Jordan. Now I’m catching up on modern writers like Martha Wells and Madeline Ashby. The one thing that they all have in common is the growth of a hero; it never fails to hook me.
What is it about the hero’s journey that is so beguiling? I remember reading Joseph Campbell’s The Hero with a Thousand Faces in college and thinking… this is it. This is the story that moves me. It was like hearing a magic spell spoken for the first time – a spell that went straight to my heart.
You know the story I mean, even if you’re not familiar with Joseph Campbell’s work. A hero, sometimes of mysterious background, receives the call for adventure. Sometimes they answer the call willingly, like a Baggins aroused by the Took side of his DNA. Sometimes they are more reluctant, like former Jedi padawan Kanan Jarrus. He tried to ignore and hide his Jedi past, but like many who came before him, he was forced to answer the call and take up the mantle of the hero once again. Usually with the help of a mentor, our hero crosses the threshold of the known into the unknown, journeying through challenges, trials and frustration.
And what a journey it is! We’ve gone along to the Misty Mountains, or to Mos Eisley, “a wretched hive of scum and villainy.” We’ve sailed with Odysseus, visited the spice-laden planet Arrakis, or held our breath as Miller, Holden and his crew see what the protomolecule did to Julie Mao.
I’m a sucker for these types of stories, so I wrote my own with this in mind.
In my book, The Rush’s Edge, my hero is Halvor Cullen, a genetically-engineered, lab grown solider who has the power to use his adrenaline rush to fight harder and longer than the natural born. He’s not looking to be a hero; vats are powerful fighters, but they’re not typically leaders. Hal is just looking for a good time and to keep an eye on his former CO, Tyce. He’s an unlikely hero, just another boltcatcher released from service in the military. He’d tell you pretty quick that Ty calls the shots. But Hal’s more of a hero than he knows.
During the book, Hal receives the call to adventure. Tensions have increased between the Coalition government that created Hal and the free planets on the Edge. Disgruntled vats who have been released from service in the military are drawn to the opposition, who welcome them as part of its ragtag fighting force. After Hal’s crew salvage a strange alien artifact, the Coalition targets them, and they have to run to stay alive. As the complications increase, Hal must make a choice. Can he become more than what he was programmed to be? And will the cost of it be more than he thought?
I hope Hal’s journey resonates with readers as much as it did for me. Travel along with him and find out what an amped up, bolt-catcher can teach us about life. It may be more than you realise.
