THE MANY SHADES OF COLLABORATION BY MARGARET TANNER
Collaboration. – The dictionary defines this as
Working together or working with another.
To co-operate with an enemy of one’s country.
I have collaborated.
I have worked with other authors on a Western anthology
(Rawhide ‘N Roses), where there were fourteen of us who each supplied a short
story. The proceeds all go to a horse rescue charity.
I also joined with nineteen other Western Romance authors to
produce a book of short stories as a Christmas fund raising venture for a Texas
charity. Then there was the American Mail Order Brides series (fifty brides
from fifty states), so it can be seen that I have collaborated a few times.
Thankfully, I have never been put in the position of having
to co-operate with an enemy of my country.
Now, forgetting the dictionary version, there are variations
on collaboration. I have found that many of the characters in my novels collaborate
with others, sometimes for good, sometimes for evil.
Two female workers may collaborate to try and have something
done about a fellow worker who may have sexually harassed them. We all know the
type, the guy who accidentally brushes our breast, stands too close to us in
the elevator and is always making smutty jokes when no-one else is around.
Then there are the criminals who plan a bank robbery
together, working for weeks on the layout of the bank, the personnel required,
which bank to hit, getaway cars, somewhere to stash the cash until the heat is
off etc. This planning might take weeks before the deed is done. Surely that is
collaboration.
In my award winning novel, Falsely Accused, the hero, Jake Smith,
is convicted of a crime he did not commit. His aristocratic father wants to get
rid of him, so with the help of paid criminals, the father has Jake framed for
a murder he did not commit. In my mind, the father collaborated with these men
by planning his son’s demise with their help.
So, in my opinion, there are many shades of Collaboration.
FALSELY ACCUSED
On board the convict ship taking them to the penal colony of
Australia,
Maryanne Watson and Jake Smith meet and fall in love, but Jake hides a terrible
secret that will take him to the gallows if it ever comes out.
On arrival in Sydney
the lovers are separated. Maryanne is sent to work for the lecherous Captain
Fitzhugh. After he attacks her she flees into the wilderness and eventually
meets up with Jake who has escaped from a chain gang. They set up home
in a hidden valley and Maryanne falls pregnant. Will Jake come out of hiding to protect his
fledgling family? And how can love triumph over such crushing odds?
Margaret Tanner writes historical romance.
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