"ANIMALS CAN'T BE ANYMORE CARDBORAD THAN HUMAN CHARACTERS...": THE MAN FROM DAKOTA'S PETER BRANDVOLD

Peter Brandvold's latest, The Man From Dakota, is the second book to feature tall travelling loner Nordic Anders and his trusty collie Finn. This time the two are stuck between the rancher he works for, a rival outfit, a group of nesters who Nordic refuses to clear out for his boss, and two women falling for him, one of them being the boss's daughter. Mr. Brandvold took some time to answer some questions about the book, the character, and his writing.

SCOTT MONTGOMERY: You've written several series characters. What do you get to do with Nordic Anders that you don't get to do with others?

 PETER BRANDVOLD: I get to write about a dog as a main character, of course. I love that. I’ve never had a dog as hero, even secondary, before. I especially like Nordic because unlike most of my other characters, except for the Rogue Lawman, who has a screw loose, he’s a genuine recluse. All characters are different of course, but he’s different in just that way--he hates people and doesn’t want to be around them. As we spend time with him, however, we see him change and even tumble for a woman...even become a wealthy if reluctant landowner.

S.M.: Nordic & Finn was something of an origin story. What did you want to focus on in this book.

 P.B.: Their lives and adventures together after they’ve come to know each other, to have the readers get to know them as a team.

S.M.: Alexandra is a great match for Nordic. How did you construct a woman who would get under his skin?

 P.B.: You don’t really construct characters. You just give them shape and form and personalities and sit back and see what they do, who they are. Alex gets under Nordic’s skin not only because she has a forceful personality, but because he realizes early on she’s attracted to him...as he is to her. That nettles him. He’s never been close to anyone before. The feeling is all new and rather daunting to a man whose first impulse had always, from a very early age, to be alone aside from a beloved animal or two. He’s liked only having to worry about himself. But now he has to worry about here and the children he’s promised Alex’s father, who want to be a grandfather and continue and grow his name.

 S.M.: Like Josey Wales and many classic western heroes, Nordic anders is a man wanting to be left alone, who ends up having people drawn too him. Do you see him getting more sociable, bit by bit?

 P.B.: Absolutely. In the book I’m currently working on, in fact--Book 3, The Rancher. After he marries Alexandria and he and Finn move onto the Deveraux ranch, his community grows. His personality, however, is still much the same as before but we start to see chinks in it as he loosens up and isn’t so afraid to love anymore. Finn becomes the same way--he opens up to the human race that he never, due to abuse, had cause to trust before.

S.M.: I noticed cooking and food often play a role in the character interactions. What makes that a go to for you in the writing?

 P.B.: Food gives depth and dimension. It brings a scene to life better than anything else. It’s inherently three dimensional. Tactile. You can touch, smell, hear, and taste it, watch it steam as a crackling platter is carried to you with a big T-bone and a big mess of beans on it!

S..M.: I enjoy and believe Nordic's interactions with Finn and his horse Apache. Can you talk about how you portray their relationship?

 P.B.: It’s no different than how I portray relationships between people. You just have to glean what you’ve learned from your own experiences and apply them to the writing. I love writing about relationships between people and animals because I’ve learned from my many and various own experiences. Such relationships are as varied as those between people. No two dogs, horses, chickens, pigs, or cats are alike, and neither are your experiences with them. Animals can’t be anymore cardboard than human characters can without the tale falling flat.