When I think of Historical Fiction, a couple of things come to mind. The first, are great events in history and epic time periods. Second, I think about tales of great passion: war, or romance, (and whether those are the same or different, you may discuss among yourselves) but they paint with a broad brush. Yet there are quieter stories as well. Troy Kechely has taken a fascinating period of American history (The Depression of the 1930s) and a great setting (the mountains of Montana) for an intimate story of a man and the healing powers of a dog and brought them together in Strangers’s Dance
Okay, so what’s the Troy Kechely story?
Most people like to use the word ‘complex’ to describe me. This is because how I came to be who I am is not a simple tale but I’ll summarize as best I can. I was conceived out of wedlock to a young woman in Elmira, New York. She left the U.S. to study for a semester in West Berlin, Germany (yes back in the cold war days). She was unaware that she had a stowaway but learned quickly after arriving. While carrying me she looked into having an abortion but was turned down because it was illegal after a certain stage of pregnancy. She instead chose to put me up for adoption by a U.S. Army officer and his wife who were stationed in Germany. So by God’s grace I grew up not in upstate New York or Germany but on a ranch at the base of the Continental Divide west of Helena, Montana. Something I am very thankful for.
My day job is a CAD manager for an engineering firm. On the side I’m a canine behavior instructor and author as well as the founder and current board member for a non-profit rescue group dedicated to finding loving homes for Rottweiler’s. What sets me apart from some is that I have no college degree and only nine fingers after an accident four years ago. This resulted in me having to relearn typing so Stranger’s Dance was a big test for me and my editor.
Sounds like that’s a pretty good story waiting to be told. What about Stranger’s Dance?
In 1930s Montana, no one kept dogs as pets. Unless a dog happened to be a darn good herder and happened to wash up on a sheep ranch, dogs were pests. Chicken killers that ought to be shot.
Who could afford to give scraps to a stray? The high ranchlands were spared the worst of the Dust Bowl, but most families still had to take work off the ranch to make ends meet. That’s why Frank Redmond carved tombstones on the side. Even with such work—both lucrative and in steady supply—he and his small family struggled to keep up with their loans. Frank was ready to call it quits, walk away from the ranch, his wife, his father, the creditors. Then the dog showed up.
Stranger’s Dance is a novel about death and infidelity and how people learn to strike truce in the presence of hard things. That stray dog, the one Frank wanted to shoot, eventually endears himself to Frank’s father, then to his wife, and slowly to Frank. Over time, the land and its creatures bind the frayed human relationships.
What is it about this story that intrigued you?
Our world is so full of technology and distraction, the simplicity of rural ranch life in that era appeals to me. Having grown up in the region and on a working ranch I know how hard it can be to keep a ranch running and the idea of doing the same work but without the luxury of tractors and electricity made it a good setting for the story. It allowed me to focus on true life struggles that people faced every day. Unlike now where we worry about our WiFi connection, people in that time often lived hand-to-mouth. Given that animals were rarely viewed as pets but as coworkers or pests to be shot, the involvement of a dog in that struggle allowed for a unique perspective and window to that time.
I was also fortunate enough to be able to interview people who were alive back then and living at the location of where my book was set so I got firsthand knowledge of what it was really like. This definitely helped with solidifying my decision on the time and location of the story.
Not to make this about me, but I had a farm dog, Rover, get shot for sucking eggs when I was a kid, so I know what you mean. Where can folks learn more about you and your writing, as well as your work with dogs?
The best place is my website: http://www.troykechely.com/
You can find me on Goodreads
or on Amazon
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