Monday, November 19, 2012

Dr Logan Munro from Bloody Trail

Welcome to Nighthawk Talks, I'm Nighthawk - named for my habits not my species. For the next four weeks we're welcoming a few residents of the town of Wolf Creek, who can be found in the pages of Bloody Trail by Ford Fargo. Ford Fargo, by the way, is not one author but many. Today's guest is the creation of Clay More

Dr Logan Munro is a Scottish doctor who has seen action in The Crimean War, The Indian Mutiny and The American Civil War. Welcome doctor. I wanted to interview you first since you probably know the townspeople best.

If you want to know about somebody’s health or their past medical history, I’m the one to talk to - but don’t expect an answer!

You can't give us a few hints?

I am a medical man first and foremost and anything a patient tells me is utterly confidential. This town is full of men and women who have their own little tragedies, peccadilloes and secrets that they don’t want anyone to know about. There may have been a past operation, an old bullet wound that they don’t want anyone to know about ...

(Wry laugh)... or maybe something much worse - but I can’t allow myself to breach a professional confidence.


You take your medical oath very seriously.

I live by the Hippocratic Oath in my dealings with patients and I believe that the good folk of Wolf Creek respect that. They trust me as a physician and surgeon. I like to think that folks generally know me as a man of my word.


Maybe you can tell us a bit about yourself instead.


I came here after the War and have seen the town grow. As a doctor I probably get to know more about folk than most. That is to say, as much as they want to tell me. But I get to see where they live, how they live and, since I deal with people from cradle to grave, I often get to see how they die.

Do you have family in Wolf Creek?

(Sigh) I was truly hoping that I would one day. I was married to the sweetest lady, but I lost her to malaria when I was out in India.

(Wry laugh) We lived through the Indian Mutiny, but I couldn’t save her from that cursed illness. That was why I came to America, to start life afresh.

Do you think you'll ever return to Scotland?

No. I have put down roots in Wolf Creek. I like the people – a lot of them, at any rate – and I have shared in their joys and their sorrows. I have traveled the world and doubt if I will ever go back to Scotland. I expect that I will die here one day.

You fought in the Civil War...

I served as a surgeon with the Union. The whole idea of slavery is abhorrent to me. When I lived in India, just before the Mutiny began, I saw the horror of the Caste system. Through no fault of their own there were people who were considered ‘untouchable.’ They were often treated like animals. I hated that. Then when I came to America I found that there was an even worse system. I reckoned it was worth offering my meager surgical skills to the side that was fighting against that inhumanity.    

When you were treating the wounded during the War, did you ever feel like putting someone out of their misery?

You mean, did I ever wish that I could help them pass away? No, I took an oath, which means that I will do my utmost to keep someone as comfortable as I can, especially when they are close to death.

I may not be the most religious of men, but I still have an unshakeable faith in the Lord. It may sound crazy that although we were surrounded by death and destruction, by brutality and armies intent upon annihilating each other, yet in the bubble that is the relationship between a doctor and his patient, I believe that only God may take a life.

That being said, I've heard that you can wield a gun as deftly as you can a scalpel.

(Silence)

We'll let people judge for themselves by reading Wolf Creek Book 1: Bloody Trail, written by the authors collectively known as Ford Fargo, published by Western Fictioneers.

17 comments:

  1. Logan Munro is a handy doctor to have around- and so is Clay More!

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    1. Why, thank you sir, you are a gentleman and a scholar - literally!

      Clay

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  2. With the Bloody Trail, Dr. Munro has his hands more than full, too. A bloody good read, as the Brits would say.

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    1. It was an exhilarating adventure, to say the least. Logan was proud to contribute in whatever way he could. And we are both looking forward to meeting up with Chuck's character in Book 4.

      Clay

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  3. I've often thought how hard it had to be for Dr. Munro, being as compassionate as he is, to be a doctor there in Wolf Creek. It's a small town and he knows everyone, so it would take a lot of personal courage to be a doctor in that day. He's seen a lot in the world, but these are people he knows personally. He's really a good man, and Wolf Creek is lucky to have him!

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    1. Thanks you, Cheryl. It has been a privilege to write and share the adventure with yourself and all of the other fine writers whose characters live in Wolf Creek. I feel that so many of my patients are now my good friends. I am proud to be the Wolf Creek town doctor.

      Clay

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  4. He reminds me of Arthur Conan Doyle's John Watson (who Hollywood has rarely done right!)- a former military surgeon, who is both compassionate and a courageous man of action.

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    1. In the interview, I was also reminded of Dr McCoy from Star Trek - perhaps because I've had a crush on McCoy since age ten. ;)

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  5. Watson and McCoy? There were a couple of young medical students at Edinburgh University when I was a tutor in Anatomy there. Both were fine young fellows. Watson had good steady hands, as I recall and McCoy was an able dissector. They could both have made their mark as surgeons.

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  6. Alison- Dr. McCoy was always my favorite, and the one I identified with the most. Being a passionate, and compassionate, Southern gentleman.

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  7. I must admit that I envied 'Bones' for that incredible medical tricorder that he used to pinpoint a diagnosis in three seconds flat.

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    1. I loved Star Trek IV when he gives a woman a pill and she grows a new kidney.

      Now I'm picturing Dr Munro as a cross between Bones, Watson and you, Keith. Not that I know you personally, but you have the right kind of face for the character IMHO.

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    2. Thank, Alison. You are right, the face is weathered and travelled. As Indiana Jones said in Raiders of the lost Ark, 'It's not the years, honey, it's the mileage.'

      That's Logan.

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  8. Alison, thank you so much for the interview and for allowing Logan and I a viewing on Nighthawk Talks. It has been fun!

    Clay

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  9. Thanks, Doc Munro, for the insightful interview. What an interesting history you have. As a romantic at heart, I'm hoping you find a nice lady to keep you company the rest of your years.

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  10. I thank you for that, kind lady. The truth is that I have loved and lost the one I had hoped to spend my life with. I honestly don't know whether the hurt will ever heal enough for me to allow anyone to get too close to me. I failed Helen, so I just don't think I could risk failing another. Not yet, anyhow.

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