| J. Jay Steele entered his home office and dumped the pile of mailing envelopes onto the center of his desk as he reached to turn on the lamp. Normally he read the latest freelance submissions to �The Global News� at his main office, but with the whole swamp thing debacle he�d gotten behind schedule and still needed to find a good lead story for the next issue. Shrugging off his suit jacket, he tossed it onto the leather couch as he plopped down in the matching desk chair and ran his fingers through his rapidly thinning brown hair. Ignoring the desire to just lean back and enjoy the peace and quiet, he sighed heavily and began to shuffle through the envelopes in front of him. A yellow post-it note on an envelope in the middle of the stack caught his attention. �J-looks intriguing, has potential for further research �Ed.� Jay grinned; Ed always had a nose for finding the best stories. Quickly, he slid the stack of papers from the envelope and skimmed the short query letter proposing a series of articles for the paper. Raising an eyebrow of dismay, he moved on to the enclosed double spaced article synopsis. The Magnificent Seven Reincarnated In Denver! Is Denver�s most successful team of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms really a group of desperado gunslingers from the late 1800�s? From personal appearance to names and almost exact backgrounds, Denver�s ATF Team Seven mirrors the long told legends of the wild west�s Magnificent Seven. So much so that their coworkers have even dubbed them with the same moniker. Legend tells us that The Magnificent Seven was a haggard group of men from various backgrounds who came together by happenstance to help restore law and order to a wild western township. Team Seven of our century is a select group of government agents thrown together to form the most successful and unconventional ATF team in the bureau�s history. Like their historical counterparts Team Seven is known for its sometimes desperado ways of getting their job done. The similarities between these two groups of men are uncanny. Is it mere coincidence that ATF agent Chris Larabee shares the same name and horrific personal loss of his historical likeness? Both Larabees lost their families in unsolved murders. What about Vin Tanner, a sharpshooter in both centuries? Or Ezra Standish, a known con artist and gambler in the past�now using his devious ways to become an unparalleled undercover agent. The similarities go on with each Team Seven member: Buck Wilmington, Josiah Sanchez, Nathan Jackson and JD Dunne. Take away the modern hairstyles and clothing, the technology of today and what remains are a group of modern gunslingers fighting for law and order. A gunslinger out for vengeance, a tracker and sharpshooter, a gambler, a former preacher, a healer, a ladies� man and a kid�have the legendary men of the Magnificent Seven been reincarnated in our generation? What other explanation is there for such detailed similarities? Mere coincidence does not explain the mystery of Seven men drawn together by fate and sharing one destiny. Join me as �The Global News� takes a closer look at these seven men in an 8-week series that will delve into history and legend and in the end allow you to answer the reincarnation question for yourself. Jay laid the crisp papers on his desk and leaned back in his chair for just a moment before grabbing a fresh post it and scrawling, �Ed-send rejection form letter B-no way it�ll fly in our market-J� He knew that Ed would probably be in his office early Monday morning wanting to know his reasoning for the rejection, but Jay would keep the truth to himself. He wasn�t sure if he believed in reincarnation itself, but he definitely believed in fate and wasn�t about to mess around with it. Unable to resist, he pushed away from his desk and hitting the switch for the specially designed track lighting, moved closer to the glass display case. Inside, beautifully arranged on a dark blue velvet background were his three most prized possessions. A yellowed playing card, the ace of spades, his great great great grandfather�s personal journal and the first edition, first printing of his ancestor�s most famous novel, �The Magnificent Seven.� |
| September 2002 Challenge Response |
| by Debby |
| disclaimer: The Mag 7 characters belong to MGM, Trilogy and Mirisch, no copyright infringement is intended with their use. |
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| My attempt to respond to Libby's sept '02 challenge of Jock Steele asking for stories about the 7: Let us note that this month�s theme is more a matter of a stylistic challenge�that of the famed dime novel which brought fantastic tales back east [and to the world] of incredible exploits in the wild west. Broad, sweeping generalizations � and all preconceived expectations held by greenhorns and ladies fanning themselves so as not to swoon in their lavish parlors. So the boys should follow a stereotype, and the action should be dramatic! heroic! unbelievable! Though this style best suits the old west universe, it can easily be tweaked to different au�s. Think modern pulp novels, for example. |
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