It’s a whole lot more fun, and easier, to write fiction than non-fiction. Non-fiction authors have to do research, make sure of their facts and defend their positions. I get to make things up, and if anybody challenges me by saying, “Hey, that’s not the way it was/is!”, I get to reply, “Hey, it’s fiction. If you don’t understand what that is, go watch the ‘State of the Union’ address.” Besides, my writing motto is: Never let facts get in the way of a good story.
One of my favorite parts about making things up is inventing characters and naming them. I tried to make the names match the character, but not too obviously. The downside of that approach is that the reader might miss some of the much less obvious names. So here is your cheat sheet:
1. Mamzelle Reynard, the Barbecue Queen of the Southeast and owner of Tiger, Corp. is exceedingly clever, to the point of being devious. Reynard is the French word for fox. Oui?
2. Henry, from Mobile, is an homage to Henry Aaron, who excelled in his profession (he was an all-time baseball great), from Mobile, Alabama. Like Hank Aaron, my Henry excels at his profession, and is gracious and distinguished, and respected by all. I tried to get a Willie Mays (from Homewood, AL) character into the story but I couldn’t make it work.
3. Chuck Bergen and Ed McCarthy, the government officials, are modeled after the old Vaudeville ventriloquist act of Edgar Bergen (the ventriloquist) and Charlie McCarthy (the dummy). Reaching way back.
4. Sad Sack Sanders is named for the cartoon character Sad Sack, a hapless soldier who always has bad things happen to him. Since most people have never heard of him and don’t remember those comic books, I compared him to Elmer Fudd, an only slightly less obscure cartoon character who has bad things happen to him. That comparison probably didn’t help anybody at all; how fiendish of me.
5. Military readers, particularly those with some hard-earned seasoning, will know what I did with Jim Strack. A soldier, especially an officer, that is strack is a by-the-book, spit and polish role model for the epitome of what a soldier should be. At least, in appearance.
6. My naming piece de resistance is Colonel Harvey – no first name provided. She is responsible for developing and fielding a key piece of military hardware, rapidly and on-budget. In order to do so, she has to innovate and take risks. The question is: Are there COL Harvey’s out there or are the organizations and managers constrained by the proverbial box? I.e., does Harvey exist? I think I gave you enough clues in the epilogue to understand my choice of name; remember she is tall and has overly large ears.
7. A for Griffin Finnegan? It’s just a name.
And, oh, by the way, the State of the Union is strong. You heard it here first.
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