Every Creative Needs A BC

My misspent youth was blessed with a lot of interesting friends that provided plenty of grist for the mill when I was writing The Claire Saga.

Just after I had written An Alien Appeal, Book 2 in TCS, I started hearing from a lot of the OFC – Old Fuckers Club – who had started to get wind of The Wise Ass and decided to track me down. While I have come to really enjoy my solitude here in the Hinterlands of NoCo, it was great reconnecting with all the guys and gals that had made my childhood and teenage years so much fun.

Many of the people who appear in the below photo – taken at my wedding – are members of the OFC. Most of them have appeared in one form or another in the five books.

Like the music from the 70s, the OFC were part of the soundtrack of my youth. The sounds of their voices recounting past events during random phone calls transported me back to those times. Made me feel young again.

Having put AAA to bed, I wanted to write a story that would include the names of some of the core members of the OFC. When I mentioned it to the crew, they were all up for it. The only problem was that by AAA, most of the motley crew of mystical misfits in TCS had already been established. So I told them they could only appear as bad guys in the next, yet unwritten, installment. I had no idea what those bad guys would be, since I never plot things out, but I knew that when they appeared I would assign them names of my OFC colleagues.

The OFC loved the idea of being bad guys. Play to your strengths.

Now Brian Corry has been one of my closest friends since High School. My parents absolutely adored him, and he was a constant guest at our table and spent many a night crashing in the attic dorms. He appears in the group photo right between me and the priest, Fr. Frank, who performed the ceremony. Yeah, I know, not a perfect photo, Lisa literally slipped out of sight just as the shot was taken, you can just barely make out her hair under my chin. But what are you going to do?

That’s Lenny, lying on the grass front-center.

Anyway, BC is an old soul. And he’s annoyingly smart and wise. So for many of our adventures, and he was involved in most, he performed the role of my real time conscience. He was the first to tell me how I may have screwed things up – usually when I was right in the middle of doing so. And the most annoying thing about BC was that he was always right. He was my tall Tyrion Lannister.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tyrion_Lannister

John Barry created Captain Hook and his time consuming crocodile to challenge the boy who refused to grow up and remind us all of our mortality.

My life as Peter Pan and the Lost Boys had BC. Along with his own crocodile.

So, when the time came in Kissing My Ass Goodbye to assign a name to my Voldemortian character who does the most dastardly of dastardly deeds, BC got the nod. He became the ultimate Frenemy.

Of course, never knowing that there may be a book beyond the one I am writing – I was never good at planning ahead – I had to give BC a new name in Finding Jimmy Moran. He appears as Brian Kelly.

But BC has always been a good sport. So when Claire declared a Fatwa on his head over his malevolence in KMAG, he dressed up as a woman – more Mrs. Doubtfire than RuPaul –

and then went on an eternal road trip to various undisclosed places across the United States. He sends me the occasional taunting photo to let me know he’s still kicking.

He also has shown me that he has turned to the occult to stay one step ahead of the Fatwa.

Now BC does not appear by name in Where The Ley Lines Meet, but I know I channeled a lot of him into the lead Reptilian. There, that fact alone should make you want to rush out and pre-order WTLLM, which drops in 3 weeks. You should go back and read the prior four books, just so you can place BC into proper context.

So BC, I know you are out there and are regularly one of the fine, five readers who reads my blog. I want to thank you for helping keep me healthy and alive during our formative years and for always being there when I needed you. But the Fatwa remains. Frenemies for life.

Now I must get moving back towards reality.

I have kitties to cuddle and rounds to make.

The good news is that we have again reached Thursday, and I can hear Friday whispering in the shadows. Or maybe that’s BC.

Either way, you fine, five readers (except BC) should shake a leg, get out there and wrap up your work week.

And no matter what else we may get up to, let us make today a great one.