An exciting new concept to my blog

Soon to come, The Jim Buchanan Novels Memorabilia Page.

On-line voting results for Kate and her baby

The online voting is complete and resulted in two votes for Kate and her unborn child to survive and two votes for Kate and her unborn child to die. I guess that leaves me with a license to do what I think is best. My original planning for 'The Jim Buchanan Novels' was for Kate's death to be a deeply regrettable and recurring memory for Jim as well as an 'OMG' moment for the reader. However, as 'Montana Harvest' evolved (which is what most writers will tell you occurs as they write) Kate became a character with complex attributes and a steadying force in Jim's life. In other words, she has charisma.


Now I'm torn between killing off a great character in 'Montana Harvest' or keeping her alive. The end result of Kate surviving would be the termination of Jim's romantic interest in Linda since Jim has too solid of a moral fiber to be unfaithful to Kate. Now, as any writer will also tell you (and which is why I love to write) there is always a creative alternative.

My new plan is to take a number of my plots for future novels and modify them so that they fit into Jim's life prior to Kate's demise. This will work out very nicely since the series begins during Jim's second year as Sanders County Sheriff and Jim also spent two years before that as a Montana Highway Patrolman. This allows me to write a number of novels that conceivably can span that three year time frame during which Jim and Kate were married. I went through my novel plots and have selected six potential novels that can occur during the time that Jim and Kate are married and before she meets her destiny in 'Montana Harvest'.

Once I have completed 'Montana Harvest' I will then begin work on those six novels that take place during Jim and Kate's years together.

Thought for the Month

"We are in the eyes of our Creator the net sum of our diversity less our inhumanity."

Rocky Salentino - the third enty in the Jim Buchanan character series

Rocco 'Rocky' Salentino, Sanders County Assistant Sheriff, met Jim while they were United States Air Force buddies. At the start of the series, Rocky is 32, six feet tall with brown eyes and black, crew cut hair. He has a stocky build honed by years of body building. Jim hired Rocky in 1995 after Jim was elected to a four-year term. Rocky is a first generation Italian-American and moved to Brooklyn, NY with his family when he was nineteen. He is a former Fulton/Rockaway street-wise hoodlum and his Brooklyn friends nicknamed him 'Double O'. He was born in and his family originates from Avellino, Italy which is a medium sized town near Naples. Rocky left the love of his life in Avellino, the lovely, blue-eyed Eleonora Paravicini. He longs to return to Italy with the hope of renewing his relationship with his soul-mate, Eleonora.

BIG, BIG CONTROVERSY

I've recently been working on Montana Harvest, the first novel in The Jim Buchanan Series and I've come to a turning point in the overall story line of the novels. Originally, Jim's wife Kate was to pass away early in the series generating much anguish in Jim's life and paving the way for his future relationship with Police Chief Linda Stevens. However, Kate is now pregnant in the first novel and her original demise was to take place when she was in the early stages of her pregnancy. Now the story has adapted and Kate comes to a turning point with her mortality near the end of the novel. Complicating matters is the end of the novel corresponds with the end of her third trimester. What to do? Do I go ahead and kill off Kate and the baby, have Kate die but the baby survive or have the baby die and both Jim and Kate have a new emotional stressor in their lives. Also, if the baby survives does Jim raise him (it's a boy!) or does Jim's sister Mary Twofavors step up and take on the responsibility? So many difficult questions which will have a future bearing on my novels. I thought I'd ask the followers of my blog to provide me with some suggestions. See the above poll to voice your vote. Thanks.

The Boom Box Parade

I attended the 2010 Boom Box Parade in Willimantic, CT. We had a great time and took a lot of pictures. We saw a few political candidates and I've included photos of some of the more prominent ones.

Everyone had a good time at the parade as you can see from the following parade marchers ...

... and everyone enjoyed a brief respite from the heat!