HAVE JAZZ CLUB - WILL PROTECT

JP wrote me a comment to yesterday's post that made my morning ...
     and also made me think others might have similar questions:

I feel it is about time I made a statement on your blog. In the past I have commented occasionally but have never said much beyond the relevance of the comment to the post.

I find your blog quite compelling and enjoy the sometimes obscure analogies packed with good advice. For my shame I have never read any of your books but it is something I aim to put right.

I presume some are linked and ergo should be read in order. Are they all in a series or are some 'stand-alone' books? If they are a series what is the title of the first book, or if there are individual novels which is your personal favourite?

I commend you for your energy in posting so frequently and wish I had similar resolve. Thanks.

My reply:

 

Thanks very much, JP:
Your comment meant a lot to me this morning. I've been on the go all through it, so this is the first that I've had a chance to reply:

I try to make my cyber-home a place that is entertaining, fun, and helpful.

You make me feel as if I've succeeded there a time or two. :-)

You're right:
My novels occur in the same universe, minor characters taking center-stage in their own books from time to time. In a sense, they are, indeed, linked.

Victor Standish is my Huckleberry Finn/Ulysses. And his adventures start in THE LEGEND OF VICTOR STANDISH:http://www.amazon.com/THE-LEGEND-VICTOR-STANDISH-ebook/dp/B005NCUTAG/ref=pd_sim_kstore_1

Samuel McCord takes him into his haunted jazz club, Meilori's, when Victor first arrives in New Orleans.

Samuel is part Batman, part Paladin(of HAVE GUN WILL TRAVEL fame -

a gentleman gunfighter{played by Richard Boone}

who preferred to settle problems without violence; yet, when forced to fight, he excelled. Paladin lived in the Hotel Carlton in San Francisco, where he dressed in formal attire and attended the opera.

McCord lives in the haunted jazz club he named for his mysterious, now missing, wife.  He is the protector of those
who have been wounded in the shadows --

as he has been soul-wounded in his haunted past.

Paladin affected the creation of McCord's character. 

Paladin's great advantage over adversaries was not his impressive equipment or even his ability as a marksman, superior as that was;

Paladin's edge was his rich education and tactical sense.

He had an infallible ability to relate ancient antecedents to his current situations. When the enemy was surrounding him, Paladin could usually make some insightful quip about General Marcellus and the siege of Syracuse or something similar and then use this insight to his advantage.

Burying a rancher killed by Indians, he recited John Donne's "Death Be Not Proud" above the grave. In other episodes he quoted lengthy Shakespearean passages from memory.

A male role model who memorized poetry was unique in a 1950s television series. Like a chess master, he sought control of the board through superior position and usually killed only as a last resort.

McCord's modern adventures begin in FRENCH QUARTER NOCTURNE:http://www.amazon.com/FRENCH-QUARTER-NOCTURNE-ebook/dp/B004YTMNRG/ref=pd_sim_kstore_22

His first Old West adventures begin in RITES OF PASSAGE (though the prelude & epilogue is narrated by William Faulkner in the New Orleans of the Roaring 20's)

where he meets many of the
people who star both in his and Victor's adventures:

Elu, Father Renfield, Ada Byron, Margaret Fuller, Ralph Waldo Emerson, the mysterious Meilori, and the sociopathic demi-god, DayStar.http://www.amazon.com/RITES-OF-PASSAGE-ebook/dp/B004XQVPYM/ref=pd_sim_kstore_3

I have a sampler of my different characters for 99 cents, BRING ME THE HEAD OF McCORD!http://www.amazon.com/BRING-THE-HEAD-McCORD-ebook/dp/B008ZM9B8M/ref=pd_sim_kstore_2

There is a stand-alone mystic fable, THE BEAR WITH TWO SHADOWS (Think THE LORD OF THE RINGS meets Native American myth):http://www.amazon.com/THE-BEAR-WITH-SHADOWS-ebook/dp/B004MDLWD0/ref=pd_sim_kstore_2

I hope this helps.

Thank you for liking my blog and wanting to sample some of my novels.
Always your friend, Roland

So, my friends, was there a literary or screen character who
affected the molding of your hero or heroine?