Jimmy Kelley Rides Again

Yes, this is me, although with slightly less facial hair!

 

So, just finished the first typed draft of a new short story. I say first typed because I am one of those who still longhand's my roughs on yellow pads. I can carry them with me pretty much where ever I go without worrying about them. As I still have a day job that can be pretty tough and dirty a laptop is just too expensive an item to risk. The other advantage is that it forces me to concentrate on the voices of the characters as I listen to how they speak in my thoughts. As most of what I do is driven by dialogue and character development the enforced focus is very beneficial.



Street scene in So. Boston. (Southie)

The latest short is another foray into what has been dubbed 'geezer noir' and involves a recurring character of mine, Jimmy Kelley. Jimmy is most definitely an anti-hero in the mold of George V. Higgins character, Eddie Coyle, though significantly less tragic. Jimmy is a product of the streets of South Boston and the Massachusetts correctional system. He's nobody's fool but at the same time he has an innate sense of fair and unfair that propels him into situations and scenes like an aging force of nature. Not to be underestimated as some kind of street corner tough, Jimmy rules his world with smarts and violence.

As always I am working on the next while polishing the last and always looking for homes for the lot. As things progress I'll keep this page updated with the successful and not so successful. It's all part of the learning and living!