You might recognize these familiar characters

The text in this post is from the beginning sections of my new book, No One Left Behind. If you look carefully at the vignettes, some of my readers might recognize these familiar characters. The story is centered around the Carson family. Chuck Carson, universally called “The Chief,” is the patriarch of the family.

From the book

One thing I especially enjoyed about writing this story is selecting the names of characters. While stressing this is a fictional work about fictional people, I often borrowed the names and perhaps one or two character traits from friends and relations. Perhaps if any of them ever pick up the book and read it, they will recognize a small chunk of themselves. They may have to peel back the camouflage just a little because the name might be a sound-alike or an opposite. For instance, Don might be Dan, or Joe White might be Jack Black. It was fun for me. I hope it will be fun for them.

Here they are

Peter Anchor

Often referred to as “Old Peter” by the group, to distinguish him from Peter Schwitzer, Peter Anchor is an insurance broker and shooting instructor in Boise, Idaho. He is also an outdoors enthusiast and good friend of Chuck Carson and several other characters.

Chuck Carson

Chuck joined the Navy right out of school and trained as a SEAL. He disappointingly failed in last week due to a sadistic trainer who washed him out of the program over a personal disagreement. Philosophical about the event, Chuck went into Seabees, excelling because of skills his father instilled. He has a wife, daughter, and two sons. Retired from Seabees ten years ago as a Chief Warrant officer, his friends call him The Chief, and he still had close ties with the reserve Seabees in Boise, Idaho.

Jonas Patrick Carson

Jonas Patrick, Chuck Carson’s youngest child, goes by JP. He has fulfilled his adolescent aspiration of working in law enforcement by becoming a rookie Sacramento County deputy sheriff. It took him a while to land a job after college, but he loves the work. His best friend is his boxer, Prince Champion, who he calls Champ.

Katherine Danielle Carson

KD, as everyone calls her, Is Chuck Carson’s daughter. Although she is married to Magnus Sigurd, she chose to keep her maiden name. She is a second class construction electrician in the Seabee reserves. She has children who stay with Chuck and his wife, whom they call Grandmom when she and husband deploy at the same time.

Rita Jean Carson

Chuck’s wife, she generally goes by Jean or Rita Jean. She and Chuck have been married over forty years. She loves being Grandmom to all the Carson grandkids, and she thinks it is about time for JP to settle down and start bringing her some more.

Stan Carson

Stan went by Stanley until he started his own company. It is hard to explain exactly what he does. It has to do with financial technology and business management. He usually just tells people he is a consultant. He, his wife Tamara, and their daughters live in La Jolla, California. Stan is Chuck and Rita Jean’s eldest child.

Tamara Carson

Stan’s wife of fifteen years, Tamara has a Doctorate in Psychology and loves more than anything to help people. She lives with Stan in La Jolla, California, overlooking the ocean. She teaches one class a week at Scripps maintains about half a dozen counseling clients. Mostly she rears her daughters.

Prince Champion

Champ is a boxer that JP nominally owns, who often goes with him to work because JP has trained him for police work.

Salvador Chavez

Salvador, who grew up in Imperial Beach, California, was named for his parents’ hero, Cesar Chavez. Since he was a young teen, his dream has been to reunite the southwestern U.S. with Mexico. Most of his early life involved petty crime and political activism. As he matured, so did his movement. His following grew, and in his middle twenties, he formed what he called Viva Hispanico, and even had it approved as a legal tax-exempt educational organization.

Ted Cloaker

Ted was Dean Steady’s roommate at Navy. He went Marines and never looked back. Retiring after twenty years in the Corps, he decided he needed some excitement in his life and spent a couple years doing undercover DEA work in San Diego and Los Angeles. Eventually, his wife convinced him it was time to settle down and he became the Chief of Police in Fallbrook, California.

Cal Durham

Cal is a combat veteran of the Viet Nam war. He is one of the oldest characters in the story but stays in good shape. He and Chuck Carson spend a lot of time pursuing recreation in the wild areas of the northwestern U.S.

Next time

I will finish the list next time. Or you can read all about them in your own copy of No One Left Behind.