Below are a few characters that will be used in a Lion's Den exclusive debuting November 11, 2014 in serial installments as The Confessions of Mossy Kade
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| recent pic of Jimmy Marlow - narrator (pic of Robert Duvall in The Godfather) |
Jimmy Marlow- (narrator) Pulitzer Prize winner, 3 time finalist for National Book Award, and page 3 columnist for The Chicago Telegram. Mossy was almost the first person Jimmy met when he started as a cub reporter for The Telegram a week after graduating college. Jimmy is 6 years Mossy's junior and has always looked upon him as mentor, kindred spirit, and considers Mossy his best reader often running early drafts by him for input.
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| Vanessa Marlow- Jimmy's wife who Mossy saw and fell for first but thought she'd be perfect for Jimmy and arranged for them to meet. (Deborah Kerr) |
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| Beatrice 'Bebe' Marlow- Jimmy & Vanessa's Daughter who is 'helping' Mossy do a book series with her pup Sugar Wimsey |
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| Mossy Kade circa 1971 |
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| Mossy Kade about age 27 (pic of James Cagney in The Public Enemy) |
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| Estella and Ripley in Wales |
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| Estella about 2004 |
Estella- often thought to be "Mossy's girl" by his (and her) family and friends although their relationship is far more complex and evolving; Estella's mother, far from being the cold bitter Ms. Havisham, is a gentler and more charming version of Downton Abbey's Dowager Countess....if she had been raised on a large Southern tobacco farm and she has always had a special place in her heart for Mossy.
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| The Magnificent Ambersons (pic from the Orson Welles movie) |
The Magnificent Ambersons: so named due to their extraordinary success and influence. Contrary to the Booth Tarkington Ambersons, the 5 sons here are all world beaters in their own right in fields such as medicine, law, politics, construction, and Information Technology. The Good Doctor, a middle son, is Mossy's best friend later in life and sees himself as something of a big brother to Mossy. The family patriarch, Judge Amberson, is a political powerbroker who has often been summoned to the White House and Camp David. The Judge takes an active interest in Mossy's life and seeks to become a mentor.
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| Patrick Amberson aka The Good Doctor (actor Richard E. Grant) |
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| The Queen B (actress Laura Linney) |
Queen B- like a sister to Mossy and charming hostess
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| Hank Montague aka The Master (actor Anthony Hopkins) |
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| Editor Peter Jamison Jr whose late father was editor of Montague's early novels (the late great Philip Seymour Hoffman) |
Prince William of Bucktown- husband to Queen B whose successful marriage Mossy helped facilitate
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| Dutch (actor Robert Carlyle) |
Dutch- best drinking buddy to Mossy who is from a branch of a very prominent family whose surname always catches the attention of hot-on-the-make strivers. Frequently steps in (with the Good Doctor) to provide monetary assistance to the always broke Mossy.
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| Terence Bedford Jackson IV aka "Terry Drama" & "eye-vee" (dust jacket pic of Truman Capote) |
Terence Bedford Jackson IV aka 'Terry Drama' or "eye-vee"- by Terry's friends Mossy is sometimes referred to as "Terry's straight friend"; they often attend the Opera together or join Terry's Swans for bacchanalian lunches or drinks out that can sometimes find Mossy entangled with an 'attached' Swan....everybody that meets Terry mentions within the first two minutes how "you remind me of Truman Capote...." and yes the resemblance in every way (except when holding a pen) is uncanny.
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| The greatest author's note in the history of English Literature seems well placed here. From Brideshead Revisited suggested by Darling Jane Hattatt |
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