Jackson Coppley's Blog, page 14

Heroes - Robert Langdon

Robert Langdon is not as well-known as James Bond or Indiana Jones, at least not by name. However, mention The Da Vinci Code, Angels and Demons, or Origin, and you might say, “Oh yeah. That guy.” Langdon is a creation of Dan Brown and plays the hero in each of his novels since Angels and Demons.According to Dan Brown, Robert Langdon is “the man he wishes he could be.” Langdon mirrors Brown as close as possible. They share the same birthday. Both attended Phillips Exeter Academy. He’s all about symbols and puzzles. But Brown pays tribute to another person by sharing the last name with John Langdon, a man known for his ambigrams, words or designs that appear the same way when viewed from different directions.Last of all Brown added one of my heroes to the character of Robert Langdon. That person is Joseph Campbell. Campbell’s writing on religion and mythology is contained in The Power of Myth and The Hero with a Thousand Faces. The Code Hunters relies on myth and its power to entertain and inspire.Brown wrote that he “remembered admiring Campbell’s matter-of-fact responses and wanting my own character Langdon to project that same respectful understanding when faced with complex spiritual issues.”To me, Robert Langdon is everyman. He’s not a Bond playboy, or an Indiana Jones explorer. He’s just a college professor that gets pulled into adventures. In the movie, he’s played by Tom Hanks, an actor who’s made a career on playing average people who are made heroes by no choice of their own. Think Saving Private Ryan or Sully.I added dashes of Bond and Indiana Jones to the character of Nicholas Foxe, but also made him an unlikely hero like Robert Langdon.

Mission: Impossible

The Impossible Mission Force, IMF, represents a modern concept. Each member has a special talent led by a man with no discernible talent of his own. This is the concept of the TV series Mission: Impossible. The movie series turns the concept on its head by killing off the TV series leader, Jim Phelps, and making a team member, played by Tom Cruise, the hero of the first and subsequent movies in the series. I’m focusing here on the original TV program. I never missed an episode growing up.Mission: Impossible débuted on CBS in 1966 (when Tom Cruise was only four-years-old). The original leader with no special talent was Dan Briggs, played by Steven Hill, but that actor was replaced after the first season (long story). Peter Graves took over starting the second season and Jim Phelps was born.It seems that Mr. Phelps’ limited talent included handling the self-destructing taped message outlining the mission for that episode. Who was the Secretary who would deny any knowledge if they were killed or captured? No one ever knew. Phelps would then go to his apartment to choose the members of the team from a group of photos. No suspense here. They were always the same people.The team members had the talent.A mechanical and electronics genius A world record-holding weight lifterA noted actor, makeup artist, escape artist, magician and "man of a million faces."A top fashion model and actressGreg Morris played the electronic genius and Peter Lupus, the weight lifter for all seven seasons of the show. The remaining roles were filled by rotating actors including Leonard Nimoy and Sam Elliott.Mission: Impossible influenced my approach in The Code Hunters. An unlikely group of people come together, each with special talents. Some readers see Nicholas Foxe more like Jim Phelps, the guy who facilitates things, but not the lone wolves types like James Bond or Indiana Jones.Having a team enriches the novel. Each person has their own story to tell. Each person brings conflict and tension with the others team members.So, thank you Mission: Impossible for influencing my own IMF team.

Heroes - Indiana Jones

Indiana Jones represents the archehero of our times. Actually, George Lucas created the character as a homage to movie heroes of the 1930’s, so he’s the archehero of a past time. The American Film Institute named Jones as the second greatest film hero of the past hundred years of movies. James Bond came in third. To add some dignity to the selections, number one was Atticus Finch as portrayed by Gregory Peck in To Kill a Mockingbird.Indiana Jones was nearly Indiana Smith. In 1973, Lucas wrote The Adventures of Indiana Smith and discussed the idea with producers. He also pitched the concept for Star Wars. That movie won out.After the success of the first Star Wars movie, Lucas took a vacation to Hawaii. While there, he met up with his friend Steven Spielberg. Spielberg told Lucas that he wanted to make a James Bond film, but Lucas told him he had a better story. Lucas told him about Indiana Smith and the plot for Raiders of the Lost Ark. Spielberg liked it, telling Lucas it was “a James Bond film without the hardware.” For reasons lost in time, Spielberg changed the last name from Smith to Jones.Indiana Jones has the elements of a classic hero. He’s brave, but with a quirk. He’s afraid of snakes. He has a special talent. He expertly handles a whip. He possesses a signature element, his Stetson. Like many superheroes, he has an alternative identity. He’s a professor of archeology. Clark Kent removes his glasses and he becomes Superman. Professor Jones changes from a tweed suit to khakis, attaches his whip, puts on his hat, and he becomes Indiana Jones the adventurer.The alternative identity and the quirks endear the hero to the reader and the viewer. The hero is someone we could know. I wrote about James Bond in a previous blog posting. It pleased me to learn that Spielberg wanted to make a Bond movie but chose Indiana Jones instead. Bond and Jones have similarities, but notable differences. I mentioned in the Bond posting that an observer wrote ‘men want to be James Bond.’ Indiana Jones is more of a hero you want as a buddy.Indiana Jones influenced the creation of Nicholas Foxe. Nick is suave and a man of the world like James Bond, but Bond doesn’t muck around in caves. Indy and Nick do. Nick is even an archeologist like Indy but needs not teach for a living. He’s rich. His wealth provides a lot of latitude in how to finance his adventures. But Bond and Jones are not the only heroes who influenced the creation of Nicholas Foxe. I’ll post more later in this blog.

Heroes - James Bond

Bond, James Bond.By just the way in which he introduces himself, you imagine a man who is suave and all the associated synonyms.I recently read Casino Royale, the book in which Ian Fleming introduced James Bond. Some of the elements that define the character as we know him in the movies are there. He drives a fancy car, plays Baccarat expertly, meets a glamorous woman with an odd name, and thwarts a memorable villain.Missing from Casino Royale are the ultra-sophisticated toys we remember from the movies. The fancy car is a Bentley convertible, not an Aston Martin decked out to resemble a jet fighter on wheels. Baccarat is key to the plot of the book, not just a passing moment. He meets a glamourous woman with odd name, Vesper. But unlike the movies, Bond falls for her and wants to marry and settle down. He’s severely tortured by the bad guy. This bad guy is killed by an even worse bad guy, all due to luck. No spy craft involved.But there is enough in Casino Royale to entice the cold-war reader. Remember, this was 1953. There was nothing else like it.Casino Royale was not the first Bond novel made into a movie. Producers Albert R. Broccoli and Harry Saltzman bought the movie rights to all the Bond books, except for those for Casino Royale. Those rights had already been sold to a producer who brought it to television in 1954 staring Barry Nelson as Bond. (Ah, the golden age of television).Broccoli and Saltzman brought Bond to the big screen in 1962 with Dr. No starring Sean Connery as Bond.In the twenty-first century, Broccoli’s daughter Barbara hired Daniel Craig to portray Bond. She understood it was a new age with new political sensitivities. She acquired the rights to Casino Royale and rebooted Bond in that film as less sassy and chauvinistic.But Bond is still Bond. During the sixties when the success of Goldfinger promised Bond would be around in the cinema for the long haul, a critic hit it on the mark. He said ‘men don’t want to watch Bond. They want to be Bond.’I grew up with James Bond and his influence. I like to think I admire the heroic elements, but Bond has flaws. Don’t we enjoy flawed characters? Samson had that hair issue (and hanging out with the wrong women) and Achilles had his heel.My new hero, Nicholas Foxe, in my imagination he looks somewhat like the sketch Ian Fleming made of what he thought James Bond would look like (left). Nick is tall, rich, and suave, but has issues. He is a team leader, but the team found him more than the other way around. Then there are control issues.There are other influences that shaped Nick and his Code Hunters team, but those are for future entries. Stay tuned.

The Hero

The Herohe·ro/ˈhirō/nouna person who is admired or idealized for courage, outstanding achievements, or noble qualities."a war hero"synonyms:brave man, champion, man of courage, great man, man of the hour, conquering hero, victor, winner, conqueror, lionheart, warrior, paladin, knight, white hatWhy do we love heroes? It’s been that way forever. The Greeks wrote about Hercules. The ancient ‘people of the book’ wrote about Samson. Modern movies give us Luke Skywalker and Han Solo.My latest novel is about heroes (there is a team of heroes) and of villains (there are several to choose from). I began to wonder about the heroes I created, about their appeal, and about the whole world of heroes.This series of blog entries will explore our favorite heroes and share background on how they came to be. I share some trivia I hope you’ll enjoy.I will delve into the universe of different heroes:James Bond – Skilled spy with martini in handIndiana Jones – Professor with Alter EgoMission: Impossible – The Team of HeroesRobert Langdon – EverymanSuperman – The SuperheroJack Reacher – The LonerAlex Cross – The CopSherlock Holmes – The SleuthSo, tune into my blog, watch for new entries, and enjoy.

Caldonia Cafe

The Caldonia Café is road trip for a lovable loser. Benny, our hero, has a girl who loves him but she’s annoyed by Benny’s lack of direction. After Benny left LSU for a break, which appears to be stretching well into the future, he moves from one menial job to the next. But when he returns to New Orleans to visit his mother, the lightly used old VW van of hers and discussion of basic culinary treats puts an idea in Benny’s head to use the van to create a food truck. With Mom’s blessing and a little cash from her, Benny hits the road to explore simple roadside restaurants for the best of basic fare.Frey does a fine job of pacing the road trip and introducing interesting characters along the way. At the same time, he mixes in a misunderstanding on the use of the van and the cash Mom gave him. Frey uses a simple premise to put Benny on the road without a cell phone, returning communication to the old days when postcards sufficed and further stirring up the misunderstanding.Caldonia Café is a fine, light read. Recommended.

The President is Missing

The book piques your imagination as to who was writing it as any one time, Clinton or Patterson. When the ficticious president of the story goes off on the Speaker to the House playing politics and threatening impeachment, I thought Clinton's catharcis at play. But beyond that, the story was a tightly written adventure in the Patterson tradition.

On The Radio

I had the honor to be a part of the radio show "Delmarva Today Writer's Edition" broadcast Friday, June 29, at 9:00 am. The show featured Beach Life, a collection of short stories and includes interviews and readings with Robin Hill-Page Glanden, Marie Lathers, Mary Pauer, and myself.I read The Bomber Jacket, a prize-winning entry in Beach Life.CLICK HEREto go to the WDSL web site where you can hear the entire show.CLICK BELOW to hear the segment where I read The Bomber JacketPick up a copy of Beach Life at Browseabout Books in Rehoboth Beach, or order on Amazon:

Predicting the Future

Sunday, April 23, 60 Minutes ran a story on the MIT Media Lab. Entitled Where Tomorrow’s Technology is Born, the video depicts a young man who developed a headset that reads what he’s thinking, and searches Google for an answer that's whispered into an earpiece. Scott Paley asks him what the largest city in Bulgaria is and its population. In a few moments, the man answers “Sophia, one, point one million.”He can also order a pizza of your choice by thinking about it.In 2014, I wrote the short story Google Boy in my science fiction anthology Tales From Our Near Future. That story tells what the outcome might be were someone given the ability showed on 60 Minutes, sans the headset. Within four years of my publication, the reality seems within reach.I’ve found an interesting phenomenon in predicting the future. It seems we’ve moved from “Wow!” to “Isn’t that already done?” In my novel Leaving Lisa, the story revolves around a device a woman develops before her untimely death. Her widowed husband can talk to the device and it answers in Lisa’s voice, providing answers that Lisa would have likely provided. Many times, readers told me, “Don’t we already have something like that?”Predicting the future is fascinating, especially the near future. The 60 Minutes story shows visits to MIT’s Media Lab years ago, where touch screens were first shown and a precursor to a GPS system taking you through a map of the city. Back then, we might have been able to predict a GPS mapping system that you carried in your pocket, but could we have predicted what changes it would make in our lives? Could we have predicted Uber?Read Tales From Our Near Future and Leaving Lisa. You’ll get an entertaining look at what might soon happen.

Time, Money, Movies and Books

It’s not the money. It’s the time.Sure, a movie is an expensive experience, when you count the cost of the popcorn and soda. And there are those deluxe theaters where you buy time on a leather recliner and food is brought to you. (The latter is something more than just a movie.) But the real determination of whether you see that movie you’ve read about is: Is it worth the time?In a movie, you’re investing two or three hours in the dark and you want to be taken away to another place, and at the end, at the best of all experiences, you don’t want it to end.It’s true of a book as well, but the dimensions are different. You provide the snacks, and only the top authors charge over ten bucks for a Kindle version, twenty-five if you’ve got to have paper. But are you going to spend seven to eight hours with this thing? That’s the question.There are many options out there from names like Dan Brown where you know what to expect, to folks like yours truly who are building a fan base. No matter who you choose, you want somebody who will make you glad you spent the time.