A few months ago, I had a Kobayashi moment.
You know what that is, don’t you?
Remember when the cop in The Usual Suspects drops his ceramic coffee mug, marked Kobayashi on the bottom, and everything goes in slow motion as he, in a very shocked manner, comes to grips to the realization that Kevin Spacey/Verbal just snowed him?
Oh. SPOILER ALERT. Sorry. Whatever. You had like 20 years to watch that thing.
I did some research and learned there is a noted noir writer with a character named, “Jake Hatcher.”
What are the odds? I never beat the odds for good things to happen to me. I’ll never win the lottery or get caught in an avalanche of bikini models but yup, I made up a random name and sure enough, another noir writer was using it.
And I’m not being disrespectful or anything, he seems like a great writer. He’s published so, you know, he’s running laps around me.
I did think “what the hell just use it anyway no one cares.” And chances are, no one would. But then, you know, what if that guy’s Jake Hatcher becomes a movie character? That kinda ruins mine.
So after deliberating for awhile, I decided that Jake needs, at the very least, a last name change.
3.5 readers, please provide me with your input on the following:
DASHING – After pouring through name books, coming up with all kinds of possibilities, it dawned on me that it would be fun to come up with a last name that pays tribute to Dashiell Hammett, the author of The Maltese Falcon and the man recognized as the inventor of hardboiled private eye/mystery noir genre.
Dash? Daschle? Dashman? Dashington? Dasher?
Then it just hit me. “Dashing.”
I know. It’s a bit contrived. Almost like “Rip Pecchest” or “Dirk Steele” but I like it, its got meaning, and its the result of months of thinking about it and not coming up with anything better.
3.5 READERS: You spent months thinking about this?
BQB: Oh, the things I do for my 3.5 readers.
JAKE DASHING – I was going to go with Jake Dashing and I still might. I have a subplot in mind where he is Jacob Roscoe Dashing and his evil brother who looks just like him assumes his identity (Roscoe Jacob Dashing, formerly Hatcher).
OR
MACK DASHING – It’s manly, rolls off the tongue. It’s cartoonish but so is the whole concept. Its about a guy who took a 60 year nap after all. I suppose the brothers would be Mack Roscoe Dashing and Roscoe Mack Dashing (I wish my name was Roscoe Mack Dashing.)
Jake Dashing seems more plausible. But as I studied the noir genre, there are a lot of fictional hardboiled private dicks named Jake. I never found one named Mack.
His full named would be Mackenzie, which I know, is a girl’s name. It can be a boy’s but its mostly for girls now. I could write it away by having him tell Uncle H’s joke about “why the hell are there so many girls named after cowboys?!” and then he vows to never be called anything but Mack.
So Jake Dashing is closer to my original intent, but Mack Dashing is more unique.
Either way, his last name is Dashing, his first name is down to Jake or Mack. I’d like your input.
Thanks 3.5 readers.
Bookshelf Battle 