>>>> Clete Purcel is my favorite character. (Robicheaux himself is often a PITA, as I'm sure he is meant to be)
>>>
>>>But remember - to JL Burke Dave and Clete are the same guy <bg>
>>>
>>
>>I'm not sure I follow. To me they seem like completely different people. They both have demons but even those are quite different ones. Can you elaborate?
>>
>
>I just always had the feeling that Burke identified with both and lived through each - working out different parts of himself down two different paths. i might just be projecting because I'm doing something like that in something I'm working on.
>

That's great that you're working on something. I hope it works out.

Thank you for clarifying that you meant Dave and Clete may both come from parts of JLB's imagination, or self-image if you will -- Dave the tightly wound, somewhat insufferable ex-alcoholic and Clete representing uncontrollable violence and passion. My suspicion is JLB is a lot closer to Dave, with Clete revealing his urge to be more of a wild man. Not that this necessarily cripples detective fiction. John D. MacDonald was almost nothing like Travis McGee (knock out every man, bed every gorgeous woman -- about all author and character had in common was a wry disapproval of how man keeps fouling his own nest), and that sure turned out OK. Raymond Chandler and his many hard-boiled heroes, while he himself was a quiet man married to a woman who was more like his mother, is another example. The list goes on. As readers we should not be ungrateful if the payoff is on the page.

> >>They have cable, including HBO, but the television itself is an old 19 inch and the reception is the worst I have ever seen on cable. I didn't even know a cable picture this bad was possible.
>
>You misunderstood. "cable" down there means there is a cable from your room that connects to the rabbit ears on the roof <bg>

Honestly, you should see it. Close to unwatchable. Fortunately I don't watch much TV. If the set is on at home that usually means one of three things: the girls, a movie on the DVD player, or a ballgame.