Danny January: Blog

The preface and first few chapters of Summertime have been published. Voting and public comments are now permitted. The story is 13 chapters long. For quality control, I plan to publish a new chapter every couple of days.

This story ends at the beginning of the school year. I hope you enjoy it. Don't forget to vote. Feel free to post public comments or shoot me an email. I respond to them.

It's been a few months since Feasting with a Silver Spoon finished up so here are a few refreshers.

Jack Pierce - 15. Attends Porter-Gaud, a private college prep school. Typical SAT scores are more than 300 points higher than national average. Tuition last year was $30K.

Christie Pierce - Jack's mom. Married twice. She divorced Victor Strzok when Jack was little. Married Ronnie Pierce, who provided for the family financially, but spent little time with them. He died young. Christie is engaged to Dane Isdris

Dane - Yankee. Cardio pulmonary surgeon at MUSC. Moved south to Charleston a couple of years ago.

Franklin Pierce - Jack's brother - older by 10 years and recently married to Karen.

Sally Hinkleman - Jack's first love. Her father moved the family to Nashville. This didn't go over well with Sally or Jack.

Kim McTighe - Jack's second girlfriend. 16, and a junior at Porter-Gaud. She's perfect. You can ask anyone.

Pat and Mary McTighe - Kim's grandparents. Kim's biological parents and older sister died in a car crash. Her grandparents have been raising her.

Veronica - Christie Pierce's good friend. Recently went through a divorce. (She hit on Jack and Kim let her know he was off-limits. Their relationship has improved tremendously).

Melanie Middleton - Kim's best friend and fellow cheerleader.

Bobby Claire - Jack's friend and fellow swimmer.

Lori Newsome, Lisa, Allie, and Annie are fellow cheerleaders.

Vince Delinger - Porter-Gaud graduate and former QB.

Doctor Hank Legare - Dane's good friend, orthopedic surgeon and a bit of a health guru.

Coach Miller - Swim coach

With the departure of Sally, and new romance with Kim, they have been through an emotional wringer. Recently, Kim and Jack were T-boned by a drunk driver. Kim's parents were killed by a drunk driver. Kim and Jack both spent time in the hospital. Both have a very dim view of drinking.

This is not a typical cast of characters. The neighbors are affluent and Porter-Gaud is very definitely an elite school with highly motivated students. The standards are very high. Within that environment, someone rises to the top. I understand that this environment is very unusual for some readers to get their arms around. It is, however, very real.

I hope this helps those who've read the first story get back on track. For those that haven't, this will not be enough to bring you up to speed.

I've had someone post comments about a double standard and Veronica's behavior in the story. I want to set a few things straight.

First - nothing actually happened between Jack and Veronica. Could she, would she? Perhaps. Or perhaps it was an overactive imagination on my part. At 15 everything is about sex.

Second - Kim set her straight. Even if she had only been kidding around, Kim let her know it was unwelcome. Veronica got it and never did it again.

Third - as far as I know, she's never done anything illegal and she isn't a pedophile.

Fourth - the events all took place in 1980-81, long before the me-too movement and everything didn't trigger everyone.

Fifth - she remains a good friend.

If you have comments or questions, please feel free to contact me directly.

One of the things that's always puzzled me about SOL and the stories I've written is reader engagement. I think most writers enjoy comments from readers. I do. It helps to understand how our writing is progressing and perhaps what areas to work on. As a reader, I don't think there are too many other arenas where you can engage with an author as easily as here. Why then, do so few readers do that? And why do so few readers vote? PUzzling.

I've had a few attaboys and thanks notes and I appreciate those. I've also had a few questions, more about feasting and Beach House than all my other stories combined. Several people have been interested in the food (and for good reason). A couple have encouraged me to continue the story. I've also had a couple of interesting questions, but not as many as I'd hoped for.

The answer to one question: "Timex went 23-3 before leaving the ring to "get a real job" get married and start a family."

Dear reader - engage with the authors on this site. Give kudos where they're due, give feedback about what you liked and didn't and so on. Why not?

I thought it would be helpful to provide links to a few locations mentioned in feasting. Some have mentioned Lowcountry cooking in their emails so I'm including a link to Charleston Receipts - a local cookbook and something of the standard. I honestly don't know anyone who doesn't have this book.

Charleston Aerial view. If you zoom in a bit, you'll see Porter- Gaud and Wappoo Cut near the center. There's a marker for "The Battery" on the tip of Charleston Peninsula. That's where White Point Garden is. You can also see markers for Alhambra Hall and Fort Sumter. The stables and Mink's are outside this frame.

https://www.google.com/maps/place/Alhambra+Hall/@32.7853157,-79.9938989,13813m/data=!3m1!1e3!4m5!3m4!1s0x0:0xf1cdb66c544a0b5e!8m2!3d32.7796778!4d-79.8701639

White Point Garden

https://www.google.com/maps/@32.7697295,-79.9301515,3a,75y,352.54h,101.09t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1sh75AXj_q9lL7ITr36q748g!2e0!7i13312!8i6656

Wappoo Cut - I still spend a lot of time there

https://www.google.com/maps/@32.7672991,-79.9732768,3a,75y,113.98h,75.35t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1sZ2KO6h3umqymXm2D97tg0Q!2e0!7i16384!8i8192

Folly Beach

https://www.google.com/maps/@32.6703015,-79.9068513,3a,75y,108.3h,83.46t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1sOPS7BFN9gXt2i8mB7Wn1mQ!2e0!7i16384!8i8192

Charleston Receipts
https://www.amazon.com/Charleston-Receipts-Collected-Junior-League/dp/B000LVZVIE/ref=sr_1_2?crid=1UGQEO0H758OD&keywords=charleston+receipts+cookbook&qid=1650288819&sprefix=Charleston+re%2Caps%2C154&sr=8-2