Meet Ian Palmer, "The Reunion's" Leading Man

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I'm going to let you in on a little secret that until now, only my closest friends knew. That is that Ian Palmer, the leading man in my novel, The Reunion, was inspired by a real person.

Ian Palmer is an architect who appears in most of the story as a middle-aged man. He's had a successful career, working his way to a prestigious position with a large architecture firm. His personal life, however, has been less than stellar. He married the wrong woman for the wrong reasons, and the marriage ended after he discovered his wife had cheated on him. Now Ian's life is about to change. He has a second chance with Gillian, his long-lost love, but his new-found happiness will soon be put to the test. As new challenges come his way, Ian struggles to balance Gillian, parenthood, and his career, which is about to come to an unexpected and untimely end.

Ian also appears in this story as a young man. During the flashback chapters readers will see him as an outgoing but ambitious college student who, just by chance, happens to meet Gillian, the girlfriend of one of his classmates. The two quickly become friends, and, after Gillian's relationship with Ryan ends, they'll become more than friends. Unfortunately, Ian's ambition and desire to succeed will be their undoing, at least the first time around. It's this younger Ian who was inspired by someone I once knew.

Now I can't divulge his real name. That would violate his privacy. What I can tell you is that just like the Gillian, I really did attend Arizona State University, and while I was there I really did meet a young architecture student who turned out to be the love of my life. In fact the way I met him was pretty much the same way as I describe in the novel when Gillian first meets Ian. So, for those of you wondering about his real identity, that ought to narrow down to a few thousand people.

Of course, Ian Palmer isn't his real name. I chose the name "Ian" for this character because I wanted to pay homage to another author and storyteller, Ian Fleming, a man whose work really was ahead of its time. I also happen to like the name Ian. I think it's a very sexy name, and when you want to create a sexy leading man you have to give him a sexy name, right?  As for the name, "Palmer," I simply pulled it out of the air. I wanted a name that was fairly common, so that readers would feel comfortable with him and want to connect. I also gave him a different physical description and hometown than his real-life counterpart. 

Does the real Ian know about The Reunion? Somehow I doubt it. We lost touch with one another years ago. but if he ever should hear about The Reunion, I hope he'll like it, and I hope he'll take the Ian character as the complement he is meant to be.

MM