Roscoe Parker -- Call Him "BACKBONE!"

The primary villain in Dogwoods is the brutal leader of the Broken Bones biker gang, Roscoe Parker, aka "Backbone." His clash(es) with the mysterious Jeremiah Bronson comprise the extremely critical plot points of the book and allow readers to determine what truly sets a man's destiny. Roscoe Parker was patterned after the tremendous character-actor of the 60's - 90's, multi-talented William Smith. Smith is a true Renaissance Man ... world champion arm-wrestler, bodybuilder, Korean War vet, linguist (fluent in at least 5-languages), and of course, actor. When he appeared as the evil Jude Bohner in a 1972 classic episode of Gunsmoke, he was hailed as "the greatest bad-guy character of our time!" While he's played both good guys and bad in more than 300 films and TV shows, (many fans will remember him as the fighter who stood against Clint Eastwood in Any Which Way You Can), I will always think of him as the scary bad-guy, especially in the many biker, western and sci-fi films he starred in from the 60's and 70's. It was his screen-persona as the powerful and ruthless biker that imprinted him in my mind as Roscoe Parker, a character Smith could have played with ease in his prime. To this day, watch any film with Smith on-screen and I dare you to take your eyes off him. A true American patriot, William Smith is the perfect model for Jeremiah Bronson's greatest nemesis, the ruthless Roscoe Parker. Check out any of the many fan websites dedicated to Smith, but one of my favorites is here: http://www.williamsmith.org/.

Here's a peak at a scene from Chapter 29, I Know Why the Dogwoods Blush, as Jerry faces off against Roscoe in the explosive climax:

Parker nodded and locked eyes onto Jerry, who took his battle stance. Blue lowered his head and emitted a low, threatening growl. “I’m going to grind you and your dog into buttermilk, Bronson! And this time, there won’t be anyone to save you!”
“I don’t need any help to take you down, Parker. Let Hell claim the one of us who falls first!” The demonic biker smiled.

“Call me Backbone!”