People who aren't what you expect

An old high school friend introduced me to a young woman. I believe she was one of his fencing students. Nice person, who happened to be a lesbian. (My lovely wife is comfortable with me hanging out with lesbians since I'm of no special use to them.)

She also spent a lot of time on the shooting range. My buddy is a bit of gun collector and had a lot of shooting information to share. That was important to our lady friend as she was a writer. Her creative outlet was lesbian fiction, but with a twist. Some of her characters carried a gun. The writer really wanted to have all the gun stuff down correctly. Believe me, that's rare in a lot of fiction of any persuasion.

I almost fell over laughing when I read one of her books. My buddy had become a character in her books. All his idiosyncrasies, habits and mannerisms were there. The big difference is that instead of a bald guy, the character was a chubby blond woman. You should have seen the look on his face. Priceless.

One day I go a call from my writer friend. Her other writing gig was writing for outdoors magazines. She had VIP tickets to a big hunting and fishing show. She was wondering if I'd like to go, all expenses paid. She needed a guy who looked like someone who'd go hunting and fishing. She learned nobody took her seriously. My job was to look like I was the sports writer.

I'd ask someone questions and she'd take notes. However, sometimes her vast knowledge would leak out. We were talking to a guy who'd shot a record buck at long range. She happened to know what kind of bullet drop he had to deal with, judging from his rifle and choice of ammo. The guy gave her a funny look but she was spot on.

So if you are reading a magazine, the writer might not be a big guy with a beard. The author might be a cute little lesbian lady. You never know. That's why people use pen names.

(by the way, I really am a big guy with a beard, honest)

-Sixbears