Synopsis of Savage Season

Hardback edition, click for larger picture.

First paperback editon, click for larger picture. Thanks to Tom Streetman for the pic

Paperback edition, click for larger picture.

New British paperback edition, click for larger picture.

British editon, click for larger picture. Thanks to Mark Sieber of www.horror.net for the pic

Savage Season Summary
SAVAGE SEASON

CHARACTERS

Hap Collins
Grew up in Marvel Creek,Texas, fished in the Sabine River and swam naked with Rosa Mae Flood. He remembers a big tree on the river where he used to swing from a tire on a chain. The tree helps him to find the location of the money in Savage Season. Frequented joints like the Roundup Club and Sweet White Lilly. Bought Cokes and peanut patties at the Food Mart. Read comic books in a cigar and magazine store that is now a cafe called Bill's Kettle.
Hap is very un-mechanical. He can air up a tire, fill a radiator and battery, check the oil and fill the tank. Hap studied martial arts in high school but quit during the 60s peace movement.
Hap met Trudy in college at LaBorde University in the late 60s when he was 23 and she 19. Hap got a late start in college bue to lack of money. He was working in an iron foundry. He owned a chevy back then and an old Dodge pick-up now. He majored in business but changed to sociology. He and Trudy got married. They adopted an injured sparrow, nursed it back to health, and called it Cheep. The bird loved for them to dress in black. Hap attended anti-war rallies, wore his hair long, and collected Beatles albums. He eventually quit college to lose his draft deferrment and then went to Leavenworth for refusing the draft. This was his statement. He spent 18 months in prison during which time Trudy divorced him but said he was the bravest man she knew. She also killed the bird.
After prison, he returned to LaBorde and worked in the rose fields where he met Leonard Pine. Trudy wanders back into his life every so often and always causes him a lot of pain. The last time she left him, he went on a three month drunk before Leonard found him. After that, he swore off, Trudy not drinking. He drinks Lone Star beer. Hap lives 5 miles from Leonard. He also shuts off his butane heat at night to save money. He is presently employed in the rose fields and is 40 years of age.

Leonard Pine

Vietnam veteran, martial artist, also practices boxing, kenpo, and hapkido. He has 6 bird dogs that he takes hunting not so much to hunt but to watch the dogs run. His favorite dog is named Switch and another is named Cal. He hides a house key under his porch. There is a creek on his property close to his house and the creek is eroding some of his land. There is a big tree on his land that he and Hap call the Robin Hood tree because it looks like the tree in an old movie where Robin and his men gathered. He and Hap shoot skeet together and spar in the Leonard's barn after a workout on a heavy punching bag. Hap is a better shooter but Leonard beats him in the ring. He likes country music and seems especially fond of Patsy Cline and Hank Williams. He reads Walden. Leonard has a 30/06 and a 22 target pistol. He smokes a pipe and drives an old Buick. His father beat him until he was 14 and he beat up the old man. His father left and later his mother died of diabetes. His grandmother helped raise him and he loved her very much. He also has a passion for vanilla cookies. He calls the place where Trudy and her friends are "The Sixties Nest". He is also an employee of the rose field.

Trudy Fawst-Thirty-six year old ex-wife of Hap and several other men. Long legged blond who has had more than her share of men. She left Hap for Pete, left him for Bill and Bill for Howard. She is very tough. Soldier drives a nail through her hand but she will not tell him where the money is. In college she dreamed of being an artist but closest she got was dressing manequins in store windows. She has been gone for two years before she shows up in this story. Presently she works at the Dairy Palace and drives a VW.

Howard-Trudy's latest, a big blond former nuclear protestor who spent time in Leavenworth. While there he met Softboy McCall who told him about some stolen money hidden/lost in the Sabine River. Softboy dies and later Howard is released after serving 18 months of a 2 year term. He decides to find the money. At one point he tries to push Hap in the chest and Hap puts him on his knees. He is presently working in a gas station where he is identified as Floyd on his shirt and drives a yellow Volvo.

Charles aka Chub-Fat, shaggy haired former rich kid from Houston whose parents disowned him. He knows medicine but never became a doctor.

Gabriel Lane aka Paco-60s radical leader who was wanted by the FBI but is thought to be dead from an explosion. He is badly scarred from the explosion but was doctored and saved by Chub. He double crosses the group.

Soldier-Big time bad guy and friend of Paco's. He wants the money to make a big buy. He wants to have a large vocablulary but can never think of the words he wants to use.

Angel-Soldier's body-building girlfriend. She has to supply Soldier with the words he tries to think of.

Dr Dumas-Works on Hap and Leonard at the end of the book.

Jack Divit-FBI agent who investigates the happenings in the book.

Old Man Lacy-Runs the rose field.

Calvin-Feeds Leonard's dogs while Leonard is away.

NOTABLE QUOTES

From Leonard;

A hard dick knows no conscience.

He's got a nice perky ass, but he's not my type.

I can accept who I am - Chub

I don't think I can - Leonard

I'd go over and kick that fucker till he came back to life.

From Hap;

Legs like God would have given his very own woman.

It got under his skin like a chigger.

I hoped it was so cold her vagina was frozen shut.

Sue me. I've got a juvenile streak.

Houses looked to have been set in their spot by Dorothy's tornado.

I was bored enough to jack off with a fist full of barbed wire and roses.

Cold as the tip of a penguins dick.

I wouldn't have pissed on him had he been on fire, I would have stomped the flames out.

You're a match made in heaven.

ODDITIES

There is mention of the old Apache Drive-In Theater that has a partial title on the marquee reading ED N HE ST. I could not figure out what the movie was. The best thing anyone has come up with is DEAD IN THE WEST which is not a movie, but should be.

There is also a mention of monkey blood and I didn't know the meaning of that until some fans wrote to me and told me it was iodine.

PLOT

Book opens with Hap and Leonard shooting skeet and along comes Trudy with a story of easy money lost near an old iron bridge on the Sabine River near where Hap grew up. Hap and Leonard decide to help Trudy and her friends get the money. Trudy says it is for a cause but Hap and Leonard just want their share for themselves. They do some scuba diving to look for the money and Hap nearly drowns. Leonard saves him. Hap is so out of it after Leonard pulls him out that he thinks Leonard is talking to someone named Shadhad. He is actually calling Hap shithead. The money is found but not as much as they thought it would be, so Trudy and Howard double cross our boys. They take the $400,000 that is found to buy guns but are double crossed themselves by the supposed arms sellers, Soldier and Angel, who are friends of Paco's. After quite an adventure Hap and Leonard barely escape with their lives. Leonard's dogs aren't so lucky. Soldier kills them after Switch helps Trudy, Hap and Leonard escape. In the end, Trudy, Howard, Paco, Chub, and Angel are all killed. Soldier is sent to jail. Hap regains the money, keeps some to help Leonard and plans to send the rest to Greenpeace.

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