Where is Kracker Flats? Hudson, Florida. The coastal landscape is low-lying and swampy, virtually uninhabitable. The kind of place, transients end up.

Fifty-Cal is the character I like the most. She's patterned after a story I heard about a woman shooting a Fifty-Caliber machine gun at a shooting range near Hudson. Her language and mannerism is rough and tough, however, as you will learn there is a softness within.

Flatchy is the Gator Tales bartender. Yes, I spelled Gator Tales correctly. He is from Carny Town, Gibsonton, Fl. Why Flatchy. He was famous for winning a baked bean eating contest 11 years in a row; thus Flatchy.

Hoinky wasn't a true Kracker. He'd been drifting aimlessly in the Gulf of Mexico after his girlfriend had set his houseboat adrift after they got drunk and argued. He was the first person to inhabit the Flats and homesteaded the only piece of dry land, eventually turning it into a flea market that become the place to barter after the hurricane strikes.

The pigs. Throughout the book you will run into these ugly pigs. They make the story more interesting and tie fairly well with moving the it along.

Piggy the alligator came about because I needed Kathleen Lindum, the daughter of the protagonist, Marci Linudm, to get injured. I thought I'd have piggy drag her from the house during the hurricane. However, Kathleen Lindum had made some choices that affected her getting injured. What happened was far more interesting.

Chadda Renfro just popped into my head. I needed an overweight, sloppy mom who didn't know who her children fathers were. I liked Chadda, but she the person everyone makes fun of. I felt sorry for her, so I make her related to Dale Carter to give her some protection from the Krackers and whatever else would happen.

Just about all of the Kracker are good-hearted, except for two. Every book needs a villian. Mine are Deuce "devil" and Phyler Pedi. Deuce rides the hurricane out in a stripclub that survives the hurricane reasonable intact.

Finally, there is Critter. He is Dale Carter's employee. I used to guide whitewater river trips and we had a guide by the name of Critter. The name says it all.