Simpkins Smigeon

Simpkins Smigeon from The Way of the Dragon (2013) Character Post 6

Simpkins Smigeon is the neglected afterthought who came along at the end of a long line of brothers. The rest of the boys are grown up, visiting taverns, flirting with damsels, brawling, bawling and generally making themselves felt. Their parents are dead, so the men are sort-of raising Simpkins with the lackadaisical assistance of passing damsels... when any of them remembers. They're not cruel to him, but most of them have forgotten he exists.
Simpkins is desperate for attention, so he hatches a plan to fight a doughty dragon. As a dragon-killer (or even dragon-annoyer) he's bound to be visible to his brothers. His ambition doesn't go to plan, but he teams up with a similarly neglected and dejected boy who happens to be a dragon. With no moral compass and chips on their shoulders the size of house bricks, Simpkins and Denzil get into all sorts of hot water before falling into the care of someone who has the time and the will to straighten them out.
Simpkins has a lot of good qualities. He's brave, and determined and... well, that's enough to be going on with. He might be lacking in education, but he has native intelligence and a good deal of cunning. Teaming him up with a dumped dragon could have sent him right to the bad, but instead it gave him someone to love. As for the brothers, they have beards, tankards, big boots and assorted damsels, but they probably have more growing up to do than Simpkins.


ABOUT THE BLOG

Sally is Sally Odgers; author, manuscript assessor, editor, anthologist and reader. She runs http://www.affordablemanuscriptassessments.com and Prints Charming Books. (Sally is me, by the way, and I am lots of other things too, but these are the relevant ones for now.)

The goal for 2017 was to write a post a day profiling the background behind one of my books; how it came to be written, what it's about, and any things of note that happened along the way. If you're an author, an aspiring author, a reader or just someone who enjoys windows into worlds, you might find this fun. The books are not in any special order, but will be assigned approximate dates, and pictures, where they exist. 2017 is now behind us, but I ran out of year before running out of books. As of February 18th 2018 I STILL haven't run out of books, but many of those still to come are MIA by which I mean I don't have copies and remember little about them. There are more new books to come, and I'll certainly showcase those, but in between times, I'm profiling some of my characters, just for a change. Thank you so much to everyone who's come along on this journey so far!