Fergus Blackstone is a heavy-fisted pulp adventurer located in a crime-ridden and racially divided New Orleans during the post-World War II era. He takes on organized crime and adopts a disguise to protect his identity.
Blackstone is a drummer in a big band that plays nightclubs in the French Quarter. Though he is a man with a checkered past who lives in a jazzy, morally ambiguous world between black and white, he devotes himself to helping others and making life better for everyone.
This character was created in honor of and named for my late friend, Derrick Ferguson.
The short story “Raise Her Heavy Eyes,” also an origin tale, appears in the anthology We All Rise (2021).
