The Copperhead's Kids: tentative blueprint for a novel

Illustration by Ed Catto

The Copperhead Kid is a loosely-connected series of short stories I began writing (and SELLING!!) in 2019. The initial entry "The Last Ride Of The Copperhead Kid" was my third-ever fiction sale, and the first one to be published. 

The short story was originally intended as a one-off, satisfying a sudden urge I had to try my hand at writing a Western. After it was published, I had a notion of writing a pulp adventure starring a masked vigilante in the 1930s. I figured I would make my vigilante hero the daughter of the Copperhead Kid, and my own little Copperhead universe had begun.

I wrote and sold a total of five stories in the series--tales of a gunslinger in the Old West, a vigilante in the '30s, a secret agent in the '60s, a bass-playin'/ass-kickin' punk chick in the '80s, and a reluctant super-hero in the present day--all of them published by the good folks at AHOY Comics. I started writing two more: "The Copperhead Kid's New York Adventure" (set in 1920) and "Bullets From The Copperhead Detective" (taking place as 1924 becomes 1925). I made notes for a bunch of other potential entries, all with an eye toward pulling them all together as a de facto novel about the Copperhead dynasty.

My Mom passed at the end of 2021. She seemed to think that the chronicles of the Copperhead kin would be my fast-track ticket to fame and acclaim. That was more a measure of her belief in me than it was any sort of real-world assessment of the pop culture market, but I owe it to her to at least give it a shot.

Below is a current rough blueprint for a still-untitled Copperhead novel:

The Last Ride Of The Copperhead Kid

Freedom's Whip

The Copperhead Kid Takes A Bride

The Copperhead Kid's New York Adventure

The Deputy's Story

Copperhead Ace And The Bloody Skies Over Germany

Bullets From The Copperhead Detective

The Copperhead Strikes!

The Mighty Mushroom Roar

I Am Not Now, Nor Have I Ever Been

The Copperhead Affair

A Serpent's Pride

Rocket To Russia

Chaos At The Copperhead Club

Night Of The Living Copperheads

The Casebook Of Dr. Copperhead

And Starring As The Copperhead Kid...

Copper Crusaders

Flight Of The Copperhead

Ghost Of The Copperhead Ace

Copperhead, LLC

Gather The Copperheads

A Planet Of Vipers

Beware The Copperheads!

Return To Copperhead Ridge

This suggests the very general flow of a narrative that, so far, only exists in my mind, and in sketch form at that. I have a number of other projects at various levels of immediacy and maybe-someday, but the Copperhead Kid and his adventurous progeny are never far from my wild-roaming imagination.

The Copperheads' time will come. Ride, Kids. Ride.

If you like what you see here on Boppin' (Like The Hip Folks Do), please consider a visit to CC's Tip Jar. 

Carl's new book Gabba Gabba Hey! A Conversation With The Ramones is now available, courtesy of the good folks at Rare Bird Books. Gabba Gabba YAY!! https://rarebirdlit.com/gabba-gabba-hey-a-conversation-with-the-ramones-by-carl-cafarelli/

If it's true that one book leads to another, my next book will be The Greatest Record Ever Made! (Volume 1). Stay tuned. Your turn is coming.

This Is Rock 'n' Roll Radio with Dana & Carl airs Sunday nights from 9 to Midnight Eastern, on the air in Syracuse at SPARK! WSPJ 103.3 and 93.7 FM, streaming at SPARK stream and on the Radio Garden app as WESTCOTT RADIO. Recent shows are archived at Westcott Radio. You can read about our history here.

I'm on Twitter @CafarelliCarl