Smokers

Takeshi Kovacs

Years ago, I read Altered Carbon by Richard K. Morgan and loved it. The Netflix series and I watched the first 1.5 episodes before I got busy and sidetracked (work, deadlines, family, sleeping). The other day, I dove back in and really enjoy it. 

Is it perfect? Few adaptations are, but I loved the book and am super into the film version. Maybe waiting a few years before switching consumption mediums helps. Who knows?

The main character, Takeshi Kovacs, is re-sleeved into a military-grade badass who has a vicious nicotine addiction. There is a scene where he says something like, “I hate smoking, but you put me in this body…” 

There are dozens of reasons that Kovacs is a total badass—a true anti-hero who doesn’t give a… truck. 

One thing that makes him stand out visually is this: the guy smokes like a chimney and looks cool doing it. I don’t smoke, though I grew up around uncles and a grandfather who would all smoke while we were riding in a single-cab pickup (mid to late 1970s). Some brands of cigarette smoke are nostalgic to me, but I digress.

Halek Cain

When I wrote The Last Reaper, my co-writer, J. N. Chaney, suggested the protagonist be a cigar-smoking tough guy with an attitude. That fit perfectly with what I had in mind, and Halek Cain became a reader favorite. That series jump-started my career. 

I invented Starbrand Cigars and several variations that were popular with readers. Connoisseurs message me to talk about cigars. I’m no expert, and I can smoke them anytime I want, as long as I have the money to stay in a hotel. I do enjoy a cigar from time to time, but alas, the wife is not a fan of the smell.

Why is it that tough guys smoke cigars or cigarettes and immediately seem cooler? In the United States, smoking is on the decline. (Don’t get me started on vaping. That’s not what we talk about here. Lol.)

Noah Gantz (not a smoker, but… who doesn’t like cheesy omelets?)

In my experience, there are several things going on here but readers identify with characters who have vices. They can be seriously bad news, or cheesy. Like Noah Gantz in Homeworld Lost, who loves anytime breakfast and is making it a tradition across multiple galaxies. 

Movies and books have conditioned us to see characters in a certain way. Now there are warnings like “rated R for violence, sexual content, and smoking”. 

That always makes me laugh. There’s a warning for watching characters smoke? I watched a Robert Redford movie on a plane recently, and every single scene had someone puffing away. But hey, that was the 1970s when McDonalds had ashtrays on their tables. 

I’ll wrap this up with one final thought on characters in science fiction and other genres.

They are fictional. Sometimes, readers want their heroes (or anti-heroes) to do things none of us would do in real life. Like throat punch someone who deserves it. Or steal a car. Run from the police.

Or smoke cigars like it earns them money. 

Thanks for hanging out with me. And remember the surgeon general’s warning about smoking.

Stay safe,

Scott

Scott’s Very Important Public Service Announcement

(Homeworld Lost 10, Shining World, launches June 2nd.)

(The Cyborg Option 2, Cyborg Rising, launches June 4th.)

AUTHOR’s NOTE: I also published this blog on Substack.