The Story Behind "Last Exit to Brooklyn"

On 9/11/01 I was sixteen years old and I thought I knew everything when I actually knew nothing. My grandmother had died earlier that year and I couldn't imagine anything worse than that, until September. I didn't know anyone who died that day and I wasn't in New York but like everyone else my age I was throughly blindsided by the harsh reality of the world. As of this moment I have lived more years after 9/11 than I did before and it's becoming more and more difficult to remember what the world was like before that day. Afterwards I began to turn over in my mind a story of one person's life before, during, and after that moment. A year later I started watching "Third Watch" at the beginning of season 4. I'll admit it, I saw the promo and Bosco looked hot as hell. From the first episode I was hooked and I still watch them to this day. I discovered a few months later as I was already familiar with the genre from the plethora of Geocities sites dedicated to 'N Sync. I read some really good stories and I wanted to bring that idea I had of someone'e life on 9/11 into a real story. It seemed perfect and it fit but it took me quite a few years to find the right idea and make it happen.

I have been writing this story for eight years. My life has changed several times and I have matured as I think you can tell as the story goes on. Some minor things contradict themselves, I have gone back and reread most of the story and realized this after the fact. I'm sorry; I honestly forgot a lot over the last eight years. I didn't plan this story and just kept imaging as it went on, sometimes as I was in the process of writing. I can honestly say there wasn't one idea I was excited about that didn't get put in here. It just kept going and going and going. I realize I lost a lot of readers along the way since I drug this out so long. Sometimes it was hard to write, sometimes it was easy...but it was always there and I could always count on it.

I don't live in New York but I have been there enough that I wanted to bring a sense of realness to this by translating actual places I've been into the background of this story. Most of the streets and places I've used are accurate and the descriptions I've used are from my own memory.

I've loved writing this story, being inside of, living it, feeling it, and bringing to anyone who cared to read. After Chapter Twenty I didn't update for almost a year and I really thought I was just going to delete it. But I looked at the stats and I saw that people were still reading and I wondered if someone had lost themself in this story the way that I had in so many others. Forgotten about all the shit in their life and pretended, even for a little while, that they were somebody else living in a perfect world found only in fiction. Thank you to all those who read and reviewed; it meant the world to know what someone thought. I wish I could find all the people who read in the beginning and let them know it's finally done!

...Now for the sequel

-Two years after 9/11 Bosco and Liz struggle with health issues and emotional trauma in a world so changed they barely know their place. But when Fred suddenly dies of heart attack; Faith's children have no where to go. Can Bosco and Liz keep their own demons at bay and give Emily and Charlie the home they deserve?

Last Exit to Brooklyn Original Characters

-Bosco, Faith, Ty, Sully, Bobby, Kim: All of these characters are season 2 in appearance

-Brian Jackson: Oh yes, good old Jackson. Honestly the only image I ever had of Jackson was Sgt. Jason Christopher on Third Watch- played by actor Brad Beyer. He just fit the description- big, blonde, narrow eyes.

-Scott Geidel: Named after my strange upstairs neighbor when I began this story. The image I had here was "Robert Barone"- the cop brother on Everybody Loves Raymond played by actor Brad Garrett. He was supposed to be a little older than Jackson

-Michael "Mickey" Sanchez: Sorry girls and boys the only image I ever had here was Manny Perez who played "Manny" on Third Watch. One of the best guys around on the series I hated to make him an asshole but he played a great villain in "Pride and Glory" and he was what I saw when I wrote Mickey.

-Barksdale: I borrowed this one from "The Wire". Here I saw Wood Harris as a drug kingpin of Brooklyn.

-Lt. Callahan: This was Aiden Quinn exactly the way he looked when he moved in the 55 at Lt. Miller and made Cruz his bitch. Maybe a little nicer, a little more understanding than the original but he was the only image I ever had for Callahan.

-Lysette Jones: I can't put her to a famous actor. I saw a young hispanic girl, tall, thin, with thick curly hair and brown eyes.

-George Ramirez: I would imagine someone here that looked like Jay Hernandez

-Undercover Officer Liz Jensen: I didn't image Liz as anyone famous because most every famous woman is very beautiful and perfect; at least on paper. Liz is ordinary in appearance- she is "every woman" and I tried to write this so that each person reading could feel like they were her, could be her, or knew someone just like her. If you want to picture what I saw when I wrote Liz; think of a woman who is athletic and functionally strong. She is a little shorter than Bosco with chestnut brown hair, blue eyes, and an easy smile. Her lips are too big, her nose is too small; nothing about her body makes men stop and stare. She is attractive but only because her personality draws people in.