Bill W
Castaway Hotel
Characters and General Table of Contents
I began writing this series in 1997 and posted it on a site that no longer exists [from 2000-2004 it was published on Nifty]. The story came about as a result of some comments I'd received from readers who identified with the bad home lives some of the characters in my other stories had endured. The readers often stated that they wished they'd grown up in a home with a family that would have accepted them as they were, as gay young men, rather than having to hide this fact or suffer abuse after acknowledging their orientation. Therefore, I gave them a place they could escape to and the story just grew from there.
After writing 8 books of the original version, I decided to go back and rewrite the entire series, so I could better differentiate between characters, expand certain relationship and draw Josh's biological children into the story earlier, as well as addressing many of the issues and suggestions the readers had made along the way. This was then posted on Nifty as The Castaway Hotel: Grand Reopening, to differentiate it from the original version, and it is what is posted here on PZA under the original title.
List of Characters
Seeing Castaway Hotel is a complex, multi-book series, I thought I should add this to help you keep track of the characters. I will list the boys in the order they came into the story, give some vital statistics about them (as of the beginning of this book), and a brief summary about how they came to live there. I have also decided to include the Book and chapter number when that character was introduced as well. I will also list other characters, with reoccurring roles in the story, at the end. I hope this helps you follow the story better.
| Name | Name and Description | Date of Birth | Appearance |
|---|---|---|---|
| Josh Currie | A widower (47yo at the beginning of book 1) with four grown children (2 boys, 2 girls), who decides to take in foster boys, to help make their lives better. | 1952 | I-1 |
| The Boys in Castaway Hotel in alphabetical order | |||
| Andrew | (Furuhata Yamada Currie) Black hair, black eyes, and also small for his age. Sammy's brother, and came to the Curries after the murder/suicide of their parents. Andrew was nearly molested on their trip to Texas, but Josh and the boys arrived just in time to rescue him |
12 Sep. 1991 | II-25 |
| Brandon | (Brandon Patrick O'Hara) Danny's best friend – blond hair, brown eyes and slender, but not thin. He came to live with the Curries so he could finish school in Pennsylvania, when his father took a new job in Texas. |
4 March 1984 | I-10 |
| Brent | (Brent Alexander Currie) Brent was picked up hitchhiking, as the Curries returned from Baltimore. His parents had thrown him out because he was gay and they couldn't change him |
17 March | IV-4 |
| Carlos | (Carlos Miguel Garcia) Black hair and brown eyes. Carlos is stocky, but not obese. Carlos and his mother (an illegal Mexican immigrant) moved from California to Philadelphia with her boyfriend. The boyfriend physically abused Carlos and Carlos ran away. Josh was able to keep Carlos and his mother together, by helping to arrange for her to be in the country legally and by helping her to find a job and place to live |
15 Jan. 1986 | II-36 |
| Cole | (Cole David Van Cott Currie) Blond hair, brown eyes and very skinny. Cole and his brother, Graham, were found abandoned and malnourished. They were taken from their home and placed with Josh. Cole and Graham both suffer from learning disabilities, although Cole has it the worst of the two |
Oct. 1986 | I-34 |
| Danny | (Daniel Edward Roma Currie) Brown hair and brown eyes and an athletic build, and is in the 4th book dating his best friend, Brandon. Danny was Josh's second son. He was 13 at the time and kicked out of his home by his parents (mainly his father) when they discovered he was gay. |
6 May 1984 | I-4 |
| Dion | (Dion Jamal Jackson Currie) Black hair and brown eyes. Dion has toffee colored skin, is a loner and non-athlete. Dion was born to teenage parents and raised by his grandmother. His mother took off and his father, a fireman, was killed in a fire. When his grandmother died, Sally became his guardian but thought he'd do better with the Curries. Dion and Trey are boyfriends, but Dion is bi and just chooses to be with Trey |
27 Nov. 1988 | II-28 |
| Dustin | (Dustin Mathew Kowalski Currie) Black hair, green eyes and a solid build, but not fat. Dustin was thrown out of the previous foster home because he was caught in a homosexual act with the foster parents' son. He is bisexual and was once involved with Kevin, but he's in the 4th book dating girls. During the previous wrestling season, Dustin placed third in his weight class, in the Pennsylvania State Wrestling Tournament. |
27 April 1983 | I-29 |
| Frankie | (Franklin Albert Hopkins) Black hair, brown eyes, broad shoulders and a solid build. Frankie came as a result of getting into trouble and at the request of Judge Shay. Josh later had to send him away, after he tried to rape Trey, but he just came back to apologize, so Trey suggested that Josh see if he could arrange for Frankie to move back in. Frankie is straight |
20 July 1983 | II-17 |
| Graham | (Graham Thomas Van Cott Currie) Brown hair, brow eyes and still slender. Cole's brother and also malnourished when he came to live at the Currie household. Both Graham and Cole suffer from learning disabilities, although Graham's problem is less severe |
10 March 1987 | I-34 |
| Jay | (Jay Aubrey Curtis) Ricky's best friend – red hair and green eyes and was lanky (ungraceful and thin) in Book I and II, but is in Book III filling out and his coordination is catching up to him as he has gotten older. In book IV Jay is also dating a girl, and like Brandon, Jay is also 'one of the family.' |
10 June 1985 | I-14 |
| Kevin | (Kevin Michael Baxter Currie) Longish brown hair, blue eyes and is slender, with a swimmer's build. Kevin was the son of the foster parents Dustin was caught fooling around with. His father beat him pretty badly after he threw Dustin out, so Kevin ran away. Kevin learned he had a cyst on his testicle and later cancer was discovered in the same testicle, so it was surgically removed. Kevin was heartbroken when Dustin decided to date girls, but is in the 4th book with Nick and this has helped to ease his pain |
8 Aug. 1984 | I-31 |
| Nick | (Nicholas Mark Lawrence) blond hair, blue eyes and a swimmer's build. Nick thought his father hated him because he was gay and ran away from home. The Curries found him in Arizona, while on vacation. They managed to reunite the family, but Nick also got to stay with the Curries and go to school there |
28 Feb. 1986 | III-7 |
| Pat | (Patrick Alan Murray Currie) Dirty blond hair, blue eyes and a solid build. Pat never had a stable home life, being raised by several different relatives and moved around frequently. This caused him to have problems in school. He got into a minor scrape with the law, and Judge Shay asked Josh to take him in. He also showed some bigoted attitudes at various points, which he now seems to have under control. Pat was attached to Carlos for a while, but in the 4th book he's dating a girl. He is bi |
28 May 1985 | II-4 |
| Ricky | (Richard Allen Glover Currie) Longish blond hair and gray eyes, cut, and in the 4th book dating a girl, although he doesn't mind a little fun with his brothers. Ricky came to Josh as a 7th grade hyperactive, behavioral problem, whose drug addicted mother had died, his father was unknown and he had no other family. |
7 July 1985 | I-1 |
| Sammy | (Tsukimo Yamada Currie) Black hair, black eyes, and small for his age. Sammy and his brother, Andrew, was taken after the Curries read where his Japanese father had shot his American wife and then killed himself. The boys only had their Japanese grandparents, who decided they were better off with the Curries |
1 June 1988 | II-25 |
| Shannon McCarthy | Shannon is gay and was being bullied by some Boy Scouts, who had found out about his orientation, and the Currie boys came to his defense. He and his father came to live with the Curries | 16 Dec. 1985 | IV-20 |
| Trey | (Alexander Michael Daniels III Currie) Brown hair, brown eyes and slender. Trey is shy, a bit effeminate and an avid reader, with hopes of someday becoming a writer. Trey was an orphan, as his parents and sister were killed in an explosion at his house while he was away. Trey and Dion are in the 4th book boyfriends |
16 Febr. 1986 | II-8 |
| Vinnie | (Alvin (Vinnie) Mitchell Rydell) dyed blond hair, Brown eyes, uncut. Vinnie's parents were killed on one of the flights originating out of Boston on 9/11. Vinnie was born with hydrocephalus and cerebral palsy, and uses crutches to get around. |
17 Dec. 1986 | V-11 |
| Josh's older children & their spouses from oldest to youngest | |||
| Michael | (wife, Andrea) | -- | I-38 |
| Marie | (husband, Adrian) | -- | I-38 |
| Robert | (single) | -- | I-38 |
| Elizabeth | (husband, Timothy) | -- | I-38 |
| Josh's grandchildren | |||
| Jordan | (I-II) he's in kindergarten and is very attached to Cole. (III-IV) he's in first grade and comes and spends a great deal of time with his grandfather and uncles | c. 1994 | I-38 |
| Nicky | he is in pre-school and is very attached to his 'Unka Gwam'). (III-IV) he is in kindergarten and he also spends a great deal of time with his grandfather and uncles | c. 1995 | I-38 |
| Other recurring characters in alphabetical order | |||
| The Beckers | Little Ricky's adoptive parents - an older farm couple who were childless and decided to adopt Little Ricky (when he was 13) with the Currie's assistance. | -- | IV-17 |
| Jake McCarty | He had married and tried to be straight, but it didn't work. He and his wife divorced after she found out, and later she asked him to take Shannon, after she learned he was gay too. He and Shannon moved into the Currie house | 21 Jan 1968 | IV-20 |
| Mark Williams | Black hair, gray eyes, and straight, with a trim and fit build. He's a finance major at Northern Arizona University. Waited on the Curries when they ate at a restaurant near the Grand Canyon, in Arizona. He was illegitimate and lived with his mother in Oregon | 2 April 1981 | III-31 |
| Mike & Julie Lawrence | Nick's parents, from Oklahoma. They have become very close to the Curries since Josh helped reunite them with Nick | -- | III-31 |
| Patrick & Brenda O'Hara | Brandon's parents. They have become Uncle Pat and Aunt Brenda to Josh's boys | -- | I-12 & 35 |
| Howard & Audrey Curtis | Jay's parents. Have become Uncle Howie and Aunt Audrey to Josh's boys | -- | I-35 |
| John & Margaret Spence | Older couple the boys met on the plane on their Arizona vacation. The Spences have started to become surrogate grandparents to the boys since then | -- | III-1 |
| Richard (Little Ricky) | a boy who had lived in a group foster home until the Beckers adopted him | 17 June 1988 | IV-11 |
| Sally Swarthout | works for Dept. of Social Services, and Josh's friend. Sally helped convince Josh to become a foster parent and placed many of the boys with him. The boys now call her Aunt Sally. | -- | I-1 |
| Steve & Mary Shay | Steve was the judge who presided over the first group adoption and arranged for Pat and Frankie to come to live with the Curries. He and his wife have since become good friends of the family and the boys call them Uncle Steve and Aunt Mary. | -- | I-40 & II-23 |
| The Yamadas | Sammy and Andrew's Japanese grandparents | -- | II-32 |
| The English Visitors |
|
-- | III-28 & 29 |
General Table of Contents
