I learned a lot at this year’s ThrillerFest (my first), but the coolest thing I learned came from David Morrell, the creator of Rambo.

Rambo was a fictional character in the thriller, First Blood, before he became Sylvester Stallone. (He died in the book version.)

And in the book, he did not have a first name. That (John) came from the movie producers.

How did he come to be named Rambo?

Morrell relates that he was working hard doing his writerly thing one day trying to come up with a name for his protagonist when his wife interrupted him and asked him to try a new type of apple. After repeated attempts to put her off, he finally gave in, took a bite, loved it as much as his wife had and asked, What kind of apple is that?

She replied, A Rambo.

Imagine if it had been a Fuji or Granny Smith.

I notice, however, that among the hundreds of varieties of apple, that you can find the
Antonovka Kamenichka, the Ard Cairn, Arthur Turner, Arthur W. Barnes and the Ashmead’s Kernel (Col. Ashmead, get it?). And Those are just the A’s. Next time I get stuck for a character’s name, I’m heading over the fruit aisle at the grocery store.