Serge A. Storms is the main protagonist in most of Tim Dorsey's novels (and appears in all of them to date). His name is a pun on storm surge. Most often described as "intense" in personality, he is a vagrant with a voracious intellect and an encyclopedic knowledge of Florida history, but prone to periods of "focus" that lead him to commit brutal - and often elaborately planned and staged - acts of violence. Description In most of Dorsey's books, Serge is in his mid-forties. He is described as tall and thin, but muscular, with dark hair, shot through with gray. Serge has been diagnosed with a variety of mental illnesses, and has been prescribed a "cocktail" of drugs to keep him stable. These are effective, but he often refuses to take them, since he dislikes their effects. Free from the drugs' influence, he quickly becomes manic and obsessive about trivial things; he frequently acts as an extremely eccentric tour guide for whoever happens to be handy. Despite his psychological disorders, Serge is for the most part a charismatic, likable person (he can be viewed as a somewhat more liberal version of Joseph Heller's Yossarian). When an event or person offends his extremely strong (and subjective) sense of justice, however, he can quickly fly into a homicidal rage; he has committed a string of murders for which the police pursue him as a serial killer. Serge acts as an independent vigilante who dispenses rough, creative and immediate death penalties for low-life criminals, somewhat in the style of Death Wish (and its sequels) starring Charles Bronson. All aspects of the history of Florida, whether political, ecological, or sociological, are of intense interest to Serge. He is often seized with a sudden urge to visit landmarks, although their significance is frequently personal or related to popular culture, rather than historical. Serge usually documents such visits with copious numbers of photographs and keeps a box full of Florida-related memorabilia. Serge also has a varied taste in music, ranging from the Beatles and the Rolling Stones, all fitting nicely with the tone of his character. A confessed coffee addict, Serge is relentlessly upbeat and energetic. He possesses a childlike sense of excitement and is almost always outgoing and friendly, even to those he murders. He often corners people at random and spouts long, stream-of-consciousness diatribes that involve Florida trivia, social commentary and/or his bizarre