Novel by Cornelius writer Gary V. Powell is set in suspiciously familiar locale

A peaceful lake setting. A demographic made up homegrown Southerners, transplanted Yankees, a sprinkling of Hispanics. Women “dressed in tennis clothes, flitting about like hummingbirds after honeysuckle.”

The setting of Gary V. Powell’s new novel, “Lucky Bastard,” sounds pretty familiar to those in the Lake Norman area. And though the story is set on the shores of fictional Lake Catawba, Cornelius resident Powell says there is quite a bit that local readers will identify with.

The novel may be Powell’s first, but he’s been writing for as long as he can remember. “And before I could write stories, I was telling stories,” he recalled with a laugh. “I come by it honestly. I have storytellers on both sides of my family.”

Powell, 62, may have a background in corporate law, but he’s always loved the written word. He published his first short story in 1981, and has garnered accolades for his work ever since. His short stories won distinctions that include runner-up for the 2008 Thomas Wolfe Fiction Prize for “Miller’s Deer,” an honorable mention for the winter 2010 New Millennium Fiction Prize for “Trinity’s” and placement in the 2010 Rick Demarinis Fiction Contest for “Fast Trains.”

The two main characters in “Lucky Bastard” – Jimmy McLean and Harley Hopewell – were featured in previous stories Powell wrote. In the summer of 2008, he sat down intending to write another short story about them; it grew into a novel. “I created these characters, put them in motion, and then let Jimmy tell me the story,” said Powell.

“Lucky Bastard” tells the story of Jimmy McLean, a Vietnam vet-turned-handyman and his lifelong friend Harley Hopewell, who may or may not have just committed a homicide (said murder occurs in a crosswalk that Powell says was inspired by the one he walks nearly every day to get from his home in Jetton Cove to Jetton Park).

Though Powell identifies with narrator McLean, he says that character is definitely not based on him. “I don’t know anything about home repair, I didn’t serve in Vietnam. But if you’re going to write character-based novels, you really have to get to know those characters and their back stories,” he said.

That process took a great amount of discipline. Powell says he writes from about 5:30 a.m. to noon, takes a break (“a nap or tennis,” said the sport’s enthusiast), then returns to his work. At the end of the day, he and his wife, Mary Wilson, discuss the book over a glass of wine. Powell also has an 11-year-old son.

Nowadays, his routine has been interrupted as he promotes the book, published by Main Street Rag. He’s managing correspondence, attending book signings and calling on independent book stores. He has managed to find time to work on his next novel – which he’s about two-thirds of the way through – set at a life insurance agency in Chicago, circa 1988.

“I’ve become more confident as a writer,” Powell said. “I’m more comfortable with it, and trust my gut more.”