Jim Russell

 Elliot James Russell is a character in the Book of Falling universe, and the protagonist of "By Moonlight" by Kelly Stringer. Jim was born on October 3, 1927, in Southampton, the fourth child of five. A child of mixed British, Irish, and French-Haitian heritage, Jim was unusually attuned to the supernatural side of life. His family, on both sides, had been in the business of the supernatural for many generations before young Jim came along.

His parents followed their quarry around the world, toting Jim and his siblings with them. After Jim's father died when Jim was still a boy, his mother moved the family back to England. It was there, in front of the family radio, that 12-year-old Jim listened to BBC broadcasts about the start of WWII. Two years later, in 1941, 14-year-old Jim snuck off to join the French Resistance. Thanks to his mother (and grandmother), Jim was fluent in French, and inserted himself into German-controlled areas, collecting information through eavesdropping.

During the war, Jim met Jericho Pope in Algiers, and the two became friends. After the war, while working his way through Europe, Jim met and worked with Gerhardt deSilber. They paired up for a while to see to the clean-up of a ravaged Europe, become a playground for the evil of the world. As with any meeting of two strong personalities, Jim and deSilber didn't always see eye to eye and parted ways in mid-1947.

Jim kept to the road for many years, studying werewolves in Zambia, working as a professor in California, and joining digs in Egypt. His travels took him to every corner of the planet – Cambodia to the Ukraine – before he wound up in Sopron, Hungary.

Jim gives the appearance of a genial, older gentleman, but his looks are deceiving. Years of travel and experience have made him tough, and he has routinely defeated foes both younger and more... unnaturally enhanced than he is. Not to mention that his looks belie his years. Thanks to his grandmother, James is living an extended life, one where age seems to come more slowly. Whatever his grandmother might have done for such a gift is beyond him. It wasn't anything she ever spoke about, and since she is gone, it is a secret that might never be revealed.