The Rogue's Handbook: A Concise Guide to Conduct for the Aspiring Gentleman Rogue

by Jeff Metzger

Overview

The Rogue's Handbook contains everything you need to know to be the most desired man in your city or nation. If you wish to reinvent yourself as someone who leaves clenched fists and flushed, heaving bosoms in your wake, read on carefully.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781402259142
Publisher:	Sourcebooks
Publication date:	11/01/2010
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	240
File size:	2 MB

About the Author

Jeff Metzger was born in Portland, Oregon. His fondest memories include masterminding a jailbreak in Cuba, rendezvousing with history's most infamous ex-CIA agent, and being chased through the streets of Madrid. At home in Austin, Mr. Metzger enjoys quiet mornings of writing and reading.

Jeff Metzger was born in Portland, Oregon. His fondest memories include masterminding a jailbreak in Cuba, rendezvousing with history’s most infamous ex-CIA agent, and being chased through the streets of Madrid. At home in Austin, Mr. Metzger enjoys quiet mornings of writing and reading.

Read an Excerpt

INTRODUCTION

The Gentleman Rogue is a character who has fascinated us for centuries, persistently popping up in literature and cinema with a roguish smirk, causing proper gentlemen to frown with indignation and the bosoms of proper damsels to swell and flush. However, the Gentleman Rogue seems to be a vanishing species in the twenty-first century; whenever we see him, he is speaking to us from another time and place: a pirate, an outlaw, a Depression-era gangster. This may be a tragedy; however, the scarcity of G-Rogues in the twenty-first century only proves to make them more appealing on the rare occasion that we encounter them. (Take Russian billionaire Mikhail Prokhorov, for example. How refreshing is it in this day and age to see a business tycoon who is not a crusty old killjoy, but rather a much younger, much richer version of Hugh Hefner?) Although the very fact that the Gentleman Rogue is an anachronism may account for a portion of our initial attraction to him, there are many other elements to his singular nature that contribute to the undeniable love/hate magnetism that he inspires in us. He may not be a nice per­son; he may not even be a fundamentally decent person; he is certainly not a very proper person. But no one can deny that he is interesting, providing a splash of color among the mass of men leading lives of quiet desperation.

Whether or not the Gentleman Rogue is praiseworthy or a useful member of society is not at issue here and will neither be studied, ques­tioned, nor discussed. I do not submit that the Gentleman Rogue is commendable, but I do submit that he is fascinating.

Here we shall endeavor to study such G-Rogue All-Stars as Rhett Butler, James Bond, Indiana Jones, Captain Jack Sparrow, and a fictional character we will refer to simply as "G-Rogue," and try to learn exactly what it is about them that causes men to clench their fists and induces women to swoon. If your wish is to reinvent yourself as someone who leaves clenched fists and flushed, heaving bosoms in your wake, read on carefully.

Table of Contents

CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION ix

• G-Rogue Profile: Robin Hood xi
• G-Rogue Profile: Captain Jack Sparrow xiii

CHAPTER 1: "Gentleman Rogue" Defined 1

• G-Rogue Profile: Winston Churchill 13
• G-Rogue Profile: Han Solo 15

CHAPTER 2: Speech 17

• G-Rogue Profile: James Bond 47
• G-Rogue Profile: C. K. Dexter Haven 49

CHAPTER 3: Appearance 51

• G-Rogue Profile: Pablo Picasso 63
• G-Rogue Profile: Rhett Butler 65

CHAPTER 4: Personality Traits 67

• G-Rogue Profile: El Mariachi 79
• G-Rogue Profile Denys Finch Hatton 81

CHAPTER 5: Independence 83

• G-Rogue Profile: Jay Gatsby 95
• G-Rogue Profile: Rick Blaine 97

CHAPTER 6: Personal Background 99

• G-Rogue Profile: Lord Byron 110
• G-Rogue Profile: Zorro 112
• G-Rogue Profile: Indiana Jones 114

CHAPTER 7: The Male Dynamic 117

• G-Rogue Profile: Westley (aka The Dread Pirate Roberts, The Man in Black) 131
• G-Rogue Profile: Lone Starr 133

CHAPTER 8: The Female Dynamic 135

• G-Rogue Profile: Count Almásy 157
• G-Rogue Profile: Harry Morgan 159

CHAPTER 9: The Noble Eightfold Path to Gentleman Roguery 161

• G-Rogue Profile: The Most Interesting Man in the World 164
• G-Rogue Profile: Ernest Hemingway 166
• G-Rogue Profile Mikhail Prokhorov 168

CHAPTER 10: Top Ten All-Time G-Rogues 171

• G-Rogue Profile: Diego Rivera 186
• G-Rogue Profile: Doc Holliday 188

CHAPTER 11: Am I a G-Rogue? 191

• G-Rogue Profile: Bob le Flambeur 212
• G-Rogue Profile: Fidel Castro 214

CHAPTER 12: Conclusion 217