It’s a rainy, dreary, cold day here in my part of New York today, not at all the ideal day you want to have to kick off the first unofficial weekend of summer or a three-day weekend, but hey, we work with the cards we are dealt and move on.Since we’re trapped inside today, Michelle is napping, Sean is in his room on his computer and even the dog is asleep, it leaves me with some time to do some blogging and writing. I was looking through my book of ideas for today and this one seems like a pretty good question to broach for a day like today:

What fictional character would you be afraid to meet in real life?

If you are a fan of horror movies, scary books or horror fiction, then you probably have come across several characters who might fit the bill for you. There have been some great characters created in books and on film that I know I would not like to meet at all. Actually, you probably wouldn’t really want to meet any of them in real life, since most of them seem to have a pretty psychotic bend to them and could do anything at any moment. For me personally, I think one of the scariest characters I have ever read about and seen on the screen is Hannibal Lecter. In my opinion, the books are much better than what the movies have to offer. While Anthony Hopkins does a great job with the character, the character in the books is much more frightening. Whether it is because they alter details because some of what happens is not really suitable for the screen I do not know, but the images that Thomas Harris creates for you in his books give a person who is brilliant, refined and insightful but so depraved and indifferent to those who he sees as beneath him is pretty frightening. If you have never read “Hannibal,” which comes after the “Silence of the Lambs,” the book is ten times more disturbing than the movie is. Even though the book makes Lecter somewhat more heroic in certain aspects, the scariness of his character still shines through. I think meeting him in person would have you feeling on edge at any moment, unsure of whether he was going to engage you in conversation, slash your throat or eat your brain for dinner. He would be my choice.

So what character would you choose? There are a great many that you can choose from, so think about who scares you the most and who you would not want to meet. You can leave a comment here or write me on Facebook or Twitter. I’ll ask some people on Twitter too and see who answers. Thanks to everyone who answered yesterday’s question about who you would want to be stuck on an elevator with. There were lots of great answers from people on Facebook and a special thanks to the actor Harry Shearer for answering me on Twitter.

I am working on a few other things and ideas, so keep checking back to see what comes up next. Stay dry and have fun today.