Fran Cannon Slayton: Hello, my name is Fran Cannon Slayton. Cannon is my maiden name, which is, of course, what my last name was before I got married. Cannon is also the last name of the main character, Jimmy Cannon, in my novel, "When the Whistle Blows." You can probably guess that this is not a coincidence. My father's name is Jim Cannon and Jimmy, in my novel, was named for him because my dad's story initially inspired me to write the book. In fact, the name Cannon appears many times in "When the Whistle Blows" because I named several of the characters after my family members. Mike Cannon is named in honor of my Uncle Mike. WP and Mary Etta Cannon are named after my grandmother and grandfather. Bill Cannon is named after my Uncle Bill. It was fun to have a way of honoring my family by using my own name in my book.