What’s In A Name?
Names are very important to me when starting out on a new story. If the name I’ve chosen for a character or a place is wrong, then the story often stalls until I change it and get it right.
Gavril started out as Tian Andar. That name just didn’t suit him at all. Because all my fantasy stories feel more like alternate histories, I want to give each country an identity of its own – and names to match. So it made sense for Gavril – the son of an Azhkendi ruler and a Smarnan artist – to have an Eastern European name.
And now that I’ve returned to Azhkendir and am writing – for my own pleasure (and I hope that of all those of you who have been kind enough to ask me ‘What happened next?’) – I find myself introducing new characters and searching diligently for new names that will suit them.
So here are a few Azhkendi names (originally from Eastern Europe/Russia) and their meanings:
Larisa Nagarian (daughter of Gavril and Kiukiu) – sea bird, sea gull
Vartik – friend of Vassily, Bogatyr Askold’s younger son
Kion – martyr (Ninusha’s son with Anders)
Krasa – beautiful (Gavril’s roan mare)
• January 1st, 2011 • Posted in
Writing •
Happy New Year – and much happy reading in the fantasy genre – to you all!
(I haven’t abandoned the Magus just yet…)
• February 9th, 2009 • Posted in
Writing •
Flight into Darkness is now available from Bantam Spectra in hardcover, so for any readers who have been waiting to discover what becomes of singer and Commanderie agent Celestine de Joyeuse in her quest for vengeance — or her enemy, young magus Rieuk Mordiern — the answers lie in the pages of the second volume of Alchymist’s Legacy. You can read my quick synopsis of Flight into Darkness on John Joseph Adams’ In 60 Seconds column at Tor.com.
The first volume of Celestine’s story, Tracing the Shadow, is now available in mass market paperback.
Additionally, you can read my contribution to Marshal Zeringue’s fascinating The Page 69 Test website — go take a look.
• March 5th, 2008 • Posted in
Writing •
Follow the links below to read my guest blog post as I come to the end of writing Flight Into Darkness, the sequel to Tracing the Shadow:
www.facebook.com/pages/Spectra-Pulse
www.myspace.com/spectrapulsebooks
• June 6th, 2007 • Posted in
Writing •
Tracing the Shadow, the first book of Alchymist’s Legacy, tells what happened in Francia (and elsewhere) some years before Lord of Snow and Shadows.
It isn’t due to be published until Feburary 2008 by Bantam Spectra in the US (more details to follow soon!) but you can read an exclusive extract right here on the site.