NANP: Naming For Names

Joining me on the blog today for the final guest post of the 4th edition of Names: A New Perspective is this year’s debut author Liz de Jager, with her novel Banished which comes out very soon from Tor, less than a month in fact! It is one of the novels of the year that I’m very excited about. Liz is a great friend and a fellow, albeit former, book blogger, so that’s even more reasons for the excitement. Its always great to see bloggers and friends get a start on their publishing careers like this. Plus the concept of the book is extremely promising so I have very high hopes for it. Anyways, in one of her first blog posts for the book’s promotion, here’s what Liz has to say on the topic of names.

NANP: Names With Meanings

Slightly delayed by a day since I totally forgot about this yesterday, but I’m excited to welcome author Michael J. Sullivan to the blog for Names: A New Perspective. Michael used to be a self-published author with a very successful fantasy series but his books were picked up by Orbit Books in 2011 and he published the sixth and final novel in the Riyria Revelations novel Percepliquis  through them (reviews of omnibus book 1, book 2, book 3). I read all the books in 2012 and they proved to be quite fun. His first prequel novel The Crown Tower (review) was also excellent, and I’m excited for all the other stuff he has coming out, such as the series set in the old times of the Riyria setting. That should be fun. Michael also writes some great articles about the publishing industry and he really helps everyone learn about the industry at large. Here’s what he has to say on the topic of names.

NANP: Naming The Knights

Today’s guest on the blog for Names: A New Perspective is Freya Robertson, another new author with Angry Robot. She has published several romance novels previously and her Elemental Wars series marks her big fantasy debut. The first novel in the series, Heartwood, came out last year in November and the sequel Sunstone is due soon as well. I’m really excited for this series since it plays up some tropes of the genre that I like, such as the mystical order of knights and the quest feel of the narrative. I’ll hopefully be checking it out quite soon and the sequel as well. In the meantime, here’s what Freya has to say on the topic of names.

NANP: Naming For The Long Haul

Today’s guest on Names: A New Perspective is New York Times Bestselling author John Jackson Miller, who has worked on multiple Star Wars media in the past, particularly the really good Knights of the Old Republic comics from Dark Horse, and the recent novel Kenobi which is set in the aftermath of Episode III: Revenge of the Sith. His Lost Tribe of the Sith series is on my “25 Series To Read In 2014” reading challenge as well and I’m really looking forward to those books. My experience with John’s work has been quite positive over the years, and he is definitely among my favourite writers, so its really exciting to have him on the blog and talking names in fiction. Here’s what he has to say.

NANP: Process of Names

Joining me on the blog today for Names: A New Perspective is the latest author to join the ranks of Angry Robot’s elite, Marianne de Pierres. Marianne is an author of long standing with a big portfolio of work that includes critical hits and award-winning novels such as the Sentients of Orion series and the Parish Plessis series. Her new novel Peacemaker is the one that Angry Robot will be publishing soon, at the end of April, and it one of the many books that I’m very excitedly looking forward to reading this year. Post-apocalyptic fiction is one that I’m beginning to enjoy of late, and I think Marianne’s upcoming will slot right in and prove to be a good one. Fingers crossed! In the meantime here is what Marianne has to say on the topic of names.

NANP: The Scent of Names

Joining me on the blog for the first Names: A New Perspective post of January (and the new year!) is Mhairi Simpson, who has been self-publishing some of her work and has also had some of her short stories published traditionally through a small press. She’s also a fellow blogger and a good friend so I’m really excited to have her on the blog today. I’ve only read one of her stories, in the Tales of the Nun & Dragon anthology (review), but I have some of her other work backlogged and I’ll be moving through it quite soon. Its great to see so many of my blogger friends get their own fiction out, through various means, and what’s great is that everyone seems to be doing something different and breaking conventions left and right. Great time to be a reader! Anyways, here’s what Mhairi has to say on the topic of names.

NANP: Names Have Lives

Stopping by the blog today for Names: A New Perspective is Jen Williams, the debut author of next year’s The Copper Promise, the first novel in the Ghosts of the Citadel series from Headline Publishing. As she is a debut author, she is the perfect candidate for this series, and I’m rather excited to have her on the blog and share her naming schemes and choices and the reasons behind all of them. Interestingly, the book is being released as a four-part serialized affair, and what’s great is that each installment has a different cover. Rather neat strategy, I must say. I’ve read the synopsis of the novel, and seen the big cover in all its glory and I’m definitely looking forward to reading the book next year. In the meantime, this is what Jen has to say on the topic of names.

NANP: The Name Trail

Joining me on the blog today for the new edition of Names: A New Perspective is fantasy author Alex Bledsoe, scribe of the Eddie LaCrosse series and the Tufa novels among others. His fourth Eddie LaCrosse novel Wake of The Bloody Angel was the first of his books that I read around its time of release last year and just a few days ago I finished the fifth installment He Drank, And Saw The Spider. They’ve been very fun reads both of them, and he’s certainly one of my favourite authors to date. The genesis of the names in the Eddie LaCrosse novels sounds rather intriguing and fun, so here’s what Alex has to say on the matter.

NANP: The Mundane Process of Creating Magic

Stoppy by the blog today to talk names and their significance for the Names: A New Perspective series is urban fantasy author Jaye Wells. I started reading her work this year with her first Sabina Kane novel, The Red-Headed Stepchild (review) and I became an instant fan. Its a great book that balances romance and action well and for me, stands as one of the best examples or urban fantasy novels. Having read it, I was really glad that I picked it for my “25-in-13” reading challenge, which has been quite fun. I’ll be reading her upcoming novel Dirty Magic, which begins a new series, quite soon and its one that I’m looking forward to. In the meantime, here’s Jaye.

NANP: Names Need Their Rough Edges Knocked Off

Today I welcome Juliet E. McKenna to the blog for Names: A New Perspective, a science fiction/fantasy author of long standing who has put out several novels over the years, many to great acclaim. She was one of the authors on my “25 Series To Read In 2013” list and my first encounter with her work, Hadrumal Crisis #1: Dangerous Waters (review), proved to be a really good experience. As 2013 ends and 2014 begins, I will definitely be looking to continue on with this quartet of novels because I find the world and the characters to be quite fascinating. Given how long she’s been in the industry, Juliet certainly has some great advice for authors new and established alike on the matter of how to name characters, and her post is well worth the read, so here it is.

NANP: The Sense of A Name

Stopping by on the blog today for Names: A New Perspective is blogger and (2013 debut) author Ros Jackson with her novella The Secret Eater. Ros is the friend who made me aware of my biases in reading/reviewing, where I paid attention to and promoted male authors far, far more than I did female authors. More than any other person since I’ve started reviewing, she has had the most impact on me because of that one simple fact, and to see her make strides as an author in her own right is something I welcome with open arms. I haven’t had a chance to read The Secret Eater as yet, but its definitely on the radar for the near future, so hopefully I’ll have it read soon. In the meantime, here’s what Ros has to say on the subject of names.

NANP: Names In Jan Xu

For today’s Names: A New Perspective, I have Singaporean SFF author Joyce Chng stopping by to talk about the names in her Jan Xu series. Joyce also writes short fiction under the name J. Damask and is one of the very few Asian authors that I know of and interact with. Her work came to my attention rather recently and I’ve been meaning to give it a go for a while. Hopefully, the fast-incoming New Year means that I’ll get that chance soon. I read very little in the way of SFF that is not West-centric, but I’ve read some stuff here and there and have been exposed to some really great stuff, and its clearly a vibrant up-and-coming market as well. Besides, I’m always on the look-out for something new and the Jan Xu series seems like a good place to start. In the meantime, here are some of Joyce’s thoughts on the topic of names.