NANP: Method To Madness

On Thanksgiving Day I bring to you Kenny Soward, the author of the GnomeSaga series and a regular short fiction writer, for the latest on Names: A New Perspective. I haven’t had a chance to read his work yet, the first GnomeSaga novel Rough Magic still awaits me on my iPad, but he’s certainly one of the more interesting authors I’ve been meaning to read for a while. Kenny is also a fellow contributor to the Manifesto: UF, which saw the publication of my short story Dharmayoddha and his story Gold Dust Woman was a stand-out story. Hopefully after reading this post you’ll be interested in his work as well. I certainly encourage you to check it out at least.

NANP: Naming Ia

Today’s guest on Names: A New Perspective is an author I’ve recently discovered and have become a huge fan of, Jean Johnson. A Soldier’s Duty, a military space opera novel featuring a kickass female protagonist, is the first of her books I’ve read, and I can’t wait to get stuck into the sequel, An Officer’s Duty. Jean has also written a number of successful novels in the fantasy and romance genres, and has been featured in a few anthologies as well. In A Soldier’s Duty, the protagonist’s name is central to her identity, and the image that she wants to cultivate within the Marines. Over the course of the novel, it turns into one of the most fascinating elements of the narrative, and here’s what Jean has to say on the subject.

NANP: Nomenclature and Subsconscious

Today’s guest on Names: A New Perspective is Eric Brown, who has penned a number of works in the SF and Children’s Fiction genres. I’ve been eyeing his Bengal Station and Helix novels from Solaris for a while now, having heard some great praise about them in recent months. And then I got an email from Solaris that he has a new Helix novel, The Serene Invasion, coming out, which is great news and finally the impetus to get me reading his books, which I shall be doing next month. In the meantime, here’s what Eric has to say on the topic of names and their meanings and significances.

NANP: Other People’s Names

Today is a special bonus post on Names: A New Perspective as I take part in Erin M. Evans’ blog tour for the promotion of her latest novel, Brimstone Angels: Lesser Evils, released last week from Wizards of the Coast. Having read Brimstone Angels (Review), I can honestly say that Lesser Evils is going to be spectacular. The Tieflings are my new favourite fantasy race, with Havilar and Farideh taking top spot (for the moment) on my favourite female fantasy characters list. Here’s what Erin had to say about her naming process.

NANP: A Name By Any Other Name

Another Thursday, another Names: A New Perspective post, this time with author Jeff Salyards, who debuted this year with his first Bloodsounder’s Arc novel, Scourge of the Betrayer (my review). As I said in my review, the novel is a very different sort of fantasy book that breaks with tradition and delves far more into the characters than many others; its a character study at its core. The novel also continues the seeming tradition of Nightshade Books to publish authors who are out to challenge the mainstream perception and tastes, and I think it succeeds on that level. When I invited Jeff to talk about how and why he names his characters (and places) as he does, this is what he came back to me with.

NANP: The Naming of Things

Today’s guest on the blog is author Lou Morgan who had her debut novel Blood and Feathers published a few short weeks ago by Solaris Books (my review). Blood and Feathers is similar to The Collector novels by Chris F. Holm in content, being about angels and demons, but it has a much different perspective on them, and the protagonist is a well-and-truly-alive woman rather a man dead for like the last 50 years or so. Lots of possibilities and exciting things that make Blood and Feathers an awesome novel to read and Lou Morgan a name to watch out for in urban fantasy fiction. Most of Lou’s characters have really fun names and here’s what she had to say about them.

NANP: Building Fantasy Worlds One Name At A Time

Joining me on the blog today is Courtney Schafer, author of the adventure fantasy novels The Whitefire Crossing and The Tainted City, both of them a part of her The Shattered Sigil series for Nightshade Books. I read The Whitefire Crossing last month and I was utterly blown away by it (my review). It is easily one of my best reads this year, even made my September Reading Awards list. If you are looking for a different type of fantasy novel to read, one that is serious and covers some new ground in terms of its magic system and characters and its scope, then The Whitefire Crossing is what you want. This is what Courtney had to say about her world-building in the the two novels.

NANP: Names As Characters

Kicking off the fourth week of Names: A New Perspective is author Anne Lyle who has been making waves this year with her debut novel Alchemist of Souls, an awesome alternate history set in Elizabethan London in which explorers have discovered a race of magical beings, the Skraylings, inhabiting the Americas (my review). Like all the debut authors I’ve featured on the blog so far, she is another one to watch out for, one you can expect more awesomeness from. I do have an eARC of her second novel Merchant of Dreams sitting on the laptop waiting to be read and I’m looking forward to it, although it will be a while before I get around to it. Here’s what Anne has to say on the topic of names and characters in her novels.

NANP: The Power of Names

Everybody give a warm welcome to author and poet Helen Lowe, who is joining us all the way from Christchurch, New Zealand. Helen has worked on several books so far, and is the winner of the 2012 Morningstar Award as well which was given in recognition of her debut novel Heir of Night from last year. I read the novel back in August and loved it (my review) so much that I’ve marked her down as one of the most promising authors of the new generation. No mild exaggeration that. Helen was really excited about the topic for this post and as you will see down under, she is very passionate about it too. Here’s what she had to say.

NANP: A Game of Names

Today’s guest on Names: A New Perspective is Teresa , author of the dark fantasy novel Miserere: An Autumn Tale (Review) and the upcoming historical fantasy The Garden. I read Miserere early this year and I was quite impressed with it, so much so that it made my April Reading Awards list as an honourable mention. It would have been higher on the list but I read a ton of awesome novels that month, so all good regardless. Thanks to Miserere and Nathan Long’s Jane Carver of Waar and a couple other titles Night Shade Books is quickly becoming one of my favourite publishers so thanks to Teresa for introducing me to them! When I asked her if she would like to contribute to the series, here’s what she had to say on the topic.

The Names Schedule

Last time I announced that I had gotten in touch with a few debut authors from this year and the past about a series of guest posts for the blog – Names: A New Perspective. This was borne out of my fascination and interest for how I name things in my fiction, and how published authors do it as well. All the relevant details are all in that first post. Over the last few days I’ve received all the entries for the first wave of posts and I just wanted to share the schedule with all of you. The response has been excellent and I can’t thank the authors enough for their own interest.

Names: A New Perspective

As I briefly mentioned in my August Report, I’ve been hammering out a series of guest posts on the blog, all written by debut authors of this year and the last and the one before. The topic is how the names of characters and places and other things within their novels (and other works where appropriate) fit into their setting, their relevance and their power. My own (old) thoughts on the matter can be found here and here. Here are the details of how I’m approaching all these guest posts.