Twist & Shout

An homage is a delicate thing, it needs to be served correctly in order to be fully enjoyed.  A well prepared homage is like an inviting plate of appetizers moving through a crowded party waiting for someone to recognize and delight.  Not everyone will notice it and be familiar with the ingredients but, soon enough, a pair of excited eyes will find that plate and pop the tasty morsel into her mouth wondering how that cagey chef knew what her exact favorites were.

Most of my favorite shows tend to be liberal with homages, references and the shouting of outs.  Buffy the Vampire Slayer was great for that, even after all this time, when Tuesday night comes and there's no fresh eps of the Scoobies, I feel sad.  Joss Whedon's skill at creating clever dialogue liberally laced with pop culture references is a beautiful thing to me.  Lost also did it very well but in a much subtler fashion, it referenced literature like Incident at Owl Creek Bridge and Catch-22 in very quiet ways, weaving many disparate ideas into its own unique mythology.  Doctor Who does it over and over, from Agatha Christie to Harry Potter to Big Brother, the Doctor doesn't miss an opportunity to say a cheery hello to all the diversity out there.

As I stated in my first post, it was important to me that my story be filled with references because I wanted the chance to create some of those sly, pleased smiles among my readers.  The Last Prospector starts out with homages and will end on a whopper or five; it's crammed full of gems but many of them are very personal ones that the general public wouldn't recognize.  My friends, family and home town fill up the pages of the book because I actually love them MORE than my entertainments, believe it or not!

My late mother is the very first, she raised African violets somewhat obsessively and, while I hate those damned plants, Iolet came from her.  By book's end, all of my immediate family was entrenched in the fabric of Solstice - all of those who would appreciate such a thing that is.  Just about all of my relations that gave me that quietly deprecating eye roll when I spoke of my new writing venture did not find a home in my world.  Scoff elsewhere you sayers of nay, Solstice is for travellers in search of adventure.

There are an equal amount of well known homages in The Last Prospector too and Bruce Springsteen is the paterfamilias.  He's The Boss, you know winkety wink wink.  It's taken me four books to get every major member of the E Street Band, Danny Federici was an especial challenge, but Solstice is crammed with Bruce-ness.  Star Trek of course, since it was my first pop culture influence at the tender age of three, is not hard to find either.  Tibaryus is named for James Tiberius Kirk while Kanig and the Keptyn Pike are both slobbery kisses to the original series.

One thing I would like to make clear, not that it will matter to most people but I feel that it needs to be clarified.  The Tylers of western Jonquyllum were not a Doctor Who homage.  The Hunts from the east came first and were named for Gene Hunt of Life on Mars, so when I needed a family name for the other side of the lake, I went for symmetry with Sam Tyler.  The Tyler Rose came later and was an obvious choice when I needed a flower, it's just a coincidence of naming and perhaps Sam Tyler's name was itself a reference to the Doctor.  Wouldn't that be cool?

My New Best Friends

I used to wonder a lot how writers managed to create such diverse characters. It always seemed to me that they are like children and, as such all the characters you create must be like you in some way.  I don't wonder about that anymore, with three books written and a substantial cast, it is now clear to me that the characters make themselves.

Sure, I contribute by writing it all down, but those people already existed and were just waiting for a chance to speak.  There are elements of me in all of them, but they surprise me at every turn which makes writing this story an enormously good time.  Not every voice is easy for me to hear and satisfying them all can be very frustrating at times, but we all get it together in the end.  Here's a quick rundown of the major players from the first novel The Last Prospector, let's start with him.

• Prospector, what an endearing man.  I'm not one much for believing in heroes, but Prospector is mine.  He is the kind of person I wish I could be and is one of the two most consistently surprising characters.  I so did not know going in to this that Prospector really loved cats or that he had eight siblings.
• Tonyo Ylnaranj, so hard to write for because he is so subdued.  He was originally just a one time character named after a friend of mine, but I soon realized that he was meant for more.  I couldn't live with Gomil in the long term, sorry Gordon, so I rechristened him after my grandfather.
• Holema Gialle, she's another hard case but I respect her.  The Doyenne is a perfectionist and demands the same of me, she's a sly one though so watch out for her.
• Awnyx Tiell, I love this guy, love, love, love.  He sits right next to me with a cold beer and a bottle of quavit, telling me stories and making me laugh.  The Captain is full of surprises, bursting with them, and I would travel any road with that man.
• Tibaryus Ceruleya, Prospector's brother is my first real Star Trek shout out and a clever guy.  Bary also gets the honor of homaging Dr Who, so he is truly a sci-fi hybrid.

It's my hope that everyone visits Solstice and befriends the Prospector, maybe this brief introduction will entice you to want more.  The next installment, Travellers & Tramps, opens up a broader world and introduces other great characters to the story.  I can promise you laughter, tears and a great deal of surprises if you travel along with me.