Last week at Suvudu, author Jason Fry discussed the ways Star Wars influenced his space-fantasy series The Jupiter Pirates. He also explained how some connections that might seem tied to the galaxy far far away were just a matter of coincidence, like the name of his protagonist Tycho, who is named not for the fan-favorite X-Wing series character but rather astronomer Tycho Brahe. While soliciting feedback for my novel Wynde prior to publishing, one reader noted a similarity of a character name to an X-Wing novel favorite Lujayne Forge. Even though that series is undoubtedly inspirational to my storytelling – Wynde is a tale of fighter pilots turned heroes – that naming similarity was most definitely not intentional. In fact, Geordida Forge’s name is a nod to another favorite storytelling universe: Star Trek. The last name Forge tied into the cultural affiliations created as part of the world-building for Wynde, which I explain in an interview at Every Day Fangirl.
Many of the names in Wynde are related to the elements fire, air, earth, and water. This reflects the religious beliefs and cultural differences in the society on their home planet, Prime. Many characters have two elements in their name, such as Zephyr Tames; his first name denotes moving air and his last name brings to mind the famous river Thames. By doing this I was able to show that many on Prime have moved past former biases, but that doesn’t mean everyone has…
In that interview I discussed creating several names, but not specifically the name Gemini Reed. Called “Gem” by her friends, the name evokes a precious stone; her last name Reed a plant that grows in water or perhaps a wind instrument. Or her name might be taken in context of the Zodiac sign of Gemini. If you’ve read the book, I will let you ponder that significance. In an upcoming short story to be published as part of Silence in the Library’s anthology Athena’s Daughters, I provide more clues about Gemini’s name and backstory in “Mission Accomplished.”
Not only does Athena’s Daughters include a fantastic line-up of short stories about female protagonists, it also features illustrations for each story. Here is the first artwork of a character born in my own imagination. Meet Gemini Reed.
Athena’s Daughters will be published in July 2014 and is available for pre-order now.
Tricia Barr took her understanding of brand management and marketing, mixed it with a love of genre storytelling, and added a dash of social media flare to create FANgirl Blog, where she discusses Star Wars, fandom, and strong female characters. She also writes about Star Wars for Random House’s science fiction and fantasy blog Suvudu.com and Star Wars Insider magazine and is a contributor for Her Universe’s Year of the Fangirl. Her FANgirl opinions can be heard on the podcasts Assembly of Geeks and RebelForce Radio Presents Fangirls Going Rogue.
Follow Tricia at @FANgirlcantina on Twitter or like FANgirl Zone on Facebook.
