Stacia Kane gives us the downlow on Downspeech

Stacia Kane talks about the creation of ‘Downspeech’ in the Downside Ghosts trilogy (which begins with Unholy Ghosts – out now!)

What’s in a Name? by Stacia Kane

Coming up with names for characters—especially main characters—has always been either extremely difficult or extremely easy for me. Which, yeah, sounds a bit like saying “Either I like something, or I don’t.” Most things are either easy or difficult, after all, and with most things we either like them or dislike them.

But it really is the case. With some characters a name just pops into my head. With others I have to think and think, and sometimes even try dozens of names before I find one that fits. Sometimes I have a name but no character, and every time I try it, it simply doesn’t work. I’ve been wanting to name a female character “Doriel” for two years now, but every time I start a book using that name it just doesn’t feel right.

But I’ve never had as much fun naming characters as I did in the Downside books. Using character names as sort of in-jokes wasn’t new, but creating names like these was, and I had a blast.

Let’s take the main character, Cesaria “Chess” Putnam, as an example. When I first scribbled down the opening paragraphs of the book—which ended up not being in the book at all, but was just to get the idea down—she had no name at all. I figured one would come up.

But it didn’t. And several weeks went by, during which I was finishing another novel in a different series, and getting closer and closer to them time when I could finally start UNHOLY GHOSTS, and I still had no name for the main character. I could hardly start the book without a name. Especially since I believe that the name “becomes” the character, to a large degree; it informs and helps create them.

So one day, as I sat around scribbling down names, and flipping around the internet looking for names, I saw something—I don’t recall what—that reminded me of a man I used to work for, who had a son named Cesare. I’d always loved that name. And it sort of hit me: why not use a feminized version of that? And she could have “Chessie” or “Chess” as a nickname, which was even better, because I like names that can become one-syllable nicknames that still sound cool. (My friends call me “Stace,” and I like it, but you have to admit it’s not as cool as “Chess” or “Jax” or “Nik” or any number of slick-sounding one-syllable nicknames.)

So Cesaria she was, and I was very happy with it.

Her last name came easily. Since the look of the Church officials, the Elders and the Goodys, was based on the Puritans (as is, of course, the fact that “Goody” is a specifically female position), and since the origins of the Church began at around that time, I wanted to make some sort of reference to magic in that period, which of course brought to mind the Salem Witch Trials. Hence Chess’s last name: Putnam. (A young girl named Ann Putnam was one of the first accusers—and a major player—in the Trials.) In fact, the names of people associated with the Trials show up in later books as well, because when the Church took over, it gave those names to the many parentless children it fostered out.

I also faced a bit of difficulty, though, when deciding on names for other characters in the Church. See, so many names come from Christianity; they’re names of saints, or of apostles, or of angels. Even more unusual names are often the names of saints. But in a world where Christianity—as well as all other religions—are outlawed, would people still name their children after saints? Would it even be allowed?

I decided it would, but with one caveat. Church officials and employees generally are encouraged to take other names when they enter the Church, unless they carry a non-religious name to begin with. Thus, Paul might become Atticus, or Mary might choose to become Laurel; it’s not always easy to find names, of course, but at least switching to a lesser-known saint will often suffice. It’s not an absolute necessity for employees to do so, but it’s definitely something the Church likes to see.

But of course, that’s all Church and government. The people with education and power. Yes, there’s a strong middle class in the world of the books, with all the subsets; upper middle, middle middle, lower upper middle, upper lower middle, lower, etc. But what about the names of those in Downside?

One day, just before I started writing UNHOLY GHOSTS, I was on a train to London’s King’s Cross station. And I happened to see some graffiti on the wall there; pretty typical graffiti, tags in big fat letters. But I loved the idea of people actually having names like that, so that’s where a lot of the Downside names came from.

I wanted to make it very clear that Downside was a different world, and I wanted the names to reflect that just as much as the speech (which is a whole ‘nother topic!) Regular nouns (Slipknot, Ratchet) are often names in Downside. Nonsense syllables that just sound interesting. Adjective-noun combinations (Big Shog, Red Berta) are also popular.

Which of course brings me to Terrible. Now, his name just popped right into my head. I had his character in mind; I knew I wanted to write a big, ugly thug who was nonetheless smart and (hopefully) appealing. And given what he does for a living, and how tough he is, what better name could there be? Of course that’s what people would call him, in a world where names are more like descriptions.

I realize that leaves Lex out a bit, because his name is fairly normal. But remember he’s from a different side of Downside, and a different culture. Besides, we don’t yet know what “Lex” is short for, or if it’s even his actual name! Heh heh.

I love playing with names, and imagining what kinds of people might go with what names; it amuses me (I have simple tastes, I guess.) So having a world like Downside is a real gift; I can make anything be a name, I can create any sort of character, I can go completely wild, and then as contrast I have the very buttoned-up and proper Church. Writing these books is just about the most fun I think it’s possible for me to have, and I certainly hope you think reading them is just as enjoyable!

 Stacia Kane is the author of UNHOLY GHOSTS, UNHOLY MAGIC and CITY OF GHOSTS, the three books that make up the Downside trilogy. UNHOLY GHOSTS is now available in bookshops throughout Australia and New Zealand, and the sequels will be out in July and August. Fans of Charlaine Harris, prepare to have a new favourite author!

The Big July by Duncan Lay

The Radiant Child

It seems amazing but almost a year has passed since The Wounded Guardian first appeared on shelves.
It has truly been an amazing ride.
Now The Dragon Sword Histories is about to end, with The Radiant Child, book three, to be released on July 1.
To mark this, I am planning something special – The Big July.
One of the things I have learned over the past year is how effective getting out into the bookstores to meet both the sellers and the people on the streets is.
Not only do you get the chance to meet some amazing people and talk about your books, but you also get to speak to the booksellers directly, let them know about you and you books
I have written before about how much fun this is, and how much I feel it has helped both promote my books and helped me understand more about what people are looking for.
So I am going to bring everything I have learned over the past year to The Big July.
In these 30 days, I plan to visit 50 bookstores and hand-sell 1000 books. That’s not just The Radiant Child, but copies of The Wounded Guardian and The Risen Queen as well.
I am hoping the various booksellers will be keen to help me achieve this huge goal and fingers crossed we might be able to get some deals for purchases of two or more books.
I will be posting updates through the month as I travel not just around Newcastle, the Central Coast and Sydney, but visit Brisbane, Adelaide and Canberra as well, while also going further afield in NSW.
Please follow my progress – and I would love to see you at one of many stores!

I shall be posting full lists and times of store visits as they are arranged.
I hope you can help me achieve my goal, and truly make The Big July happen for me and my books.

Gaela Stars for the Full Moon

Departure of the Winged Ship by Vladimir Kush

Moon into Sagittarius times

L.A. – May 27 at 16:08
Sydney – May 28 at 09:08
London – May 28 at 00:08
New York – May 27 at 19:08

RAM: This week brings a blast of energy, the feeling that you can do anything, be anyone, achieve the heights of your dreams. Grand, but perhaps, one thing at a time? The first requisite for success is the ability to apply your physical and mental energies to one problem incessantly without growing weary. ~ Thomas Edison

AUROCHS: The full moon is in your house of shared energy and resources, augmenting feelings of sensitivity and vulnerability. If you’re building a relationship, steady on. If you are deconstructing one, count your blessings. Things turn out best for those who make the best of the way things turn out. ~ Jack Buck

TWINS: This week brings up thoughts of relationship and the tendency is to think they are an inevitable cycle of repetition Not so! The two worst strategic mistakes to make are acting prematurely and letting an opportunity slip; to avoid this, the warrior treats each situation as if it were unique and never resorts to formulae, recipes or other people’s opinions. ~ Paulo Coelho

COBRA: In the day to day dramas of caring , carting and cleaning, of viewing and laundering and creating, of feeding and fuelling and fighting, of loving and chasing and biting, of adding, listing and coalescing, we forget, sometimes, what the heck it is we’re doing on this planet. Take a moment, every day, to think about it. The purpose of our lives is to be happy. ~ Dalai Lama

LION: The feeling this week is urgency, the desire to make things happen, and fast. Hang on to the thrill and vitality, and maybe add a dash of patience. By letting things simmer, especially in the romance and creativity department, you’ll find yourself more likely to succeed. In the writing process, the more a story cooks, the better. ~ Doris Lessing

CERES: Consider the true colours of your soul this week and watch it bloom. The soul is dyed the color of its thoughts. Think only on those things that are in line with your principles and can bear the light of day. The content of your character is your choice. Day by day, what you choose, what you think, and what you do is who you become. Your integrity is your destiny … it is the light that guides your way. ~ Heraclitus

BALENCIA: This week can feel conflicted, as if part of you wants to go left and the other right. Instead of getting frustrating, or trying to smooth things out, why not let the games begin? Give voice to all your angels. Let them sing! Artistic temperament sometimes seems a battleground, a dark angel of destruction and a bright angel of creativity wrestling. ~ Madeleine L’Engle

SCORPION: The full moon lights up a part of you that thrives on drama, the edge of uncertainty, challenge and risk, the place where outcomes are never assured. No matter how much this may seem disturbing, inconvenient or repetitious, face facts. Inside is an actor, itching to say, Everybody just stay calm. The situation is under control. ~ The Abyss

ARCHER: The propensity to intellectualise runs deep with the full moon in your sign. It’s a natural defence against too much emotion, too much feedback, too much evaluation of your life by others. It can also be a trap, an isolation from the visual and sensual gifts of life, the one on ones. What is the use of a book’, thought Alice, ‘without pictures or conversations?‘ ~ Lewis Carroll

SEA-GOAT: If you feel you’ve made some less than fortunate decisions over the last few years, dwelling on them is not going to help. This is a’ move on’ situation and any tendency to languish in the dark hallows of remorse are ground for a stern wake up call. If you feel the walls shake, snap out of it! Remember what Oprah Winfrey says? Cheers to a new year and another chance for us to get it right.

WATER-BEARER: Sometimes the urge to strive towards something, to relentlessly push the wagon up the hill after the wheels have fallen off and the pay load vanished into thin air, is more a hindrance than a help. See what happens if you let it go. You can always go back to pushing, if it suits. Don’t aim for success if you want it; just do what you love and believe in, and it will come naturally. ~ David Frost

FISHES: This week’s full moon brings up some stormy weather on the domestic front, and perhaps in the area of career, mission, profession as well. Warning: It’s not a ‘batten down the hatches’ and go to Red Alert sort of crisis but rather an ‘open your eyes, watch yourself and learn’ one. You gain through awareness, and making a different choice. Smooth seas do not make skillful sailors.~ African proverb

Kim Falconer lives in Byron Bay with two gorgeous black cats. She runs an astrology forum and alternative science site‚ trains with a sword and is working on the Quantum Encryption trilogy, the follow up to Quantum Enchantment, both of which are set in the world of Gaela, as well as on Earth. The first book in the new series is called Path of the Stray and will be out in August. Also in August, Kim is taking part in the Byron Bay Writers Festival, find the details on the News & Events page!

I Like Them Vulnerable – Stacia Kane on Chess Putnam

So my heroine, Chess Putnam, is a drug addict. And I know that may be difficult for some people. I know there are people who have moral objections to it, or who find it distasteful, or triggering, or whatever. And that’s fine.

I realize I probably won’t change your mind and I’m not trying to, but I did want to talk about it and how it came about.

One of the things I researched before I started writing the book was functional addicts, and the idea of functional addiction. I’d wanted to write about a drug addict heroine for a while, simply because of the vulnerabilities it created and the limitations it caused.

To be perfectly honest, flaws and vulnerabilities are what attract me to a character, that make me identify with a character and want to write him or her. I can’t understand characters who are happy and cheerful, who don’t ever feel angry or confused, who don’t feel weak and hurt sometimes. I really have no experience on which to base such a character, so how could I write one?

I think most people, when thinking of addiction and addicts, think of the stereotypical junkie: skin and bones, shivering and sick, begging for the next fix, covered in track marks. Or nodding out in a dirty semi-lit room, with food rotting on the floor and the stench of urine in the air. You think of someone whose entire life is given over to a drug, someone who is barely coherent, who is hardly capable of moving, much less thinking clearly.

But actually, a very large percentage of addicts—especially those like Chess, who are addicted to prescription drugs—are perfectly functional. They have steady jobs, they live productive lives. You could spend time with them, talk to them, and have absolutely no idea that you’ve just talked to an addict. They’ve found a way to balance their lives, as much as possible. In fact, there’s a theory supported by some very credible people that the real trouble with addiction is that the drugs are illegal–which makes getting them take a lot of time and trouble (not to mention dangerous, both buying and the adulteration of the drugs themselves), to the exclusion of normal activities—and that if they were legal, and easily obtained, most addicts would lead essentially normal lives.

That’s not to say that because drugs are easily obtainable for Chess her addiction doesn’t cause problems. Of course it does. The entire plot of UNHOLY GHOSTS springs from the fact that she’s in debt to her dealer and has no money with which to pay him. Then there’s the fact that she has to hide it from people at her work. Or that she occasionally takes a little too much and does things she regrets later. Or that occasionally she doesn’t take enough and gets sick. Or the way she has to regiment her life (and she has a touch of OCD and germophobia as well) to make sure she doesn’t forget things or lose them.

The Art of the Tree …

Check out the gorgeous cover art for Tymon’s Flight by Mary Victoria, out in July this year. Mary’s partner Frank Victoria of Weta Workshop was the creator of this gorgeous piece.

Tymon’s Flight is the story of a boy who dreams outside the confines of his world … in which he lives, along with thousands of others, among the branches of the great World Tree …