A to Z Challenge – V – Cult Classics: Videodrome, Van Halen, Venus, and More! Plus Tips for Generating Speculative Fiction Names

A to Z Challenge – Cult Classics – V

Movies-Music-Sci-fi Book-Bloggers-Dragon Term

Movies –

Videodrome
Directed by David Cronenberg, this mind-tripping science fiction/horror film received mixed reviews and did poorly at the theater. It found new life on video and received numerous awards.

V for Vendetta
This 2005 British film was release shortly after the 400th celebration of Guy Fawkes Night. Based on a graphic novel, the film won numerous awards.

Music –

Van Halen – 5150
The first album to feature Sammy Hagar as lead singer, 5150 debuted at number one and spawned many singles.

Science Fiction Book –

Venus series by Edgar Rice Burroughs
Begun in 1934, this four book and one novelette series is also known as the Amtor Series. The stories have made several comic book appearances.

Blogger –

Vanessa Morgan
Are you fascinated by film? Want to know more about foreign films and festivals? Want to see amazing travel photos from around the world? Then you need to visit filmmaker Vanessa!

Dragon of the Stars Term –

Vardy
Engineer Geld Vardy worked on several systems for the Dragon. Desperate to find the ship, the Hyrathian Council instructed him to develop a way to track it and accompany the team searching for the ship. He and Aden clash though…

Dragon of the Stars is out now!
Check out the site What Are the Kargrandes? for clues as to how they tie into the story.

Very Special Gatehaven Release

Melissa Maygrove announced a very special release yesterday – a study guide by her mother!

The Gatehaven Study Guide by Jeanette Pierce

The Gatehaven study guide is a pair of workbooks for students and teachers that is designed for use with Gatehaven, an award-winning novel by Molly Noble Bull. Gatehaven is a gothic novel with a strong Christian message, based on Ephesians 6:11. Set in a scary mansion in the north of England in 1794, Shannon Aimee and Ian Colquhoun battle an evil Frenchman with dark secrets.

Buy the workbooks here: Kindle Student guide, Kindle Teacher's guide, Nook Student guide, Nook Teacher’s guide, Amazon Paperback Student guide, and Amazon Paperback Teacher’s guide

Generating Names for Speculative Fiction

Yesterday, there were several questions regarding naming characters at my guest post with Susan Gourley. How did I come up with the names? I have several different means for generating speculative fiction names.

The simplest is to brainstorm. Write down every unusual word that comes to mind on a piece of paper. Don’t think about characters – just churn out names. Keep the alphabet handy and don’t duplicate a first letter. That will guarantee that all the names are unique.

Apply a characteristic to the names if they need to be uniform. For CassaFire, all the Tgren names needed to begin with a vowel. That was my jumping off point. Maybe all the names need to be two syllables or end with a certain letter.

Look around and pick random words. Now mutate them. The word ‘world’ becomes Wireld. ‘Stars’ becomes Sturess. ‘Rock’ becomes Fock. Anything is possible!

Choose a cultural group of names and alter them. For Dragon of the Stars, I chose a variety of first and last names that were old British. Then I changed one or two letters to come up with names for the Hyrathians. This could be done with any language or culture.

The key is to keep them simple and easy to pronounce. Some of the names I’ve selected were a challenge, but overall I’ve picked simple names that wouldn’t trip up the reader. This is really important for speculative fiction, as readers are already contending with new words in the form of people, places, and things. If those words are complex or difficult to pronounce, the reader might give up.

Have fun with it though. Let those creative juices flow and come up with names that are epic!

Remember Videodrome? Which version of Van Halen do you like best? Want to know why Geld Vardy clashes with Aden? Have you read Gatehaven? And how do you go about generating names for your characters…?

If you missed it, I visited Susan Gourley on Friday and discussed a race called the Utothiaz.

A to Z Challenge – V for Vendetta and Valley of the Kings, Plus Ninja News and Breaking the Reins

My theme for the A to Z Challenge is Favorite Movies, Bloggers, and Music! I’ll name a favorite movie that corresponds with the letter, and then select a character from the film. I will then name a favorite blogger who reminds me of that character, and then dedicate a song to him. (Also corresponding with the alphabet.) I’ll wrap it all up with trivia and/or fun facts about the movie, the blogger, or the music!

In addition, two lucky commenters this month will receive a review copy of CassaStorm! One comment per day and each is worth one entry except – the first and one hundredth comments on each day will receive ten entries!

V for Vendetta

Based on a graphic novel that is loosely based on a real life event, this film is clever. It contains a great twist in the middle that you don’t see coming. Hugo Weaving is awesome, conveying so much through a mask for the entire film. And one learns a bit about Guy Fawkes in the process!

V is a man with a vision and a purpose. Although his methods are violent and a bit warped, you have to admire that he never wavers. He sticks to his values and convictions.

Who is V?

Mark Koopmans!

(Minus the mask, of course. And the homicidal tendencies. But Mark is a madman.)

Mark has a vision for his family and life. His values are very grounded and he sticks to his Faith. He’s proud of his heritage and his Christian beliefs, and I really admire him for that. He might just be a little crazy as well…

Mark is a writer, devoted father and husband, and resident Irish Madman.

To you I dedicate Valley of the Kings by Blue Murder. (Title leads to YouTube.)

Because you understand… “A thousand souls plead for mercy, A thousand times over, You’ll hear it on the wind, These sinners never sinned…”

Trivia and Facts:

We know Mark is a stay-at-home dad – what does his wife do?

There’s a line in the film about God playing dice with the universe, which originally came from this line – “At any rate, I am convinced that God does not play dice,” an objection to quantum theory. Who said it?

U’s trivia answer – In Geek mythology, “Selene” means the Moon.

Ninja News

Tara Tyler gave me her Ultra Blogger Award for my encouraging attitude and the IWSG. Thank you, Tara! I can’t think of a better person to pass it along to than A to Z Challenge founder, Lee at Tossing it Out!

Boston Charity Book Giveaway!
Check out SA Larson’s SITE for details – lots of great prize packages.

Jackie at Bouquet of Books and Dani at Entertaining Interests are hosting the Heroes & Villains Blogfest on June 6. Visit their sites for details.

Cover Reveal!

Breaking the Reins by Juliana Haygert
Publication date: August 2013
Genre: NA Contemporary Romance

Horses, mansions, tea parties, and lies are twenty-year-old Hannah Taylor’s life. To others, her family and her relationship with Eric is perfect. But she knows the truth. She lives it…

Find it at Goodreads



Have you seen V for Vendetta? Think Mark is a Madman? (In a good way of course.) Remember Blue Murder? Signing up for the charity giveaway? Joining the blogfest? Excited about Juliana’s book? And can you believe we’ve only four letters to go…?