Reason the First (1st): Prolifical [pro’lif’eh’cull]
I seem to have developed into the kind of writer who writes a lot. Good for me. I need pen names in quantity as unto the towels that soak up the defrost of the unplugged refrigerator of pulp, to sop up the torrent of words before they cause water damage to the overstretched tile of this metaphor. Mostly, I just don’t want to release something in one name more than once a month. I’m not going to sneak around to avoid that, and minimal research by an intrigued reader will reveal my Horrible Secret, but I think letting a name soak in the ole’ marketplace for a bit can’t hurt, esp. when H2NH starts doing serious promotion.
Reason the Second (2nd): Genrec [j’on’wruh’k]
I’ve already staked a claim in the gold fields of Science Fantasy Romance...and loving it. But even that super-genre has certain restrictions. David Barron on a book says, to folks concerned with such things, that that book will stay in and around the ‘PG-13’ level, avoiding heavy Politics, hard Sex, and brutal Violence and be a suitable gift for just about anybody who can brave the erudition and navigate the labyrinthine sentences.
That, and not including All That is just best practices to avoid distractions from that big ball of Science & Fantasy & Romance that’s being tossed around. But, as that’s hardly the only orb I’m juggling in the Circus of the Mind, and I want to let the clowns dance: I need to clearly label everything. A fine set of appropriate pen names should conspire with covers and blurbs to ensure that nobody who enjoys one of my books is too shocked by the first chapters of the next book of mine they pick up. After that, you’re on your own.
Reason the Third (3rd): Conveniencen [cahn’veenyin’sen]
It’s just easier to organize things by themes. That’s Science, that is. Not to mention avoidenconfusinsheizen. So I won’t.
...
ANYWHO, since I like making characters, I’ve taken the liberty of splitting myself up into some archetypal voices. Don’t worry, it didn’t hurt. Much.
Introductions all ‘round --
David Barron
writes Science Fantasy Romance, including “At the Mountains of Malapert”, the ongoing Tisroc octology and the upcoming Dragon Aces ‘ivlogy’.
A writer who, by all accounts, is having a wonderful time doing what he loves.
writes Science Fantasy Romance, including “At the Mountains of Malapert”, the ongoing Tisroc octology and the upcoming Dragon Aces ‘ivlogy’.
A writer who, by all accounts, is having a wonderful time doing what he loves.
Dave Frost
writes Mystery/Crime, including the upcoming Hideki Oh mysteries and short stories.
A political scientist who specializes (and lives and works several somewheres) in Asia. He takes a rather dim view of Humanity in general, entering our lacklustre efforts to raze the Hobbesian jungle in which we live as evidence. Tends to be rather depressed.
Clear Label: may contain Politics.
writes Mystery/Crime, including the upcoming Hideki Oh mysteries and short stories.
A political scientist who specializes (and lives and works several somewheres) in Asia. He takes a rather dim view of Humanity in general, entering our lacklustre efforts to raze the Hobbesian jungle in which we live as evidence. Tends to be rather depressed.
Clear Label: may contain Politics.
Jillian Nice
writes Horror, including the upcoming Horror from the Deep trilogy and several upcoming stand-alone books.
A cheerful naturalist who, between chasing butterflies and estimating the age of rocks, tells whimsical tales of depraved sex, abrupt dismemberment, lingering disease and inevitable death in a framework of utter pointlessness. Seems to be OK with that.
Clear Label: may contain Sex, Violence.
writes Horror, including the upcoming Horror from the Deep trilogy and several upcoming stand-alone books.
A cheerful naturalist who, between chasing butterflies and estimating the age of rocks, tells whimsical tales of depraved sex, abrupt dismemberment, lingering disease and inevitable death in a framework of utter pointlessness. Seems to be OK with that.
Clear Label: may contain Sex, Violence.
Spider Frost
writes Pulp Literature set in and around Thailand, including the upcoming “Mr. and Mrs. Spider Frost” and other ‘cassava picaresques’* (and some short stories in a language you can’t read.)
Spider Frost is a polyglot pulp writer and frequent drunk who lives in Thailand with his hot-tempered lady Tammy Toom. He writes quasi-literary epics about their madcap adventures in and around Southeast Asia, as well as concocting other quick-dry masses of plot holes and spelling errors. In the finest traditions of pulp fiction.
/*For reference, a ‘cassava picaresque’ is the cocktail you get if you mix the Alan stories in “The Language of Ice Cubes” with my short story “Drugs are Legal, People Ain’t” and add a pinch of Nick and Nora Charles-style antics to taste./
Spider is my Thai nickname, so I’d already repurposed it as a distinctive, easier-to-pronounce regional pseudonym (a la ‘Monkey Punch’). The other names were concocted for effect and convenience along a scheme which I’m sure you could puzzle out if you were sufficiently obsessed, but it wouldn’t really be all that interesting. They match the genre, and I can remember them. That’s enough for me. At some point I’ll commission four ‘pen name portraits’ to stick in the back of books and use in promotions and general communications where confusion could be broached. Such as...er...this article. Now.
No time! If you’ll excuse us, we have twenty books to write.
feel free to comment
Wow -- I haven't thought about using a pen name, but you provide a convincing argument. Perhaps when some of my more sordid tales are published, I may have to follow your example in order to remain employed at my parochial school.
ReplyDeleteThat's a very good idea! Also, when I'm sending out hordes of stories to magazines, a pen name helps me to remember the genre better than the title.
ReplyDeleteI struggled with the idea of having an 'open pen name', then I realized that everybody does it. (Case in point: 'Dave Wolverton' (for SF) AKA 'David Farland' (for F))