Thank you for all the wonderful letters you’ve taken the time to write! Wow! I’m very happy that you found the story so entertaining! I’ll do my best to answer some of your questions. Meanwhile, keep the letters coming (remove the x in the address before hitting Send,) and keep in mind that although I actually DO read every letter I get, time constraints do not allow for personal replies. But, hey, I’ll do what I can do!

Travel Light!

Adrienne

(The Nomarian Librarian)

Q. Is Nomaris going to be a series?

A. Yes and No. All of the stories will take place mostly or totally on the planet of Nomaris, and many charactors will make repeat appearances from book to book. However, it is my intention to avoid cliff-hangers that compel one to buy the next installment to find out what happened. I want each story to be a truffle of it's own.

Q. A truffle?

A. Yes, a yummy little goody to be savored without rushing. 

Q. The names you came up with for your characters and “things Nomarian” are so cool! How did you come up with them? Do they mean anything special?

A.  Well, okay, "confession time" is here. I did include a few names of real people, but believe me, the characters bearing their names are not in any way similar to the real people, except perhaps for my “spring-y” eldest niece, Morgan. The character “Mindy Singer Finkelstein” is a professional psychic; the “original” Mindy is every bit as tenacious and bright as the one in the story, but she is neither a grandmother nor a believer in psychics. I can’t imagine her attending a séance, much less coordinating one! Mindy was my best friend at Traphagen Jr. H.S. where we were in the last graduating class before that gorgeous building was demolished.  We looked for each other for thirty-one years before someone connected us through the Internet! I had “immortalized” her namesake in Nomaris long before that, though. Cool, huh?

The names Ida and Harvey are borrowed from my Mom and stepfather; Esther is the name of the grandmother who taught me how to read playing cards when I was four.  None of the fictional characters were modeled on the real people other than first names; trust me when I say that my grandmother would never have approved of people talking with the “dead”.

            As to the rest of the character names, they could only be called “inspired”. One of the things I never enjoy in reading science fiction and fantasy is coming across names that can't be pronounced. Rather than laboring over creating impossible names, I waited for them to "come to my mouth". If I can't pronounce it, I won't write it. I didn’t fret much over any name other than “Gailyn”, which started out as “Galadriel” until someone pointed out that Tolkien already invented the name. "Quillatee" started out as Qu'illatee but the apostrophe was dropped for being pretentious. 

           Of course, sometimes a name will just pop into my head while joking around, such as “Precipity”.  I thought she was going to be a Goddess of Rain in a short story collection (tentatively called New Stories for Old Gods,) but I dumped the goddess part to make her an herb woman with a “stormy nature” in the second Nomaris book instead. Sometimes a name alone can inspire a whole storyline, as “Grinwhicket” the extremely flammable wizard got the second book of Nomaris rolling. Once I’m “in the flow” most things like names and plot points come without struggle.

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Q. You have a good reputation as a medium; why didn’t you write a book about that?

A. Well, I use mediumship humorously within the context of this particular story, but I think enough people are writing books and t.v. shows on the subject these days. Speaking with those who have dropped their bodies is not unusual for me; weaving a good story that people will want to read more than once is a fabulous challenge!

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Q. Where do you get the time for doing both music and writing?

A. You have to make your loves your Priority if you're going to get anything done, but these two can push each other around some days. The Nomaris stories are my first writing priority, at least in theory. I sit down to write but may suddenly get a strong urge to answer to the melody in my head or the dogs start barking or the laundry needs doing. So, I get up and pound away on the piano for a bit or get some wash going or start dough rising. While doing that I often get more ideas for the story and return to the desk. It goes back and forth and sometimes a song, clean laundry and bread emerges from it. However, it’s not good to cook and think about what’s going to happen next on Nomaris, because something invariably gets forgotten and burned when I race back to the desk to make notes. With laundry it’s just a matter of wrinkles.

       I also get good ideas and work through problems in a story while walking with Glenn and the dogs and in meditation and dream. 

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Q. Do you relate to any one character more than others? Do you have a favorite?

A.  Well, it is said that a writer’s first novel is inevitably autobiographical. This holds true for me and Nomaris. After all, the characters and plots sprouted through my mind, “Athena from Zeus” so to speak, and sometimes with just as painful a labor. So, I love them all, am mother to them all, am them all. But my favorite is the mysterious, flirtatious Elder Gailyn. Unhindered by social custom, law or gravity, she literally enjoys the best of all worlds.