More Questions from an L.E. Modesitt Fan

skull · Post by **skull** » Tue Oct 12, 2004 6:25 pm

mr. modesitt i was wondering where you come up with the ideas for the names that you use in your books? such as the countries and characters.

lmodesitt · Post by **lmodesitt** » Tue Oct 12, 2004 8:57 pm

I'm not sure that I can provide an answer that will be either enlightening or satisfying. A few of the names are adaptations of names of people I know. Others come from adaptations of names in other languages -- such as the place names in the Spellsong Cycle, which have a Germanic basis. Of course, a number of the names in the "Ghost" books are Dutch in their origin. Others come from French and Latin. And then, there are those which I created. For all of them, however, I try to stick to the rule that they need to be fairly easy to pronounce.

L. E. Modesitt, Jr.

Hunter B · Post by **Hunter B** » Tue Oct 12, 2004 9:02 pm

I believe I noticed some Norse influence in some of them.........

lmodesitt · Post by **lmodesitt** » Tue Oct 12, 2004 9:05 pm

I'll admit to stealing names from the Norse, the Japanese, and the Chinese as well... plus probably a few more.

L. E. Modesitt, Jr.

Hunter B · Post by **Hunter B** » Tue Oct 12, 2004 9:17 pm

Yeah, the one that struck me as the most memorable, was the name of the tallest peak in the Easthorns, Freyja. It would be too easy to name the ones in the Fires of Paratime. The thing that struck me as funny though (or strange), was that Loki was the grandson of Ragnarok.

Gil galad · Post by **Gil galad** » Wed Oct 13, 2004 11:49 pm

Heh, i did notice that you reused the word Gairloch, once for a person and once for a horse.

Hunter B · Post by **Hunter B** » Thu Oct 14, 2004 12:38 am

Wasn't it Gairloch and Gerlich? Or am I confused?

lmodesitt · Post by **lmodesitt** » Thu Oct 14, 2004 11:58 am

Strange... I posted this before, but it didn't stay.

As my memory serves me, Hunter is correct. Gairloch was the name of Lerris's pony, and the name comes from a town in Scotland, while Gerlich was a character.

L. E. Modesitt, Jr.

Gil galad · Post by **Gil galad** » Thu Oct 14, 2004 10:58 pm

Ecologic Envoy, Chap2

"He struggled momentarily before realising that the man was the Prime Ecolitan himself, Gairloch Pittsway."

does my book simply have a typo?

RecluceMage · Post by **RecluceMage** » Fri Oct 15, 2004 7:59 am

No Gil, I believe that Gairlich was a name of a character in a different book, and that you may have found something entirely different. I knew about Gairloch the pony, but not the character. Was the Ecologic envoy character the one everyone was thinking of?

Post by **Ghost** » Fri Oct 15, 2004 8:19 am

Gil galad wrote:Ecologic Envoy, Chap2

"He struggled momentarily before realising that the man was the Prime Ecolitan himself, Gairloch Pittsway."

Does my book simply have a typo?

No Gil galad, I thik you are right, Gerlich (if I remeber correctly) was a minor white wizard in the Recluce series. If someone can confirm this - I think it is worth a Sherlock.

Post by **Kvetch** » Fri Oct 15, 2004 12:07 pm

I remember the two gairlochs too.

Gerlich was (medium size spoiler, so I'll black it out) one of the people on the Winterlance

Spoiler: show

lmodesitt · Post by **lmodesitt** » Fri Oct 15, 2004 1:57 pm

I stand corrected, although I must say I was thinking of last or only names, rather than first names.

L. E. Modesitt, Jr.

Post by **Kvetch** » Fri Oct 15, 2004 2:30 pm

Do you find it depressing that we memorise this trivia?
Does the name Gairloch have any specific significance to you?

Also, there was a (VERY) minor character in one of the Recluce books who shared a name with a main-ish caracter. A child in Recluce itself I think

Gil galad · Post by **Gil galad** » Fri Oct 15, 2004 3:44 pm

I only remembered it because when i read Envoy i laughed when i saw it and tried to think out some possible connection between the two names.

lmodesitt · Post by **lmodesitt** » Fri Oct 15, 2004 7:03 pm

The only connection is that I liked the name of the town in Scotland...

L. E. Modesitt, Jr.

Post by **Kvetch** » Sat Oct 16, 2004 11:29 am

that's a GOOD connection!

Gil galad · Post by **Gil galad** » Tue Oct 19, 2004 3:31 pm

I was wondering based on some of the views you've expressed about ecological sustainablity, what kind of car you drive, also how you envision the future of transport given the coming energy crisis.

lmodesitt · Post by **lmodesitt** » Tue Oct 19, 2004 4:57 pm

Because we live at 6,000 feet on a hill just below the mountains, both our vehicles are 4 wheel drive. One is a five year old Toyota 4Runner that gets about 18mph, and is also used to transport such things as opera sets. The other is a smaller and more economical RAV that gets much better mileage.

As in all matters, they're a compromise between ideal mileage and what we need in the rest of our life.

I doubt that we'll have the kind of transport crisis that most environmental extremists envision. There's more oil and natural gas out there than most people realize. The problem isn't supply per se, but the cost of supply. What I foresee [and like all prophets, I could be very wrong] is a continual but gradual escalation of prices as cheaper supplies face greater price competition from emerging nations such as China. Along with the restructuring of the American economy, this is going to put enormous cost pressure on the middle class, particularly longer distance commuters, because most can't move any closer to their work than they already are without paying a great deal more for less space and adequate schooling. I don't see any easy way out, either, since the whole suburban structure has been based on cheap energy and personal transport. Mass transit won't work in most areas because population density is too low -- at least not without enormous government subsidies, which will require higher taxes, most of which will again fall on the middle class. The same is true for alternative fuels useful for transportation. What most people fail to realize is that gasoline prices in the USA, adjusted for inflation, aren't significantly different from what they were forty years ago, and according to some economists, are actually cheaper in terms of purchasing power. We've spent half a century building a society based on subsidized highways and comparatively cheap energy, and given the personal and capital investment in that structure, any readjustment is going to be painful -- and despite the rhetoric, will have to fall on the middle class [rich as some individuals may be, there aren't enough of the rich to foot the bill, even doubling, tripling their taxes -- even confiscating their wealth, which won't work -- and the poor don't have the income].

Politically, this will probably mean more rhetoric about drilling in wilderness areas, but will result in even more U.S. meddling in the Middle East.

So-called sustainability won't happen until it becomes absolutely necessary, because, no matter what people say, they don't want to pay any more for anything than they have to, and in a competitive world economy, the economics will trump the environment -- particularly as long as the USA can improve its environmental conditions while exporting pollution to the rest of the world.

Cynical? Yes, but I fear realistic.

L. E. Modesitt, Jr

Hunter B · Post by **Hunter B** » Tue Oct 19, 2004 6:04 pm

Great answer Mr. Modesitt

I was wondering if you would ever do an autobiography. I know I wouldn't, for a couple of reasons: 1) My life is too boring up to this point 2) I would be too tempted to exaggerate.

What are your thoughts?

Hunter

lmodesitt · Post by **lmodesitt** » Wed Oct 20, 2004 10:53 am

I have no plans to do an autobiography, because anything I'd want published wouldn't interest most people, and what might interest them I'd rather not see published. [After all, any man whose lived any length of time has things he'd rather not see in print because they reflect either cluelessness, stupidity, or ignorance, if not all three.]

L. E. Modesitt, Jr.

RecluceMage · Post by **RecluceMage** » Wed Oct 20, 2004 11:24 am

Ok, how about this...

a guide to the Recluce World, with pictures, maps, a glossary of terms and place names, plus some short stories on the main characters and some of the "untold" stories of the background characters. I would certainly buy it....

lmodesitt · Post by **lmodesitt** » Wed Oct 20, 2004 11:38 am

At some point, a Recluce Guide might be possible, but not at the moment.

L. E. Modesitt, Jr.

Post by **Kvetch** » Wed Oct 20, 2004 11:56 am

If that happens, PLEASE avoid the whole cheezy (I meant to spell that with a z) 'official guide' route: I tend to buy them in the hope they might have somthing interesting, but they always seem to have no content, and to be priced at about twice that of the book.

y'know what I mean: 'and in the third year after the founding of Calamari, bonobo the king called a great council of wise men to predict the time of the next fall of the golden star of lupak.' - a load of waffle, but no actual content. (although it would help us with the RPG! - which is going well, btw)

Mind you, I suspect you wouldn't go that way anyway since it would clash with the content of your books

plus some short stories on the main characters and some of the "untold" stories of the background characters. I would certainly buy it....

I agree with this bit though.

I'd buy it too.

mind you, I'd buy anything, right down to a Recluce T-shirt - I'm a sucker for that stuff.

RecluceMage · Post by **RecluceMage** » Wed Oct 20, 2004 12:59 pm

No, I don't like the cheezy ones either, their only redeeming quality being some awesome art. I just find it hard to keep track each time we talk about all the different characters and places; my memory is not so good, and I often don't remember all the charcters' names, what book they were in, and all the different names of cities and nations. So, one big book with all of that would be great!

It could even be packaged along with a collector T-shirt, pin, or poster...

And before you ask, Yes, I am proud to be a consumer whore.

The Internet Book Database of Fiction

More Questions from an L.E. Modesitt Fan

Names

Names

Similarities

Gairloch

Connections

Vehicles and Sustainability

Autobiography

Recluce Guide