A few weeks ago I hosted Adriana Ryan’s cover reveal for her debut novel, World of Shell and Bone. I had not read it yet because the book had not been released. Now I have, and I can assure you, it’s fantastic.
Adriana’s treatment of a feminist society come to power after nuclear war is dark and fascinating. Main character Vika Cannon is the flawed product of this grim world peopled by Nukeheads and Defecteaux—the victims of genetic mishaps—and those, like Vika, who have so far avoided the physical, if not emotional, nuclear fallout. Adriana’s writing manages to be chilling and beautiful, often in the same sentence, and her world building is fantastic. The overarching themes of the book are ever-present, but they serve the story, never preachy or moralizing. World of Shell and Bone is a powerful debut. But don’t just take my word for it. Check out her growing list of glowing reviews on Amazon.
Today I’m happy to share a guest post by Adriana, in which she tells us how she chose the unusual names for her main characters. Take it away, Adriana!
Vika, the heroine of World and Shell and Bone, explains early on that everyone in New Amana is named a particular way. Males are named for rocks and minerals—things that come out of the earth—because they are lower on the totem pole than females. Females, in turn, are named for stars, planets, and satellites: heavenly bodies. So, clearly, I had to limit myself to names that stuck with the theme.
I usually already have a “feel” for my main character’s name when I begin to think of her story. I knew I wanted Vika’s name to have a “v” and “k” sound. When I saw that Vika was the name of a minor planet, I knew that was to be my main character’s name. It just felt exactly right. (For reference, I used this link to find her name: http://www.minorplanetcenter.net/iau/lists/MPNames.html#V and this link to find the names of some other female characters: http://planetarynames.wr.usgs.gov/Page/Planets)
As for Shale, I already knew what I wanted his name to be. It came at me fully formed, making my work easy! I used Google to look up some other male names, but since the Rads in the book use “old world” names, it was a relatively uncomplicated task.
Naming your characters is always fun, but I really enjoyed the challenge with World of Shell and Bone because of the constraints within which I had to work. I’m sure the same is true for you, A.G., since your characters’ names in The Scourge have special meaning, too!
Yes, I agree that using a theme for character names is a challenge. It limits the choices, but also seems to infuse more meaning into each name and each character. I believe that names hold great power to influence what people think of the character from the first time they read it, so I always choose carefully. Thank you for joining me today, Adriana, and congratulations on the early success of World of Shell and Bone!
About Adriana Ryan:
Adriana lives and writes in beautiful Charleston, SC. A huge fan of spooky stuff and shoes, she enjoys alternately hitting up the historic graveyards and outlet malls. World of Shell and Bone is her first book.
Reach Adriana at her website, Twitter, Facebook, or Goodreads.
In a world ravaged by a nuclear holocaust, Vika Cannon knows there are no guarantees: no guarantees of safety, no guarantees that your neighbor is not actually a spy for the government, and no guarantees you’ll be allowed to emigrate to a new life in Asia.
New Amana is dying. Food and water are scarce, and people suffering from radiation-caused mutations—the Nukeheads—are the new class of homeless.
Vika has just one purpose: to produce healthy progeny using a Husband assigned by the Match Clinic. Unhealthy children are carted away to Asylums to be experimented on, just as Vika’s little sister Ceres was, eight years ago. Parents incapable of producing healthy progeny are put to death in gas chambers.
When she’s assigned a Husband shortly after her twentieth birthday, Vika expects him to be complacent and obedient. But Shale Underwood has a secret. He is a member of the Radicals, the terrorist group intent on overthrowing the government. And Shale has information about Ceres.
As she learns more about the Rads’s plan, Vika finds herself drawn to Shale in ways she’d never imagined. When freedom calls in the way of a healthy pregnancy, will she betray her government and risk death for Shale and Ceres?
Buy World of Shell and Bone at: Amazon, Barnes and Noble, and Kobo. Other formats to follow soon!