Kevin's Watch

In the GI was wrote:Michael from Santa Fe: OK, you're starting to scare me. As we all know it was discovered that Stephen Donaldson is an anagram for LAND NEEDS PHOTONS - thus giving us a clue on the direction of the Last Chronicles and the scourge of Kevin's Dirt. I decided to see how far you were going to push this, so I took the first letters of all the titles of the Last Chronicles: TROTEFRAATETLD and got:

LOFTED TARTRATE

My first thought was geez, the guy is even throwing his obscure words at us even through his anagrams! "LOFTED", of course, would refer to the fact that Kevin's Dirt has been lofted into the air. Looking up what tartrate is and I find out that it's: a salt or ester of tartaric acid. Tartaric acid turns out is one of the main acids found in wine! Excellent! Good job on this, I like the fact that Kevin's Dirt is composed of one of my favorite beverages. Perhaps I'll order a "Kevin's Dirt" next time I'm at a bar and see what I get. Other than thrown out. Keep hidin' the clues and we'll keep findin' them.

<sigh> Now why didn't *I* think of using an anagram-generator instead of trying so hard to come up with my own names?

(01/11/2010)

wayfriend wrote:I will now have to invent a drink called Kevin's Dirt.

wayfriend wrote:I will now have to invent a drink called Kevin's Dirt.

wayfriend wrote:Sereach,

Seareach wrote:But I meant that as a compliment!

In the Gradual Interview was wrote:Gary Barnett: Dear Mr Donaldson,

Firstly, many thanks for offering this facility. I find it quite amazing that I have the potential to ask a direct question! And actually, I'm going to venture two...

As a UK reader, who first subsumed himself in your Thomas Covenant books back in the early 80s, I now find myself reading the Last Chronicles (having happened upon them in a bookshop - afraid all your time consuming personal promotion of them (that I read about here) failed to reach me)! I now realise, however, that I should have gone back and re-read the First and Second Chronicles before embarking on the Last Chronicles - there is too much mythology and background to the Land that I have quite forgotten. So I read with interest your statement that the original UK editions contain "many typos, a number of which substantially alter the meaning". Before I restart Lord Foul's Bane, are there any particular typos which change meaning that I should be aware of? (By the way, I see you are disatisfied with your UK publishers in some way, but they did at least provide by far the best cover art for the frst two Chronicles.)

Secondly, I am interested by your choice of names in the books - I am working on the premise that they were carefully chosen. Two names have always struck me as rather odd choices. Firstly I can confirm that Kevin (at least from a UK perspective - where the name Kevin is very much of the 60/70s and now actually associated with silent ungrateful teenage boys) is seriously bizarre following on from Berek, Damon, Loric - and I have searched and found your answer that this is just accident and that from your perspective, there is no oddity here (I too had assumed like some other readers that it would be revealed at some stage that he had come from our world.) The other name (and I can find no explanation on your site) is Hile Troy. I have never heard of anyone with the real first name "Hile". And "Troy" is full of mythological potential. So it seems an odd choice for someone from our world. Was the intent to give this person a name more fitting to a resident of the Land to deepen Covenant's confusion over the reality of the Land and whether in fact someone with the name Hile Troy could have "really" come from his own world?

And a final throw-away on names? Are there any names of characters that, in retrospect, you would have changed? (Apologies, but to me, "Lord Foul" ultimately seemed a little too obvious...".)

Many thanks for many many hours of enjoyable reading.

Gary

• I'm not going to try to compile a list of all the substantive typos I've found in the UK "Covenant" editions (incidentally, LFB is by far the worst): I can't afford the time. But I'll give you one example. LFB, page one, end of the 4th paragraph: the UK edition refers to "the right mechanism of his will"; but of course that should be "the *tight* mechanism".
  
  I've discussed some of your questions about names before. In general, they're very carefully chosen--but not always for obvious reasons. (For example, "Thomas Covenant" and "Sunder" are pretty obvious: "Hollian" and "Linden Avery" may not be.) I don't feel the same "oddity" you do about Kevin. (And how come no one objects to "Trevor"?) I *have* personally known a man named "Hile". However, when I picked the name for my character, I was thinking in German: loosely "Hail Fidelity". The reference to the Troy of legend was incidental. As for Lord Foul: as I've said before, I was young and unpublished, had nothing to lose, and saw no reason not to be overt about my archtypal intentions. If I were starting the whole project today, I would probably want to be more subtle. However (he said ruefully), the name I most wish I could change is "krill". When I picked that name for Loric's dagger, I had no idea that it was a real word--or that its real meaning isn't even remotely useful for my intentions. <sigh> And the second worst name, from my perspective, is "Elemesnedene," for the simple reason that the spelling encourages a grating mispronunciation. Who would guess from that spelling that I meant "ele-main-DEAN"?
  
  (01/11/2010)

aliantha wrote:He's right. *I* sure wouldn't have guessed "ele-main-DEAN".

dlbpharmd wrote:

aliantha wrote:He's right. *I* sure wouldn't have guessed "ele-main-DEAN".

Scott Brick talked about that in one of his blogs. It's always been "el-a-MES-na-DEAN" to me, and shall remain so.

Seareach wrote:

dlbpharmd wrote:

aliantha wrote:He's right. *I* sure wouldn't have guessed "ele-main-DEAN".

Scott Brick talked about that in one of his blogs. It's always been "el-a-MES-na-DEAN" to me, and shall remain so.

yep, I'm with you dlb.

dlbpharmd wrote:

Seareach wrote:

dlbpharmd wrote: Scott Brick talked about that in one of his blogs. It's always been "el-a-MES-na-DEAN" to me, and shall remain so.

yep, I'm with you dlb.

Of course you are, you know a good thing when you see it.

Seareach wrote:

dlbpharmd wrote:

aliantha wrote:He's right. *I* sure wouldn't have guessed "ele-main-DEAN".

Scott Brick talked about that in one of his blogs. It's always been "el-a-MES-na-DEAN" to me, and shall remain so.

yep, I'm with you dlb.

sindatur wrote:Thirded, almost. Elle-mez-na-dean

SRD wrote:(And how come no one objects to "Trevor"?)

matrixman wrote:I'm pretty sure someone here said it before, but Elemesnedene must be French. When you think about the Elohim's fashion sense...

SRD wrote:(And how come no one objects to "Trevor"?)

Maybe it's because Lord Trevor just wasn't an important enough character to occupy readers' thoughts.
(Introducing Elena, Mhoram and Hyrim...and in the back, Trevor, Nigel and Henry on bongos...give them a hand!)
But SRD's point stands, all the same.