Across the Sun - Fun Facts

Aeden

Aeden is a name that co-author Bill really enjoys using when naming characters in RPG video games, and also the name of a character he’s played recently in a Dungeons and Dragons campaign.

Azacca

This is a traditional creole name. Across the Sun co-author Jason had prepared a short list of favorite potential character names, and co-author Bill liked this one the best.

Copperwolf

Copperwolf is a name co-author Jason used for a cohort character in an old Pathfinder campaign, and he’s loved the idea of that name ever since.

Gorram

Gorram’s name is derived from Goreme, the ancient city of rock (located in present-day Turkey). Evidently, some parts of the world say “gorram” as a replacement for “goddamn”, which is surprisingly fitting, considering this character’s stance on divine magic.

Gusk

Gusk is a major character in the next installment of the saga, but barely introduced in the first story. His name is inspired by a character from the Suikoden series, but also a shout out to US Olympic athlete Gus K(enworthy).

Laird

As an elf, his full name is Lairdesodys. Clever fans of classic literature might notice his name looks an awful lot like Laerdes, the father of Odysseus from Homer’s Odyssey. (See also “Ulyse”).

Mitra

Mitra is a real Bengali name meaning “friend”, but it is also close to a Japanese romanization of the word “mithril”, which, of course, was inspired by Tolkien’s writing. Such is the fantasy genre!

Niwa

The concept for Niwa’s name is from the kanji ニ話, which, as “nibanashi” can mean “story,” but is intended as “two speak”. When she summons, she can speak with the voice of another. For you horoscope fans, she’d be a gemini, haha.

Obry

Roughly reimagined from the character “Oburi” (オブリ) from the Uematsu Nobuo anime called “Kite” (カイト). As characters, they are not at all related, though.

Oxbow

The character “Oxbow” is named after the term for an acute bend in a river.

Ruccharieu

The name Ruccharieu is an invention. A rukh (roc) is a great bird that flies with the djinn. Karyu is a fire dragon in Japanese. We maintained the Arabic “kh” sound in the name, and eventually landed on this spelling.

Saba

Saba’s name is a variant of Sheba, which was the name of an ancient Arabian civilization.

Ulyse

The little girl Ulyse is a name inspired by Ulysses (Odysseus) from Homer’s Odyssey. We like to think of her appearance in the story as a harbinger of the sibling’s great adventure.

Venturi

An effect involving the constricted flow of water, named after its Italian physicist discoverer. You knew the water djinn would have water names, of course!

Xulphy

Azacca’s faithful animal companion is named Xulphy, which was inspired by Pakistani singer Zulfiqar “Xulfi” Jabbar Khan.

Crown

The only currency referenced in the story is “crowns,” which is an allusion to many European currencies. However, the story itself is not at all based in European culture, and crowns are only referenced in one notable transaction…

Quallee

The tikus community uses an iconic, giant wok when cooking for everyone. They call this a “quallee” (inspired from the Malay word “kuali”). Later, a quallee came to represent a tikus community itself, as it symbolizes just the right amount of tikus that can be fed by its meals. (This word does not appear in the first book of the Across the Sun series.)

Selat

Obry briefly references the Selat Islands. While very few locations in the story are actually named, the word “selat” means “strait” in Malay/Indonesian. Co-author Jason fascinated by the early development of the Strait of Malacca.

Silkray

The town of Silkray is named after a town in modern-day Iran known as Ray, which was a historic stop along the ancient Silk Road.

Starlings

The name of a common bird found in many varieties around the world. These birds are quite common in Rhode Island, where the saga was written. But also “starlings” are a nod to the “stars of destiny” - the unlikely coalition of characters who band together in the classic Chinese novel “The Story of Water Margin” or “李卓吾評忠義水滸傳”.

Zlam

The tikus people have their own language. They greet each other with “zlam,” which is an amalgam of the Arabic word “salaam” and the Hebrew word “shalom.”

Mother and Child Reunion

Many people may recognize Chapter 58, “Mother and Child Reunion”, as an homage to the song of the same name by Paul Simon. That song makes co-author Jason joyously cry without fail each time he hears it, and he consider it one of the most powerful songs for evoking feelings he’s ever heard.

Roadhouse

Chapter 20, “The Roadhouse”, is absolutely a nod to the 1989 film Roadhouse starring Patrick Swayze and Kelly Lynch. Co-author Jason loves a good movie taking place in America’s gulf coast.

Rook

We later learned that “Rook” is a main character in The Banner Saga. That game is visually beautiful. Ruccharieu “Rook” is a beloved character co-author Jason played in D&D from around 2012-2016. Their mutual name is just a fun coincidence!

Shining Swords

Early in the story, Aeden mentions a book called “Shining Swords” when joking around with Rook. In truth, this mention was just a shout out to the Shining Force series of video games made by Treasure in the 1990’s.

View From a Hill

Chapter 46, “View From a Hill”, is a nod to the 1988 album “Look Sharp” by Roxette. It’s safe to say one of these authors had all their CDs growing up. RIP Marie Fredriksson, you were magnificent.

Writing on the Wall

Chapter 54, “Writing on the Wall”, vaguely hearkens to an obscure song by a band from the eighties called Moon Martin. It’s a sort of early pop/ska sound you don’t hear much anymore, and after hearing it while writing, it really evoked an interesting mood.

Arcana

The full spell list of the first story is: create flame, silence, tailwind, snakebite, healing hands, uncanny image, light, suncross, burnish, summon, torrent, scald, create water, barrier, ward, boomstone, necrosis, blade spray, toxicity, and sluice.

Djinn

In Across the Sun, the djinn are people made from their respective elements, such as earth, water, air, and metal. There aren’t any fire djinn, as fire is more of an energy than a material, like a temporary state. The cognate might be star djinn, as stars are more enduring.

Engineering

The tikus camp has enhanced their community with various items they’ve scavenged from other settlements. This world is not a disposable economy like ours, but people still discard perfectly usable items sometimes: furniture, cookware, etc. The tikus have mastered the craft of restoring items.

Genocide

If you joined a new community and had the ability to speak to the dead, would you do so for these strangers? What if so many of their loved ones were killed, leaving them wanting answers? That’s the situation in which Niwa finds herself in the sequel to Across the Sun. It’s heavy.

Kliyd

For clarification, yes, Kliyd is trans. This is canon. The story discusses this briefly and with utmost care. She is a beloved character. You heard it here first!

Siblings

Many readers have asked the ages of the siblings. Ages were never mentioned in the story because different people’s experiences often make them grow up faster or slower than average. Unofficially, Aeden is about 18, Rook is about 17, Niwa is about 15, and Kliyd is about 14.

Technology

A sub-theme in the second story is understanding what arcana (magic) actually is. The key takeaway is recognizing a world in which people often learned and studied arcana instead of science. Over time, arcana eschews technology because technology isn’t needed. Why have both?

Tikus Camp

Imagine living in a community where basically no one has ever died from old age. That’s a tikus community in this world. We’re trying to wrap our heads around that now while working on a rough draft for the sequel. It’s wild.

Wild

Shier, leader of the tikus resistance, prefers to call her people “wild” instead of “free”. The words are synonyms, but the tikus know they cannot escape their rat lineage no matter how civilized they are. She thinks saying “wild” means to break down such pretenses and stay free.

Xenophobia

The beginning of the second book has Shier, leader of the tikus camp, making a tough decision: Can her village trust any outsiders, especially ones unlike them? Would an unintended consequence of rejecting others lead to xenophobia? Can the past be taught only in the abstract?

Abilities

Though inspired by D&D and Pathfinder, certain conventions don’t apply to this story. For example, we endeavored to make each character well-rounded (for gamers: this means less “min-max”). Each shows moments of intelligence, strength, will, and so on, because people are dynamic.

Camp

In book 2, readers are going to meet Shier for the first time. With any luck, they will be able to identify elements of her character that could be considered in the realm of camp subculture, but from a society never exposed to such a thing. She’s fabulous.

Closeness

We’re thinking about this world of Across the Sun and how there would be few or no mind-affecting drugs/prescriptions. What did our own ancestors do to cope when life was hard? Drink? Pray? At the tikus camp they’ve sort of discovered oxytocin in their culture of holding hands and tails…

Equipment

One feature largely absent in the story is the presence of magical items/weapons. Sure, this is fantasy, where magic exists. But it’s so much more rewarding to show characters learning and cultivating abilities, rather than them simply borrowing the magic of a sword or a ring.

Family

The original outline for Across the Sun featured eight siblings. There was a centaur sibling, a half-elf sibling, etc. Mercifully, the story is easier to follow now with only the four. One outlined sibling became Copperwolf, the savvy half-orc shapeshifter.

Maps

Another concept we’re pondering for the sequel is the idea of maps. Not to include one with the book (the goal is to not be concerned with maps in that way), but the idea that the siblings have never seen maps with political boundaries. Any maps would have been for directions. Hmm.

Outposts

We haven’t thought much about the undisclosed location (no spoilers) where Gorram and Saba might be (yet). The mental exercise, thus, is to think about your neighborhood as it is right now… then again with everyone gone, and you now see what others made of it instead ages ago.

Places

A reader might notice our story does not name the worlds, and only vaguely gives names to locations or directions. This was a conscious decision. Besides, it’s more about the journey than the destination.

Seclusion

In preparing for book two, we’re conceptualizing a hidden village of people and what the operations for such a place must be like. How do they make food? How do they remain hidden? Maybe it’s weird to say this, but it’s fun poking holes in the concept, making it better.

Spells

The spells/arcana used in the story are written in italics. This is primarily to make it clear these are spells being cast. The spell names are, for the most part, everyday words. Arcana in this story is intended as being more practical than silly.