Tuesday 11 April 2017

Musing Mondays - favourite fictional names & some comics I bought


Musing Monday, March 27, 2017

Musing Mondays is a weekly meme that asks you to choose one of the following prompts to answer:


  • I’m currently reading…
  • Up next I think I’ll read…
  • I bought the following book(s) in the past week…
  • I’m super excited to tell you about (book/author/bookish-news)…
  • I’m really upset by (book/author/bookish-news)…
  • I can’t wait to get a copy of…
  • I wish I could read ___, but…
  • I blogged about ____ this past week…

I bought the following book(s) in the past week…



Angel Catbird, Volume 2: To Castle Catula
by Margaret Atwood

When I first heard about the first book, Angel Catbird, Volume 1 I had several reactions, confusion, curiosity and amusement chief among them. I was confused firstly because I had no idea why Margaret Atwood, who I've only ever known as a serious author was into comics let alone into writing comics. I now know, after reading volume 1 on Saturday, that she's a big comic fan. I am absolutely intrigued by that piece of knowledge!
I was also confused because what on earth is an Angel Catbird, haha, but that was also the source of my curiosity I had to know more! And that's also where the amusement kicked in. So it's been on my wishlist for ages, and when I was ordering something else off of Amazon and needed to make up the amount for free shipping I just threw volume one into the cart a few weeks ago.

Then as soon as I was finished with volume 1 I immediately ordered the second volume and added the 3rd to my wish list so I can buy it when it's released later this year. Here's the summary for volume 2:

The cat-centric adventure continues, in the all-ages follow-up to best-selling novelist Margaret Atwood's debut graphic novel. Genetic engineer Strig Feleedus, also known as Angel Catbird, and his band of half-cats head to Castle Catula to seek allies as the war between cats and rats escalates. Margaret Atwood, the respected, worldwide best-selling novelist, and acclaimed artist Johnnie Christmas continue their action-packed adventure! -- via Goodreads
What made volume 1 great to me was that it was total and complete nonsense and I have high hopes that volume 2 will be more of the same. I love utter nonsense in my fiction and comics :D. I also ordered another book last week. This one was mentioned in the ads at the back of Angel Catbird, Volume 1.

The Secret Loves of Geek Girls
by Hope Nicholson (ed.)

So why did I buy this one? Three reasons. Reason 1 I recognised the names of some authors names as authors I either like or have heard good things about. Margaret Atwood among them, there's also Marjorie Liu (whose Monstress series has been on my want to read list for eons it feels like), Noelle Stevenson (of Nimona and Lumberjanes fame) and Carla Speed McNeil (whose Finder Library I've had out from work for ages because I want to read it.). Reason 2 is because all the authors are females, and all of the comics count as stories - therefore I can use this to fulfil one of the challenges from one of my 2017 reading challenges to read a collection of stories by women. Reason 3 is really the easiest, I kind of love the subject matter, as a geek girl how could I not?

I'm really excited for this one to come now because I am super curious to see what it's all about. I'd never heard of it before I saw the preview at the back of Angel Catbird.

Here's the summary:

The Secret Loves of Geek Girls is a non-fiction anthology mixing prose, comics, and illustrated stories on the lives and loves of an amazing cast of female creators. Featuring work by Margaret Atwood (The Heart Goes Last), Mariko Tamaki (This One Summer), Trina Robbins (Wonder Woman), Marguerite Bennett (Marvel's A-Force), Noelle Stevenson (Nimona), Marjorie Liu (Monstress), Carla Speed McNeil (Finder), and over fifty more creators. It's a compilation of tales told from both sides of the tables: from the fans who love video games, comics, and sci-fi to those that work behind the scenes: creators and industry insiders.  -- via Goodreads

        THIS WEEK’S RANDOM QUESTION: What’s the coolest name you have ever seen in a book? Would you name your offspring after said fictional character?


So as Angie will certainly attest from all of out many, many years roleplaying together - I am more than mildly obsessed with names. And I have a particular interest in unusual and even weird names, I've thrown a couple of doozies at her over the years only to have her completely turn them down. So instead of writing a giant long paragraph about why I love names and what kind of names I love I am just going to make a list of 25 of my favourite fictional names because I really think that's as few as I can narrow it down to:


  1. Myron Wagtail - one of the Weird Sisters from Harry Potter
  2. James Rasmussen - from LJ Smith's Secret Vampire
  3. Poppy North - James's love interest
  4. Sabriel - the title character in Sabriel
  5. Effie Trinket - Katniss and Peeta's Capitol liaison in The Hunger Games
  6. Doreen Green - Squirrel Girl
  7. Magnus Chase - the title character from Magnus Chase and the Gods of Asgard
  8. Thalia Grace - one of Artemis's huntresses in Percy Jackson/Lost Heroes of Olympus/Hidden Oracle
  9. Finley Jayne - the first main character in the Steampunk Chronicles
  10. Newton Artemis Fido Scamander - from Harry Potter and Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them
  11. Artemis Fowl - title character in the Artemis Fowl series
  12. Tally - the main character in Uglies
  13. Cormoran Strike - JK Rowling's detective
  14. Isabeau St. Croix - a vampire from the Drake Chronicles, specifically one of the leads in Blood Feud
  15. Rio Richlin - one of the POV characters of Front Lines
  16. Rainy Schulterman - another of the POV characters of Front Lines
  17. Annwyl the Bloody - the Queen in G.A. Aiken's Dragon Kin series. This series is full of characters with fantastically over the top titles 
  18. Ramona Flowers - from Scott Pilgrim
  19. Odd Thomas - from Odd Thomas
  20. Claire Trevelyan - main character from Lady of Devices
  21. Elvie Nara - main character from Mothership
  22. Cimorene - from the Enchanted Forest Chronicles
  23. Dominique Vide - from Shattered Mirror and All Just Glass
  24. Nymphadora Tonks - from Harry Potter
  25. Ford Prefect - from the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy

As I do not plan on ever having children - no I would not ever name my offspring after any of these characters. But I would sure as hell use them as names for pets!



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