I love talking about the stories and answering reader questions. There’s one question that my beta readers asked that has been cropping up again with Kindle readers, so let’s address it: “Why so many f-bombs?”
Yes, one of our heroes, Timriel Jackson, reeeeally loves the word “fuck”. It is his favorite word in the new language he has learned – or maybe it is an amusing form of protest. Always hard to tell with that guy. Whatever Timriel’s reasons may be, I had practical reasons for using the word: It establishes that at least two languages are spoken in this world, and that Palm and Timriel are outsiders to the culture that speaks one of those languages, and it does so in a way that is active, maybe a little offensive, but certainly definitive. In short: if you are offended by the opening sentence, at least we’ve quickly established that this ain’t for you. If you aren’t offended, however, settle in. This’ll be interesting.
