On Being Someone Else

Here's the idea.  I want to give self-publishing a go, but I also don't want to do with with my main books because I still have hopes that those will be picked up somewhere and published.  So, I thought why not take the couple of sci-fi stories I've written and publish them under a pseudonym.  They're of the longer variety and easy to box into a genre, so let's try that.

First step, pick a name.
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Now it can't just be any name.  "Bob Smith" doesn't cut it.  Nor does "Dan Taylor."  No, it needs to be something memorable, possibly even more memorable than the story itself.  It needs to be a Kilgore Trout kind of name.  Absurd, but believable, but only if you're willing to accept that the person in question has bizarre social tendencies and some sort of collection of things, like thimbles or antique power tools.

Enter the local Maritime Museum.  On their grounds, they have a grounded boat for kids to play on and on that boat is written, in orange on grey, the name I've been looking for.

Because why the hell not?

So Thor Bozman was born, and I created a Twitter account for him and started amassing followers (always an uncomfortable thing to me) and I was all set to seriously look into publishing under that name and then a nagging thought finally made enough noise in my head that I had to listen.

"What if they take issue with me using the name?"

I'm not sure why they would, but who knows?  My stories aren't gruesome or risque.  Sure, there are adult themes and some violence, but nothing too bad.  Still, it's their boat and their sign and so since I have a friend that works there I asked, and then she asked above her, and now I'm waiting to hear.

If they say they're not cool with it, my version of Thor Bozman will die shortly after he was born and some other bizarro name will rise to fill the void.  I hope they allow it, though, since I like the local flavor of the thing and it will be a funny thing to go see the boat after something is published and think, "Hey, that's me!"

We shall see.  For now, I wait.  I haven't felt this anxious and impatient since I sent Boff my story and never heard back.

UPDATE:  I heard back today that I have been given the greenlight to use the name.  I'm beyond happy and am now putting things together to upload my first short novel, called "How Xander Saved the World."

Thor Bozman lives!