I am a collector of words and like to have an arsenal ready to communicate precisely. It is a delight to find just the right ones to convey what I want to say. That applies to names too. If you have read any of my stories or portions of them, you would know that I have many and varied names for just about anything. This practice is not limited to inside the story. Some of you have asked, and I would like to explain the meaning or raison d’etre of a few monikers.

The Beginning

The title seems like a good place to start. Why is my book called Adamant in Dust? The short answer is that the main character, Pergi, is a tough cookie that won’t be crushed in the dust. But there are a few more nuances. The Far Stone Cycle series tells of the adventures of four supernatural stones. Each book centers around a single stone. The one in Adamant in Dust is Endurant, the Stone of strength. Besides describing an unyielding quality, the word adamant also means an unbreakable stone, like a diamond. So, the title is a play on words conveying the working of the Stone along with Pergi’s indomitable will—perhaps one enhancing the other—to fight their enemies, who consider them little more than dust. They’ll find out how wrong they are.

The song and Glory

Most authors set their name as the domain for their website. Very sensible, easing discoverability and retention. But of course, I couldn’t do things the easy way. Instead, mine is the cryptic phrase, airofanother. What’s that about? In my defense, I created the website before I learned much about marketing, so I opted for the metaphorical rather than strategic. In the book there is a song called “The Song of the Air”. It speaks of pilgrims bringing near the fragrance of the air of another. This another is the resplendent land from whence they came and that calls them home. For me, it is a reminder, in my writing and life, of my own true home and Lord. Maybe it’s not so bad to have always before me this memorial of where the joy and glory are.

Speaking of glory, do you know the name of my imprint? Props to all who can answer this obscure question. It’s SoliD Glory Writs. No, the capital D is not a typo, even though most businesses I deal with insist on lowering the case. You can get a clue to its meaning from the OG Bach, Johann Sebastian, who has his 339^th birthday today, March 21. He used to write the initials “S. D. G.” at the end of his musical compositions. It stands for Soli Deo Gloria, a Latin phrase meaning Glory to God alone. My own abbreviation of this phrase works it into something that adds another shade of significance. Any other glory I seek is flimsy, like a wisp of cloud. If I should lean on it, I will fall. What stands is His solid glory.

The Other Name

That brings us to the most personal name, my pen name. Willamette Sutta is a figment of my imagination but did not come entirely out of the blue. I debated about sharing this origin story because I’m not sure what you will make of it. But I’ll leave that to you.

Long, long ago… I was in college. In those primitive times there wasn’t much for amusement besides TV—not a flat screen but a curved one with the bulky cathode ray tube. My friend and I sat in a common room watching a show. When a commercial came on, my attention wandered. I heard the phrase, “It’s a sheet,” from the television, and my friend said to me, “That’s you.” It was an advertisement for Wamsutta sheets. That brand is not around anymore, but it was a line of high quality bed sheets with artistic designs. The name captured my imagination. I determined that if I became an author, I would use a pen name that could be shortened to it. Yes, I already wanted to be a writer back then. In time, Willamette was born. Why did my friend say that was me, you may wonder? Now, that would be telling. Not yet.

But there is another point of irony in the story. That friend became a professional narrator and is currently recording my audiobook. She wanted to know where my pen name came from and has no memory of how she gave it to me those many years ago. But now that you know, you may call me Wam. Maybe you can start a trend, or it’ll stay the exclusive privilege of the faithful fans who read to the end of my blog posts. And I’ll know who you are.