I know everyone is waiting with bated breath for the release of Tap & Gown. Okay, I know that *I* am waiting with bated breath for the release, so it stands to reason that where I go, so goes the rest of the known universe, right?
I haven’t yet been given permission to post excerpts of T&G for your viewing pleasure (permission=Diana notices that it’s gone upon Amazon, and really, do not get Diana started on the disgusting version of the T&G cover currently on Amazon; rest assured that the actual cover of T&G is this beautiful coral and indigo, not ugly puke yellow) but really, if you want to read the first chapter, just turn to your copy of Rites of Spring (Break). It’s right there in the back.
Which means that if I were going to post something, it should probably be something DIFFERENT, right?
Something like teasing you with chapter titles, or random excerptlets, or confessions. Something like this:
“Want to come inside?” I asked.
He leaned against the door jamb. “It is late.”
“Yeah.”
“And it’s a long walk home.”
“Yeah.”
“So if I did come in—”
“You probably should stay,” I finished.
“Yeah.”
There you go. Excerptlet, galore!
Now, let’s play a game. I think I’ll give out prizes, but I don’t know what they’ll be. All you have to do to enter is amuse me with answers to the following questions:
1. If you were tapped by Rose & Grave, what would you want your society name to be, and why?
2. Imagine that you a tattoo of the R&G seal, just like Amy and the other Diggirls did. Where would you get it?
(Thanks to PurpleRanger for the questions!)
March 24th, 2009 at 10:57 am
1. SPACELORD – for my overwhelming awesomeness – or my ability to totally space on what it is that I am supposed to be doing.
2. Somewhere manly, like my bulging bicep or my ankle, or the small of my back — uh, manly ankle and manly back.
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March 24th, 2009 at 11:00 am
Actually, Patrick, that WOULD be your name, I think.
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March 24th, 2009 at 11:46 am
Society name has got to be Mini Mars….VERONICA IS AWESOME!
And for the tattoo I have a few options. Hipbone, shoulder blade or the inside of my foot…all respectable places for a tattoo.
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March 24th, 2009 at 11:53 am
Laurie, I’ve always wanted a tattoo on the bottom of my foot like Alan Rickman in that hair competition movie. So sexy!
But my more knowledgeable friends say tattooing the bottom of your foot is not only incredibly painful, but it fades real fast from being used.
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March 24th, 2009 at 12:01 pm
Let’s see a society name for me would be Ocey (pronounced = O-see) cause I am kinda OCD about things and really into organization.
As for the tattoo, I think the foot, lower back, hip bone are all appropriate but I think I would also maybe get it on my side along the ribcage since that would be easily hidden too!
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March 24th, 2009 at 12:03 pm
Based on my own college days, I probably would have been a “Lucky” — and you aren’t getting any more information on that score.
It should be obvious what my choice would be — the ID I use when I leave comments here, “PurpleRanger.” As for its origins, I’m a Power Rangers fan, and purple is my favorite color. (And I suspect that it would probably be shortened to either PR, Purple, or Purp in general usage.)
But if that was deemed unsuitable, I would want “Le Sphinx.” First, it has a classical feel to it. Second, “Le Sphinx” is the French name for one of my favorite characters from the comics. Yes, I speak in enigmas, and there is a reason.
As for the tattoo, assuming I could overcome my trypanophobia, I think I would want it in the location of Francisco Scaramanga’s extra body part. (Let’s see if anyone gets the reference.)
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March 24th, 2009 at 12:29 pm
Hmmm. I am struggling with the first question but the second one is easy. I would get it on the back of my neck. My hair would hide it most of the time, but when Poe lifted my hair to go at my neck (a girl can dream, right?) he would see it and get further “into” the moment.
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March 24th, 2009 at 12:37 pm
Deeply fannish, PR!
(also, I was like “you mean his fake eye?” because I’ve clearly played too many video games. My dad would be so disappointed. Clearly time for a Bondathon Chez Diana.)
And I totally had to google Le Sphinx. I doubt any of the knights are that imaginative! You’d get stuck with the American version, I fear.
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March 24th, 2009 at 12:55 pm
Squee! Thanks for the excerptlet, Diana!
If I were in R&G, I definitely would have been Little Demon (I’m only 5ft tall!), but that’s no fun, right? So I think my society name would be Orlando, after my favorite author Virginia Woolf’s gender-bending, fantasy-fiction novel. It’s literary, it’s gorgeously wrought, and Orlando is an intrepid, plucky wanderer, managing to gracefully traverse the vagaries of gender, politics, art, etc. It’s what I’d WANT to be, so, yeah. I’m naming myself Orlando.
As for the tattoo, I already have one on my back, so I think it would be redundant to get one there like Amy. I think I’d go with the fleshy part of my leg just above my right ankle or something.
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March 24th, 2009 at 1:29 pm
1) I think I’d like to be “Jo.” A lot of the Digger names have literary references, and this covers that. I have writing aspirations like the character Jo, so it fits on that end too. And Jo was a character trying to assert herself in a man’s world in LW, so I think it’s an appropriate name for a diggirl.
2) I think the inside of my wrist. Discretion is important, and this way, it could always be covered by a watch. I think intimate areas of the body have to be crossed off, unless the person you are getting intimate with is a Digger, and society incest is bad, right??? However, if Poe WERE an option, then I’m onboard with what anonymous said above – anywhere he could see it and it would turn him on.
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March 24th, 2009 at 1:35 pm
Karole,
You’d probably have to be “Jo March” in the “Tristram Shandy” tradition.
Inside of your wrist, huh? How very SKULLS of you! Yeah, I never did deal with the fallout of having your tattoo someplace your lovers see. Then again, most of the Diggirls aren’t exactly HIDING them, like Angel in UTR, and Thorndike well, period. I think Poe even makes reference to the lack of discretion in their tattoos at some point in ROSB.
It’s rather ridiculous, the idea that you could actually keep that kind of secret from your lover. Josh doesn’t last too long, you’ll note.
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March 24th, 2009 at 1:48 pm
Haha – I had forgotten about the branding scene in Skulls – funny, because my fellow co-SSG-reader/friend and I are planning to watch that in May in prep for the T&G release. Getting into the whole secret society vibe and everything, you know…
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March 24th, 2009 at 2:08 pm
1)Hmm… although it’s not the most original, I think that my society name would be Sleepy because I am ALWAYS tired even though it seems like all I do is sleep
2)Alright, I think I would put my tattoo on my lower back
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March 24th, 2009 at 2:57 pm
I choose Edna Pontellier, as she’s one of my favorite characters from all of literature. But it’s not a very good Digger name, I don’t think.
Tattoo position? Where ever it causes the least pain! Can it be done in Henna?
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March 24th, 2009 at 3:58 pm
I’d like my society name to be Sanka. That character from Cool Runnings? I think that’s soooo me. Colorful, goofy, fun loving, running a t-shirt stand on the beach
And when I was college-aged, I was very HIGH OCTANE so always seemingly pepped up on caffeine.
Where I’d get the tattoo? On my back just inside my shoulder blade where a bra strap or bikini strap crosses over it. So that someone could see something peeking out around the strap causing curiosity.
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March 24th, 2009 at 4:39 pm
Ooh, love the excerptlet.
1. I’d probably end up Little Demon (not quite five feet tall!), but maybe I’d be Bookworm instead. I’m known for my speed reading!
2. I have a tattoo of a blue cat on the inside of my left ankle, and I’ve long thought I should get one on the inside of my right ankle to balance things out. Although maybe that’s not discreet enough . . .
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March 24th, 2009 at 6:30 pm
Diana – My second choice is Skeletor2010 because in 2010 I am going to take over the YA Castle like Skeletor takes Castle Greyskull from He-Man and then —
Then–
I’ll be King Of The YA Authors and I will have all your magical YA powers! ME! ME! I’ll have them!
HAHA! HA!
HA!
What?
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March 24th, 2009 at 7:27 pm
If I get to pick my name, then I choose Buffy because she kicks ass. Which might be helpful when the crazy stuff goes down at the tomb. And I’d get the tattoo on the middle of my upper back.
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March 24th, 2009 at 8:00 pm
So the first question was rather difficult for me. So I cam up with two. Both are law related, cause I, like Poe, am a 1L and law school’s pretty much all I am able to think about. So the first one I thought of was “Nuisance” as in public/private nuisances in Torts and Property law. Also, cause I’m a bit of a nuisance sometimes
But I was thinking that might be a bit close to “Bugaboo.” So my alternative is “Learned Hand” as in the US judge who’s something like the most quoted lower court judge ever, with the coolest name.
He had a gift for language wikipedia says. (most law students think that gift is a nuisance…).
As for the tattoo, I think I’d get it on my shoulder blade. Most of what I wear would keep it discreet enough. It’d be a nice surprise to whoever did see it then.
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March 24th, 2009 at 8:36 pm
Diana’s super-secret society name is Scheherazade. Her tattoo plans/history will have to remain a super-secret.
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March 24th, 2009 at 8:40 pm
1) Thinking about what other “brothers” would call me, I would probably be Jones, maybe Indiana Jones, if we’re doing the full name.
This is because of many reasons: that’s what my family calls me due to the fact that I loved those movies as a baby (I was really fussy and apparently just quieted down when the movie was played – and a nickname was born); I really like adventures and go on them as often as I can; I hate snakes, like Indy; I get injured a fair amount but it never phases me or slows me down.
2) I think I would get my tatoo either on the inside of my ankle or my hipbone.
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March 24th, 2009 at 8:43 pm
Interesting! Most of the entrants here are modern names. But most society names are classic names. There were only four knights given modern names in the books: Bond, Soze, Frodo, and Number Two, who didn’t end up joining. Four out of fifteen. Everyone else had pre-20th century names.
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March 24th, 2009 at 9:14 pm
Hey Scheherazade – I think Captain Yaargh just used your name in public. Doesn’t he have to pay up now?
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March 24th, 2009 at 10:05 pm
My name would be Wembley (the Fraggle who is “nervous and pathologically indecisive”) or Muad’Dib (because I control the spice and am a huge nerd!), or something similar. Though these names illustrate that I would NEVER be chosen by R&G. =D
I would have the tat probably on my shoulder, so that I could keep it covered most of the time.
Thanks for the teaser!
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March 25th, 2009 at 12:47 am
Secret Code Name: Starbuck. Because it’s got the whole Moby Dick/BSG vibe going on. In one he’s a loyal first mate who sees clearly amid madness and in the other she’s a warrior.
Secret Tatt Location: back of the neck.
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March 25th, 2009 at 1:57 am
If we are looking at pre-20th century, I would be Tempest. I’ve been told that I most resemble that play by Shakespeare. I’m still trying to figure out if that’s good or bad.
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March 25th, 2009 at 7:20 am
I think my society name would be Homer (not the lovable Homer Simpson). I’ve been told that my stories tend to be long winded, and incredibly confusing. It’s not my fault that they can’t understand what’s going on because I have different side stories and a ton of different people in them.Usually my friends just sort of stare blankly…Plus, I’m a classics geek.
As for the tattoo – I already have two on my back, so I think I would tattoo it on my side. Not many people are going to see it there, except while at the beach, etc.
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March 25th, 2009 at 8:13 am
Heh, I’d want my society name to be something cool, but like Amy, I’d probably get something weird. I’d probably end up as Halibut or Woodchuck.
Since I don’t do tattoos, I’d want mine to be as small as possible and totally hidden from all but the most intimate observer. So, beyond that, I’m not tellin’. ;o)
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March 25th, 2009 at 8:24 am
[...] cool answers to yesterdays fan questions. (Even one from Sailor [...]
March 25th, 2009 at 9:56 am
Ooooh. You are SUCH a tease! I so cannot WAIT for the release of the book.
I do wonder why the first one was released in HC [which I snatched up back then] and the newer ones in PB. I’d love a HC version.
And as for the answers to your questions, I gotta say, Poe is just the coolest stinkin’ name, and it softened me to his character even before Amy decided to like him. So I’d pick that. But Titania–from Midsummer–would be welcome as well.
As for the tattoo, the inside of the wrist. It would be easily covered by a watch or bracelet, but it would always be right there, so close to out in the open. Like the society itself.
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March 25th, 2009 at 10:03 am
Hey, stephanie,
The reason for the hardcover/PB switch is that when SSG came out in paperback, it did so well that my publisher realized that most of my readers would prefer trade paperback — they are less expensive (and for the mostly young, mostly female audience, it makes sense — we aren’t saying “have a nice dinner out or this book” we’re saying “it doesn’t cost more than a cocktail.” In addition, it’s something you are more likely to take to the beach (since they are summer releases), etc. In addition, putting them directly into paperback meant that Target would stock them, which was a great new outlet.
As for Poe, you discover in Tap & Gown why he’s named what he is…
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March 25th, 2009 at 10:08 am
I wouldn’t be too disappointed if I were given the American version of Le Sphinx. As I said, he is one of my favorite characters from the comics. I am surprised that you were able to find it with a Google search, though, since Wikipedia had deleted that bit of information from the entry where I originally found it.
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March 25th, 2009 at 10:24 am
Well, Poe is a lot like the Purloined Letter or the Man of the Crowd–he endlessly comes up with new secrets/meaning for himself in the novels (as Amy’s foe, as Amy’s aid, and as Amy’s love interest), and is essentially a mystery that everyone wants to solve. That’s a pretty simplified deconstructive reading of those two tales, but I think it’s very apt.
Also, if there’s any Hogwarts House that Edgar Allan Poe belongs to, it would definitely be Slytherin. =p
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March 25th, 2009 at 12:18 pm
Fun questions! I’d like to be Scarlett, I think. As in O’Hara. GWTW is my fave book and I was obsessed with it (and categorizing people as Scarletts/Melanies or Rhetts/Ashleys) in high school. I like the idea of a small tat on the back of the neck, or perhaps the ankle.
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March 25th, 2009 at 12:52 pm
Oh my goodness breath even more bated now
Well I think I’d like to be Aurora, such a great name and the goddess of Dawn – so signaling a new start for R&G.
As to tattoos, ouch! I would love one on my hip bone but I am far to wet, I’d need an anesthetic or several people holding me down!
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March 25th, 2009 at 5:24 pm
I think I’d want my society name to be Circe and I’d probably put my tattoo on the back of my neck.
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March 25th, 2009 at 8:27 pm
Fun questions!
1) Inspired by a group of which I was a member during undergrad, I’d have to go with Erato, the muse of erotic poetry and mimic imitation. Because sexy poetry pretty much rocks.
2) To match my other (non-secret) society tattoo, I’d get it on my upper back, just above and to the right of my left shoulder blade. Because balance is good, and this would balance the back tattoos, and because it’s far enough in that it’s easy to find shirts that cover it when necessary. Mostly because balance is good.
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March 26th, 2009 at 6:32 pm
1) Shirley Feedlar would be my society name from Bronte’s novel. I can identify with her especially in the matters of the heart.
2) On my hip bone.
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April 1st, 2009 at 7:46 pm
OoO! I love these types of questions. I think that my society name would be Darcy. I’m snarky and a total inverted snob about somethings (mainly books and movies- I can’t stand people who think pop-culture is beneath them or make me watch sad-depressing movies just because they’re Oscar worthy.)
As for where I’d put my secret tattoo, I think I’d get it just beneath my hipbone, so I could easily cover it up.
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April 2nd, 2009 at 8:13 am
1. Well I’m not only short, but I’m petite overall. People have a tendency to say I’m pixie-ish, so I think in the tradition of R&G I would be Little Demon. However I’m also very talkative and have a temper at times, so I think Anne Shirley could also be fitting.
2. I have a fear of getting tattoos or piercings in general, I don’t even have my ears pierced! However maybe I would get a whole bunch of temporary ones and wear them on my ankle so nobody was any the wiser. Or just say I got one and never show it…
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