#insideerinswriterbrain

Confession time: I totally screwed this up. All I really wanted to do is get rid of bras. (Why? Because I can!) For comfort during things like horseback riding, people would wear breast wraps--what the Romans might call fascia--as was common in Europe until the 19th century. (Bras suck AND they're recent and rare.). So that's what I intended Talis to be wearing. There is a cut scene in SCORPION where Xie takes Greta out of hers. Where I erred was in calling this a binding wrap. It wasn't until Tumblr got ahold of SWAN that I realized what an cis idiot I had been in using the term binding. On the one hand I was kinda pleased because Talis does have about two zillion kinds of dysphoria and it's nice to see readers pick that up. I mean, how often do you get to see this stuff on the page? Please keep it up with your head cannons, guys. The book is yours and you are doing interesting things with it. On the other hand, I completely blew the opportunity to do binding right, as you very correctly point out. I owe my readers -- especially my trans and non binary and genderqueer readers AFAB -- better. I am sorry. This kind of rep is rare and I had an obligation to do it better. And you anon, keep calling authors out. Thank you.

Also, your author in wings: Murderous or angelic?  Depends on the light.  

Saskatchewan. It's kind of flat.

Reports on today's adventures would not be complete if I did not mention that we saw the world's largest red paperclip. I've got two more days here in Saskatchewan on #TDBookWeek tour, but THE CLIP OF KIPLING will be hard to top.

AHOY Regina public library! @reginalibrary_teens Prepare to be boarded. #TDBookWeek

Tiny Beechy, which autocorrect wants to make Brecht. That does not capture the feel of it at all, autocorrect.

Talis was named Talis in a roundabout way.  I created the Abbot before I created Talis, and eventually decided he needed a boss.  My husband suggested things like “Bishop” and “Patriarch,” and I hated all of those.  (They also don’t make sense in-universe -- the monastic thing is Ambrose’s kick.)  But then I remembered Canon Tallis, from Madeline L’Engle.  “Canon” is his title – it’s an office of the church – but it’s also an elaborate pun on the Tallis Canon, the name of a famous piece of early Renaissance church music. I didn’t look up how to spell it, and thus Talis was born.I think the name also appeals because it has echoes of “talisman” and things like that.  The Greek is Telos, which means  "purpose, aim, completion,” and it’s the root of words like “telescope,” and “toll.”  There’s also a mythical Greek figure named Talos, who’s a giant robot that protects Europa from pirates and marauders.  Make of that what you will.  

This one’s in a mausoleum.