Tag Archives: Clive Cussler

If Authors Named Football Teams

Teams in the National Football League received their names in various ways, but most don’t derive from literary references.

The Baltimore Ravens stand out as a sole exception. Taken from the mysterious talking bird of the Edgar Allan Poe poem, that team name epitomizes the city where Poe lived.

What works for Baltimore might work for other NFL cities as well. Let’s find out what could happen if they left team-naming up to fiction writers.

Arizona

The Cardinals would become the Arizona Thrillers. Adventure author Clive Cussler lived in Arizona.

Atlanta

Replacing the Falcons are the Atlanta Argonauts, named for Rick Riordan’s book The Mark of Athena, which is set in Atlanta and features a trireme named Argo II. 

Buffalo

Writers would cross out the name Bills and write in the Buffalo Rangers. Writer Fran Striker, creator of the Lone Ranger, was born in and lived in Buffalo.

Carolina

In place of the Panthers, this team becomes the Carolina Crawdads. Delia Owens’ Where the Crawdads Sing is set in North Carolina.

Chicago

Writers need something fiercer than Bears. Instead, meet the Chicago Tyrannosaurs. Author Michael Crichton, born in Chicago, wrote Jurassic Park.

Cincinnati

Let’s replace Bengals with the Cincinnati Werewolves. Kim Harrison wrote The Hollows series, which is set in Cincinnati and contains werewolves.

Cleveland

Fiction writers could come up with a better name than Browns. How about the Cleveland Hellcats? Marie Vibbert, born and living in Cleveland, authored Galactic Hellcats.

Dallas

How ‘bout something other than them Cowboys? Writers would substitute the Dallas Vampires, since Charlaine Harris, who lives in Texas, wrote Living Dead in Dallas, which is set in Dallas.

Denver

For writers, the name Broncos won’t do. They’d choose the Denver Doomsdays, since Connie Willis was born in Denver and wrote Doomsday Book.

Detroit

Rather than Lions as a team name, writers would select the Detroit Wheels. Arthur Hailey’s novel Wheels was set in Detroit.

Green Bay

Could fiction writers surpass the name Packers? I think so. How about the Green Bay Starshooters? Not only does author Jason Mancheski live in Green Bay, but his book Shoot for the Stars is about the city’s football team.

Houston

Rather than Texans, writers might opt for the Houston Battleships, since author Daniel da Cruz penned The Ayes of Texas, a novel set partly in Houston.

Indianapolis

For this football city, fiction writers would replace Colts with the Indianapolis Titans (sorry, Nashville). The name is more appropriate here because Kurt Vonnegut, author of The Sirens of Titan, was born in Indianapolis.

Jacksonville

Writers might replace Jaguars with the Jacksonville Alligators. Diana K. Kanoy wrote She Swims with Alligators. Though not fiction, it is set in Florida.

Kansas City

For authors, this one’s obvious. Leave the name Chiefs aside and substitute the Kansas City Twisters. L. Frank Baum’s book The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, with its introductory tornado, is set in Kansas.

Las Vegas

Here, writers might swap the name Raiders with the Las Vegas Miners, to honor Mark Twain’s book, Roughing It, a partly true tale of silver mining in the Territory of Nevada.

Los Angeles

The City of Angels hosts two NFL teams. Writers would retreat from the name Chargers and forge ahead with the Los Angeles Demons. After all, William Peter Blatty lived near LA and wrote The Exorcist.

Los Angeles

Rather than the Rams, the other LA team should be renamed the Los Angeles Martians. Ray Bradbury lived much of his life near LA and authored The Martian Chronicles.

Miami

Writers would choose a harder-hitting name than Dolphins. How about the Miami Punchers? Elmore Leonard’s Rum Punch is set in Miami.

Minnesota

Some residents of the North Star State might prefer the Vikings, but writers would call that team the Minnesota Wobegons. Lake Wobegon Days, by Garrison Keillor, is set in Minnesota.

New England

Since the Patriots were named for a region, rather than a specific state or city, that gives writers some latitude to re-name the team the New England Cthulhus. Rhode Island is part of New England, and author H.P. Lovecraft, creator of the Cthulhu Mythos, was born and lived there.  

New Orleans

Here, writers would replace the name Saints with the New Orleans Steamboaters. Mark Twain’s Life on the Mississippi, includes descriptions of New Orleans.

New York

With two teams in New York City, let’s go alphabetically and rename the Giants first. Writers might choose the New York Atlases, since author Ayn Rand, who wrote Atlas Shrugged, lived in NYC.

New York

As for the Jets, the New York Bombardiers seems appropriate. Joseph Heller was born and lived in NYC, and wrote Catch-22, about WWII bombardiers.

Philadelphia

The literary crowd wouldn’t go for Eagles, and might instead select a name requiring a change in the team’s colors—the Philadelphia Purple Riders. Having gone to college in Philadelphia, Zane Grey wrote Riders of the Purple Sage.

Pittsburgh

The other Pennsylvania team needs a name change from the Steelers. Writers would call it the Pittsburgh Furies. Stephen King’s novel Christine is set in Pittsburgh and involves a Plymouth Fury.

San Francisco

In replacing the 49ers name, writers would go for the San Francisco Wolfdogs in honor of Jack London’s White Fang. London was born in San Francisco.

Seattle

Ditch the Seahawks name. Authors have a better one in mind. They’d like the Seattle Boneshakers. This honors Cherie Priest, whose novel Boneshaker: A Novel of the Clockwork Century is set in Seattle.

Tampa Bay

This team wouldn’t be the Buccaneers any more after writers got their blue pens out. They’d rename the team the Tampa Bay Cannoneers. After all, Jules Verne had his characters build a gigantic cannon near Tampa in his novel From the Earth to the Moon.

Tennessee

Earlier, I stole the name Titans from Tennessee and gave it to Indianapolis. Writers would rename this team the Tennessee Devils. Jaden Terrell’s novel Racing the Devil is set in Nashville.

Washington

Some in the District want to change the name from the Commanders anyway. If they let writers pick, they might come up with the Washington Scorpions. Lisa Howorth’s novel Summerlings is set in D.C. and involves scorpions.

There. I’ve done the hard part. Others can come up with team logos, uniform designs, and characteristic colors. If any NFL teams desire a name makeover based on literary references, feel free to contact—

Poseidon’s Scribe

January 5, 2025Permalink Leave a comment

Want to be a Character in Your Own Book?

When authors write themselves in as characters in their fiction, we call it ‘self-insertion.’ Why and when might you try this literary technique?

The list of authors who’ve done this includes names you’ve heard of— Dante Alighieri, Rudyard Kipling, Somerset Maugham, Kurt Vonnegut, Stan Lee, Clive Cussler, Stephen King, and Daniel Handler (writing as Lemony Snicket). Pretty good company.

The technique varies. In Dante’s Divine Comedy, Dante made himself the main character. He used self-insertion to give the book more credibility, to imitate a nonfictional account of an actual journey.

For Stan Lee, Clive Cussler, and others, self-insertion serves a comedic purpose. The author/character assumes a minor role in the narrative, a cameo. The character may offer a humorous comment about the plot, setting, or protagonist. In Cussler’s books, the character named Cussler often gives the protagonist some useful information, serving as a self-named Deus ex Machina.

One of the strangest uses of self-insertion appears in an experimental novel by the French author Charles de Fieux De Mouhy (1701-1784) in his novel Lamékis, or The Extraordinary Travels of an Egyptian in the Interior Land; with the Discovery of the Isle of Sylphides. I haven’t read it, but others say the novelist enters the book as a character about halfway through. The book’s other characters recognize him as the author of the book they’re in, and berate him about the falsehoods he’s written. When characters realize they’re in a book, that’s called ‘breaking the fourth wall.’

The technique of self-insertion differs from the related term, ‘author surrogate.’ That’s when a character (usually not sharing the author’s name) speaks for, or otherwise resembles, the author. In the broad sense of this term, you might see this in nearly every work of fiction. At some point, a character offers an observation sounding more like the author than the character. A beginning writer may use the technique without intending to, because it’s difficult to get out of one’s own head and think like someone else.

Back to self-insertion. However quirky the technique may seem to readers, it comes with obvious advantages for the writer. You don’t have to invent this character’s name, or draw up a personality profile, or ponder what the character might say or do at any point. You know all those things already.

The danger lies in representing a self-inserted character as better than the writer really is. Such a character may always look right, say the right thing, and act the right way. In short—flawless, perfect. Readers find such characters unrealistic, whether self-inserted or not.

Self-insertion works best for stories set in a contemporary time period. That is, while the author is alive. Inserting yourself into historical fiction or future fiction would seem weird, but might work as humor, or as part of a philosophical reality-questioning work like De Mouhy’s Lamékis.

The technique might strike you as bordering on egotism, or as crossing way over that border. That’s why many authors who use it go for the comedy aspect. (Yes, I’m vain, but I’m poking fun at myself.) I see it more as wish fulfillment—an author loving the story and yearning to be in it.

“Time to wrap this up, don’t you think?”

Um, who are you?

“Don’t you recognize me? I’m Steve Southard, the main character of this blogpost.”

This isn’t fiction. You don’t belong here. I’m the narrator, and writer, and I say what belongs in this post. You don’t.

“Too bad. I’m here, and it’s time we signed off with my other name—

Poseidon’s Scribe”

March 5, 2023Permalink

Book Review — Lost Empire

Over the years, I’ve read a lot of Clive Cussler’s novels, mainly because they’re exciting and they convey the author’s love of the sea and history.  Nearly all the Cussler books I’ve read were within his Dirk Pitt series.

I just finished listening to Lost Empire, which Cussler wrote with Grant Blackwood.  The audiobook was a product of Recorded Books, LLC and was narrated by Scott Brick.  This book involves a different set of protagonists.  Sam and Remi Fargo (nice pun–“far go”) are a wealthy, young married couple who enjoy treasure-hunting.  While scuba-diving in Tanzania, they discover a ship’s bell that gets the adventure going.

First the good points. Remi is a strong female character–something missing from the Dirk Pitt novels.  Sam ends up dealing with most of the physical rough stuff, but Remi is no slouch.  The story is a rollicking adventure along the lines of most of Cussler’s works.  The tensions build nicely and the chapters are short, making for easy reading.  I haven’t done any fact checking to see how plausible the historical aspects of the plot were, but I didn’t detect any real howlers as I was listening to the book during my commute.  Scott Brick did a great job with the narration, providing authentic-sounding and consistent accents to the various characters.

However, the character physical descriptions are sparse and I didn’t get a great feel for the character’s inner selves.  In fact, there were times when I wasn’t sure whose point of view I was seeing the world from.  It seemed as if parts of the book were written rapidly; here’s an actual sentence from the book:  “I agree,” Sam agreed.  What’s wrong with ‘said?’  As with many of Cussler’s books, a character with the actual name ‘Clive Cussler’ makes an appearance and assists the heroes at one of their most desperate moments.  As a best-selling author, Mr. Cussler has earned the right to employ such deux ex machina devices, I suppose, but any such manuscripts from me would be rejected amidst gales of laughter.  Lastly, Cussler is starting to re-use concepts from earlier books; I seem to recall that his novel Treasure also involved a manic trying to create a modern version of the Aztec Empire.

You know my book rating system by now.  I give Lost Empire two seahorses.  If you enjoyed Mr. Cussler’s other books, or love easy-to-read adventure novels, then this book will pass the time effectively.  Otherwise, well, there are reasons some empires should become lost.  I could be wrong, though, and in that case you should leave a comment for–

                                                                 Poseidon’s Scribe

February 8, 2012Permalink

A Stroll through My Mental Library

Why would you read a blog post containing a list of writers who influenced me?  My aim is to provoke you to think about (perhaps even write down) the list of those who inspired you.  It’s a useful exercise.  Perhaps the most important part of the exercise is to describe those writers as well—what they mean to you.

Come on, walk along beside me now through the library of my mind.  The shelves have all the books I ever read.  My apologies for its small size; a busy life interferes with reading, unfortunately.  But I’m trying to read more.  For the purposes of today’s tour the books have been arranged by author, and we’ll be viewing busts of the more prominent ones.  Engraved on the pedestal of each bust are the author’s name and a few words describing his or her works.

Ah, I see you noticed the 30-foot high bronze statue just within the entrance.  Kind of hard to miss.  Yes, that’s Jules Verne.  I’ve read most of his works that have been translated into English.  His Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea is the only book I ever re-read, and I do that every couple of years.  That book inspired me both to join the submarine service and to major in naval architecture in college.  To me, he represents scientific accuracy, exotic voyages, high drama and adventure, and a glimpse of a time when technology seemed on the verge of making everything possible for the first time in human history.

Over here is the bust of Isaac Asimov.  I’ve read only a fraction of his published work but it’s still a lot, both fiction and non-fiction.  The words engraved beneath his name are scientific accuracy, easy-to-read writing style, clever ideas, and love of wordplay.

Walking along, we’ve come to Arthur C. Clarke.  To me, he too symbolizes scientific accuracy, but also an optimistic view of mankind’s future, and various ways we could deal with aliens of far greater and different intelligences.

That bust there depicts Robert Heinlein.  Hard-edged style, a strict morality, a libertarian viewpoint, and success through struggle are the hallmarks of his writing, to me.

Watch your step; this area is not well lit.  Here, take my flashlight.  That bust you just bumped into is Ray Bradbury.  He has the most poetic prose of any author here—a flowing style that seduces you into his stories with the sheer magic and power of the words.  Then he often slaps you hard with some dark and twisted surprise.

And that one over there is Ayn Rand.  She’s the only woman on the tour; I wish there were more.  Her writing is characterized by emotional power, uncompromising philosophy, and a deep belief in human freedom coupled with strict ideas about how to live one’s life.

We’ve come to the bust of Larry Niven.  Amazing ideas, compelling characters, and the most well-thought-out aliens of any author in the library.

Here we are in the Children’s section—quite dusty, I know.  This next bust looks a little strange, with no discernable features.   Maybe you don’t recognize the name, Victor Appleton II. It’s a pseudonym used by many authors.  I grew up reading the Tom Swift, Jr. series written by the various “Mr. Appletons.”  With fondness I recall the high adventure, the marvelous inventions, and the use of science to solve problems.

One more and I think we’ll wrap up the tour.  Clive Cussler’s bust bears the following descriptions on beneath the name on its pedestal—engaging adventures set at sea, a writer with an easy-reading style that really puts his characters through hell.

That’s enough for this trip.  Perhaps we’ll continue the tour in a future blog post and examine busts of authors we missed.  I should mention you won’t necessarily see the influences of all of these writers in my own stories.  Also, I don’t necessarily agree with the viewpoints of all of them—I just enjoy reading their books.

Thanks for stopping by for a tour today.  Hope you enjoyed strolling through the mind of–

Poseidon’s Scribe

April 10, 2011Permalink