The Rules And Regulations For Mediating Myths & Magic By F.T. Lukens
Summary
Desperate to pay for college, Bridger Whitt is willing to overlook the peculiarities of his new job—entering via the roof, the weird stacks of old books and even older scrolls, the seemingly incorporeal voices he hears from time to time—but it’s pretty hard to ignore being pulled under Lake Michigan by… mermaids? Worse yet, this happens in front of his new crush, Leo, the dreamy football star who just moved to town.
Fantastic.
When he discovers his eccentric employer Pavel Chudinov is an intermediary between the human world and its myths, Bridger is plunged into a world of pixies, werewolves, and Sasquatch. The realm of myths and magic is growing increasingly unstable, and it is up to Bridger to ascertain the cause of the chaos, eliminate the problem, and help his boss keep the real world from finding the world of myths.
Excerpt:
Hands in his pockets, Pavel studied the board. He furrowed his brow and his gaze darted from the graph to the map to the newspaper clippings. “The job that I’ve had for nearly a century is to keep the world of myth hidden from humans. I’m not the only one. There are hundreds of intermediaries around the world, all burdened with the same task. And I’m failing, Bridger.”
“Hey,” Bridger said, placing his hand on Pavel’s shoulder. “It was only a unicorn. A few mermaids. So what if someone knows that El Chupacabra is an actual thing?”
Pavel sighed. He rubbed his eyes. “You don’t understand. Can you imagine the chaos that would occur if the world at large knew about pixies? About ghosts? About heroes and legends and gods? The upheaval would be catastrophic. The spiritual, political, societal ramifications would be tremendous. And not only for humans. The myths would be hunted, persecuted, slaughtered, after surviving for so long.” He bowed his head and grimaced. “I have to determine why all the myths in my region are breaking from their normal routines, or we risk the discovery of the entire myth world.”
“Have you talked to the other intermediaries? Do they have any ideas?”
Pavel glanced away and blushed. “I talked with my mentor after the manticore. He suggested I hire an assistant to relieve part of the burden. Mindy made it happen.”
“And here I am.”
“And here you are.”
Character Bio:
Hi everyone! This is F.T. Lukens, author of The Rules and Regulations for Mediating Myths & Magic, and today I would like to talk about my upcoming release and character names.
The Rules and Regulations for Mediating Myths & Magic is a young adult urban fantasy novel that features Bridger, a bisexual protagonist who is struggling with changes in his life that come with being a senior in high school. Bridger needs a job to be able to afford college and he ends up becoming an assistant to badly dressed and eccentric Pavel Chudinov, who is an intermediary between our world and the world of myth.
When coming up with names of the characters for this novel I did things a little differently than I normally do. I had already picked out a few names for the intermediary character and had actually pitched the book to my publisher with different names. However, right before I began writing, actor Anton Yelchin passed away in a freak car accident. I’ve always loved Anton’s work and his death hit me hard. I decided that as an homage to his most famous character, Pavel Chekov from the Star Trek reboot movies, that I would name the intermediary Pavel. Coming up with a last name of a now Eastern European/Russian character (when originally, he was Irish) was a little more difficult. So I contacted an online friend of mine who is Russian and together we brainstormed a few different last names. Chudinov (pronounced Chu-DEE-nov) is derived (very distantly) from ‘chudo’ which literally means ‘wonder’ or ‘miracle’ or ‘magic’, but the way the name is made it’s more ‘weirdo’ ‘out there’ ‘eccentric’ etc. I felt that Chudinov fit Pavel perfectly. Also, you’ll notice throughout the book, that Pavel’s close friends call him Pasha, which is the diminutive/affectionate form of Pavel.
Bridger Whitt’s name is a little more obvious. Bridger is a name that I had considered for my youngest child and it is a family name from a few generations ago. But Bridger is also there to act as a ‘bridge’ between the world of myth and the human world. Whitt is a play on words alluding to ‘wit.’ Bridger is a sarcastic smart ass and I felt that the last name of Whitt was a great fit.
Lastly, but certainly not least, is Leo. Leo is actually borrowed from my great-nephew. (At this point, I’d like to interject that my niece and I are very close to the same age. Her Leo and my youngest are only a few months a part in age.) Anyway, her little Leonidas and the Leonidas in the book are both biracial with their fathers being Puerto Rican.
Thanks so much for reading about the character names in The Rules and Regulations for Mediating Myths & Magic. I hope readers enjoy reading about the characters as much as I enjoyed naming them.
About the Author
F.T. Lukens is an author of Young Adult fiction who got her start by placing second out of ten thousand entries in a fan-community writing contest. A sci-fi enthusiast, F.T. loves Star Trek and Firefly and is a longtime member of her college’s science-fiction club. She holds degrees in Psychology and English Literature and has a love of cheesy television shows, superhero movies, and writing. F.T. lives in North Carolina with her husband, three kids, and three cats. Her first two novels in the Broken Moon series, The Star Host and Ghosts & Ashes, were published by Duet Books.
Purchase Links:
Interlude Press: https://store.interludepress.com/collections/the-rules-and-regulations-for-mediating-myths-magic-by-f-t-lukens
Amazon: http://amzn.to/2xKK8HT
Barnes & Noble: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/the-rules-and-regulations-for-mediating-myths-magic-ft-lukens/1126668631?ean=9781945053245
Kobo: https://www.kobo.com/us/en/ebook/the-rules-and-regulations-for-mediating-myths-magic
Smashwords: https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/733227
Book Depository: https://www.bookdepository.com/The-Rules-and-Regulations-for-Mediating-Myths–Magic-F-T-Lukens/9781945053245/?a_aid=InterludePress
Indiebound: https://www.indiebound.org/book/9781945053245?aff=InterludePress
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