I’ve been thinking lately about the phenomenon of toponyms, those words in our language that began as the names of places ( topos is the Greek word for “place”).

(Yes, this is a groink, a major change of subject.) If you’re able to help out with this, thank you very much!įinally, let’s talk about some interesting words. To find the discussion, either search for me on Goodreads or click on my name wherever you see me listed on the site, and on my page, (again) if you scroll down, you should come to the discussion then just click on the topic you want to follow.

If you can spare a few minutes to drop by and ask me even one question, that would help! If people start participating, I think it could get quite interesting. If anyone is at all inclined, this is something I’d greatly appreciate your help with! I’m trying to generate a buzz for the new book’s release. I seeded it with four discussion threads, but discussion members can introduce new ones. Also on Goodreads, I’m leading a Q&A session from now until the end of January. If you’ve read Dragonfly and would like to test your knowledge of the book - or even if you’d like to enjoy the questions and multiple-choice answers, which I had a GREAT time coming up with - then I’d encourage you to get onto Goodreads and take the quiz! I think the best way to find it is to look up Dragonfly on the site, click on the book, and if you scroll down on the book’s page, you’ll find the quiz.Ģ. It has 13 questions, and some are apparently trickier than I thought - last time I looked, no one had gotten a perfect score. I wrote a quiz on Dragonfly that (I think) is a lot of fun. I just wanted to bring a couple things to your attention:ġ. If you’re interested, you can explore the wonders for yourself. That’s one way the site can work.Īnyway, I’ll end the commercial there. In the first twenty-four hours after I got onto the site and started rating books I’ve enjoyed and marking books I’d like to read, an acquaintance of mine (a friend of a friend) noticed one of the books I’d tagged and was delighted to discover it - he hadn’t known it existed, but he’d been wishing it did. It’s free, it’s easy to sign up for, and it’s a great way to connect with people who like the same kinds of books you do - or simply to find out about books that you may not have encountered yet. If you love to read, the site is worth checking out. But I think most of you would agree with me that Goodreads rises above the morass. If you don’t know about the site, this is an unabashed plug for it! Believe me, I’m not a fan of popular Internet time-drains. It’s an exciting time!Īs part of this initiative, I’ve set up an author page on Goodreads. I’ve been working over the past week through various channels to prepare the way for the swiftly-approaching publication of The Star Shard.

The Star Shard by Frederic S. Durbin