The Velvet discussion

Those who have had the pleasure of working with Richard Thomas over the years may find themselves occupying the pages of this novel. And who knows, maybe there are other Easter eggs in there. Let's find them.

"Can I finish that letter to Mrs. Corbier first?"
(pg 2) This seems to be a reference to writing friend Mlaz Corbier.

On page 7 there is a list of names, many (if not all) are various writing friends of Richards:
Widmyer (Dennis, of The Cult fame)
Wallwork (Craig Wallwork)
Vanderpool (Mark)
Tietz (Brandon Tietz)
Martin (Alex)
Grover (Mark)

Two other names on the list are probably writers as well, but I don't recognize them:
Carpenter
Clawes

Clawes is The Cult site's programmer. I think he did Clev's and/or Baer's sites as well.

Just wait until you get to one of the later Marcy chapters. That's all I'm sayin...

awesome - glad you guys found these - i figured, if i'm going to have a guy named david, why not have a guy named something that means something - i mean, hell, gordon already got a prime spot - nik found a good one - i had to use the last names for people that either had a very common first name or had a first name that was a duplicate, or something else

have fun finding those - carpenter is kasey carpenter, one of the mods

it all started when brandon noticed that i used jkabol as a return e-mail address, and it blew up from there

have fun

I just read the Crysta bit. I don't know what to think.

Hahahhaha...well, don't take everything too literally, if there is any sort of implied message...there isn't. I have Mirka as a woman writing a letter to a young X, but it doesn't mean anything! Don't get me in trouble! :-)

I am still haunted by Crysta's head mentioned in the same sentence as wet crunch.

(sorry)

Richard wrote: "Hahahhaha...well, don't take everything too literally, if there is any sort of implied message...there isn't. I have Mirka as a woman writing a letter to a young X, but it doesn't mean anything! Do..."
Ha, nothing taken that way at all. After all, if everyone took what I wrote to be literal in any way, I'd have been jailed plenty by now.

good...didn't want anybody to think i was taking a jab at them or anything...lol

Nah; every writer wants to see their name in print--regardless of context. The sex-crazed lesbian in all of us still has an ego that needs nurturing. :)

lol...you have to forgive me, i've since forgotten where i assigned people...now i remember :-)

I found a few more delicious shout-outs. Pgs 101-105 contain a failed gang-rape featuring Christopher, Caleb, and Nik, which I can only assume are Christopher Dwyer, Caleb J. Ross, and Nik Korpon. Wow, I can't wait until a law enforcement officer does a Google search for background info on me and finds this delicious post.

Yeah, they seem to be pretty liberally scattered throughout. It's a lot of fun, even a little surprising sometimes! Richard cracks me up :)

hopefully it's not too distracting :-) for about 30 people it's a little fun, for the rest of the world, they won't even see it

Richard wrote: "hopefully it's not too distracting :-) for about 30 people it's a little fun, for the rest of the world, they won't even see it"

Exactly! That's what makes these easter egg things so much fun. If everyone knew what you were winking at, it would just be a pop culture reference. Instead, these are pop CULTure references (see what I did there).

lol

Oh look, Caleb, Nik, and Dwyer are there in the book. Cool. Oh, wait. Damn, Richard, damn.

Found some more:
Page 117 - Stephen Graham Jones and Write Club
Page 120 - Michael Gonzalez
Page 122 - Mirka
Page 124 - Axel Taiari
Page 147 (and sprinkled throughout) JKabol
Page 153 - Boden and Colin McKay Miller

bummed i didn't get a shout-out. i kind of expect one in Disintegration. just saying.

i loved the shout-outs. being from the cult, i got a slight kick out of reading all the names within the narrative. just jealous to not be a part of it. ha.

Think I might have gotten a shout towards the end. Not sure if I did, but still pretty cool.

you did, chris...a passage that mentions a Mr. Deal, and Matthew, i'm not sure if i'd gotten to know you really well by the time this went to press, next one, though, for sure :-)

I wrote a story about a donkey-human hybrid named Chris Deal that collects Pez dispensers and charred KKK crosses. You are welcome, sir.

Dude, I'm honored. Please don't tease me.

Okay, I didn't. But now I sorta feel like I have to. Maybe inspiration will hit at my next Nazi Candy Convention...Nandy Con?

No one saw the Eckertian reference on p.8? For shame.

It is within Assigned's computer babble...

Thanks, Richard! I feel like my last name is part of an evil code. It's a great feeling.

lol...glad you caught it :-)

i think at the time you were going by mark, right? mark lazer, so didn't want it to be confused with mark grover or mark vanderpool