SPOILER ALERT!!!!:
Easter Eggs:
Some of the Easter Eggs planted in the book:
Easter egg #1
Rural WUS: There is a reference to a famous historical literary work made by putting together three pieces of information. At first this reference was completely accidental, then I realized that with the two pieces of info I had at the time that the reference could be made, and after some freaking out, followed by some research, I ended up adding the third piece of info to fully embrace and accentuate the reference.
CLUE #1
One of the male characters' names.
CLUE #2
The type of home he lives in.
CLUE #3
his familial relationship to another character.
answer
Trader Tom + the log cabin he lives in + his niece, Celeste = Uncle Tom's Cabin
EASTER EGG #2
In SEUS, a greek tragedy is loosely playing out in New Miami (beyond Havana's reference to an evening in "Tartarus").
CLUE #1
The lead frat douchebag, is named Apollo.
CLUE #2
Apollo, says "hi" a little too cheerily to Havana. Soon he's picking a fight with Marcus during which he suggests Marcus shouldn't be kissing "their women".
ANSWER
In the Greek myth of Apollo and Daphne, Apollo insults Cupid. Cupid makes Apollo fall in love with Daphne, while making Daphne hate Apollo. Here in Puerto Paz, Havana is essentially Daphne in this situation. Apollo has a crush on Havana, and he is jealous of Marcus. Marcus is similar to cupid. It isn’t exact, but similar-ish to the Greek mythology of Apollo and Daphne.
EASTER EGG #3
Well, not so much of an Easter Egg for readers, mainly just for me, the author, so I won't make you guess here... In Urban WUS at the beach, in response to being asked if there were bathrooms available, Elena notes "There used to be one where the beach warden check-in is now. You see that beautiful pink-granite, waist-high kneewall around three sides of the check-in pavilion? Those are from the original building. My boss won a preservation award for adaptive reuse of historic materials for that.” That was inspired by a structural engineering project that I was involved in called "The Pink Palace", in the Boston Common. It was an historic, dilapidated, small pink granite building originally built as a "gentlemen's comfort station" (a bathroom facility). I was involved in the adaptive re-use of the building to turn it into an "Earl of Sandwich" take-out restaurant. In 2013 it won a Preservation Achievement Award from the Boston Preservation Alliance.
EASTER EGG #4
Another literary reference, but this one is a very, very loose reference, when Marcus finally gets to swim in the ocean in Puerto Paz.
CLUE #1
Marcus's location.
CLUE #2
The age and gender of someone who talks to Marcus after Marcus starts choking on water after trying to breathe to the left.
ANSWER
Marcus in the sea + an old man = The Old Man and the Sea
EASTER EGG #5
The name of the font used in the print book correlates to the genre of the book
ANSWER
I would categorize the book into the following fiction genres:
- Political Satire
- Coming of Age
- Dystopian/Utopian
EASTER EGG #6
With the exception of "Lily L.O.V.E." in Rural WUS, the characters in the book have names that follow a specific naming convention, that correlates with one of the major themes of the story.
ANSWER
This one you'll have to figure out for yourself!
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Comment on the Puerto Paz Facebook page or Tweet at me if you think you know. For links to my Facebook or Twitter pages, see the Department of Communication & Social Media page.
© 2020 Jefferey J. Reese - All rights reserved.
