What's in a name?

People sometimes ask about Simon. So to fullfill my blogging responsibilities, here's a few things about how I came up with the character. Firstly, his name means to hearken, or to listen. And as the story progresses we see Simon is hearing voices. One of the most important themes of the story is Simon's quest to find out if he's hearing an evil voice or a good voice.

There are lots of Simons (Simonses?) in the Bible who I had in mind when I wrote Simon. Aside from Simon Peter (Saint Peter), I also thought of Simon Magus, who in Christian literature is considered to be the first heretic. There are stories of him challenging Saint Peter. The word Simony comes from the name Simon and means to pay for a position in the church. There were also gnostic sects that believed that Simon Magus was God in human form.

Simon of Cyrene would have been considered the first African Saint, Cyrene being an African city (though at the time it was a jewish community). He was the guy who helped Jesus carry his cross up the mountain.

Throughout the story, (Particularly in Etherlands: volume 2) Simon expresses all of these characteristics to some extent. He's a guy struggling with his place in the religious framework of his world.

Hopefully that would also answer the question I have heard as to why I didn't give the character a more exciting, fantasy-novel sounding name like, Xor the Great or Liktha'an The Impaler. I'll save those for another novel.