Apologies, Death, Etc

So.  I disappeared again.  My apologies.  In order to make it up to my readers, in a few moments I shall present the Alphabet of Death.  The idea for this piece of genius was inspired when my sister and I saw a book entitled "T is for Titanic" at the library. We thought that was kinda funny, so we, along with our parents, made the Alphabet of Death. The writers out there may even be able to use it for brainstorming purposes. Perhaps someone has a character who is serial killer that uses methods of killing that are in alphabetical order.

So, without further ado, I present: The Alphabet of Death!

A is for: Arsenic, asphyxiation, assassination
B is for: Bludgeoned, bored to death
C is for: Cyanide, choked
D is for: Drowning, decapitation
E is for: Electrocution
F is for: Falling, falconry accident
G is for: Gas explosion, garden gnomes
H is for: Hit and run, homicide, hanging
I is for: Injection of poison
J is for: Jealous spouse/lover
K is for: Knife in the back
L is for: Loss of blood
M is for: Murder
N is for: "Natural" causes
O is for: Old age
P is for: Poisoning, pheasants
Q is for: Quicksand
R is for: Radiation sickness
S is for: Suicide, suffocation, strangulation
T is for: Trauma, tar pit
U is for: Upset stomach, umbrella abuse
V is for: Venomous animal bite,
W is for: Wildebeest stampede
X is for: X-ray machine malfunction
Y is for: Yak stampede
Z is for: Zebra stampede

Got any additions?  Let me know in a comment!

While I'm on the death theme, I'll pass on an interesting, if not gruesome, link I got off of my library's website. Coroners reports from 1896 to 1935. Cool, huh? One of my favorite things to do with them is look at what the people had in their pockets when they died. Most didn't have anything, but some did. Very interesting.
Also, the stories are fascinating. Tragic, but...appealing, in a creepy sort of way. For example, in 1928, why did Jefferson P. Kemp (age 69) kill Lucy Barber (age 86) and then himself?  Why did Jefferson want to murder an 86 year old woman? What's the story there? Was he drunk? Had she just revealed to him a horrible secret about the past that enraged him so much he shot her, and then was so horrified at what he'd done that he shot himself? For some reason I find it fun to speculate.
Another thing is the names. Two I got from the coroners reports are Idrell and Lietha. I don't remember how they died.

And on that happy note, I'll leave you to enjoy the rest of your day.  I'm off to make a clafouti. Yum.

Sonic...?

In my Lizzie Evans series, Lizzie's brother, Tyler, is in a band.  I spent hours (okay, maybe not quite that long) trying to come up with a name for them, be it by playing on a band name generator or by coming up with something on my own.  (Here's my favorite band name generator, it has this box where you can insert a word that you know you want in your band name, and it will create a name that uses that word.  I used the word 'sonic' a lot.)   Here are some of the names I found on the generator:

Charming Fractured
Snapped Celluloid
Redefined December
Defunct Intermission and the Daddies
Starry Cheese
Cobalt on the Voltage
Fellow Envelope
Noodle Mirror
Insane Blimp of the Stuck Wallet
Swollen Sonic and the Bladder Marshmallow
Sonic of the Refried Trial
Sonic Analogy of the Starry Country
Sonic of the Timely Cannibal
Evidence Buzz
Opposition Obvious
The Alloy Havoc
Missile of the Advancing Tenderloin
Flamboyant Newcomer Of The Self-inflicted Tofu
Glazed Sonic Doughnuts (Actually, this one was just 'Glazed Sonic', and I added 'Doughnuts')

Yeah.  Weird.  In some cases hilarious.  And those were just an example.
Then I found a name, and I fell in love with it.  It was Sonic Aftermath.  I know, it's weird, but go do a Google search for the top 40 new bands of 2011 and take a gander at those names.

[insert you doing said Google search here]

Yeah, there's seriously a band called Yuck. 
However, my time with Sonic Aftermath was short lived.  I did a Google search for it and found out that there's already something called Sonic Aftermath; an RPG website forum thing.  I was bummed.  I had thought that was the perfect name, and I couldn't use it.  (The same thing happened to me with Lizzie's favorite ice cream parlor and chocolate shop. I'll have blog posts about my naming adventures with them sometime soonish.)  Here are some of the results I got from the generator while looking for a replacement:

Sonic Chronic
Large Sonic Of The Ice-cold Vanity
Sonic Pumpkin
Sonic Howdy
Seashell Of Sonic
Lethal Sonic
Recycled Sonic
Sonic pasta sauce
Shutdown Of The Sonic Coconut
Sonic Hologram
Weathered Exhaust Of The Bound Scum
Jugs Before Explosion
Jingle Gateway
Proactive Feather
Cheese Of The Minority
Skillet Of The Tired Resin
Exploding Bungle
Ravioli Square
Fifteen Fuzz
Cohesive Grimace
Poisonous Foil
Quasi Smack And The Primary Talk
Frisky Crow And The Ethereal Management

In the end, the replacement I got was not one suggested by the generator.  I Googled lists of cool words, and found the perfect word to pair with 'sonic': Sardoodledom.  Sonic Sardoodledom.  Sardoodledom refers to a play that has an overly contrived and melodramatic plot.  It doesn't really fit with 'sonic', but it sounds great, and it's a lot better than some of those real band's names.  Now I just have to go back through my manuscript and add or change a scene so that it says that Sonic Sardoodledom is Tyler's band's name.

One band name idea I didn't mention earlier was acronyms.  There's an acronym generator made by the same people who made that band name generator.  I have a ton of acronyms for the word 'sonic'.  I may do a post on them later.

(Just out of curiosity, did any of you see the title of this post and automatically insert the word "screwdriver"?)