would you feel like you were prostituting your work if you *did* name them Lupe and Paco?(or, you know, something people could glom onto that you like more)

First off, not a stupid question and definitely not hating you. And yeah, I think in this particular case, it would feel like prostituting because the names are very deliberately chosen. Libby is short for Liberty because her mother is a Cuban hippy and in fact, Libby's middle name is Estrella. And Nick's full name is Nicholas Miguel Azarias which is mentioned fairly early on-- the point is, these two have names that reflect their backgrounds-- that of being second generation, Cuban-Americans who are assimilated yet maintain a strong cultural identity.

Besides, the reviewer glomming onto the names and use of Spanish as something that bothers them-- I'm not sure that opinion would be changed even if they'd had more of the manuscript to read. I had people who read Adiós and objected to ANY of the Spanish in there-- didn't understand why it was in there at all because who would understand it anyway and why didn't I just write the whole book in Spanish?

And Typo, no, I wouldn't put anything like that in the author's notes-- I prefer not to use the Clue-by-Four quite so obviously and frankly, again, with the entire manuscript, it shouldn't be necessary.

Well, I wish they'd have asked me. But I have about twelve Amazon reviews.

I wonder if people complained about the Lapine in Watership Down. How awful it must be to live in a world where you take offense at any language other than your own.

Besides, the reviewer glomming onto the names and use of Spanish as something that bothers them-- I'm not sure that opinion would be changed even if they'd had more of the manuscript to read. I had people who read Adiós and objected to ANY of the Spanish in there-- didn't understand why it was in there at all because who would understand it anyway and why didn't I just write the whole book in Spanish?

I think it's because they don't equate the Spanish phrases as the same sort of shorthand they use. My best friend is Hispanic, born in California, last name of Soto, but no one in her family (except for her) speak any Spanish outside of endearments like mija or mijo. Short phrases like estas listo? No lo se. Me gusta. Stuff that you can communicate as much with body language as with words. The only reason my friend speaks any more Spanish than the rest of her family is because she lived with her grandmother for a while and asked her to teach her Spanish.

So folks don't equate "mija/mijo" to "kiddo." They don't equate "listo?" while picking up your coat and purse to "ready?" Or "no lo se" with a shrug to "dunno."

IOW, people r dum. They don't look beyond their own house's four walls and even then they don't see what's around them.

One evening on the bus one man went into a rant over the fact that the local grocery store has the aisles identified in Spanish as well as English. sigh.

Hubby will go off when public events have people who don't speak English have interpreters when addressing the group. "Is there an interpreter for the Vietnamese person? How about the Bengali person? Or the Latvian!" Hubby has weird racism issues that haven't borne close inspection. To his minimal credit, he'd probably be just as obnoxious about English/French signs near Quebec. Or German/English signs in Germany (but then he knows German).

One evening on the bus one man went into a rant over the fact that the local grocery store has the aisles identified in Spanish as well as English.

I've had family members complain about this too. I tend to appeal to capitalism and suggest the store is just doing what they think will help the bottom line.

I'm on the cusp of finishing chapter two. I'm all excited about it since chapter three brings two pivotal characters into the story.

Go, Gud!

ION, does any have a spare flamethrower I can borrow?

::checks cabinet::

Um... nope. No flamethrower. Have Bertha, the Big Black Baseball Bat. Whassup?