In case you had not heard, I’ve been working on an anthology of sorts, centering on my character, Walter Ulric. Walter is a paranormal private detective; he hunts monsters, even though he himself is a werewolf.
I don’t like to use the term “horror” although these stories have horror elements. I’d prefer “weird fiction” or “paranormal fiction” as a label, but most people recognize the term “horror”. That being said, I come from a rather conservative family upbringing. I consider myself a conservative Protestant Christian, and thus I have certain views on morality; this is actually part of the reason I chose to write horror; horror fiction is one of the few genres left that allow for the ideas of clear good and evil (Stephen King aside). That being said, I fear that some of my relatives and old family friends might not understand. It might make things, shall we say, complicated if they knew I was writing this book. It’s simply better if they don’t know about it.
So I decided to publish it under the pseudonym Jack McLiam instead of my real name. Why Jack? Why McLiam? Well, my real name is Ian. Ian is Gaelic, and comes from the Hebrew name Jochannan, meaning “God is gracious”. Jochannan is rendered as John in modern English, and in times past, men named John were often called Jack. It’s also a veiled reference to C.S. Lewis, my favorite author, who preferred to be called “Jack” rather than his birth name of “Clive Staples”. One can understand this desire.
As for McLiam, my last name is Wilson. It’s a very, very old name. The first rendering of it can be found in the Anglo-Saxon Domesday Book; which is a sort of ledger of who owned what and what taxes they owed. The first Wilson was a tiller named John. The name “Wilson” is a shortening of “Will’s Son”, Will being a shortening of William or Wilhelm, meaning “Will-Helmet”. My Germanic ancestors were a bit odd. Gaelic speaking Scottish and Irish adopted the name, and shortened it to Liam. “Mac” is a Gaelic prefix meaning “son of”. So in essence, my name remains the same, just a little different spelling. I thought it was a very masculine, virile sounding name that might convince people to read the book.
I don’t know if this will fool my relatives, but I hope to keep the ruse up as long as I can. Maybe they’ll find out and maybe I’ll get in trouble, but I’ll deal with it then.
The Walter Ulric Files will be available for purchase on Amazon this coming Halloween. I hope you’ll pick up a copy.