I probably will have the aristeia. Just have to handle it carefully. This is also the chapter where a character named Diana shows up and I know what's going on and I do want to hint a little but I don't want it to be obvious. So that's tough.
I thought I might have to stare at maps for a while. Turns out there are far too many good islands to chose from.
The private island of Patroklos -- which sounds enough like Patrocles to get The Illiad another boost. After all, I've already got a character who is saddled with the nickname Achilles. So it is off the southern tip of Attica, about 65 km from Athens. You get close to it by taking the winding, dangerous, 91; a road so insane it is popular with illegal racers, and perhaps as a result the government has decided not to repair or upgrade it but instead let it die and eventually replace it with something safer.
It is so close to the coast you could probably take a hang glider from the Temple of Poseidon (now it is Odyssey shout-outs) and get there.
The other island that jumped out when I started research is Skorpios. And if there is a better name for the private island of a villain...! It was of course owned by Onassis. He married Jackie O there (and the paparazi caught her sunning on the beach). Now a Russian owns it and is trying to build a hotel despite a certain lack of permissions. What else?
So, it is actually in the Ionian Sea; similar distance from Athens, crazier voyage; you could put out of the Port of Piraeus -- but nobody would let a neophyte ship-handler out in that craziness.
The main reason to stay far clear, though, is Diana is the remaining daughter of a rich Greek industrialist who had ties to the right-wing. So, no. Move that island as far away as possible because I'd rather not be accused of slandering that particular family.
So my island is roughly where Patroklos should be and -- at least until one of the Greek speakers at Quora gets back to me -- called Aráchnios.
Because if you can't have scorpions, then spiders will do! (No spiders will make an appearance in the novel.)
The usual word in Greek for "skull" is "kranio"; but "nekrokefalí" seems to translate as "death's head".
ReplyDeleteIt's a Gene Wolfe reference. In one collection he wrote "Island of Doctor Death," "Doctor of Death Island," and "Death of Dr. Island."
ReplyDeleteThe current name is Aráchnios, which a friendly chap on Quora tells me would go well with a live volcano and a secret submarine tunnel.