A Rose by any other name....

Despite the fact that when we originally sketched in On The Rocks as a bleak dystopian warning back in the 90's, with little actual knowledge of the future, we've had many react to the name of our arch nemesis, Donald E Tubwell, POTUS. My original intention was a parody of Jerry Falwell (ie Tubwell-- close to his name and also a little descriptive of his eventual girth.) At the time Falwell struck me as a harbinger of destructive reactionary political Evangelicalism, mixing the political with the religious to establish a new American theocracy. The name "Donald" just seemed too common and comic to be be affixed to a politician.

So here we are in the post 2016 world. What had been a dystopian story now became an alternative history, perhaps even more topical than could have been imagined in 1992. And what we had considered a throw a way first name became.... well lets not dwell on the obvious.

A few of our first readers have mentioned that using Donald as a first name for our villain was a little too ....pointed? And a couple of folks, perhaps a little more in favor of the current POTUS, suggested that the name might keep readers from looking at our story. And we don't want that. (Although our story, like our present, touches on the risks of excessive Presidential power.)

So looking for a new name we wanted to touch on Biblical, and on US history. With some consultation we hit upon "Thaddeus" as our new first name for our villain. Replacing "Donald" we now have Thaddeus E Tubwell-- a nice alliteration. We trust that the spirit of Thaddeus Stevens, a staunch Radical Republican in 1860's and one of the men who helped guide the 14th Amendment through Congress, will forgive us.