Name Part II

Let's get this one out of the way, too: Names are a problem for me.

Starting with the one given me at the outset, John Nicholas Datesh, Jr., perfectly fine, if always mispronounced, even by me. All through school, all 19 years, it was John. I'm sure most people know me as John. To family and most, but not all, close friends, it has always been Nick (ignoring my first few years, please).

Beyond school, I have generally used Nick. But no insurance company, bank, DMV or state bar cares what you are actually called.

The outfit that published my novels long ago decided that I needed I needed a pseudonym, my actual nym being way too stiff and my own choice, Nick Datesh, sounded pulpy. They felt that John Nicholas Datesh struck the best balance for a serious fiction writer. This despite the fact that I pitched myself (mostly to myself) as a mystery & suspense writer, with some SciFi and horror tendencies.

Friends of the family congratulated my father when my first book, "The Nightmare Machine" came out. I suppose they had not read it, yet. He, having done so, just said, "Oh, no, I didn't." (This may have been the horror part.)

Even today, when someone politely asks me my name, I have to hesitate, just as I do when asked about what I do for a living.

When asked from now on, though, I can just say, "Read my damned Blog."