The only people for me are the mad ones, the ones who are mad to live, mad to talk, mad to be saved, desirous of everything at the same time, the ones who never yawn or say a commonplace thing, but burn, burn, burn like fabulous yellow Roman candles exploding like spiders across the stars and in the middle you see the blue centerlight pop and everybody goes "Awww!" - Jack Kerouac

"Aicalas" is Salacia von Humpeding's spy alias from Thud!, simply because vampires can't resist thinking that no one will recognize their name if they spell it backwards. Nyx is, in Greek mythology, the primordial goddess of the night.

(The following information was lifted from my NaNoWriMo profile, because I'm lazy.)

Favorite novels: Shanghai Baby, Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West, The Color Purple, Slaughterhouse-Five, Gingerbread, Cat's Eye, The Handmaid's Tale, Chronicle of A Death Foretold, The General in His Labyrinth, One Hundred Years of Solitude, Love in the Time of Cholera, the Discworld series, Good Omens, Neverwhere, Stardust, American Gods, Coraline, The Graveyard Book, Anansi Boys, Interworld, The Hundred Secret Senses, The Bonesetter's Daughter, The Catcher in the Rye, the Harry Potter series, The Chronicles of Narnia, The Lord of the Rings, Beloved, The Bluest Eye, To Kill A Mockingbird, Like Water For Chocolate, Noli Me Tangere (the English translation by Soledad Lacson-Locsin). Favorite short-story anthologies include Smoke and Mirrors, The Sandman: Book of Dreams, Fragile Things, Moral Disorder, Strange Pilgrims and Legends II: Shadows, Gods and Demons. Favorite graphic novels series is and always will be The Sandman.

Favorite writers: Neil Gaiman, Terry Pratchett, Amy Tan, Gabriel Garcia Marquez, Toni Morrison, Jose Dalisay, Margaret Atwood, Jack Kerouac, Anais Nin, E.E. Cummings, Pablo Neruda, Mark Leidner, T.S. Eliot, Chuck Palahniuk, Kurt Vonnegut, Gregory Maguire, Ryan North, Joey Comeau

Favorite music: Dar Williams, Coheed and Cambria, As Tall As Lions, Neutral Milk Hotel, Ani DiFranco, Regina Spektor, Tori Amos, Joshua Radin, Lydia, Up Dharma Down, Her Space Holiday, The Postal Service, Nightwish, Sonata Arctica, Urbandub, Hellogoodbye, Incubus, Nirvana, Broken Social Scene, Stars, Metro Station, The Decemberists, Tokyo Police Club, The Radio Dept., Arctic Monkeys, Rocky Votolato, Sneaker Pimps, Ladytron, Metric, Flyleaf, Cocorosie, Bloc Party, Cibo Matto, Taking Back Sunday, Brand New, Dashboard Confessional, Matchbook Romance, Tokio Hotel, Interpol, Bob Dylan, Sufjan Stevens, The Mountain Goats, Starlight Mints, New Young Pony Club, Minus the Bear, Circa Survive, Typecast, Saosin, oh and "Konstantine" by Something Corporate gets me every time