Author Joshua Gaylord recently released his zombie novel, The Reapers Are The Angels, under the pseudonym Alden Bell. An event to promote the book was held at a New York City Barnes & Noble on August 4th. After reading from the book, he fielded questions from the audience.
When asked about how “Alden Bell” came about, he answered that “Alden” is a family name because his male line has always carried the name “Alden” since the lifetime of his Mayflower ancestor. “Bell” is an homage to the Bronte sisters who each used “Bell” as the surname for their male pseudonyms. He added: “So, it’s like I’m the fourth Bronte sister.”
One audience member asked if the inclusion of “pignuts” in the novel is because of Shakespeare’s fantasy play, The Tempest. Bell affirmed the theory: “This is how you know there’s English majors in the room. Because the exact source of the pignuts is from The Tempest. I don’t think pignuts appear anywhere else in literature.”