Secrets

MIA'S ADDRESS

From Jack Magic: Believe Your Eyes:

“It’s her,” Jack told Alex. “It’s the woman with the sand who healed me and sent me the cane.” He continued talking on the phone. “I think it’s time you explained to me what this is all about.”
“Oh, I quite agree,” she replied pleasantly. “Things are accelerating rapidly. Have you got time to meet me today?”
“Like, when?”
“Like, now? Would now be good?”
Alex tugged on Jack’s arm. “I want to see this lady too. Can I go?”
“Can I bring a friend?” Jack asked.
“Absolutely. I’ll make some refreshments.”“Give me the address.”
Jack grabbed a pen and started writing on a scrap of paper.
“1900 Coastal, Apartment 517. Got it. You’re going to tell me what this is all about, right?”
“Oh yes,” Mia promised. “I will explain everything.”

The address is not important but it is another hidden Easter Egg. While there is a Coastal Blvd in Richmond, Virginia, the address in the story is pure fiction. 1900 is the year when The Wonderful Wizard of Oz debuted. COASTAL is an anagram for LOCASTA, which is Mia the Whitetorch's real name. 517 represents the date May 17th when the first Oz book was published in 1900.
Oh, and as another mystery, do you recognize the other fictional addresses in this imaginary phonebook?

THE LICENSE PLATE

In Jack Magic: Believe Your Eyes the Richmond police are involved in a high speed chase of a van driven by Megajolt and Anima. And officer makes the following radio call:

“Dispatch, we are in pursuit of a black Ram Promaster van. License plate George William Mary Queen Five Six One Niner. Has markings for Shokwurk Security Solutions on the…”

This one was so obscure that I had to consult my own notes to remember what it was all about. The letters GWMQ are the first letters of the four different quandrants of the Land of Oz: Gillikin Country, Winkie Country, Munchkin Country and Quadling Country (seen on the map to the left, please note that this early illustration contains an error in which Munchkin Country is incorrectly set in the west instead of the east). 5619 is the date that L. Frank Baum died on May 6, 1919.
In retrospect I can't believe I used the passing of Baum for that particular inside Easter Egg. It's kind of morbid and not keeping with the positive feeling of the Oz tribute. Perhaps it was just a placeholder until I would have thought of something else. It has no importance to the story, but I think in later revisions I will change the number to GWMQ-O26. After all, most Virginia license plates only have seven letters or characters. O26 would represent OZ, with O standing for O and Z being the 26th letter of the alphabet.

FEEL AWFUL? FALAFEL!

From Jack Magic Other Knights Part One:

“What in Rhoo’s name is that?” she demanded.
Dawn lowered the tray so she could see it. “It’s a falafel.”
“I know what a falafel looks like. I just want to know why you are standing in my bedroom holding that thing over my face.”
“Um, you asked for it.”
Glance rose up with the twisted mass of her bedclothes, turning them into robes that covered everything but her head and neck. She glared at the other woman in her bedroom. “I asked for it?”
“Yes.”
“Obviously one of us is stark raving insane. Slowly and clearly explain to me the circumstances of how I asked you for a falafel.”
“I was in the office and you pressed the intercom and I heard you order a…”
Glance interrupted her.
“Feel awful. FEEL AWFUL! That’s what I was saying. I’m always waking up feeling awful!”
“Oh my gosh, I feel so stupid.”
“Finally, we both agree on something.”
“I’ll get rid of it right away.”
Glance snatched it from her hand.
“No, don’t. I like falafels. Reminds me of a guy I used to date in the 1990’s.”

The character of  Skyward Glance was inspired by independent/art house actress Parker Posey. In the 1995 movie Party Girl she plays Mary, a free-spirited young woman who falls in love with a street vendor who sells falafels.
No, Skyward Glance is not supposed to be Mary, but she may have had a similar romance/infatuation in her past. It is definitely a tribute to this film though.

SEE YOU IN THE FUNNY PAPERS

In the Jack Magic comic book, Tricks of the Trade, there's a scene of Jack and Alex entering a room. Hanging on the wall is a tiny blurry black and white photo. It's a publicity still from the 1939 MGM movie version of The Wizard of Oz. So yes, I knew even back then that this was ultimately going to be an Oz story.
The other picture is supposed to be a TV screen with an image of actress Felicia Day as her character Codex from the comedy web series The Guild. She has nothing whatsoever to do with the Jack Magic series or Oz except that she was a frequent guest visitor on the G4 Network. And I think she's cute.

IT'S NOT EASY BEING GREEN

Also in Tricks of the Trade, The Outcast are revealed at the end in a secret meeting room watching a playback of the events of the story. The entire scene is lit with moody atmospheric green light, but it was also intended to be a bit of foreshadowing of the true nature of the villains. You see, they were originally intended to be GREEN.
No, I'm serious. They would meet under green light to hide the fact that their skin color was bright green as they were disciples of the Wicked Witches of Oz. They would use magic spells to conceal their affliction for short periods of time in order to go out in public and interact with normal humans.
Ultimately I decided to abandon this idea since the witches of Oz were only green in the trademarked MGM movie. I found out that the producers of Wicked and Oz The Great and Terrible had to pay some kind of royalty for the right to make their witches that color. And me being a poor schnook, well, I decided to just embrace the situations from the public domain books by L. Frank Baum.

---

More secrets will be revealed later. Let me just leave you with two little teases:
Throughout the Jack Magic novels certain characters refer to something called RHOO who is supposed to be the creator of all things. This is not just a nonsense word I made up. Rhoo is something real that already existed.
And a major new character in the series finale already made a cameo appearance somewhere in the Jack Magic comic book Tricks of the Trade.

---