Your name MacRath

[Áine]

De Rath De - Just wanted to point out that your surname means prosperity and/or success in Gaelic - language of the Highland Scots and the Irish. De Rath De means "by the Grace of God." So you have a good name for a successful novelist.
Question - apropos of your tweet about details - did you ever read Pompeii?

[Reb]

I'm afraid I haven't read Pompeii.r But I'll tell you an interesting story about names and attention to detail. In an earlier version of my ebook SOUTHERN SCOTCH, my Scottish hero was a descendant of the wild MacTavin clan: the wildest of them all being Boss, who was drawn and quartered in a certain revolution. A writer friend, Brad Strickland, read the book and pointed out that the name Boss did not come into circulation until a few hundred years later. I was crushed. But Brad laughed and rolled up his sleeves. With further research, Brad came up with a nickname the old brigand might have used: Bas Aithghearr: the first word meaning Death and the second Sudden. From Bas to Boss wasn't that far a jump--and now my reborn Scotsman had a new name that suited his style and wasn't historically false. And so a better book was born and an important lesson learned.