In case you’ve missed it, our books are actually written by two people. One question we get a lot is How do you get your work to come together so well? In addition to being best friends for over twenty years, we talk about our work. A. Lot.
Talking about our research and our historical setting as well as our characters has meant that we’ve come up with a number of shorthand nicknames for the people we talk about. Okay, some of it is to save time. Some of it is just to amuse ourselves. Here are some of them!
BFrank – Benjamin Franklin
G3 – George the Third, by the Grace of God, King of Great Britain, France, and Ireland, Defender of the Faith, and so forth
GDub – George Washington
GWash (less common) – George Washington
J. Han – John Hancock (pronounced Jay dot Han, after “A. Ham” from “Your Obedient Servant,” Hamilton)
JA – John Adams
JADams – John Adams, when we want to contrast him with Samuel Adams
LDB – Lord David Beaufort, later Lieutenant David Beaufort, the man, the myth, the legend. (i.e., when we’re talking about David as a person, we call him David. When we’re talking about the awesomeness that is the Lord David Beaufort, we call him LDB. He and his family also have some other titles and styles acronyms)
MADams – John Adams, cranky Yankee (sometimes we just call him that)(and sometimes it’s “shortly portly cranky Yankee”)
Ned – Edward Beaufort, IDK 15th? Marquess of Dorset, the myth & legend (try not to swoon!)(But when we mean him as a person, we call him Edward, because as David mentions to J. Han in Liberty’s Charge, he doesn’t like to be called Ned)
SADams – Samuel Adams (apparently, he was only called Sam by those who didn’t like him)
TJ – Thomas Jefferson
TPaine – Thomas Paine, author of Common Sense
Some of our references, however, are not shorthand. For example, we frequently refer to Josiah’s workplace as “the Law Offices of Josiah Hayes.”