Welcome back to another blog hop, with #OpenBook. Here’s this week’s prompt.

Don’t forget to click the link to see what everyone else has to say on this week’s subject. It’s at the end of my post.

If you had to choose a new author name, what would it be?

Before I answer that, a bit of history. With a real surname like DOCKETT, I was destined to be a ship’s pilot. And I actually know people called Keneth Tuckey and Cecil Pitt.

When I started writing, I wanted a pen name that was different.

In 2011, I decided to call my Sci-fi author persona Richard Dee ( I thought it looked better on a cover), and I initially published two novels under that name.

Fast forward to 2016, when I started attending a newly formed writers group. I was talking to another member about pen names. She had three, depending on which audience she was writing for. I was on the verge of publishing my first Steampunk novel and asked her if I should call myself something else for my foray into the new genre.

“Only if you’re prepared to spend more of your time juggling multiple social media accounts and remembering who you need to be at any time than you do writing,” she wryly said.

If I hadn’t followed her advice and stuck to Richard Dee for everything, I would have had six or seven different pen names by now, one for each genre that I write in.

Can you imagine the extra work involved in marketing?

So the idea of changing it all and becoming someone else fills me with a certain dread.

However, that wasn’t the question.

If I had to change my pen name, I don’t really know what I’d want to change it to. Maybe something a bit more connected to my characters. A lot of them have names that I would be comfortable using. Names like Dave Travise, Carlos Dayne or Harold Malvis. Even Derek Masters has a ring to it.

I’m a big fan of crime noir, and I have a hero in that genre called Max Rayder, which I quite like as a name. Something like Ricky Danger or Rick Bullit might be worth thinking about, if a little OTT. Or I could have Rick O’Shay, but it’s a bit too cheesy, even for me!

They would work for that genre, but what about the rest? And there’s the problem. Before we know it, we’re back to the multiple name conundrum again.

As for a female name (and why not?), one of Kalyn Deere’s sidekicks is called Harmony Chase. It’s a cool name for a character; it’s actually the name of a house that you pass on the road between Totnes and Avonwick.

Whether it would suit me as a Steampunk author is another matter.

As a parting thought, I could officially change my name in the U.K. for less than £200. That’s about $265.

I’d only have to sell 100 books or so to be able to afford it.

And I could do it as often as I wanted.

What do you think about this week’s subject?

Let me know by leaving me a comment.

While you’re here, please click the InLinkz link to check out what my fellow writers have to say about this week’s topic.

I’ll be back with another post on Thursday. See you then. Meanwhile, have a great week.

I’d love to get your comments, please leave them below. While you’re here, why not take a look around? There are some freebies and lots more content, about me, my writing and everything else that I do.