Naming my last book Endurance was easy. I had been inspired by Ernest Shackleton’s Antarctic adventure (misadventure) aboard his own Endurance. I even made the story time match the length of time he and his crew were stranded. I decided, however, not to destroy the ship. Honestly, his real story was so improbable that I didn’t think I could make it believable as fiction.

When the rest of the series formed in my mind, I thought I’d go with ship names for titles, each being a not-so-subtle theme of the story. June 4 will see the launch of Tenacity. But look at that picture.

Yeah, that’s not my Tenacity. Mine’s a much bigger ship, for reasons that will become clear in the story. I came across this other Tenacity yesterday, reading a news article about how the cargo ship will launch to the International Space Station sometime this year. I’d never heard of it although it’s been in the works for decades.

There’s a funny dissonance when this sort of thing happens—story intersecting real life. Not surprising in the world of ship names. Mine aren’t very original. Not like Ann Leckie’s Justice of Toren, or Arkady Martine’s Weight for the Wheel.

While I was writing Endurance, I came across the 2014 movie Interstellar. I’d never seen it. To my horror, it involves a ship named Endurance that travels through a wormhole out by Saturn. I watched it long after I finished my Endurance. Luckily, that’s where the similarity ends, and writer friends assured me these things happen all the time. But to then come across another Tenacity, just feels…weird.

My Tenacity launches June 4! Preorder from Amazon today.

 More about Tenacity here.