Once I decided on having things recur in order to tie the book together (the way that that rug in The Big Lebowski “really ties the room together,”) all the familiar settings, characters, and themes started percolating on their own, as if my subconscious mind agreed with the program and ran with it. Of my two main characters, Map and Pryna, I’m much fonder of Pryna. But of course I made her easier for myself to be fond of.