It seems I forgot something yesterday. Fortunately, this ping-back from Smithsonian Magazine jogged my memory!

Before I even started this blog, I would occasionally pose a SyFy Question of the Day to my facebook friends. Sometimes, it was directly related to what I was writing, and I really did want some input to help me decide what direction to take with the story. Other times, it was purely fun. Here’s one of my favorites, from March 2011:

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SyFy question of the night: what would call the people who survive a starliner crashing into a planet by taking an escape pod? Refugees? Survivors? I need more synonymonyms!

Mark                     Escapees. Survivors.

Pony                      If they’re still adrift, castaways.

AB                          Good one… when I started overusing “escapees” it sounded like they were criminals. But castaways would work in this case, even after they reach the planet safely… Even though it is a civilized planet, they are all temporarily stranded, and many make the choice to stay even though they still feel a bit adrift and out of place.

Mark                     Better than mine I do like castaways as well

Zoe                        Drifters?

Al                            Is one of them named Gilligan?

Shane                   Screwed.

Celestial Polynesians?

Gwendolyn        maroons ;P

AB                          I will name the celestial polynesian “Gilligan” in honor of Shane and Al, but so far “Maroons” takes the cake!

Jess                        selamat (this is Maylay translation of English word “survivor.”)

AB                          ‎”selamat” sounds like the place where Gilligan, the celestial Polynesian would go to get his maroons cleaned…

Tyrannosaurus Rex         Alien snack food.

I would love to hear what you think! Even if you are reading this post a year or more after publishing, I hope you will leave a comment with your own ideas on this topic.

The previous SyFy Q of the Day is at http://wp.me/p1qnT4-gR

The shortlink for this post is http://wp.me/p1qnT4-jz

The next SyFy Q of the Day is at http://wp.me/p1qnT4-kM