The Confessions (11 page)

CYNDY:
He can beat it out of me.

TIFFANY:
I bet he would. But knowing him and you, he’d rather cut it out.

CYNDY:
Dang.

TIFFANY:
The only non-surgeon on Earth with “obsidian blade scalpels” on his Christmas list. But that’s Søren for you.

CYNDY:
The sound I just made.

TIFFANY:
I heard it.

1. All the names of the principle characters in
The Siren
are based on the four cardinal directions:

2. Søren’s initials are kinky no matter which way you look at them:

3. Søren has two Ph.D.s—one in Theology and one in Canon Law. His full and correct title in the Catholic Church is rendered as “Reverend Doctor Marcus Stearns, S.J.” The “S.J.” stands for “Society of Jesus” which is the name of the religious order of priests Søren belongs to. They are commonly known as the Jesuits.

4. A man is considered a Jesuit from the moment he joins the order. Søren has been a Jesuit since age 18 upon entering the Society of Jesus. Not all Jesuits are priests, however. Søren was ordained into the priesthood at age 28. If he had not become a priest, he would still be a Jesuit brother.

5. Søren’s name is either Søren Magnussen (his Danish name given to him by his mother) or Marcus Stearns (his legal name given to him by his father). He is never referred to as Søren Stearns or Marcus Magnussen.

6. Søren’s middle name is Lennox, which is an authorial tribute to English soul singer Annie Lennox, who co-wrote the song “Missionary Man” from which the author of the
Original Sinners
series (Tiffany Reisz) took the phrase “Original Sinner.” Lennox is also a district in Scotland.

7. Søren’s son’s name is derived from Fionn mac Cumhaill (rendered in English as Finn MacCool), an Irish mythological hero. The word “Fionn” means “blond.” In
The King,
Søren tells Kingsley of an incident from his youth when a priest attempted to seduce him while they were translating the
Fiannaidheacht,
which is the cycle of Irish stories that includes the character Fionn mac Cumhaill. Grace Easton is half-Irish.

8. Søren is a polyglot, meaning he speaks and reads multiple languages. These include English, Danish, Swedish, French, Spanish, Arabic, Hungarian, Italian, Japanese, German, Portuguese, Mandarin Chinese, and the biblical languages of Koine Greek, Hebrew, Aramaic, and Latin. Professor Henry Jones, i.e. Indiana Jones, inspired Søren’s polyglotism.

9. Kingsley’s “baptism” in
The King
is not a valid baptism as the words spoken by Søren are not the correct baptismal formula. The correct baptismal formula for a valid baptism in the Catholic Church must include the invocation of the Trinity, i.e. “I baptize you in the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit.” Søren, being a good priest (most of the time) would not forcibly baptize anyone. He would, however, attempt to drown Kingsley for his own good.

10. Søren is a pescatarian—he eats no meat but does eat fish unless he’s a guest in someone’s home and then he eats what is served him.

11. Søren’s motorcycle is a black 1992 Ducati 907 I.E. It is the only year the 907 I.E. came in black. As Jesuits take vows of poverty and live in community, they are not allowed to keep gifts unless given permission by their superiors. In
The King
Søren states he received permission to keep his motorcycle. Any of Søren’s other “personal property” belongs to his Jesuit order or Sacred Heart, his parish in Connecticut.

12. The school where Søren trained for the priesthood is The Pontifical Gregorian University or
Pontifica Università Gregorian
in Italian. It is located in Rome, Italy and was founded by the Jesuits. It is commonly referred to as the Gregorianum.

13. Søren’s unique mix of sadism and compassion was based on God as He is portrayed in the Hebrew Bible (i.e. The Old Testament in the Christian Church). The first draft of
The Siren
was written while the author was attending a Methodist seminary.

14. Søren’s father was a baron in the English aristocracy. As his father’s only son, Søren could have claimed the title had he wished to leave the priesthood. He did not and the title is now in abeyance. The family estate is called Edenfell and is located in the north of England along the Scottish border. Due to Kingsley’s largesse, Edenfell is now the property of Fionn Easton. Whether Fionn will attempt to claim the title and the estate remains to be seen…

15. The scene in
The Mistress
where Søren walks to his possible death at dawn with Grace Easton was inspired by the walk with Aslan that Lucy and Susan undertake in
The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe,
by C.S. Lewis. References to that work are scattered throughout the series.

16. The Sting song Søren and Eleanor waltz to in
The Saint
is “When We Dance.” The Police song Nora dances to with Zachary at the end of
The Queen
is “Every Little Thing She Does is Magic.”

17. Søren’s correct birthdate is December 21, 1964, not December 21, 1965 as appears in
The Angel.
That was an uncorrected error. He is 51 years old during the present-day events of
The Queen.

18. Søren’s name is correctly pronounced “Suurn” (rhymes with Burn) in Danish. Nora, however, pronounces it the English way “Sore-ren” which is why in
The Saint
Søren says she pronounces his name “like an American.” He answers to both English and Danish pronunciations.

19. Wakefield, Connecticut, home to Søren’s parish Sacred Heart Catholic Church, is a fictional town. The name was taken from a small farming community in Kentucky near where the author lived at the time.

20. As revealed in
The King,
the 8 in the Eighth Circle logo is actually a letter S with a letter O around it and a slash through it. The S-O with slash is how Søren signs personal correspondence. Typographers refer to the ø in Søren’s name as a “slashed o,” and in Danish it is pronounced somewhat like the English “ur.”

21. The original draft of
The Siren
was written in 2003. In the original draft, Nora picked Wesley over Søren. Søren told the author he didn’t approve. The author changed the ending, because the author knows what’s good for her.

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