Why Red Dragonfly?

Quick!  What's my favorite color?

Bet you guessed red.  It's actually light purple.  Like lavander.

So why red?  Red is short for my college, the University of Redlands.  Aside from this, a red dragonfly forms a much better image than a purple one.  There's even a Japanese song about it.  "Aka Tombo."

The dragonfly part was actually born from my enmity for a rival insect... the butterfly.  Yes, I'm one of the rare few people terrified of butterflies.  Or perhaps disgust is another word.  Butterflies fall apart too easily.  One year, a Monarch migration hit California while my mother was driving down a mountain pass.  I still remember those orange and black butterflies smacking into the windshield.

Dragonflies are sturdier.  And their name evokes far-off lands.  Well-suited for a fantasy writer, I'd say.