FAQ: Just Who is Madison?

Madison is Colony Chronicle’s agony aunt.

Just What Is An ‘Agony Aunt’?

‘Agony Aunt’ is a British term for those who pen the “advice to the lovelorn” columns in newspapers. In other words, think of Madison as an advice columnist. Better yet, think of Madison as ‘Dear Abby’ with fins!

Madison responds to letters from the residents of Colony Island containing their vexing problems de jour. She also occasionally honks off the town snobs like Samia Marinos.

Why Call Her Madison?

Some of you may remember the 80’S movie, Splash, starring Daryl Hannah and Tom Hanks. Tom played Allen Bauer and Daryl played the mermaid, Madison.[1] Since the movie had a happy ending with Madison and Allen swimming off into the sunset, I am assuming that:

  1. Madison and Allen got hitched, joined, married, etc.
  2. Madison got Allen a ‘tail job’.[2]

Therefore, her full name will be Madison Bauer.

Besides being the local newspapers’ advice columnist, she will be a (very) minor character in at least one of the forthcoming books. There will be some (very) oblique references to the movie and Allen may even get a look in. On the other hand, their scenes could wind up on the cutting room floor.

So What Does This Have To Do With The Website?

‘Ask Madison’ serves as a vehicle to comment on plot points and inject a bit of levity at the same time. It also serves to illustrate the idea that the Merfolk of Colony Island have personal problems just like we do. The only difference is the fact that many of these problems had to do with being mermaids or mermen.

The Ask Madison column[3] is displayed in typical blog format[4] with the most recent entry appearing first followed by the next recent, etc. On one hand, this is great for regular visitors because they only have to scroll through a few posts in order to catch up. On the other hand, the visitor has to work their way to the last post and then scroll upwards in order to read each post in chronological order.

In most instances, each post is meant to be a stand-alone and it does not matter in which order they are read. However, there are a few series of posts that need to be read in chronological order for the full impact of each.

In those cases, I will create a separate page containing those related posts in the order in which they were meant to be read[5].


 

[1] I’ll let you figure out where the name ‘Madison’ came from.

[2] This a play on the term ‘Nose Job’ and not that other kind of job.

[3] Actually, it’s more like a blog.

[4] See, I told you.

[5] That’s the plan, anyway.

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