If you check my reviews, you'll notice that some refer to that character as Ron Starbuck, because they trust the narrator. He goes by several names in the book. His real last name isn't mentioned until the sequel: It's Vasquez."There's a bookstore? In Bordertown?"She nodded. "Several. There's everything you want in Bordertown. There just isn't everything you need." She grinned. "I'm Mickey. The store's Elsewhere. Hours are as erratic as you can imagine, but word gets out when we're open. A few blocks south of Ho on Mock Avenue.""I'm Ron. Ron Starbuck."She lifted an eyebrow. "One kid showed up in Soho, said her name was Jinian L'Étoile. Everyone called her Jiggle Le Toilet. She cut out for the World after a week. I'm amazed she lasted that long.""Check," I said. "Just Ron.""Good to meet you, Just Ron."
I didn't expect anyone to believe Starbuck was his last name. I chose it because it sounded like the kind of name a kid would make up for himself, and I thought readers would figure out from "said her name was" rather than "whose name was" that it was common to create new identities in Bordertown.
But I forgot that readers tend to trust narrators. Often, they're right to, but I find completely trustworthy narrators both boring and implausible: none of us are fully self-aware. Some narrators lie to hide something when they tell a story. Others think they know the truth and are wrong.
I've never done much with unreliable narrators, but when I read, I try to remember that anything a narrator says should be weighed against what we learn later.
Hmm. I'm being unreliable here, I just realized. The narrator of Dogland is unreliable, and readers who miss that miss the presence of magic in the book.