Introducing ... Gennadi Kozlov

It's no secret (or perhaps it should be) that I am totally and completely in love with Evgeni Malkin. Yeah, I know, he's not exactly the best looking guy to take up a Penguins roster spot, but he's my hockey crush. You might have guessed he is the inspiration behind NOPB in the first place. I wanted to write a story with a hockey backdrop and thus the birth of Gennadi Kozlov (Gennadi because it is similar to Malkin's nickname, Geno and Kozlov for the reason I loved hockey to begin with so many years ago, Viktor Kozlov)

Side note: You can't tell out there in the interwebs, but all these Russian names have that red squiggly line underneath them as if they are spelled incorrectly and it is driving my inner writer insane.

Anyways, I did a character interview for Gennadi as well, trying not to let the influence for his character come screaming out. Also, as a Pens fan it killed me that Gennadi has to be a Bruin but I think it was important to keep that theme of the story where she runs from one extreme (the far east coast) to an opposite extreme (the far west coast) and back again. Perhaps in the third installment, Tallulah will be faced with a job offer in Pittsburgh and with Kozlov retired, maybe they will find themselves in my wish-it-were-mine hometown.

Introducing ... Evgeni Malkin as Gennadi Kozlov



And my weak Paint.Net skills to showcase my favorite self-created couple ....