Shout Out / The Cinder Spires

• Albion and Aurora are the names of two continents in the Fable games. Given the author, this can't be a coincidence. Of course, it's also possible that he got the names from the same source as those games: they're the oldest known name for the island of Great Britain and the Roman goddess of dawn, respectively.
  • Aurora was also the name of the Summer Lady introduced in the fourth book of the Dresden Files.
  • Aurora is also the scientific name for light displays in the high atmosphere. A well known example of this is the aurora borealis, more commonly known as the Northern Lights. The name of Aurora could be a reference to something the ether currents do in the setting.
• Two of the other Spires, mostly mentioned in passing at the start of the Habble Landing scenes, are Olympia and Atlantus. The mythology links are obvious.
• A nation called Albion that's above the clouds and with an airship fleet... sounds familiar...
• "Death is as light as a feather, duty heavier than a spire." Or possibly a reference to The Wheel of Time referencing the same.
• Some of the names and symbols are either shout-outs to the northern United States, or subtle evidence that despite the European feel, the story actually takes place around Chicago.
  • Itasca is a township in Chicago just outside O'Hare airport. It is named for a lake in Minnesota, the headwaters of the Mississippi River. The name 'Itasca' is a faux-Amerind name that was invented in the mid-1800s.
  • The flag of Spire Aurora is the municipal flag of Chicago, only with one extra star. Also, the map in The Olympian Affair places Spire Aurora near contemporary Chicago.
  • Albion is an old name for England, which derives from a word for 'white'. The White City is the park in south Chicago where the 1893 World's Columbian Exposition took place.
    • The map in The Olympian Affair shows Spire Albion located where contemporary Albany, New York is today.
  • Olympia Fields, IL is a village near Chicago which grew up around a golf course which became popular as a retreat for the wealthy during the World's Columbian Exposition.
  • Aurora, IL is a suburb of Chicago.
  • The two other Spires mentioned by name are Jereezi and Atlantea, which, if reasonably close, would be Joisey and Atlanta, Georgia, respectively.
  • In The Olympian Affair Grimm says that the Pike Alliance doesn't have a proper spire, instead being based out of caves near the peak of a tall mountain. This is almost certainly a reference to Pikes Peak in the Rockies, which has several cave systems including the famous Cave of the Winds.
• The religion of the Way might be an homage to the religion in the TV show Andromeda. One of Benedict's early lines about proselytizing is almost word for word what Rev Bem says about it in the show.
• Reginald Astor is a snotty rich idiot with an excess of family pride that causes trouble for one of the Protagonists. Much like the Astor family from the The Dresden Files short story "A Restoration of Faith" also from Jim Butcher.
• Another one to The Dresden Files: Bridget's cat name is "Littlemouse", despite the fact she is tall and muscular. Rowl notes that she used to be a small baby, but "outgrew" the name. In The Dresden Files, Harry names his dog Mouse, when he's just a puppy so small he fit in Harry's pockets. Mouse later grows up to be actually a very large dog, reaching Harry's waist (And Harry himself is nearly 7 feet tall).
• Gwen and and her cousin Benedict banter a lot like Miles Vorkosigan and Ivan Vorpatril of the Vorkosigan Saga. The latter calling the former "coz" and is handsome and smarter than he appears, the former being a short Determinator who tends to wreak havoc wherever they go. Admittedly, Miles is a lot more subtle than Gwen; when someone suggested she talk to a guy who was about to pose a problem, she somehow assumed the suggester meant "threaten".
• During the scene in the inn, when talking about Commodore Pine, Master Ferus describes him as 'Olympian and, it would seem, possessed of a fury. Which is funny, if you know enough history.' Which, given that the Olympians seem to be a reference to ancient Greeks and Romans, is a reference to Codex Alera, by the same author, where Romans utilise elemental spirits called furies.
• In Darker than Black, Contractors have great power and extremely suppressed human emotions (like aversion to killing), but they have to follow their obeisance. Etherealists are similar, but their compulsions come from the mental damage of using ether, and make them remotely stable, though eccentric.
• In The Olympian Affair, Grimm ends up fighting a duel on behalf of Bayard, as his second since Bayard was poisoned by his girlfriend, to save his life. He's fighting Rafe Valesco, a sadistic Master Swordsman with physical advantages, training advantages, and who likes to toy with his victims, and wields a rapier style dueling sword against Grimm's weighted cutlass. What does Grimm, a Combat Pragmatist do? let Valesco run him through the leg, relying on the wound to trap the sword, then hack him to death. Sound familiar? This is the exact same strategy employed by Richard Sharpe against El Catolico in Sharpe's Gold, and like that one, it works like a charm.