From there, his aura
blazed brightly, a harsh, actinic blue.  "Mutsumi!" he yelled.  "Good
girl's exercise, step one!"

I had to look up what "actinic" meant.

<eyebrow raised>  You've never come across "actinic" before?

Suggest either dropping it or using a more common word.

By all means.  God forbid that our reading material increases our
vocabulary.  I suggest you stay away from authors like Lovecraft,
lest you be frightened by a stray "squamous".

Okay, sarcasm aside, I just want to note that I see no problem at
all with "actinic".  If it has precisely the shade of meaning the
author wants, then he should use it, and not feel constrained to
"dumb down" his description on the chance that someone might not
know the word.  Dictionaries exist for a reason, after all.

-- Bob

===========================================================================
Bob Schroeck          http://www.eclipse.net/~rms           rms@eclipse.net
===========================================================================
Then the horns kicked in...
...and my shoes began to squeak.
===========================================================================

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