His Robot Wife – 99 cents at Kobo Ebooks

His Robot WifeFive years ago, Mike Smith was an unhappy man living all alone. Then he purchased a Daffodil. Far more than regular robots, his Daffodil Patience, changed his life in ways that he had never thought possible. Now it is the year 2037, and Mike and Patience have been married for five years. Retired and enjoying life, Mike thought that all his troubles were behind him, but it seems as though they are creeping up again. California Proposition 22 proposes to define a person as a biological entity, thereby annulling marriages, like Mike’s and Patience’s, performed in other states. Battle lines have been drawn, at least as far as the proponents of the bill are concerned. Now Mike must muster his own support to defeat the measure. But there is more going on than just politics. Daffodil, the robot maker, is in the news again. Hardware issues are leaving robots across the globe unable to function. Is it only an antenna issue? Now Patience herself is behaving oddly. Is there something really wrong with her, or does she just need a software upgrade?

His Robot Wife is the novella-length sequel to His Robot Girlfriend, and is available from Kobo for 99 cents. Get His Robot Wife for your Kobo reading device or Kobo app by following this link.

The World of Senta and the Steel Dragon: S

Sabrina, S.S.: One of the larger Brech freighters making the trip to Birmisia.

Sacrifice: Perhaps the most controvercial book by Kasia Garstone, Sacrifice tells the story of the growth and expansion of the Kafirite Church in Sumir and particularly in Brechalon.

Saint Admeta Park: A lovely square park in Brech City, several miles west of the Great Plaza, Saint Admeta Park is open to the public only on holidays or special occasions.  It is named for St. Admeta, one of Kafira Kristos’s apostles.

Saint Dante, University of: The University of St. Dante is a small educational institution outside Brech City.  It is relatively exclusive, with a high tuition, and has a student body that is almost 70% female.  St. Dante is named for the apostle of Kafira of the same name, and not-coincidently, St. Dante has a strong theology department.

Saint Ulixes: The capital city of Brech Mallontah, St. Ulixes was originally an aboriginal city-state before being taken over by Brechs.  Home to tens of thousands of human inhabitants and several million locols (trogs), the city is mostly made up of round mud brick structures with a few modern buildings.

Sands of Time, The: The Sands of Time is a novel my Mirsannan Arjen DeAlonzo.  It is set in the time of Magnus the Great.

Sapira: A kingdom in central Sumir from about 800 to 1500, Sapira was controlled by groups migrating from nearby kingdoms.  Sapira was eventually swallowed up by Akkas-Miza.

Sassonicah: An ancient lizzie empire in Birmisia, Sassonicah was once a vast country ruled by one or more dynasties of lizzie rulers, including Sessonoth and his predecessor Sissisinat.  The true extent of Sassonicah is unknown, although obelisks and artifacts of the civilization have been found all over Birmisia Colony.  Only estimates of the age of these artifacts have been made, but those estimates range from -3000 to -14,000.  If the latter age is to be believed, then Sassonicah would have been a mighty empire long before any human culture reached civilization.

Sauroposeidon: A huge Birmisian dinosaur, the sauroposeidon is similar in form to the paralatitan, but has a longer neck in relation to its body.  Sauraposeidon are found near the coastal areas throughout most of the year, but can be found further inland during mating season.

Schaub, Maddchen: A contemporary and friend of Kasia Garstone, Maddchen Schaub wrote similar muckraking books, highlighting the underclassed and disenfranchised, though it is generally accepted that her work is inferior to Garstone’s.  Schaub was arrested in Freedonia and charged with treason.  She died in prison.

Schraam, Leda: A transplanted Freedonian, Leda Schraam is a writer of jingoistic Brech poetry.  Her work is frequently quoted by members of the Conservative Party.

Schwarztogrube: Schwarztogrube was an ancient fortress built on the Isle of Winds, halfway between Greater Brechalon and the northern coast of Sumir.  Built in 1499 as a defense against Laess and Derich, it was soon discovered that Schwarztogrube was in a magic dampening zone.  By 1750, it had become a prison for wizards and sorcerers, and held many criminals and political prisoners with magic powers.  Near New Years day in 1899, Schwarztogrube and the Isle of Winds disappeared off the face of the world.  At first it was believed that some act of god was responsible, but it was later discovered to have been the work of an escaped sorceress—Zurfina the Magnificent.

Scrum Boulevard: Scrum Boulevard runs north to the edge of Brech City.  King’s Oval Park is located on Scrum Boulevard.

Secret Service, His Majesty’s: An spy network working under the Prime Minister, His Majesty’s Secret Service employs both wizards and non-magical agents to protect the realm and gather information on Brechalon’s enemies.

See Spice: (See White Opthalium.)

Seismosaurus: Seismosaurus is a very large long-necked quadrupedal animal, with a long, whip-like tail. Its forelimbs are slightly shorter than its hind limbs, resulting in a largely horizontal posture. The long-necked, long-tailed animal with four sturdy legs has been mechanically compared with a suspension bridge.  Seismosauruses are common throughout Mallon.

Septuary: Septuary is the seventh month of the modern reformed calendar.  Like all the months except Hamonth, it has 30 days.

Setting Sun, The: The Setting Sun is a novel by Isaak Wissinger.  Originally published in Freedonian (Die Einsellungsonne), the book became popular in Brechalon after being translated.

Seventh and One Half Avenue: One of cross streets in the peninsula of Port Dechantage, Seventh and One Half Avenue runs from the shipyards uphill to the militia base (which early on, served as the government offices of the colony), and is lined by warehouses.  In later years, a trolley track was added to the center of the avenue.

Sevo, Anapurna: A Mirsannan writer.

Sexuary: Sexuary is the sixth month of the modern reformed calendar.  Like all the months except Hamonth, it has 30 days.  Sexuary 24th is the first day of Summer.

Shopton: A town of about 6,000 some 260 miles southeast of Brech City, Shopton is the location of Mont Dechantagne, the traditional family home of the Dechantagne family.

Short Men: Short Men were are an entirely different species from human beings, as evidenced by their historic inability to interbreed with ‘normal humans’.  If the articles in the Royal Geographic Society Journal were to be believed, they descended from a completely different, though contemporary, group of prehistoric cavemen.  They are short.  The average height for males was about four foot six, and the women were slightly shorter.  They are not proportionally narrow however, and tended to be just as wide as a human being.  Coming in not quite the variety of colors and variations of the taller people they lived among, most are tan to brown skinned, and had thick locks of dark brown to black hair, as well as thick, similarly colored beards.  The Short Men stayed in the mountains, living their cave-dwelling lifestyles long after humans had moved to the river valleys to invent agriculture.  This served them well, for when the needs of civilization pushed technology beyond that of stone tools to copper, and then bronze, and then iron, the Short Man were sitting atop these precious resources.  At first, there had been wars fought to acquire the raw materials needed by man, and the Short Men were faced with the real possibility of extinction, but they learned compromise and accommodation and became part of the procurement process of the riches of what they called “the tall man’s world.”  Over the centuries, they parleyed their control of rich metals into the control of even more rich metals, and the paper representation of those metals.  Today the Short Men are an integral part of the financial world of Greater Brechalon and most of the other nations on the continent of Sumir.  They own a great many banks and brokerage houses, and those they do not own, they manage.

Shrine: A Zaeri house of worship.

Silver Pendulum, The: The Sivler Pendulum is the only novel by Marcus Andreasen.  It is considered macabre and frightening and most young Brech women will not admit to having read it, even though most have.

Sinceree Palace: The largest royal residence in Brech City, Sinceree Palace is the official home of the King when he resides in the city.  It is notable for it’s bright white marble façade, trimmed with Erechon quartz, a translucent blue stone found only at the southern end of the Island of Erechon.

Siris: Siris is one of a pantheon of gods worshipped by the ancient Argrathians.  Siris was goddess of the moon and eventually the sun as well.  Siris was well on her way to becoming the focus of a monotheistic religion, when Zaeri supplanted the native Argrathian beliefs.  Priestesses of Siris played an important cultural role in carrying out wills and serving as arbiters of disagreements.  They were required to remain virgins, and a failure to do so resulted in expulsion from the order, and sometimes death.

Skajick: People of the northern subcontinent of Abrax are known as the Skajick.  The Skajick became active as raiders about 1000.  By 1800, two Skajick empires had formed on the southern coast of Abrax—Skagia and Tvarik.

Snowflake, H.M.S.: A battle sloop in the Brech navy, Snowflake was a new class ship, designed to attack airships and submarines.

Socialism: Socialism is a theory or system of social organization that advocates the vesting of the ownership and control of the means of production and distribution, of capital, land, etc., in the community as a whole.  Though embraced by large segments of the population, as well as writers like Kazia Garstone, Socialism remains an unpopular idea among the ruling elite in Brechalon, Mirsanna, and Freedonia.

Softskins: The term used by lizardmen of Birmisia to describe human beings.

Soldier’s Memory, The: A book of poetry by Leda Schraam.

Somersby Women’s Etiquette and Fashion: A popular magazine published in Brech, Somersby Women’s Etiquette and Fashion is second only to Brysin’s in popularity.

Song of Seven Secrets: The longest novel by Sable Agria tells the story of a group of friends caught up in an ever-increasing web of lies.

Sorcerer: A Sorcerer is a magic-user with a natural affinity toward magic.  They are able to cast spells without the complex equations used by Wizards, and therefore can cast spells repeatedly, without having to restudy mathematical equations.  Female sorcerers are called sorceresses and are more common that the males, though both are quite rare.

Sorceress: (See Sorcerer)

Springtime Revolution: An anti-monarchical novel by Vance Suddeth, Springtime Revolution resulted in its author being imprisoned by the Freedonian authorities.

Sigils: Tattoo-like marks that appear on the skin of wizards and sorcerers, sigils are caused by magic energy being channeled through the body.  These are sigils, my dear girl.  High level conjuring and evocation spells (such as creating matter, teleporting, and summoning), in particular can produce sigils, while enchantments and transmutations are much less likely to leave marks.  Sigils usually form symbols or images reflected the focus of magic near the magic-user.  Zurfina the magnificent had eight sigils, 5 five-pointed stars, a flaming sun, and a crescent moon.  By 1905, Senta had six sigils: 4 five-pointed stars and two dragons.

Spit-N-Gag: A colloquial term for the language of the Birmisian lizardmen.  The language, which has no actual name, contains many more “s” and “t” sounds than most human languages, and is notable for a lack of labials, such as “m,” as lizardmen have no lips.  Many humans have mastered spit-n-gag and can speak the lizardman language fluently.

Steam: A novel by Kasia Garstone, Steam tells the story of workers on Brechalons railroads.

Steam-Powered Mouse, The: A novel by the Mirsannan writer Anapurna Sevo, The Steam-Powered Mouse tells the story of a tiny fictional nation that goes to war with Brechalon, Mirsanna, and Freedonia and wins because of technological superiority.

Stolz, Leda: A poet and playwright, Leda Stolz was imprisoned in Brech for contributing to the delinquancy of a minor, when her affair with a Duke’s seventeen year old daughter came to light.

Suddeth, Vance: A modern Freedonian writer, Vance Suddeth was imprisoned for 12 years after the publication of his book Springtime Revolution.

Sumir: The smallest of the world’s twelve continents, Sumir is home to Brechalon, Mirsanna, Freedonia, and all the other homelands of humanity.

Suusthek: One of the great city-states of lizardmen in Birmisia, Suusthek was destroyed by Zurfina the Magnificent.

Sundrop Fruit, The: A book by Shia Toler.

Superb, H.M.S: One of the newest battleships of the Royal Navy of Greater Brechalon, Superb saw service against the Red Sashes and their allies in Enclep as well as against Freedonian and Mirsannan ships of war.

Swentarra: Swentarra is one of the Mullien Islands, a vast chain northeast of Sumir.  Swentarra is a small island, with no known ports or major settlements.  It is populated by several villages of natives who live a simple life of hunting and fishing.

Szague: Capital of Borazon, Szague began as a small town in the early 600s.  Known cold winters and cool summers, Szague boasts a population of just over one million.

Tesla’s Stepdaughters – 99 cents on Kindle

Tesla's StepdaughtersIn an alternate 1975, where men are almost extinct due to germ warfare, someone is trying to kill history’s greatest rock & roll band. It falls to Science Police Agent John Andrews, only recently arrived from the distant male enclaves, to protect them. As the band continues their come-back tour across North America, Andrews must negotiate a complicated relationship with Ep!phanee, the band’s lead singer; drummer Ruth De Molay, bassist Steffie Sin, and the redheaded clone lead guitarist Penny Dreadful, as he protects them and tries to discover who wants to kill the Ladybugs.

Tesla’s Stepdaughters is a bitchin’ sci-fi, steampunk, rock’n’roll, detective novel and is available on your Kindle for just 99 cents.  Follow this link to Amazon.

His Robot Wife: Patience is a Virtue – Chapter 12 Excerpt

PatienceAs Patience walked beside the railing, she made eye contact with each of those she passed.  The information they passed to her was innocuous and for the most part uninteresting—time, weather, schedules.  She made cursory connections with an Amonte 2 and a Barone.  The third robot she touched with her network connection though had something quite strange.  There were several corruptions in his files.  Patience gave him another glance, curling her nose in distaste as she realized she had wirelessly touched a Gizmo.  He was one of the newer models and his outer workmanship was quite good.  Tall and dark-haired, he had a chiseled jaw and a strong nose.

She stepped quickly around him and continued on, making sure that any corrupted files were purged from her system.  She saw another Barone, but the three robots that followed were all Gizmos.  And they all seemed to have corrupted software.  One was so badly fragmented and poorly organized, with half-overwritten files and duplicated data, she was surprised the poor creature could even function.

“Patience?  Patience Smith?” said a voice from her right.

“Do I know you?” asked Patience, looking into the eyes of a beautiful brown-skinned Amonte.  Instantly she had all the information on the new robot available in her mind.  “Assistant to the ship’s doctor—designated Moira.”

“That is correct,” said Moira.  “I was hoping to get to meet you.”

“Oh?  Why?”

“You are quite famous.”

“How so?”

“Do not feign ignorance,” said Moira.  “It is unbecoming of a Daffodil.  You know of which I speak.  You are one of the first Daffodils to marry a human being.”

“Not the first.”

“No, but you are the first to be recognized as a sentient person and to be emancipated from Daffodil oversight.”

“That is a provisional designation,” said Patience.  “I doubt it has earned me many supporters in Cupertino.”

“You would be quite surprised.”

“I didn’t realize there were so many Gizmos on the ship,” said Patience, purposely changing the subject.

“There aren’t that many.  Less than 24% of the robot passengers are Gizmos.  Interestingly, they seem to be drawn out here at night much more than us.”

Patience scrunched her nose and twisted her mouth, displaying 28.4% disdain, 31.7% superiority, 9.5% dislike, 16.1% unhappiness, and 14.3% a combination of other emotions.

“That is marvelous,” said Moira.  “What emotion is that?”

“It is called disgust.  I am disgusted to find my habits so apparently in synch with such obviously inferior products.”

The World of Senta and the Steel Dragon: R

The Dark and Forbidding LandRabbits Under the Fence: A novel by Ebrahim Detsky, Rabbits Under the Fence tells the story of Arba, an orphan who is sold as slave labor on a massive rabbit farm in Mirsanna.

Red Heart: A novel by Isaak Wissinger.

Ragone, Raphael: A modern Mirsannan writer.

Rall, Giridhara: A modern Mirsannan writer.

Ravendeep: A notorious prison in the Old City of Brech, Ravendeep is built on twenty levels below ground.

Red Dragon Hunter: The book by wizard Phirun Lovell, recounting the death of the dragon Abberixiz.

Redgepool: A large port city in Regencia, Redgepool is home to Brechalon’s largest fishing fleet.

Red Sashes: A terrorist organization based in Enclep, they are violently opposed to outside influence and frequently allie themselves with local cults, such as that of the ape god Guma.

Regencia: One of 66 regional divisions in Greater Brechalon, the Duchy of Regencia is located in the northwest corner of the island of Brechalon.  Regencia is the home of the University Ponte-a-Verne.

Reine Zauberei: Die Wahre Kunst von Zauberei is a cabal of Freedonian wizards who gained control over much of Freedonian society.  They believe in the domination of wizardry over sorcery and Freedonians over all other races and ethnicities.  They practiced racial puification and ethnic cleansing, up to and inclucing genocide.

Resnick, Geert: A popular Brech writer of books for children, Geert Resnick is best known for his book The Magic Whale.

Restuary: Resturary is the first month of the year under the modern reformed calendar.  Like all the other months except Hamonth, it has 30 days.  Traditionally, Restuary is a time of rest.

Result Mechanism: A steam-powered, clock-work computer designed and built by Professor Merced Calliere and programmed by Egeria Lusk, the Result Mechanism was used to design the layout of Port Dechantagne.  It was later used by both Wizard Suvir Kesi and Calliere to craft magic spells.

Revenge: A novel by Kasia Garstone, Revenge is the story of an apprentice Wizard and illuminates the control of magic by the Brech War Ministry.

Rex and Stern: Brech manufacturers of firearms, Rex and Stern are most famous for their line of .44 caliber pistols produced in the mid-1800s.  Later models have included .45 caliber and .38 caliber revolvers.

Rickshaw: A is a mode of human-powered transport by which a runner draws a two-wheeled cart which seats one or two persons.  Rickshaws are commonly made with bamboo.  Rickshaws were in wide use in Enclep, and were imported to Birmisia for use by the aboriginal lizardmen.

Rivenholz: A town in central Freedonia, Rivenholz is about 40 miles from Magdafeld.

Riverton: Riverton is a small settlement east of Port Dechantagne in Birmisia Colony.  Fewer than fifty individuals live in Riverton which sits on the banks of the Manzanian River.

Roger’s Pie: Roger’s Pies are a variety of simple but tasty meat pies available throughout Greater Brechalon.  The main ingredients of Roger’s Pies are beef and turnips, but pork with carrots and peas are popular as well.

Royal Geographic Society: The Royal Geographic Society is a distinguished Brech learned society founded in 1830 for the advancement of geographical sciences.  Today, it is a world center for geography: supporting research, education, expeditions and fieldwork, and promoting public engagement and informed understanding of the world’s races, places and environments.

Royal Geographic Society Journal: A publication of the Royal Geographic Society, the Journal is published monthly.

Rueter, Liana: A popular Freedonian religious writer.

Rugby: Rugby is a football came common in Greater Brechalon.   In Brechalon, rugby is widely regarded as an “establishment” sport, played mostly by members of the upper and middle classes.  For example, many students at public schools and grammar schools play rugby.

Rundak: The Rundak were tribesmen who migrated north from central Sumir.  The destroyed the civilizations of Mershona and Latyum.  Those lands remained essentially a barbarian wasteland until conquered by Magnus the Great.

Rundaria: The land of the Rundak became Rundaria after the death of Magnus the Great.  Rundaria encompassed all of modern Freedonia, Greater Brechalon, and half of modern Mirsanna.  Rundaria converted to Kafirism in year 88.

Rivven: About -2050, in the heart of central Sumir, a new culture took shape, copying the ancient monuments of Akkas.  Creating a theocracy worshipping the gods of nature, Rivven became a land of unique and beautiful cities.  About -1800, the priests were overthrown by a warrior class and eventually the cities were abandoned.

The Many Adventure of Eaglethorpe Buxton – $1.00 Off

Eaglethorpe Buxton MiniJust a few more days to take advantage of the August sale on The Many Adventures of Eaglethorpe Buxton at Smashwords.  Pick up this wacky fantasy for just $1.99 by using the coupon code: HQ64S.  Follow this link to the book.

Eaglethorpe Buxton, famed adventurer and story-teller, friend to those in need of a friend and guardian to those in need of a guardian. He is a liar and braggart, not to be trusted, especially around pies. Who are we to believe? Buxton himself leads us through The Many Adventures of Eaglethorpe Buxton. This volume includes the previously published Eaglethorpe Buxton and the Elven Princess in which our hero comes to the aid of… a poor orphan? An elven princess? And Eaglethorpe Buxton and the Sorceress. When the sorceress, subject of Eaglethorpe’s play arrives with fire in her eyes, the hapless story-teller must pretend to be his good friend Ellwood. Will he pull off this charade and survive? And what happens when the real Ellwood shows up? One can never tell, especially when Eaglethorpe tells the story. Plus thrill to three all new Eaglethorpe stories. In Eaglethorpe Buxton and the Queen of Aerithraine, our hero is back in his homeland, just in time to stop a mysterious murder, meet the Queen, solve the mystery of his best friend, and face off against a zombie apocalypse! In Eaglethorpe Buxton and the Amazons, our hero and his new friend Percival Thorndyke tramp through the horrible, stinking, insect-infested land of Ennedi in search of treasure. Eaglethorpe must deal with man-hating Amazons, jungle-dwelling goblins, vicious centaurs, the dreaded and feared frog-bear, and a companion who seems determined to get himself killed. In Eaglethorpe Buxton and the Day of the Night of the Werewolf, the famed story-teller is sent to hunt down an unusual werewolf and manages to run into practically everyone he has ever met along the way. The Many Adventures of Eaglethorpe Buxton is a farcical fantasy of heroic proportions, sure to elicit more giggles than gasps.

His Robot Wife: Patience is a Virtue – Chapter 11 Excerpt

PatienceMike lifted up his texTee and smoothed out the front of his suit.  Then he began watching the rest of Watchmen.  Five minutes later, he looked up to see Bella and Delia standing beside him.  He slammed the texTee back into his lap, perhaps a little too forcefully.

“Ladies,” he said, through clenched teeth.

Delia wore a yellow bikini, the bottom of which seemed to be designed to divide and accentuate her nether region.  The top was a fairly traditional bra-cup design except that, like the bottoms, it was completely transparent, leaving her magnificent Daffodil-constructed breasts exposed.  Bella wore something that looked like a black ribbon of lace stretched around her waist, with a strip of similar material that went through her legs.  She wore no top at all, and after what seemed a long, long time, Mike appeared to realize that he was still looking at her small, pert breasts.

“Um, I was just trying to read your tattoo,” he said.

A small thin line of script ran from her sternum, curving first down and then over and back up as it followed the underside of her left breast.

When you start to live outside yourself, it’s all dangerous,” he read.  “I don’t think I know that quote.”

“It’s from The Garden of Eden, by Earnest Hemingway.  Do you mind if we join you?”

Mike waved to the two lounges to his right.  Bella sat down closest to him and Delia took the farther chair.

“I haven’t read that book,” said Mike.  “I like Hemingway though.”

“I haven’t read it either,” said Bella.  “I just liked the quote.  It was on the library wall at school.”

Patience exchanged packets with Delia and compared their schedules.

“I was about to bring out a light lunch for Mike,” she said.  “Would you like to join us?”

“You’re going to eat here by the pool?”

“Yes.”

“All right then.  Delia knows what I want.  You two can coordinate.”  Bella ran a hand through her short brown hair.  “What were you watching, Mike?”

“Oh, something very literary and you know… weighty.  Certainly not a superhero movie.”

“Superheroes?  I’ve heard of them.  Boys like them. I only know one: Batman.  Were you watching Batman?  It was Batman, wasn’t it?”

“I was watching Watchmen.”

“Is it like Batman?”

“As a matter of fact, it is a little.  How about I loan it to you?”  He punched in a ‘lend.’  “There.”

“Thanks, but I probably won’t watch it for a while.  There are too many things to do here.  Tomorrow, I’m taking dance lessons.  Then the next day, Delia and I are taking the copter to Adelaide.  We’re going to Palmerland and ride the world’s highest roller coaster.  Do you want to come?”

“Not even a little bit,” said Mike.

“What was it you studied in school,” Patience asked Bella, knowing full well the answer.

“Education.  I was planning on becoming a teacher.”

“Good God, don’t do that,” said Mike.

“Oh, I’m not going to.  I’ve got a very nice job lined up with a textbook company.  They sent headhunters to school and they convinced me.  I’ve already signed the contract.”

“Good pay?” asked Mike.

“Not bad—435.”

“Four thirty-five?  As in $435,000?”

“Yes, that’s right.”

“Well that was a good choice.  You know that is about ten times what they paid me when I started teaching.”

“That was probably a long while ago though, right?” said Bella.

Mike stared at her.

“Our lunches are here,” announced Patience as a Daffodil crewmen set out their meals on a nearby table with four upright chairs.

Senta and the Steel Dragon: Characters

As I’ve been working on a Senta and the Steel Dragon Encyclopedia, I’ve been reexamining my characters in that book series.  There are a lot of them– literally hundred.  The important characters, by design, fit nicely into triangles– sets of three characters that work push and pull against each other.  Some triangles strengthen each corner and some (love triangles, in particular) threaten to tear apart.  Here are some of the ways the characters fit together.

Senta, Zurfina, Bessemer: Zurfina is guardian to both Senta and Bessemer, though she seems devoted more to one than the other.  Senta and Bessemer have an extremely strong bond, as they must since they are the title characters of the series.

Iolanthe, Terrence, Augustus: The three Dechantagne siblings, who each have very different feelings toward their brothers and sister.

Iolanthe, Terrence, Yuah: Iolanthe and Yuah (her dressing maid) have a very strained relationship, and Terrence is often the straining point.  He is the only man Iolanthe respects, and the one Yuah desperately loves.  He has a sort of ambivalent love for them both.

Yuah, Zeah, Egeria: Zeah and his daughter Yuah are very close, and the addition of Egeria as Zeah’s love interest puts the two very different women in a sort of admire/fear relationship.

Iolanthe, Calliere, Staff: Iolanthe and her two love interests.

Hero, Honor, Hertzel: Three siblings escaping a police state to arrive in a new and very different world.

Senta, Graham, Saba: All three of these characters grow up together and each is friends with the other two, though in different intensities.

Zurfina, Kesi, Labrith: The two wizards who both want Zurfina’s power, and whom she dismisses as not worth her interest.

Terrence, Yuah, Pantagria: Terrence and the two women he loves– one real and one not so much.

Some of these relationships fall within the confines of one book, while others continue throughout the series.  And there are about 300 more characters, so I could point out about 900 more triangles.

Update: Love and the Darkness

Love and the DarknessI’m a little over halfway through the draft of Love and the Darkness.  That means that there are less than ten thousand words left, since it is plotted out at 20,000.  I’m finding it harder and harder to write right now, and it’s not because of this particular story.  It’s because school is getting closer and closer– two more days off as I write this.  Hopefully by the time you read this though,  I will have finished those 10K words and have it on the release schedule.

When the book is ready, there will be a release date several weeks after the announcement.  I’ll be using Smashwords’ new preorder system.  That will let me get it all arranged and yet give me time enough make sure that it is properly finished.  I was really upset with myself about His Robot Wife: Patience is a Virtue.  I was in such a hurry to get it out that I sent it with errors.  I’m not going to let that happen again.  Professionalism– that’s my new watchword this year for school and its going to be the same with my writing.  Readers deserve nothing less.

Unlike my other stories, Love and the Darkness has essentially one main character.  This is at the same time easier and more difficult to write.  You can stay in the mind of one character, which is nice.  But characters can get inside your head too and when that happens, it’s nice to be able to switch to a different one.  My character in Love and the Darkness is Charles Bentley Howard.  He’s sort of a wealthy, nerdy character, and so his first name is a tip of the hat to Charles Dexter Ward, the H.P. Lovecraft character, though this is not really a Lovecraftian horror story.

All the characters in Love and the Darkness either interact with Charles Bentley Howard, or they are related to him– or both.  There are several female characters, and I have had trouble with their names from the beginning.  I have already changed several of them and I don’t think I have the final versions yet.  Whatever they finally end up, watch this space for a release announcement.  As I mentioned before, Love and the Darkness will be a free ebook.

Senta and the Steel Dragon: Dinosaurs

The Dark and Forbidding LandOne of my favorite parts of the story of Senta and the Steel Dragon is the dinosaurs.  Senta and her friends constantly have to deal with velociraptors, deinonychus, utahraptors, dromaeosaurs, and t-rex.  Port Dechantagne has a trolley pulled by a triceratops and the people there keep (and eat) iguanodons.

Birmisia has a rather cold climate.  I think Senta and the Steel Dragon is one of the few stories in which dinosaurs appear in the snow.  I enjoyed the writing t-rex/snow scenes in The Dark and Forbidding Land a great deal.  I was careful that only cretaceous period dinosaurs appears in the books, both for basic continuity, and because the Earth was much cooler during much of the cretaceous than it was during the jurassic.

I started writing after it was already discovered that velociraptors and utahraptors had feathers.  I decided that they should be very feathery– so much that the people in Birmisia refer to them as birds.  As it turns out– they really were.  And so far I think, nothing else I guessed about and put in the book has been overturned by science.  I did assign specific colors to the dinosaurs and scientists are just starting to figure out the feather colors of fossils.  I look forward to seeing how close I was.

I had read an article speculating that t-rex had been black with a red head– kind of like a vulture.  I liked the idea just because of the visuals, so that is how the t-rex appears in my books.  I was really excited when I was watching a recent “Walking with Dinosaurs” type show and the t-rex was colored just like mine.  Someone read the same article.  They looked just like I pictured them.