Speaking of Senta Bly (as I was yesterday)… I’m reading The Dark and Forbidding Land, and doing a little editing here.  One of the key elements in the series is the dynamic between Senta and Zurfina.  These two characters become more and more alike during the course of the plot, until they almost really change places.  One of my favorite little hints of this is in The Dark and Forbidding Land— in two different parts.  Both characters arrive in the Pfennig Store where they find a wooden toy pony…

In Chapter One:

Senta wandered over to look at the toy counter.  It was a small twenty-four inch square counter divided into six-inch square compartments, each with a different type of toy.  There were rubber bouncing balls, toy guns, tin soldiers, doll sized teacups with saucers, and wooden ponies with yarn tails.  Senta picked one up and made a horse noise by blowing air between her lips.

In Chapter Six:

Zurfina turned and slowly made her way through the aisles directly toward the two lizzies, who continued to stand like great reptilian statues where they were.  She stepped around Cissy and stood between them to look down at the toy counter.  She picked up one of the strange four-legged creatures made of wood with yarn tails and made a noise by blowing air through her lips.  It seemed as though she hardly realized the lizzies were even there, but then she looked Cissy directly in the eye.  Cissy stared back at those strange human grey and white eyes, and before she could stop herself, she spoke.