The Price of Magic: Kafira, Garstone, and Zurfina

The Price of Magic - NewWe continue to look at the long list of characters who appear in The Price of Magic. Most have appeared in previous books in the series. I’m not going to tell you what happens to them in The Price of Magic, but if you haven’t read the earlier Senta books, Spoiler Alert.

Three characters who do not appear in the book are mentioned many times– Kafira, Garstone, and Zurfina.

As readers of the series know, Kafira Kristos occupies the same spot in the lives of the people of Birmisia and Brechalon as Jesus Christ does in our world.  Kafira is the daughter of God and the Holy Savior.  She is also the foundation of a great deal of unsavory language– Kafira’s tit!

Kazia Garstone is a writer of great renown, frequently mentioned throughout the series.  Her books are well-known, but she is not popular with the aristocratic Brechs because of her socialistic leanings.  Nevertheless, she is one of Iolana Staff’s favorites.

Zurfina, the greatest sorceress perhaps of all time, the mother of Senta, disappeared at the end of The Two Dragons and is presumed dead.  About the only person that believes she might not be is Senta.

New powers are rising in Birmisia. Far to the south, the strange lizardmen of Xiatooq are making themselves known. Closer to home, the new lizzie city Yessonarah finds itself rich in gold—gold the humans covet. As tensions rise, many in Port Dechantagne seem eager to teach the lizzies a lesson in humility. Fourteen year old Iolana Staff finds herself in the center of it all, as she is pulled between her conscience and the conventions of society. Unconcerned with the conflict between human and lizzie, sorceress Senta Bly prepares for her own war, unaware that events will pull her into a life and death confrontation with an old enemy.

The Price of Magic is the latest in a series that chronicles a world of steam power and rifles, where magic has not yet been forgotten. A new colony in a distant lost world has grown from a tiny outpost to a center of civilization in a vast wilderness. The Price of Magic continues a story of adventure and magic, religion and prejudice, steam engines and dinosaurs, angels and lizardmen, machine guns and wizards, sorceresses, bustles and corsets, steam-powered computers, hot air balloons, and dragons.

Find The Price of Magic wherever fine ebooks are sold, including HERE at iBooks.

The Price of Magic – Tokkenoht

The Price of Magic - NewWe continue to look at the long list of characters who appear in The Price of Magic. Most have appeared in previous books in the series. I’m not going to tell you what happens to them in The Price of Magic, but if you haven’t read the earlier Senta books, Spoiler Alert.

Another lizzie character in The Price of Magic is Tokkenoht.  We met her, a female lizzie shaman, something of a rarity, in Book 6: The Sorceress and her Lovers.  At that point, she was already one of Hsranduss’s six wives, and by the end of the book, we see the king relying on her more and more.

In this book, Tokkenoht goes from being a relatively important character to being a major character– one from whose eyes we see much of the action in the book.  A quick note about her name.  I found when I was fleshing out characters to go into book six, that I had way too many lizzie names that started with S sounds.  I had established that they had names that began with a T sound, so I wanted something that sounded both vaguely Egyptian and vaguely Aztec.

New powers are rising in Birmisia. Far to the south, the strange lizardmen of Xiatooq are making themselves known. Closer to home, the new lizzie city Yessonarah finds itself rich in gold—gold the humans covet. As tensions rise, many in Port Dechantagne seem eager to teach the lizzies a lesson in humility. Fourteen year old Iolana Staff finds herself in the center of it all, as she is pulled between her conscience and the conventions of society. Unconcerned with the conflict between human and lizzie, sorceress Senta Bly prepares for her own war, unaware that events will pull her into a life and death confrontation with an old enemy.

The Price of Magic is the latest in a series that chronicles a world of steam power and rifles, where magic has not yet been forgotten. A new colony in a distant lost world has grown from a tiny outpost to a center of civilization in a vast wilderness. The Price of Magic continues a story of adventure and magic, religion and prejudice, steam engines and dinosaurs, angels and lizardmen, machine guns and wizards, sorceresses, bustles and corsets, steam-powered computers, hot air balloons, and dragons.

Find The Price of Magic wherever fine ebooks are sold, including HERE at iBooks.

The Price of Magic – Hsrandtuss

The Price of Magic - NewWe continue to look at the long list of characters who appear in The Price of Magic. Most have appeared in previous books in the series. I’m not going to tell you what happens to them in The Price of Magic, but if you haven’t read the earlier Senta books, Spoiler Alert.

 

We’ve mentioned many of the human characters in previous weeks, but there are quite a few lizzie characters as well.  One of them played a quite prominent role in yesterday’s excerpt.  The lizzies  are the native lizardman race of Birmisia, and they have had mixed relations with the humans, to put it mildly.  Hsrandtuss is a major character and an important one.  He is king of the llizzie city of Yessonarah.  In Book 4: The Young Sorceress, Hsradtuss first appears when Senta and Bessemer visit his village of Hiisierra.  Hsrandtuss realizes that hitching his future to the new dragon god, might prove a big advantage.  In Book 6: The Sorceress and her Lovers, he shows up to do just that, and is encouraged to found the city of Yessonarah.

New powers are rising in Birmisia. Far to the south, the strange lizardmen of Xiatooq are making themselves known. Closer to home, the new lizzie city Yessonarah finds itself rich in gold—gold the humans covet. As tensions rise, many in Port Dechantagne seem eager to teach the lizzies a lesson in humility. Fourteen year old Iolana Staff finds herself in the center of it all, as she is pulled between her conscience and the conventions of society. Unconcerned with the conflict between human and lizzie, sorceress Senta Bly prepares for her own war, unaware that events will pull her into a life and death confrontation with an old enemy.

The Price of Magic is the latest in a series that chronicles a world of steam power and rifles, where magic has not yet been forgotten. A new colony in a distant lost world has grown from a tiny outpost to a center of civilization in a vast wilderness. The Price of Magic continues a story of adventure and magic, religion and prejudice, steam engines and dinosaurs, angels and lizardmen, machine guns and wizards, sorceresses, bustles and corsets, steam-powered computers, hot air balloons, and dragons.

Find The Price of Magic wherever fine ebooks are sold, including HERE at Smashwords.

The Price of Magic – Aalwijn and Gaylene Finkler

The Price of Magic - NewWe continue to look at the many characters appearing in The Price of Magic. I won’t tell you what happens to them in the book, but if you haven’t read the earlier books in the series– watch out. Spoiler Alert.

Aalwijn and Gaylene Finkler make their first appearances in Book 2: The Dark and Forbidding Land, though both are mentioned in the previous volume: Aalwijn as the son of Mrs. Finkler, the breadmaker, and Gaylene as the sister of Graham Dokkins.  Both make appearances in Book 2 and Book 3: The Drache Girl.  At the end of the latter book, we see the two of them getting together as a result of the lizzie attack on the town.

By Book 4: The Young Sorceress, they are married with children and Gaylene has another on the way by Book 5: The Two Dragons.  Aalwijn is a successful restauranteur in Port Dechantagne and Gaylene is his proud wife.  Senta and Gaylene are forever connected and split apart by the death of Graham.

The Price of Magic is the latest in a series that chronicles a world of steam power and rifles, where magic has not yet been forgotten. A new colony in a distant lost world has grown from a tiny outpost to a center of civilization in a vast wilderness. The Price of Magic continues a story of adventure and magic, religion and prejudice, steam engines and dinosaurs, angels and lizardmen, machine guns and wizards, sorceresses, bustles and corsets, steam-powered computers, hot air balloons, and dragons.

Find The Price of Magic wherever fine ebooks are sold, including HERE for Kindle.

The Price of Magic – Willa and Ascan Tice

The Price of Magic - NewWe continue to look at the many characters appearing in The Price of Magic. I won’t tell you what happens to them in the book, but if you haven’t read the earlier books in the series– watch out. Spoiler Alert.

Willa and Ascan Tice are sister and brother, members of the Zaeri minority in Birmisia.  Both first appeared in Book 3: The Drache Girl as children of Koenrad and Adabelle Tice.  In a more mature form, the two appear at Iolana’s Accord Day party in Book 5: The Two Dragons.

Despite being a few years older, Willa is one of Iolana Staff’s best friends, and it is fairly obvious that Iolana has a crush on Ascan.  Perhaps he feels the same way about “‘Lana”.

The Price of Magic is the latest in a series that chronicles a world of steam power and rifles, where magic has not yet been forgotten. A new colony in a distant lost world has grown from a tiny outpost to a center of civilization in a vast wilderness. The Price of Magic continues a story of adventure and magic, religion and prejudice, steam engines and dinosaurs, angels and lizardmen, machine guns and wizards, sorceresses, bustles and corsets, steam-powered computers, hot air balloons, and dragons.

Find The Price of Magic wherever fine ebooks are sold, including HERE for Kindle.

The Price of Magic – Peter Bassington

The Price of Magic - NewWe continue to look at the many characters appearing in The Price of Magic. I won’t tell you what happens to them in the book, but if you haven’t read the earlier books in the series– watch out. Spoiler Alert.

We first meet Peter as Peter Sallow, a young boy apprentice to the Great Wizard Bassington, delivering a message to Senta on behalf of his master in Book 4: The Young Sorceress.

In The Sorceress and her Lovers, Senta finds Peter apprenticing to another wizard in Brech City.  She helps him confirm that he is the son of Wizard Bassington, and accidentally confirms that she and Peter are half siblings as well.  Peter takes his father’s last name and comes to live with Senta in Birmisia.

Peter is one of the main characters in The Price of Magic, along with Iolana Staff, Kieran Baxter, the lizzie priestess Tokkenoht, and Senta herself.  What price will he have to pay for his magic?

The Price of Magic is the latest in a series that chronicles a world of steam power and rifles, where magic has not yet been forgotten. A new colony in a distant lost world has grown from a tiny outpost to a center of civilization in a vast wilderness. The Price of Magic continues a story of adventure and magic, religion and prejudice, steam engines and dinosaurs, angels and lizardmen, machine guns and wizards, sorceresses, bustles and corsets, steam-powered computers, hot air balloons, and dragons.

Find The Price of Magic wherever fine ebooks are sold, including HERE for Kindle.

The Price of Magic: Kaspar and Gabby Drake & Abigail Bassett

The Price of Magic - NewWe continue to look at the many characters appearing in The Price of Magic. I won’t tell you what happens to them in the book, but if you haven’t read the earlier books in the series– watch out. Spoiler Alert.

 

Gabriella (Gabby) Bassett was been a recurring character in Senta and the Steel Dragon.  She’s one of the most beautiful members of the colony.  We see quite a bit of her in The Two Dragons, at weddings and at parties.  By the end of the book, she has become one of Senta’s new circle of friends.  We learn in The Sorceress and her Lovers, that she has a new beau.  By The Price of Magic, they are married.  Kaspar Drake, her new husband is a merchant sailor.

In The Sorceress and her Lovers, we meet Gabby’s little sister for the first time, and she has a fairly substantial role in The Price of Magic.

The Price of Magic is the latest in a series that chronicles a world of steam power and rifles, where magic has not yet been forgotten. A new colony in a distant lost world has grown from a tiny outpost to a center of civilization in a vast wilderness. The Price of Magic continues a story of adventure and magic, religion and prejudice, steam engines and dinosaurs, angels and lizardmen, machine guns and wizards, sorceresses, bustles and corsets, steam-powered computers, hot air balloons, and dragons.

Find The Price of Magic wherever fine ebooks are sold, including HERE at Smashwords.

The Price of Magic – Bennie and Hero Markham

The Price of Magic - NewWe continue to look at the many characters appearing in The Price of Magic. I won’t tell you what happens to them in the book, but if you haven’t read the earlier books in the series– watch out. Spoiler Alert.

Hero Markham nee Hurtling makes her appearance along with her twin brother Hertzel in Book 1: The Voyage of the Minotaur.  As Senta’s best friend, she plays a very large part in the following four books: The Dark and Forbidding Land, The Drache Girl, The Young Sorceress, and The Two Dragons.

Benny Markham first appears in The Young Sorceress, acting as a bodyguard for Senta and she goes out into the dinosaur-infested wilderness.  He makes an appearance in The Two Dragons at Iolana’s Accord Day party.

We find in The Sorceress and her Lovers, that they are married and have three children.  Benny is becoming and important member of the city and Hero is growing fat and happy at home.  What can we expect of them in The Price of Magic?

New powers are rising in Birmisia. Far to the south, the strange lizardmen of Xiatooq are making themselves known. Closer to home, the new lizzie city Yessonarah finds itself rich in gold—gold the humans covet. As tensions rise, many in Port Dechantagne seem eager to teach the lizzies a lesson in humility. Fourteen year old Iolana Staff finds herself in the center of it all, as she is pulled between her conscience and the conventions of society. Unconcerned with the conflict between human and lizzie, sorceress Senta Bly prepares for her own war, unaware that events will pull her into a life and death confrontation with an old enemy.

The Price of Magic is the latest in a series that chronicles a world of steam power and rifles, where magic has not yet been forgotten. A new colony in a distant lost world has grown from a tiny outpost to a center of civilization in a vast wilderness. The Price of Magic continues a story of adventure and magic, religion and prejudice, steam engines and dinosaurs, angels and lizardmen, machine guns and wizards, sorceresses, bustles and corsets, steam-powered computers, hot air balloons, and dragons.

Find The Price of Magic wherever fine ebooks are sold, including HERE at Smashwords.

The Price of Magic: Chapter 4 Excerpt

The Price of Magic - New“Good morning, all,” said Peter Bassington walking jauntily into the dining room.

“Hi, Uncle,” said Sen from her seat atop a pile of mail order catalogs.

“Good morning, Peter,” said Baxter, watching him sit down and then pushing a platter of white pudding toward him. “You seem in good spirits.”

“Why wouldn’t I be in good spirits? Why wouldn’t anybody? We’re here in Birmisia, the weather is warming up, there’s plenty to eat, and no one to tell us what to do. Isn’t that right, sister?”

Senta didn’t answer. She was staring off into space.

“Sister?”

“What?” She blinked and looked around, her eyes finally settling on him. “Oh, do you still live here?”

“Don’t mind her,” said Baxter. “She’s got her mind on important things and can’t be bothered with us mortals.”

“Well, I’m a journeyman wizard now. I passed my test. Maybe I could help you with whatever you have going on, sister.”

“That’s half-sister,” said Senta. She rose out of her chair as if gravity didn’t exist for her and stepped around the table, pausing just long enough to bend over and bite Baxter on the ear, before leaving through the kitchen door.

“I think she’s getting meaner,” said Peter, frowning and reaching for the toast.

“Get Mr. Bassington some eggs.” Baxter snapped his fingers at one of the lizzie servants. “Like I said, don’t mind her. She’s got something on her mind and forgets the ordinary things—like the fact that we have feelings.”

“Well I shan’t mind her. Life is too good to go around worrying about things.”

“So, what are you doing on this thoroughly wonderful day then?” asked Baxter.

“Oh, I’m going to fiddle around for a couple of hours, and then I have a lunch date.”

“Oh? And where are you taking Miss Bassett?”

“It’s not with Abigail. I’m taking out Lucetta Hartley.”

“I don’t think I know that family.”

“They’re just here from Brechalon—Langsington.”

“Well, you certainly seem to be a popular fellow,” said Baxter.

“I know.” The young man grinned. “None of them ever noticed me back in Brech, but here I’m that popular.”

“I’m sure you can attribute some of that to the fact that your sister is letting you spend her money as freely as you can.”

“Yeah. Do you think she’d let me buy a steam carriage? That’s really the only reason I’m not completely irresistible.”

“I know for a fact that Senta will have nothing to do with a steam carriage,” said Baxter. “She doesn’t like them. And part of your resistibility has to do with your being a dunderhead.”

“Hey! She said I could buy what I wanted. Besides, I don’t see you with any of your own money. How much did that fine suit set you back?”

“You watch your mouth if you don’t want it smacked,” said Baxter.

Peter raised a finger, threateningly. Baxter gave him a withering look.

“I wasn’t referring to your spending habits,” he said, “but to your jumping from one young lady to another. You’re going to burn all your bridges. You know they all talk to each other, don’t you?”

The Price of Magic: Shemar and Dutty Morris

The Price of Magic - NewWe continue to look at the many characters appearing in The Price of Magic.  I won’t tell you what happens to them in the book, but if you haven’t read the earlier books in the series– watch out.  Spoiler Alert.

I originally created Shemar and Dutty as some of the background characters for The Two Dragons.  I had written in the outline that they married, and that later Dutty became a close friend of Senta.

Since I actually wrote Book 4: The Young Sorceress after I had written book 5, when I needed a character to serve as a bodyguard for Senta in the wilderness, I used Shemar.

Then in Book 6: The Sorceress and her Lovers, we actually get to see Senta and Dutty interacting as friends, which was really fun to watch.

Shemar is a handsome young man and could probably have had any young lady in Port Dechantagne.  Dutty is pretty enough, but suffers in comparison to some of the other girls, like her best friend Gabriella Drake nee Bassett.

New powers are rising in Birmisia. Far to the south, the strange lizardmen of Xiatooq are making themselves known. Closer to home, the new lizzie city Yessonarah finds itself rich in gold—gold the humans covet. As tensions rise, many in Port Dechantagne seem eager to teach the lizzies a lesson in humility. Fourteen year old Iolana Staff finds herself in the center of it all, as she is pulled between her conscience and the conventions of society. Unconcerned with the conflict between human and lizzie, sorceress Senta Bly prepares for her own war, unaware that events will pull her into a life and death confrontation with an old enemy.

The Price of Magic is the latest in a series that chronicles a world of steam power and rifles, where magic has not yet been forgotten. A new colony in a distant lost world has grown from a tiny outpost to a center of civilization in a vast wilderness. The Price of Magic continues a story of adventure and magic, religion and prejudice, steam engines and dinosaurs, angels and lizardmen, machine guns and wizards, sorceresses, bustles and corsets, steam-powered computers, hot air balloons, and dragons.

Find The Price of Magic wherever fine ebooks are sold, including HERE at Smashwords.