Category Archives: Senta and the Steel Dragon

The Young Sorceress Now Available

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Senta and the Steel Dragon Book 4: The Young Sorceress is now available for $2.99 at Amazon for the Kindle.

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B007QYA2P6

and at Smashwords for every other device.

https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/147884

You should see it appearing at Barnes & Noble, Kobo Books, iBooks, Diesel eBooks, Sony Bookstore, and other fine ebook sellers within the next two weeks.

The Dark and Forbidding Land: Mrs. Colbshallow

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I was just telling my wife how much I love the minor characters in Senta and the Steel Dragon.  Mrs. Colbshallow is one of those.  She starts in Brechalon as the cook for the Dechantagne Family.  In the first draft of The Voyage of the Minotaur, she was just called “Cook”.  By The Dark and Forbidding Land, Mrs. Colbshallow has come to be the lizzie wrangler of the household.

“I Tisson,” he said, then pointed to each of the others in turn.  “This Sirrek, Kheesie, Cissy.”

“Wonderful!” shouted the human, clapping her hands together.  “My yes, you are a fine fellow.  Excellent.  You will all come along with me.”  She waved for them to follow and then started across the base towards the great wall.  “My name is Mrs. Colbshallow, though I don’t imagine you’ll be able to pronounce it.  You can say ‘Lady’, yes?”

“Lady.”  Each of the four lizzies tried out the word.

They reached the edge of the base when they were suddenly waylaid by a soldier with one of the big weapons slung over his shoulder.  The four lizzies instinctively shrunk back and tried to look small.

“Did you get a good selection, Mother?” the soldier asked Mrs. Colbshallow.

“Yes, yes.  No need to worry about that.  I’ve been hiring servants for nearly forty years now.  I know how to spot a good one, be he man or beast.”  She turned to the four lizardmen.  “This is my son, Saba.”

“They don’t need to know my name, Mother.”

“Of course they do.  You’ll be coming to dine at the Dechantagne house at least once a day.

“I’ve got my own house in the works you know,” replied the soldier.  “And besides, I don’t think the Dechantagne house will ever be finished.”

“Oh hush.  It’s practically done now.  A bit of paint here and a bit of plaster there.  My room will be ready by next week.  In fact, we’re all moving in next week.  We’re going to squeeze in downstairs until the upstairs is complete.”

“Well I just hope you don’t freeze to death, Mother.”  The soldier walked away and Mrs. Colbshallow led Cissy and the others off the base and up the street toward the great gate.

“Did you understand that conversation, Tisson?” asked Mrs. Colbshallow.  “How fluent in Brech are you and the others?”

“I talk lot words.  I understand.  Cissy talk.  Sisson, he understand, no talk.  Kheesie understand little, no talk.”

“Excellent.  You will make a fine majordomo.  You may explain to the others anything that they might not understand.”

The Dark and Forbidding Land: Cissy

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When I wrote the Drache Girl, I place a fairly prominent aborigine character in the story– Cissy.  I didn’t have anything from her point of view though, so when I went back and wrote the prequel, The Dark and Forbidding Land, I put parts of it from her point of view.  This really fleshed her and the other lizzies out a bit.  Quite a few lizzie characters play parts in the story and here are a few of them.

Ssissiatok (Cissy) becomes Yuah’s dressing maid– making her the dressing maid of a former dressing maid.  Cissy more than any other lizzie identifies more with the humans than her own kind.  This is because she was always treated as an outsider by her own people.

Hekheesiatu (Kheesie) is another dressing maid in the Dechatagne home.

Tissonisuk (Tisson) becomes the major-domo for the Dechantagne home.  He is a fairly respected elder among the lizzies in the colony.

Sirruk (Sirruk) is a butler.  He’s a spear-carrier character– frequently present, though not vital.

Update: The Young Sorceress

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I just finished the first revision of Senta and the Steel Dragon Book 4: The Young Sorceress, and it is back from the beta readers.  As I write this, I’m listening to the audio proofreading version.  It should be ready to go to Smashwords by the end of the weekend. 

I also just finished a new revision of Book 5: The Two Dragons.  I’m getting pretty excited about getting them done.  It goes to the beta readers next.  There are a few changes to book 5 based on what happened in book 4 and rewrote the epilog entirely.

Port Dechantagne Map

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Port Dechantagne is the main setting for Senta and the Steel Dragon.  This is how appears in Book 3: The Drache Girl.

Key:
1. Seventh and On Half Avenue
2. Militia Base
3. Dock Area
4. Shipping Offices
6. Augustus P. Dechantagne Park
7. Cemetary
10. Animal Pens
12. Town Square
13 Finkler’s Bakery and others
14. Mrs. Bratihn’s Dress Shop, Pfennig Store, Mr. Darwin’s
16. Senta’s Neighborhood
23. Dechantagne Estate and Others
25. Zaeri Town (The Hertlings)
29. Train Station
30. Recently Cut Forest

The Dark and Forbidding Land: Aalwijn Finkler

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She turned and went back into the store.  Senta took a swig of her Billingbow’s and looked across at the construction of the bakery.  A boy only a few years older than her was directing several grown men working on the project. 

“Do you know that boy?” asked Miss Lusk, coming back outside.

“That’s Aalwijn Finkler.  I guess he wants to make sure that his mom’s bakery is put together right.” 

Miss Lusk had apparently gone back in the store for a straw, which she now stuck into the top of her soda bottle and daintily sipped from.  Noticing the girl looking at her, she said, “I never learned to swig.”

They both heard a commotion across the square at the same time and turned back to the bakery.  Aalwijn Finkler and the men working with, or for him had stopped what they were doing and were speaking loudly, though Senta could only catch a few of their words.  The subject of their discussions soon became apparent though as a line of some forty lizzies came walking into the square from the south.  A sole militiaman, armed with a rifle slung haphazardly over his shoulder accompanied them.

The workmen went back to their hammering, but Aalwijn Finkler hopped down from the construction site and skipped across the square just in front of the line of lizardmen, who were moving so slowly in the cold weather that it looked to Senta as though they were suffering the effects of a slow spell.  The young man walked up to the woman and the girl.

“Hey Senta,” he said.

“Hey.”  Senta took another swig of soda.

“Um… Hello Miss Lusk.”

“I’m flattered that you know me, Mr. Finkler,” said Miss Lusk smiling.

“Oh, everyone knows you, Miss Lusk,” Aalwijn said, not registering the fact that she knew his name.  “I suppose you’ll be heading over to the base after this lot.”

“Why would you suppose that?” wondered Senta.

“These are the lizzies that are going to be the household servants,” explained Aalwijn.  “I expect you’ll need quite a few for that fine house of yours.”

“My home won’t be ready for a few weeks yet,” said Miss Lusk. 

“Someday I’m going to have a house like yours.  Then my mother and I can take it easy and we’ll have dozens of lizzies to wait on us.”

“I’m sure you will.  I’ll tell you what.  When my home is completed, I’ll have both of you over to tea.”  She smiled at the two young people.  “In the meantime, I’m on my way back to my apartment, so I must say adieu.”

“Good day Miss,” said Aalwijn.

“Bye,” said Senta.

Alwijn is another minor character who shows up again and again in Senta and the Steel Dragon.  He’s one of the Zaeri that arrive in the colony from Freedonia and with the help of his mother’s cooking, he becomes one of the most successful.  I was looking for unusual names when I found Aalwijn.  I think it fits him.

The Dark and Forbidding Land: Egeria Lusk

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Miss Lusk glided across the snowy square and Senta followed, watching the swaying motion of the woman’s fashionably large bustle.  It was just about large enough that Senta and another ten year old could have hidden themselves under it.  Miss Lusk’s bright red coat was cut wide at the bottom to expand and encompass her very large lower half.

“That’s a great dress,” remarked Senta.  “You must have a huge hip bag under there.”

Miss Lusk glanced over her shoulder and winked.  “All part of the price of fashion.  I’m afraid that without the proper foundation I just don’t have the necessary shape.”

“I don’t think anybody has a bottom that big,” said Senta.

“No.  Nobody does.”  Miss Lusk stopped to pull open the door of the Pfennig Store.  “And nobody walks around on their toes either, but we wear high-heels to look like we do.”

Senta stepped inside the door as the bell hanging above it jingled.  Miss Lusk followed and the bell jingled again as the door closed.  Mr. Parnorsham looked up from behind the counter where he was rearranging costume jewelry in the glass case.  He squinted through his bifocals and wiped his hands on his white apron. 

“Good day ladies.”

“Good day Mr. Parnorsham.”  Miss Lusk politely feigned interest in the costume jewelry.  “I’m in need of some two inch lace today.”

“Let me show you what I have.”

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 tea cups with saucers, and wooden ponies with yarn tails.  Senta picked one up and made a horse noise by blowing air between her lips.

“That’s just the one I need,” said Miss Lusk from the other aisle.

“How much is the toy horse, Mr. Parnorsham?” called Senta.

“It’s a toy pony and it’s five pfennigs.  Oh, by the way Miss Lusk, I just got in some more tins of butter biscuits.  I know how much you like them.”

“Yes I’ll take one of those too.”

“Just one?”

“Just one,” she peered around the aisle at Senta and whispered loudly.  “I won’t need that bustle if I keep eating these.  Aren’t you a bit old for a toy pony?”

“It’s for Bessemer.  He’s been playing with my doll lately and I’m afraid he’s going to bite her head off.”

“Do you have five pfennigs?”

“Yeah.  I just don’t know if I want to spend them.  I guess I will though.”  She picked up the wooden pony and brought it to the counter.

“That will be seventy five P, Miss Lusk.”

“We’ll have two of those as well,” said Miss Lusk, pointing at a large framed picture of a brown bottle emblazoned with the words “Billingbow’s Original Sarsaparilla and Wintergreen Soda Water.”  Then she winked again at Senta.

“Well that will bring you total to ninety seven P.”

Miss Lusk reached daintily into her bosom and withdrew a small roll of paper banknotes of which she peeled off a single one mark note and held it out.  Mr. Parnorsham looked at it for a long moment as if not sure whether it was appropriate for him to touch something that had just come from within a young woman’s garments.  Finally he took it by the very corner and carrying it carefully, as though he thought it might spontaneously combust, he placed it in the cash box, and withdrew three copper pfennigs change, which, now overwhelmed by the idea of more intimate physical contact, he placed on the counter instead of in Miss Lusk’s hand.

He turned around and pulled two Billingbow’s from the ice box and set them next to the other purchases and then turned his attention to Senta.

“Five P.”

Egeria Lusk is a character who appears a relatively small amount in each of the books, but is never the less important for the plot.  She was in part inspired by the historic Ada Lovelace and Lovelace was her name in the draft.  She’s also sort of a combination of two of my favorite aunts.

The Dark and Forbidding Land: Mr. Darwin

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“Hello Mr. Darwin.”

“Oh hello, Senta,” said the bespectacled older man, who was only slightly taller than the ten year old girl.  “How are you this cold morning?”

“I’m okay.  Which of these buildings is going to be yours?”

“This one right here,” he replied, pointing to the left most of the two having their roofs put on.  “I’m right next to Mr. Parnorsham’s Pfennig Store.  I think that’s the best spot in the square.  Don’t you?”

“I kind of thought you would have moved in there when Mrs. Wachtel died,” said Senta, indicating the shop just to the left of the Pfennig Store.

“Yes, well… to be honest, when Mrs. Wachtel… a…  passed away,” Mr. Darwin crossed himself.  “I had already signed the paperwork.”

“So what are they going to do with her place?”

“It’s my understanding that Mrs. Bratihn is going to take over the business.”

“I guess that will be good since her husband can’t work on account of being blind.”

“Mmm,” nodded Mr. Darwin, noncommittally while he took off his glasses to wipe them with a clean handkerchief.

“I didn’t expect Mrs. Government to let us go too long without a dress shop.”

Mr. Darwin bit his lower lip.  “Senta, you are irrepressible.  You are going to have to learn to watch what you say.”

Mr. Darwin is a very minor character.  He is of course named for Charles Darwin.  I just thought it would be great to have the man who made things from dinosaur skin be named Darwin.

The Dark and Forbidding Land: Zurfina

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Zurfina is the sorceress and mistress of Senta in the Senta and the Steel Dragon.  She appears fairly frequently in Book 2: The Dark and Forbidding Land.  This is also the last book in which she really has control over Senta, at least as a parent has control over a child.

In real life, nobody would want Zurfina as a parent, but she is very fun to write.  Her total lack of parental nature makes her unusual.

Excerpt:

“Why is my house infested with children?” the sorceress demanded, though exactly to whom she was speaking was unclear.  “Why aren’t you all out playing in the snow?  It was my understanding that children adore it.”

“The tyrannosaurus is out there,” said Senta.

“Well if it attacks, you simply run in four different directions.  That way you have at least a seventy five percent chance of getting away.”

“Unless he can hop from one to the other of us,” said Senta.  “I doubt he would be as hindered by the snow as we would be.”

“Then perhaps you’ve made a good decision,” said Zurfina and headed up the staircase in the center of the room.  “Wake me for dinner, Pet.”

“Is she serious?” wondered Graham.

“About dinner?”

“No.  About us playing when the tyrannosaurus is about.”

Senta shrugged.  “You know she almost let me get eaten by velociraptors once.”

The Dark and Forbidding Land: Hero and Hertzal

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Hero and Hertzel are two characters in the Senta and the Steel Dragon series.  They are twins and Senta’s best friends.  Both arrived in Birmisia colony shortly after Senta from Freedonia, where they escaped persecution for being members of the Zaeri minority.  They along with Senta and her boyfriend Graham form a quartet of (in this book) ten year olds.  The twins lost their parents in Freedonia and now live with their older sister Honor.

I don’t know where the idea for these two characters popped up.  They, like so many characters in this series, just seemed to fit.  Senta needed a best girlfriend and it seemed natural to have a male friend for Graham as well.  Of the two, Hertzal is a much more interesting character because he never speaks.  This is a result of a trauma in Freedonia.  This makes him a more difficult character to write too, but he really comes into his own in this book.

I have always wanted to name a female character Hero, since seeing and reading Much Ado About Nothing.  Hertzal, I looked up, searching for something that sounded good with Hero.