My novel The Voyage of the Minotaur and the subsequent books in the Senta and the Steel Dragon series are set in an alternate world based very loosely on our own Victorian/Edwardian age. I wrote a bit before about how I came up with the map. Let me now tell you a bit about how I came up with the concept. Originally I was thinking of creating a role-playing game setting. I had seen a few Steampunk campaigns, but none of them really fell in line with what I would have wanted to create. I want my campaigns to be unique. I invisioned a world that was so large that the age of exploration would have taken longer, and it would only be in the nineteenth century when people from Sumir (my Europe equivalent) would venture forth to discover the world. In the distant lands would be primitive tribes and savage civilizations. They would not be human, but other forms of intelligent life. The lower forms of life would match as well. There would be a continent with reptilian people and dinosaurs. There would be a continent with insectoid intelligences and giant monster insects. When the story came to me, and the world became the setting for the story rather than for a role-playing game, I kept the reptilians and dinosaurs and pushed everything else to the back burner.
Category Archives: The Voyage of the Minotaur
April Contest
Congrats to CR, who will soon be recieving an authographed copy of Princess of Amathar. The august contest prize is an ebook edition of The Voyage of the Minotaur in your choice of formats from Smashwords. Click on the contest button to the right to enter.
The Voyage of the Minotaur– Characters
Iolanthe Dechantagne: The head of a powerful and wealthy noble family who leads the expedition to found a new colony in a mysterious land.
Zeah Korlann: Originally the Dechantagne butler, Zeah is a major character. He realizes his potential along the way to be more than a servant.
Yuah Korlann: Zeah’s daughter is a main character in book 2 and 3, but is a major supporting character in the other books. Hopelessly in love with Terrence, she struggles with her place in the world, and deals with ethnic prejudice.
Radley Staff: Radley is a main character in book 3. He is a naval officer on the battleship which transports the colonists. Later, after he retires, he returns to the colony.
Saba Colbshallow: Saba is a minor supporting character in book 1, a young man who works as a gopher for the Dechantagnes. By book 3, he has grown up and become a policeman. He is a main character in books 2, 3, and 5.
Senta and the Steel Dragon – Characters

My new series, Senta and the Steel Dragon tells the story of the creation of a colony. Because of this there are many characters in the story– somewhat over two hundred named characters. I can put them into three main categories: main characters, major supporting characters, and minor supporting characters. In each of the three books, I follow four main characters, though not necessarily the same four as in the previous book. These are the characters into whose thoughts and emotions we see.
Senta Bly: Senta is a major character in all books. She is a young orphan girl who becomes the apprentice to a powerful sorceress. (She is the title character for book 3 and the series)
Iolanthe Dechantagne: The head of a powerful and wealthy noble family who leads the expedition to found a new colony in a mysterious land, she is a main character in books 1 and 5.
Terrence Dechantagne: A main character in book 1, Terrence is Iolanthe’s older brother, who everyone looks to as a heroic leader, but who harbors deep doubts about himself and lives with a dangerous addiction.
Zeah Korlann: Originally the Dechantagne butler, Zeah is a major character in books 1 and 5. He realizes his potential along the way to be more than a servant.
Yuah Korlann: Zeah’s daughter is a main character in book 2, 3, and 4, but is a major supporting character in the other books. Hopelessly in love with Terrence, she struggles with her place in the world, and deals with ethnic prejudice.
Radley Staff: Radley is a main character in book 3 and in one chapter of book 5. He is a naval officer on the battleship which transports the colonists. Later, after he retires, he returns to the colony.
Saba Colbshallow: Saba is a minor supporting character in book 1, a young man who works as a gopher for the Dechantagnes. By book 2, he has grown up. He is a main character in books 2 and 3.
Amazon Breakthrough Novel Contest
Hi Wesley,
Thank you for participating in the 2010 Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award!
We’ve received your entry, “The Voyage of the Minotaur.” Your unique ABNA ID is: YWRGPU4J
On February 25, Amazon will announce the round two entries at http://www.amazon.com/abna.
Good luck in the contest!
Need to update your contest information?
– To update your name and e-mail address, log into your CreateSpace account at:
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– To update your contest entry, including the author name that will appear on Amazon.com if your entry is selected as a quarterfinalist, log into your CreateSpace account and click “Edit Entry”:
https://www.createspace.com/pub/member/dashboard.abna.do
You may update your entry until 11:59 p.m. eastern time on February 7, 2010, or until the first 5,000 entries have been received for your category, whichever comes first.
Connect with other contestants! The Amazon.com forums are a great way to meet other entrants:
http://www.amazon.com/b?node=332264011
Review contest key dates:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/help/customer/display.html?nodeId=200291680
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Get more information on the contest prizes:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/help/customer/display.html?nodeId=200291700
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Amazon Breakthrough Novel Contest
Senta and the Steel Dragon – Setting
I began creating this world, by imagining a world larger than our own, with more land as compared to ocean. I cut out a shape that I imagined as this world’s Pangia, then tore it to pieces and moved them around to simulate continental drift. When I was done, I set another piece of paper over them, and traced the outlines of the landmasses. Then I made several more drawings, attempting to make each of them more true to life. It helped that as a child, I liked to sit and look at the atlas.








