Ivo and Femke Kane are two characters in Senta and the Steel Dragon. They first appear in book 3: The Drache Girl. They are a husband and wife pair of engineers that come to Birmisia to work for the coal company. Although there are hints in book 3, we don’t really learn all that much about them until The Two Dragons, in which we learn they have an unusual relationship.
Senta, who had taken a bath upon her return from the great plaza earlier in the day, took another. The rectangular tub was just over seven feet long and five feet wide, which by human standards made it quite spacious. Its depth however was what made it remarkable. Though she was an even six feet tall, Senta could not touch the bottom even on her tip-toes, without dunking her head. Four square stone spouts provided a continuous flow of water into the tub, which spilled over the top and ran down to a drain cut with four long grooves from a one foot square piece of stone.
After the bath, Senta returned to her room dressed in her large fluffy housecoat. She sat down on her sleeping mat and thought about opening Matter and the Elements once more, but just couldn’t face it. Instead she reached into her bag and pulled out a well-worn copy of Intruder by Anarosa Freedman. It was a relatively easy matter to find the racy parts, as the corners of the pages had become dog-eared with rereading.
“Well, what are we priming ourselves up for?” asked Mrs. Kane, when she entered a few minutes later.
“Just reading a bit.”
“So I see. You’ve had an exciting day.” Mrs. Kane sat down cross-legged next to Senta. “You know I’ve always thought that you were a remarkable young woman,” she said, placing her hand on Senta’s shoulder.
“Thanks…”
“I’ve thought that you might be someone I would like to get to know better.”
“Okay…”
“My husband and I have an agreement. He’s free to pursue other women, as am I.”
“As you are what?”
“Free to pursue other women.”
Senta stared uncomprehending for a moment. Then recognition kicked her in the side of the head just above the ear.
“Eww!”
“Now don’t be that way,” said Mrs. Kane. “The love between two women can be a beautiful thing.”
“I’ve got all the loving women that I need,” said Senta. “What’s more, I have a loving man.”
“That’s what I’m trying to tell you, dear. You don’t really need one of those.”
“There we must agree to disagree.” Senta lifted the woman’s hand from her shoulder and set it aside.
“Pity,” said Mrs. Kane, moving to her own sleeping mat. “If you change your mind, you know where to find me.”
“Yes, I’m sure I could navigate thirty-three inches if needed.”
Senta put away her lamp, though it had not yet grown dark enough in the room to need it, and her book, and curled up under her blanket. It had been an eventful day and despite feeling vaguely more nervous about Mrs. Kane’s proximity than she had before, she was soon asleep.
I’m making a change in my book lineup. I’ve been thinking about this for a long time. It has to do with series starters, and specifically with Brechalon. His Robot Girlfriend, for instance, is a good series starter for the rest of the series. People download and read His Robot Girlfriend and like it, and so they may purchase the other books. I never envisioned Brechalon as a series starter. I always thought of it as an extra for readers of The Voyage of the Minotaur. Because I thought of it as sort of an add-on, I eventually decided to offer it free. Now however, because it is free, it gets downloaded and people read it to decide if they want to buy the rest of the series. I don’t think it represents the series very well. The characters, especially Senta, don’t grow much in this story. You could say that’s understandable, considering she’s a child of six in the story, but it’s not what readers picking up a cheap read want. I think The Voyage of the Minotaur is a much better starter for the series. It was always intended to be the first book read.
Here’s what I’m going to do. I’m pulling Brechalon from the ebookstores. It will still be available at Smashwords. I’m adding Brechalon onto the The Dark and Forbidding Land, which is the shortest of the series and as it’s number two in the series, it maintains Brechalon’s position as something to be read after reading The Voyage of the Minotaur. Since Minotaur is now officially, and obviously, the first book, I’m going to lower the price. Hopefully this will encourage more people to buy the book and then read the rest of the series. Already well over 60% of readers of Minotaur purchase The Dark and Forbidding Land. As a publisher, the idea here is short-term loss and long-term gain. Since I’m not really a publisher, but an author, I really just want my books read. Everything should be in place for the arrival of book 6 in the series The Sorceress and her Lovers, in just over one month.
Loana Hewison Colbshallow is a character in Senta and the Steel Dragon. She has a fairly memorable part in The Drache Girl, when she meets her future husband as he saves her from velociraptors. In The Two Dragons, the two have been married for a while and her husband realizes that sometimes beauty is only skin deep. It might be worth noting that Loana is my wife’s least favorite character.
“What the hell?” Saba demanded of his wife.
“It’s about time they pay their fair share, if you ask me.”
“They paid for dinner the last time.”
“Dot cooked dinner last time, and it was nowhere near as nice as this.”
He gaped at her.
“The dinners we provide are always nicer than the ones they provide. And we should get out and socialize with some different people anyway. We’re very popular. Everyone wants to have us. We shouldn’t be monopolized. Reenie Ghent has been after me for weeks for us to go out with her and her husband.”
Saba dropped fifteen marks on top of those left by Eamon, and then he escorted his wife out of the café and down the cobblestone walk to the edge of the road where his steam carriage was parked. The sun had finally dropped out of sight, lending a monochrome cast to the city street that he didn’t think showed off the bright blue of the car’s bonnet well. Helping Loana into the passenger seat, he walked around back to shovel coal into the firebox. He looked up in the sky to watch a large flying reptile, harassed by seven or eight small birds. With a sigh, he shut the relief cock and stepping to the left side of the vehicle, climbed into the driver’s seat. Saba waited ten minutes for the steam to come up before pulling away from the curb. It was only a fifteen-minute drive home, but it was an altogether silent twenty-five minutes.
The Colbshallow home was a large, beautiful, red brick house sitting back from the road in the shade of large pines and maples, along with some recently planted apple trees, on a large fenced estate. The small A-frame house, which had been Saba’s first home, on the corner of the property, was currently being rented by the Zaeri Imam Francis Clipers. Pulling into the parkway, Saba brought the steam carriage to a halt in front of the portico. The lizzie doorman hopped down the steps to help Loana down.
“Leopold Ghent is a wanker,” he called after her, breaking the silence.
“He’s railroad agent,” said his wife in a tone that was usually reserved for sweet nothings. “And Reenie is adorable.”
She swept up the four steps and as the lizzie held the door for her, she disappeared inside. Saba pulled the car around to the far side of the house and parked. He hopped out, opened the steam cock, and poured a bucket of water over the coals. The loud hiss startled three bambiraptors who had been feeding in the yard, unbothered by the normal chug of the vehicle.
Saba climbed the five cement steps that led to the side door and entered the kitchen. Not having to serve dinner this evening, the lizzie cook had been given the night off and the kitchen was pleasantly cool. Opening the froredor, he retrieved a soda water and pulled out the cork stopper with his left hand, his wife having successfully trained him not to do so with his teeth. He took a swig, then snorted and almost gagged. Lifting the bottle to look at the printing, he read. “Major Gortner’s ginger and mint flavor barley pop?” He opened the froredor again and looked inside finding five more of the imposters and not a single bottle of original Billingbow’s sarsaparilla and wintergreen soda water.
“Bugger all!” he slammed the door shut, rocking the magical freezing box back and forth and toppling a small, pink pot filled with red flowers to the floor where it shattered.
The next morning, Saba got up before his wife awakened. He dressed quickly in his grey suit and left through the kitchen. He didn’t stop for breakfast, just grabbed a crumpet from a pile that the cook was assembling. She hissed at him, but handed him a cup of tea. He folded the crumpet in half and stuffed it into his mouth, then set the steaming cup on the passenger seat as he lit the furnace and filled the boiler from the water jug by the side door. By the time the steam was up, he had finished with his tea, and left the empty cup on the step.
City of Amathar 