The Voyage of the Minotaur: The Clergy

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When the Minotaur sails toward the new colony in a faraway land, there are several members of the Church of Kafira who are along to see to the worship needs of the colonists.

Spoiler Alert

Father Ian:  Father Ian is the priest on the expedition and he is really only there as cannon fodder– or in this case, dinosaur fodder.  From the very beginning, he was intended as a T-Rex milkbone.  I actually had a little fun writing him to be more or less incompetent and a bit goofy, knowing that I was going to kill him off later.

Sister Auni: Sister Auni is an acolyte (since in the Church of Kafira, priests and acolytes are both male and female, she takes the place of a nun).  She is competent and helpful and a source for healing magic.  I made her really skinny to make her a bit distinctive.  It’s all the more so because, unlike the laywomen, she doesn’t wear a bustle. 

Brother Galen: He is the other acolyte and barely makes an appearance in the story, though he is a bit more important (though not much more visible) in the later books.

The Voyage of the Minotaur is the first book in the Senta and the Steel Dragon series, and is available wherever fine ebooks are sold.

Update: Misc.

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Two things:  First, I sometimes get an idea or a scene in my mind and really hold onto it until I need to sit down and write it out.  This was the case with a half dozen little beginnings of stories that I might  will write assuming I live long enough eventually.  Second, I get my best ideas as I’m lying in bed, just about to drift off to sleep.  I used to forget them when I fell asleep, but something about being older has allowed me to hold onto them.

The other night I had one such idea and several days later I sat down and wrote the first two pages of what might be a Blood Trade sequel.  I don’t think I’ll write anything else on it for a while because I don’t really have a story; I just had a scene.  Also, Blood Trade is one of my least popular books.  I really feel like I need to focus on books that people want to read– top of the list being the next Robot Wife book.

It did feel really good to write this little bit though– surprising, since I writing the first book was such a wringing experience.

The Voyage of the Minotaur: The Wizards

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There are two wizards who appear in The Voyage of the Minotaur—Dudley Labrith and Suvir Kesi.  Wizards differ from sorcerers in the world of Senta and the Steel Dragon.  One may learn to be a wizard.  It involves mathematics.  One must be born a sorcerer.  It involves being able to communicate with the magical plane.  Dudley Labrith and Suvir Kesi are nominally friends and served in the military together.
Spoiler Alert

Dudley Labrith is a Brech wizard.  He would love to steal some of Zurfina’s magic, but otherwise is not that bad a chap.  I named Dudley in honor of J. K. Rowling.  Her Dudley is one of the few nonmagical characters in her Harry Potter books.  Dudley Labrith is an insect collector and loves killing them and pinning them to his mat, which foreshadows his own demise.

Suvir Kesi is a Mirsannan.  Mirsanna is the third major country on the continent of Sumir and somewhat takes the place of France in our world.  It is a bit more exotic, with the men wearing fezzes and coats made of ferret skins and the women running around in Arabian Knights-ish silky things.  I found the name Suvir on a baby name web site and immediately chose it for Kesi, because it sounds like “severe.”   He is a bad guy and the extent of his evil plans should be a surprise for the end of the book, so I won’t spoil them now even though I put up the spoiler warning.

The Voyage of the Minotaur: Old Ladies

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There are quite a few older characters in Senta and the Steel Dragon, but here are a couple that I would term “old ladies.”

Spoiler Alert

Mrs. Gantonin is the woman who lives in the same tenement as Senta and her relatives.  When Senta’s granny dies, she goes to live with Mrs. Gantonin, because no other relatives will take her.  As I mentioned before, this idea comes from a similar situation that my own great-grandfather found himself in.  He was raised by neighbors when his parent died, even though there were plenty of relatives who probably should have taken him in.

Mrs. Phillida Marjoram is a nosy neighbor type who makes the journey on the HMS Minotaur to the new colony.  She is present mostly as a foil to other characters at whom she can act displeased.

The Voyage of the Minotaur: Maalik Murty

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Maalik Murty is a character in The Voyage of the Minotaur

Spoiler Alert

Although mentioned briefly in book 0, Maalik Murty really only appears in The Voyage of the Minotaur.  He is a child molester, but with a name like Maalik, you knew he was bad, right?  Murty is one of the few characters that I’ve written that I had a real idea of what he looked like.  Right from the beginning, I pictured the Jeffrey Combs (a truly wonderful character actor) character from The Frighteners (a great pre-Lord of the Rings Peter Jackson movie).  Of course Murty comes to a sticky end, because he comes across both Senta and Terrence, either of whom could and would kill him—and of course one of them does.

The Voyage of the Minotaur: Egeria Lusk

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Spoiler Alert

 Egeria Lusk is one of my favorite characters.  She owes a bit to Patience from His Robot Girlfriend.   For one thing, she is extremely smart—the smartest person in the colony with the possible exception of Professor Calliere.  For another, she is attracted to a much older man.  She is 27 and has determined to marry Zeah, who is 49.  She appears later in the series too, but Book 1 is really her spot.

The Voyage of the Minotaur: Saba Colbshallow

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Saba Colbshallow is a character in the story of Senta and the Steel Dragon.

Spoiler Alert
Saba has less of a part in this book than any others.  He appears quite often in Voyage of the Minotaur, but it is usually in some servant capacity.  On the other hand, in Books 2 and 3, he is probably the most important character, with the single exception of Senta herself.  When I went back and wrote book 0, therefore, I made him a little more prominent.  Though he is again in the background in books 4 and 5, he is none-the-less still important to the story.

The Voyage of the Minotaur: Women Aboard Ship

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There are more female settlers than male on the Minotaur, so it is not surprising that there are several recurring characters among them.

Spoiler Alert

 Mrs. Duplessis is a widow among the passengers and is chiefly noted for the fact that she is carrying her husband’s posthumous child.  She gives birth to the baby on the long journey to the new colony.

Miss Kilmurray is a young women that Augie is carrying on a relationship with aboard ship.  This causes him to come under suspicion (at least by Iolanthe) when Miss Kilmurray is found murdered.

Mrs. Kittredge is another widow making the trip.  She is a seamstress and does several sewing jobs.  She eventually marries Corporal Bratihn, and as Mrs. Bratihn becomes a major supporting character in books 2, 3, 4, and 5.

Minotaur: The Wizard and the Priest from Mernham Yard

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Spoiler Alert

 One of the ideas that I thought was pretty cool, was when early on Zeah and Augie encounter a wizard and priest working for the police department.  They both use their magic to Sherlock-Holmes-out the mystery of who is killing young women, such as Abelina Gelford, near the waterfront.  They are also who clues in Augie to the existence of Zurfina the Magnificent.

If I ever get around to writing the sequel series to this one, I plan to have another pair of sleuths, if not the same two, as part of the introductory novella.  By the way, I just made up the name Mernham Yard to bring to mind Scotland Yard.

The Voyage of the Minotaur: Professor Merced Calliere

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Spoiler Alert

Of all the characters in the Senta and the Steel Dragon series, I guess Professor Calliere gets most short shrift.  Here he is, one of the greatest inventors and geniuses of all times and he ends up married to a woman that doesn’t really love him and father to a child that probably isn’t his.  In another book, he might have made a great supporting character for the long term, but here, he isn’t in it for the long term, though he does make an appearance in book 2 and book 3.

The Voyage of the Minotaur is available wherever fine ebooks are sold.