Tag Archives: The Sorceress and her Lovers

Update: The Sorceress and her Lovers

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The Sorceress and her LoversI’m back at work on Senta book 6.  I gave off writing for a few days to go back and read some of the earlier books in the series.  I wanted to get a feel for the place again.  There is so much different in this book than the others– two of the four different story lines in new locations, two characters who haven’t been major characters before, though they have appeared in previous books.  Even the main setting, Port Dechantagne, is quite different.  Although it’s different in each of the other books too.  In book 0 and book 1 it doesn’t exist.  In book 2 and book 3, its a relatively small town.  In book 4 it’s starting to grow into a city and in book 5 it really is one.  In this book its a big city with satellite towns.

This book more than any before has the viewpoints of the aboriginal Birmisians in it.  That’s really fun, writing from the point of view of non-humans.  That’s one of the things I like about sci-fi stories like James White’s Hospital Station books.

I hope to get quite a bit written during winter break which starts in about a week and a half.  I’ll let you know my progress.  Thanks to all of you who wrote to let me know you were waiting for this book.  Sometimes I feel like I’m writing it just for myself.  I sell about 1/50 as many Senta books as I do Robot Wife books, but if I start on the next Patience story before it’s fully ready to come out of me, I won’t be doing it justice.  Anyway, I really appreciate the encouragement.

Update: The Sorceress and her Lovers

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The Sorceress and her LoversWarning: Potential spoilers.  These aren’t spoilers about this book, but might be about some of the others.

One of the most important, and to my mind interesting, character groups in Senta and the Steel Dragon is the Dechantagne siblings– Terrence, Iolanthe, and Augustus.  I got to the end of the original series and had killed two thirds of them off.  I thought very seriously about killing off the third even though I hadn’t plotted it, just because.

Now I’m writing book 6, and I find I have made myself a new trilogy of Dechantagnes with almost the same names– Iolana, Augustus, and Terra.  I don’t know how much I’ll be able to play with this group in this particular book, but they will definitely play a part in future volumes.

Update: The Sorceress and her Lovers

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The Sorceress and her LoversToday I’ve been working on both chapter six and seven of The Sorceress and her Lovers.  I thought I would give you an idea of what’s going on.  I might accidentally drop a spoiler, so be forewarned.  On the other hand, if you don’t know the previous books, you probably can’t figure out what I’m talking about at all.

Chapter One: Bangdorf– This is a Senta chapter, as she and Baxter visit the capital of Freedonia.  As one might expect, given the events in The Two Dragons, she’s not very popular there.

Chapter Two: The God of the Sky– This chapter follows lizzie chief Hsrandtuss as he visits Bessemer the Steel Dragon.  We see the return of some lizzies from previous books, like Kendra the hunting guide, and we meet many more new lizzies.

Chapter Three: Iolana– Brings us back to the Dechantagne Staff home and we meet quite a few familiar faces, Radley Staff, Iolanthe, Yuah, Honor Hertling, the McCoort boys, and others.  We also meet Esther the lizzie.

Chapter Four: The Bomb– This chapter brings us back to Port Dechantagne for the first time in this book.  Saba Colbshallow and Eamon Shrubb are both here as are their growing families.  We get to meet Dee Dee Colbshallow.  Oh yeah, there’s also a bomb.

Chapter Five: Peter– Senta and Baxter are back in Brech City, where they (and we) are reunited with a couple of magic users of previous acquaintance.

Chapter Six is when things start getting hairy for Hsrandtuss, who must lead a group of warriors into the dungeon beneath an ancient fortress to hunt down a horrible beast.

Chapter Seven is just as tough (though not as life-threatening) for Iolana as she has to negotiate life as an eleven-year-old and come to grips with some unsettling information about her family’s past and her own.

As you might have noticed, there are no titles yet for chapters six and seven.  They are the last things I decide on.

Update: The Sorceress and her Lovers

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The Sorceress and her LoversWell, I’ve actually managed to get a little writing done over the past week or so.  I’ve been working quite regularly on The Sorceress and her Lovers.  I’m in the middle of chapter six. I’m having a lot of fun pulling in characters from all over the previous books and playing around with them.

In addition to Senta, Bessemer the Steel Dragon, Police Inspector Saba Colbshallow, and Radley Staff, I’ve elevated Iolana Staff to a main character.  She had a bit of a part in Book 5: The Two Dragons, but she was only 8 at the time.  Now she gets a much meatier part.

In addition, I’ve reintroduced apprentice wizard Peter Sallow, lizzie King Hsranduss, and lizzie tracker Kendra, all of whom last appeared in Book 4: The Young Sorceress.  Also sorceress Amadea Jindra, last seen in Book 3: The Drache Girl, makes an appearance.

The thing I’m most excited about (though I haven’t gotten to actually writing them yet) is the return of two big elements from Book 1: The Voyage of the Minotaur.  The first is the “angel” Pantagria, who appears in Book 4, and is certainly behind the scenes in The Two Dragons.  The second is the steam-powered computer, the Result Mechanism.

I’m not sure if I’ll keep working on this book straight through, or I’ll jump back to 82 Eridani, or even Love and the Darkness, but I’m really enjoying getting some writing done again.

Senta and the Steel Dragon Book 6

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The Sorceress and her Lovers

A few weeks ago, I put up a poll asking if the next book to feature Senta and the Steel Dragon, should be considered part of the previous series or if (since it is the beginning of a new saga) it should have it’s own series title.

The votes were 83% for keeping it part of the same series.  I think, now that I think about it, that this is the correct way to go.  So, as you can see, the book cover has been changed to reflect the new (old) series title and it is up on the Previews page.

As soon as I finish the revision and editing on Patience is a Virtue, I’ll be jumping back on 82 Eridani, but this story is just waiting there to be told.  It’s all plotted out and the first four chapters are essentially done.  That being said, I would love to hear from any of the readers of the series out there about what they want to happen to their favorite characters.

Details and Layers

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The Sorceress and her LoversOne of the things I’m doing this summer is going back through the Senta and the Steel Dragon series and creating an encyclopedia of the world.  I’m going to include this as an appendix in future editions, and I’ll post it here too.

While doing that today, I discovered something in Book 1: The Voyage of the Minotaur that I had forgotten.  Senta (the nine year old sorceress’s apprentice) appears in two scenes with Lieutenant Baxter (young naval officer).  I had remembered one of them and used it in a flashback scene in Book 4: The Young Sorceress.  The other, I had completely forgotten about.

Why is it important?  In The Sorceress and her Lovers, Senta ( the 21 year old sorceress) is involved in a sexual relationship with Baxter (the thirty something former naval officer).  Plenty of women in their twenties are married or engaged to men in their thirties, but it adds a different (uncomfortable) element, when they knew each other when she was 8 and 9.  That’s something worth exploring.

Update: The Sorceress and her Lovers

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The Sorceress and her Lovers

I’m still working on book one of Senta and the God of the Sky.  I’ve expanded on the two chapters I’ve written, but haven’t finished either one.  Instead, I’ve started chapter three.

The main character for chapter three is Iolana Dechantagne Staff, Iolanthe’s daughter.  This is a great choice for me, because I get to bring some of the older characters back into the mix.

It also occurs to me that where I had Iolanthe, Terrence, and Augie as a sort of trinity in The Voyage of the Minotaur, I now have Iolana, Terra, and Augie though these characters have very different personalities from their elders.

Of course, going back and rereading Brechalon has helped a lot with inspiration for this story.  The rest of that story is coming up right here over the next couple of weeks.

Update: The Sorceress and her Lovers

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The Sorceress and her Lovers

I needed a little change from what I have been writing, so I sat down this week and worked on two chapters of The Sorceress and her Lovers.  I have never worked like this before– switching back and forth between two chapters of the same book.  Like the stories in Senta and the Steel Dragon, this book will have four different main characters and will switch back and forth between them.  The two chapters that I have been writing this week are a Senta chapter and a chapter featuring Hsrandtuss.  The latter is a lizzie that first appears in The Young Sorceress.  I always had fun writing the “Cissy” chapters of Steel Dragon because it gives me a chance to look at human beings from the outside.  Here’s another little teaser.  The Hsrandtuss chapter takes place at the Dragon Fortress (last seen in The Two Dragons), while the Senta chapter takes place in the country of Freedonia.

The Sorceress and her Lovers

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The Sorceress and her LoversComing in 2013:

Picking up where Senta and the Steel Dragon: The Two Dragons left off, The Sorceress and her Lovers begins a new epic five volume adventure Senta and the God of the Sky.  Return to the land of Birmisia, filled with magic, steam power, rifles, and of course dragons.