The Maine House

Tag: Dragon Round

The Dragon Round Dramatis Personae

After working through a wonderful copyedit by Dominick Montalto, I got to work on something I’ve been waiting a long time to do: create a cast of characters for the book. And by “create,” I mean sort and revise the list of characters Dominick put together, which makes the book sound like something from Shakespeare.

Dramatis Personae

Comber

  • Jeryon, the captain
  • Livion, the first mate
  • Solet, the second mate, an Ynessi
  • Tuse, the third mate and oarmaster
  • Everlyn, the apothecary, an Aydeni
  • Hume, a guilded rower
  • Bearclaw, a contract rower
  • Beale, an harpooner
  • Topp, a sailor

Hopper

  • Press, the first mate
  • Edral, the second mate
  • Igen, an harpooner
  • Rowan, the ship’s boy

The Wolf Pack

  • Jos, the first mate
  • Mylla and Barad, lamps
  • Bodger and Gibbery, harpooners
  • Mulcent and Sumpt, owners
  • Kley, an oarmaster
  • Blass, a shoveler

Hanosh

  • Chelson, an owner
  • Tristaban, his daughter
  • Holestar, Skite and Derc, his guards
  • Felic, his office boy
  • Sivarts, one of his captains
  • Kathi, one of his remora
  • Ophardt, his footman
  • Asper, “the White Widow,” a fellow owner
  • Omer, a trade rider
  • Herse, the army’s general
  • Rego, his adjutant
  • Birming and Pashing, sergeants
  • Ject, the city guard’s general
  • Ravis, his first guard
  • Oftly, new guard of his retinue
  • Husting, a sergeant of the city guard
  • Chevron, sergeant of the Tower Guards
  • Isco and Bern, guards
  • Eles, an owner and leader of the City Council
  • Prieve, the sea general
  • Almond, a proprietor
  • Strig, a tanner
  • Fakkin Tawmy, a fixer
  • Mags, a customs official

Assorted sailors and rowers, prisoners and proprietors, traders and whores, workers and servants, guards, soldiers and citizens.

And several dragons.

 

To Have And to Hold

If you’ve come here because you read my story “To Have And To Hold” at Daily Science Fiction, thanks. It’s my second story there with a third, “Climbing High,” to be published soon.  I have another under consideration currently, but I don’t want to speak about that one lest I jinx myself.

It’s gratifying for my work to appear at DSF. I commute to New York City by train, and each morning the first thing I do after settling in is read the day’s story. Then I start writing whatever I’ve assigned myself for the trip.  If you haven’t already subscribed, I heartily suggest it. You’ll find links to some of the DSF stories I’ve  enjoyed listed under my “Recommended” tab.

The inspiration for “To Have” was two-fold. One, I wanted to write a story in a non-traditional form, something I’ve been doing frequently of late. I have stories on submission that are modeled on, respectively, a NY Times Magazine feature piece and on the magazine’s “Diagnosis” column. A vetting letter, which editors request from Legal for manuscripts they think could pose a risk of litigation, seemed like an interesting way to tell the story of a book I couldn’t write myself (because I’d be a poor face for the book) while also telling the story of the reader.

The book, Lovecasting, was the other inspiration. I got the idea for it years ago when I misread the title of a Wiley book called “Locavesting.” I assure you that if it were actually published, magical or not, it would sell tens of thousands of copies. It would be to tween girls what Necronomicon is to tween boys.

Having been one of those tween boys, it was a kick to work with Necronomicon. Twice a year I made sure the Mad Arab’s royalties were properly calculated and his checks sent on time so horrors weren’t unleashed upon me. I must have done a good job because I got a nice basket from him each year at the holidays.

Fittingly, The Satanic Bible was also on my backlist. Ironically, so were Catherine Marshall’s Christy and the rest of her books. They battled constantly for sales supremacy like ineffable cosmic giants. I can report no winner. Yet.

The Wave Rises

About the image in the banner:

In The Dragon Round, there’s a meadow with a cliff on one side where one can see down to a beach and the stacks (columns of eroded rock) that stretch away from it. This image captures the vantage perfectly.

 

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