Other Writing

What's the Reading Order for the Sartorias-deles Series?

That seems a simple question, but it's not simple to answer when one has been writing a long, interconnected story all one's life. I started writing in this world as a child, so the early stories are kids' adventure stories from a kid's POV. But when I reached my teens, I began playing around with why this or that happened, or how things got the way they were, reaching for connections beyond the immediate, including back in history....

Map of Iasca Leror for the INDA series

A detailed map of the portions of the world in Inda's story.

Inda’s Academy Tvei Class

· Indevan Algara-vayir (Inda) brother to Tanrid Algara-vayir

· Tlennen Arveas (Flash)

· Landred Askan (Lan)

· Mardred Basna

· Jarend Cassad (Rattooth) brother to Cassad Ain of the Sier-Danas

· Kethadrend Ennath

· Anred Fera-Vayir (distant cousin to Inda)

· Ramond Fijirad (Fij)

· Garid Kepa-Davan (Kepa) brother to Kepa Ain-liegeman to Tlen Ain

· Anred Lassad (Smartlip)

· Kendred...

A counterblast to cozy fantasy-haters

Judging by sales, it’s obvious that readers really fantasies that feature all those old quasi-medieval tropes, from cloaks to kings. Are these readers all drooling trolls whose idea of haute cuisine is Velveeta on Rye-Crisp and whose idea of landscaping is to park the rotting ’68 Impala on the front lawn next to the rusting Kelvinator?

Here are some of my own observations on the audience for those books.

1. Young readers. We sometimes forget, we who have...

I discovered Georgette Heyer in high school, after reading an entire issue of the fanzine Niekas devoted to it, somewhere around 1967-8. At that time I hadn’t yet read Jane Austen, though I’d loved historical novels ever since I checked out Mara, Daughter of the Nile in grade school. My favorite by ninth grade was Annemarie Selinko’s Desiree, based on real people during the Napoleonic period (though I was to discover it was every bit as romanticized as most of the memoirs penned by the...

(spoilers ahoy)

Mentions of Patrick O’Brian’s historical novels about Jack Aubrey and Stephen Maturin entered my awareness through an astonishing variety of venues—from the online Rec Arts Science Fiction newsgroup to my mother-in-law’s dining table.

I read the beginning of Reverse of the Medal in a bookstore once, but there was too much a feeling of in medias res to engage me. In subsequent discussions readers repeatedly insisted that one must begin with the first volume, Master and Commander....

Map of Iasca Leror for the INDA series

A detailed map of the portions of the world in Inda's story.

CHARACTER LIST FOR THE FOX

* means new

Inda’s Ships and Crew

· *Death, trysail, (once Spear under Boruin), captain Fox Montre-Davan-An, first mate Barend Montrei-Vayir (cousin to Evred), Inda”s chief assistant, Taumad Daraen “Tau,” Dasta (second mate, later promoted), *Gillor (captain of top hands, later promoted), *Cook Lorm, Crew: Thog daughter of Pirog, Uslar, Mutt, *Pilvig, * Jug, *Fibi the...