Category: Sonnedragon

Sonnedragon is now on sale!

Where to buy Sonnedragon: Amazon (eligible for Free Shipping); 10% off with this code EMZTQAQB at this website; and for the moment only as an ebook on Kindle.

Sonnedragon
by Kathryn L. Ramage


Where to buy Sonnedragon: Amazon (eligible for Free Shipping); 10% off with this code EMZTQAQB at this website; and for the moment only as an ebook on Kindle. Sample Chapter 1.

“As she looked into the dragon’s dark gold, black-streaked eyes, wise beyond mortal knowing, Mara heard a deep, melodious voice:

“‘Thou shalt not die here, brave Prince. Such courage and fortitude as art thine will be rewarded tenfold. Thou shalt receive a sign of thy fortune, a talisman of kings. The dragon betokens thy royal lineage. Its body possesseth great magics: The Dragon’s Tooth is a weapon surpassing all others, even the tooth of the lion. The Dragon’s Eye is prized beyond all gems. No steel may pierce the scales of its hide. No terror may quail the courage of its heart. Its blood healeth all wounds. Receivest thou these gifts, O Prince, for power lieth in their virtues. This token shalt thou bear upon thy shield. Thy foes shall flee in terror at its sight. All shall honor thy name, which hereafter shall be known as Sonnedragon. Takest thou the might of the dragon. It is thine.’

“As she lies wounded on the battlefield, Mara, warrior Prince of the Northlands, receives a vision: a dragon that promises her great gifts. With the sign of the dragon upon her shield, she achieves one astounding victory after another, but soon realizes that each success comes with a terrible price. Tragedy follows her every triumph-not only in her war against the Spanish at the Northlands’ borders, but in her disputes with her father, the Duke.

“On an alternate earth filled with wonder and danger, strange magic and courtly intrigue, Mara slowly uncovers the truth behind the inexplicable power she wields. Is the Sonnedragon real or a delusion, or is it actually a curse that has haunted her family for generations?”

About the author:
Kathryn L. Ramage has a B.A. and M.A. in English lit and has been writing for as long as she can remember. She lives in Maryland with an aging and chronically ill cat. As well as being the author of numerous short stories, novellas, and essays, she is the author of “The Wizard’s Son,” “Maiden in Light” and “Sonnedragon,” novels set on an alternate Earth whose history has diverged from ours somewhere during the medieval period. Both are part of an intended series of fantasy novels that mostly take place in a dukedom called the Northlands, a part of the Norman Empire that roughly covers the north-eastern U.S. She is also the author of the murder mystery set in the Twenties, “Death Among the Marshes,” which appeared in Storylandia 10. Her website is at www.klr.wapshottpress.com

Key to Pronunciation

In preparation for the third book in this series, Sonnedragon, I’ve been putting together reference material and background information: a new and more expansive map, family trees, dramatis personae. While looking through some very old files to recover what I’d already done in this area, I found the following guide to pronouncing proper names.

The language spoken by the characters in this novel is an Anglo-French amalgamation similar to Chaucerian English; though the language itself is rarely represented, the spelling and pronunciation of proper names reflect its use. There are a few, simple, general guidelines to correct pronunciation:

  • Y is usually pronounced like long e: Ah-dee-nah, Oh-leer.
  • An initial I is a long i: Eye-gren, Eye-oh-bethe. Exceptions are the Spanish words, in which an initial I is pronounced with a modern y sound: Yar-din-ez.
  • The use of U as a consonant is frequently, but not consistently, employed. Names such as Houarde, Eduarde, and Uinmerchant should be pronounced as if the U were a W: Win-merchant.
  • When a word ends with a consonant followed by an E, the consonant should be stressed with a slight aspirate afterwards, a sort of uh sound: Da-feeTH-uh, Ed-warD-uh.
  • The accent usually falls on the second or middle syllable: Mar-GEER-reet, Kat-HER-Reen, Go-DEF-roi, An-DEM-ee-on.