Where She Was When She Wasn't There

Sorry I went quiet for a while there. I'm much more comfortable with the storytelling part of being a writer than the jumping up and down saying "Here it is!!" part. I have just finished spending November, of course, on National Novel Writing Month, where I finished up drafts on two stories. Domus Doli is a story that began as a silly webcomic done with photographs of Pullip dolls, which became a fan favorite with a shockingly devoted following. Since the story ended up going well beyond my abilities with Photoshop, I left readers on a dreadful cliff-hanger that Domus Doli will resolve. Tiger Tiger is a drastic reworking of one of my older stories: its world has been given a much better version of the Subcontinental Indian flavor I'd intended for it. I am considering it for the YA market.

So now it's time to settle in for a good bit of tea editing. Meanwhile, I've yet to discover just what one best does with a writer's blog, so feel free to holler if there's something you want to see.

Also, remember to go buy lots of copies of my book. Give it to friends. Throw it at enemies. Burn it to produce heat.

Aeshie glossary, K-R

ka          there

-ka         soul-self?

kal         north

kala        fire

kalurye     walking

kan         reflection

kanishe     reflection of the divine.  Can also mean "joy."

kanvorye    you're welcome (reflected thanks)

karduth     dragon in humanoid form

kashye      killing?

kashach     killed? dead? executed?

ke          two

kel         green

Kemskrae Hal      Lammas

kenesa      "gadfly" (but in a good sense)

kieran      (Elen.) sister

kla         but (or only, sole)

kleban      stubborn

klebanye    being stubborn

klenai      gleaming (object)

klenner     gleams (object)

klia        city

koa         stays

kobai       clan

kobanye     “drenched in your clan;” emanating the energy of one’s lineage

kobaye      of the clans; acknowledged member of aeshie life

kochuei     high court

koho        father

kopi        "herb," a plant with medicinal use

korahoi     direction/element

Korai       Oracle

korapi      plant with edible parts

kore        keep

korin       stone

kosh-       great- (koshmiera=grandmother)

kovo        knock

kovokovo    "knock knock"

kronai      breaks

krono       is broken

k'th        (Elen.) "there" as a command: "do it!"

kun         we

Lachol      "Hell"

lachuei     faery court

laiam       free passage

lalai       being beautiful

lalaia      beauty

lalapi      especially pretty plant

lenai       alive/living

lai         listen

liachar     humans

lichei      not-rightness, confusion

lichei senechye   this is so weird I don’t know how to get home from here

lila        sleep

Lithan      water spirit or ghost?

locho       kill in a holy war

lochuei     fairies

lo shien    go forth (formal)

lor         land, place

Ma          festival night

Ma’         Night (primordial)

macha       red

mahal       origin

mal         bad, evil

mala        girl or woman

malathi     returned

maleisan    rebel, outcast

mana        the world

Mari        lady (title, used with name)

Mathai      tradition or sect

mavron      oak

meana       beloved

mechuei     water court

mehai       (pl. mehaie) “markings,” as of rank or clan

meioi       truth

meira       sea

mer         us

mesa lai    polite greeting between commoners or those of differing status

m’herai     “Proving.”  An honorable form of showing off to a superior or love interest.

miera       mother

miyal       name

mochial     deeply

moka        earth (element)

molbasti    suicide (literally, I think, "self-murder")

muli        blue

na          no

nai         nine

naneachuai  fawning, obsequious

nareth      allow

ne          I

neo         royal We

Neshtai     deeply wrong, not of the Way, possibly Corrupt

neshtye     nasty, icky

neyenyo     belonging purely in the past

-ni         -er (singer = teleni)

nimbe       tree

no          of, from (in names)

noi         dimly lit

non         not of

non estai   not from anger: in other words, "calm down"

novo        night

ontiwei     this is (in pointing things out)

or          he is

oresh       stupid

orre/orri   it is (only appears in possessives: "my name is")

os          white

osha        river
 

pali        daughter  pl palier

pe          they

pela        boy

piela       contracted “pi ehiela,” meaning “plant-lover.” Bee.

poldiach    “soul-“ or “mind-virgin;” derogatory: never penetrated by empathy or thought

poran       table

pur         cat

quievo      is finished

ran/ren     a name ending indicating royal or godly status, genderless

rislan      might (power)

roch        (Elen.) horse

Ruei Ma     Samhain

Aeshie glossary, E-J

e           the

echye       coward

ederoi      angels

efeil       (Elen. efaille) forgotten

ehiela      devoted

ekahal      wizard

ekahua      sorceress and advisor

ekahuei     wizard and advisor

ekar/a      master/mistress (implies skill and control)

eke         seven

ela         stars

Elashta-shiri     Heavenly Tribe

Ela-Ishtel  Star Palace; the sky

embave      resting (also imperative:  rest!)

emme        four

enai        endures, withstands

endrai      free

Endrastai   (Elen.) guard to the high court

eng         me

Enrai       (Elen.) high king

Eren'rai    (Elen.) high princess

eshe        friend, especially in the sense of trusted ally

eshehuei    friend-guard, personal guardian

estai       wrath, anger

evala       cloak

faeroch     hunting dog

fai         “huh?” Related to efeil, literally “to be forgotten”

falan       cousin

fama        ten

fin         air

gale        staining

gar         proficient?

gaya        hear this (formal)

gear        bone

gieran      (Elen.) brother

glora       sun

gwairoch    (Elen.) winged horse

ha          and

Hal         Festival day

hatha rhan  "Little old ones," nature spirits

-he         “lineage,” closest to our “great” in “great-grandparent”

hein        gold

heir        so, very

het         no (to a negative question, or for emphasis)

hi          yes

hie         ouch

hiweth      mist

hol         six

holleholle  thinking or stalling noise, "hmm"

howei       is coming

huei        guard

huer        west

hure        five

ia          okay

in          your

irro        was

isa         hush!

ishe        spirit

islavanye   is covering

islavo      has covered (both used of colors in the sky)

jandaha     (Elen.) savage, violently primitive

Jasho-ren   high priestess

jen         (Elen.) creature

jiach’ar    (Elen.) astral or spiritual attack

jost        heart

Aeshie glossary A-D

(Anybody know how to make a two-column post work in html? This is not beautiful.)

Glossary

'a          of

-ach        recipient of action (see kashach)

achabe      spreading

Adrastai    (Elen.) ranger or scout

Aerai       (Elen.) high queen

ai          light

ai'ne       small light, like a candle flame ("my light")

ai'osha     River of Light (a philosophical construct and type of energy)

als         that/which

ama         blood

amache      laying low (defeating), may connote first blood drawn

ame         or

anda        color

aranthi     white, 5 petaled flower that smells like honey

are         three

-ari        (Elen.) the people

arianai     (Elen.) wickedness (naughtiness)

Arias'tama  (Elen.) "badass"

asha        spirit

Ashan'rai   (Elen.) high prince

Ashkoho     spirit-father; adoptive father or sponsor into a sect

Ashmiera    spirit-mother; adoptive mother or sponsor into a sect

aulo        gem

aut(i)      eye(s)

ave         now

ba          in-law

baca        crazy

bastach     the dead

bastai      death

be          it

besove      charging

bi          he

blohuepi    plant with magical use

bo          where

bochara     victor

cesh        goodbye as an imperative: go away

ceshach     someone who is gone, and good riddance

ceshai      goodbye forever

ceshtai     someone who is gone, regrettably (possibly dead or gone permanently)

ceshye      goodbye for now

ceshtanen   (Elen.) Unmade

chairen     (Elen.) a working magical group

chi         why

chura       female sexual fluids

dan         South

da’n        proper, traditional

dara/daro   aunt/uncle

demii       astral equivalent of a Siamese cat.  pl demiie

den'shrai   (Elen.) I appreciate the help

deshen      little brother (affectionate)

Des'tai     (Elen.) "the Way." The natural flow of how things should be.

done        dawn

dorai       (Elen.) love/duty to loved ones

drachona    dragon

Draconai    all dragons, "dragondom"

Dur         Lord (title, used with name)

Dur Andrai  Lord of Battles (general)

Dur Bastai  Lord of Death

Gweron vs. Gaver

The human name for the god of war and craft (and humanity) is Gweron. In aeshie this originally mutated into "Gaveron," because gwe is not a sound natural to that language. However, after the battle between Gweron and Marduk, the aeshie who followed Marduk refused to pronounce the full name, because in their tongue, -ran, -ren or -ron is a name ending that denotes high honor. For them the name shortened to "Gaver."

Aeshie Dictionary Part 1: Introduction

Pre-introductory note: As anyone interested in linguistics will probably understand, this is forever a work in progress. Just today (September 2), for example, I have realized that there are two words for "why." I do not yet know what distinguishes one from the other.

Because of length, I will be posting the dictionary in installments, then linking them all up for better navigation.

Introduction

While I was originally writing the book and exploring the language, I was in online communication with a community called the Elenari, which was likewise working with its own unique language. We discovered enough similarities between the two to theorize that Elenari and Shiri (the outside-fiction name of the aeshie language) could be members of the same linguistic family, like Spanish and French are both Romance languages. Thus, words marked Elen. in the glossary are in origin Elenari words I deemed similar enough to their likely Shiri equivalents for inclusion here. I am therefore indebted to the Elenari for that time of mutual linguistic and cultural enrichment.

Pronunciation Guide

‘                       brief glottal stop or slight extension of the previous syllable

A                     as in father

Ae                   as ‘ay’ in bay

Ai                    as the ‘i’ in binary

B                     as in book

C                     as in can

Ch                   voiceless velar fricative (X in IPA); as in German buch

D                     as in dance

E                      as in bet

F                      as in father

G                     as in get

H                     very soft, without stop or emphasis

I                       as ‘ee’ in bee

Ia, ie, io           as ‘ya,’ ‘ye,’ and ‘yo’

J                       as ‘zhy.’ Nearest English equivalent would be as ‘z’ in azure

K                     as in kept

L                      as in lake

M                     as in made

N                     as in nose

O                     as in nose

Oi                    as ‘oy’ in toy. The two sounds are often given equal weight.

P                      as in pot

Qu                   as in queen

R                     lightly flipped, as in Spanish

S                      as in sit: often aspirated into sh

Sh                    as in shine

St                     always ‘sh’ + ‘t’, as in brushed

T                      as in tin. Ideally slightly softened, between English ‘t’ and ‘d’

U                     as ‘oo’ in cool

Ua, ue, ui         as ‘wa,’ ‘we,’ and ‘wi’

V                     as in very

Y                     as in yes

Z                      as in zoo

Wee linguistic fact

The poem "Jaeren's Lament," though given in English, follows a traditional form for aeshie prophetic or magical poetry in which each line ends with its verb. A less strict version of the same form appears in aeshie in "The Charge of Kalwain."

The map

Welcome to the bonus disc! First of all, I'd like to give you an expandable version of the map. Naturally it can only be so big in the paper version, and in the Kindle version you don't get it at all. (I will spare you harrowing tales of my vain efforts on your behalf.)

Here first is the lovely professional work of artist Catrina Horsfield, who also provided the beautiful cover:

Second, provided for comparison, is the rather less impressive sketch I made for myself and had in front of various printed-out rough drafts. Note with what care I have written names in by hand and failed to erase pencil marks:

Watch this space for other extras, certainly to include the alternative version of the cover and an aeshie dictionary. I will also entertain questions if they entertain me. I know a dismaying amount about my setting, my characters, and myself, and I am willing to prattle on request.