A Division of Souls - A Novel of the Mendaihu Universe (66 page)

shadha:
\
SHAH
-dha\
to
love

shadhisi:
\
shah-
DHEE
-see\
‘love’ or ‘from my
heart’; a term of affection

shé, Shé:
\
shay\
one (number),
The One of All Sacred (f) [cap. only when referring to deity]

Shenaihu, Shenaihuza:
\sheh-
NYE
-hoo\
,
\sheh-
NYE
-hoo-zah\
Meraladians of Shenaihu
descent
shimshiya:
\
sheem-
SHEE
-yah\
start of a spiritual event, akin to 'call to arms'

si:
\
see\
general conjunction,
used mostly as a time reference in genealogy and history

somfei:
\
SOM
-fey\
general greeting
taftika:
\
taff-
TEE
-ka\
general
phrase of thanks or appreciation

-za:
\
zha\
,
\sha\
suffix
used to denote someone’s land, or alternately their clan
descent

-zi:
\
zhi\
,
\zee\
suffix
used as a nickname, often added only to first syllable of name,
i.e. Nandahya = Nanzi, Amna = Amzi, Karinna = Karzi

A NOTE ON THE NAME 'MERALADIAN':

In Anjshé, the proper word would be
Meraladhza
(literally, ‘those from Meraladh’) and is
pronounced as such on other planets within the Crimson-Null
Foundation, but due to the overwhelming use of Terran English on
Earth by these peoples, this word gets the "Terranized" version on
Earth.

A NOTE ON MERALADIAN SURNAMES:

One will often find variations of Meraladian clan
names, such as Mirades/Miradesi and Usara/Usarai. The additional
letter ‘i’ at the end of the name pertains to clan ancestry; in
this case, it denotes a distant relation of some kind (like a
cousin), rather than a direct descent of the main clan who would
maintain the original. Names ending in that letter simply have
another ‘i’ added, such as Shaleii and Runeii.

Acknowledgements

As the Meraladhza would say:
taftika allei
aiya.
Thank you from my heart.

I am indebted to my wife, Amanda, who has put
up with my crazy ideas, incomplete thoughts, and the frequent
hiding in Spare Oom to write, and offering much-needed feedback
during post-production. You’ve been the anchor I’ve always needed,
and given me the drive to get things done to the best of my
ability.
Allei aiya, shadhisi
. I love you!

I would like to give my deepest thanks to the
many,
many
people — friends, family, coworkers, and fellow
writers — who have assisted me, heard me out, or simply cheered me
on as the Mendaihu Universe evolved over the course of two decades.
There are far too many names to mention here, though I must
definitely thank all my former co-workers at the record store and
the candle warehouse, all of whom kept me moving ever forward when
I began this series. It was a pleasure working with all of you
during the day, and it kept me going when I wrote at night. Special
thanks to Bruce Pendergast, who listened to all my weird plot ideas
for nearly five years running, and never complained once! Here you
go, man. It’s finally done!

Thanks to my family, who put up with my late
night writing sessions in the Belfry for ten years, and with all
the books and music that piled up during that time. Special thanks
to my dad, Richard, who supplied me with many spiritual and
religious reference books when I needed them for this series.

To Judith Tarr: many thanks to you for the
wise words and relentless critiquing of my manuscripts over the
last few years. Those harsh words were exactly what I needed to get
even better at this crazy business of ours. To Kate Elliott: thank
you for the friendship and the inspiration; it’s always a pleasure
talking with you!

To Beth, who saw a very early version of
this, and taught me many things about spirituality: I thank you —
Peace, Love and Light to you. To Janice: we’re all in this
together, us writers who love our craft even when it’s driving us
crazy. Thanks for the beta reading and the friendship, and I wish
you luck on your own wonderful stories! To Allison: thanks for
being one of my first fans and cheering me on all this time, hope
you like the final results! To Dae: my ‘little sis’ and one hell of
a great gal, thanks for being awesome and cool.

Big props to Holly Lisle, Lazette Gifford and
the members of the Forward Motion online community, past and
present; a great bunch of guys and gals from all corners of the
world and levels of profession who love to write, chat, and cheer
each other on. I thank all of you for your wonderful assistance and
friendship over the years. The Mendaihu Universe owes a large debt
to many of you.

Lastly, as I am an obsessive music listener
and collector, I would like to thank my enablers: the record
stores, online retailers, and especially all the musicians whose
recordings they sell, as well as all the radio and internet
stations that play them, for supplying me with an unending
cornucopia of sounds. Your music has given me inspiration and a
soundtrack to my writing and my life, and it wouldn’t be the same
without you.

About the
Author

Jon Chaisson
started writing science fiction
in a tiny apartment in Boston after watching way too much anime and
consuming most of the nearby public library’s Japanese SF section.
He then spent nearly a decade in a cool basement in central
Massachusetts, working on the Mendaihu Universe. He now lives in
San Francisco with his wife Amanda, several books, a few guitars,
and a ridiculously large music collection.

I’m online at these fine establishments. Come and
say hello!

Twitter:
https://twitter.com/joncwriter

Facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/jon.chaisson.7

Instagram:
https://www.instagram.com/joncwriter/

Walk in Silence,
my music blog:
http://jonchaisson.com

GoodReads:
http://www.goodreads.com/JonChaisson

Smashwords:
https://www.smashwords.com/profile/view/jonchaisson