Agnith's Promise: The Vildecaz Talents, Book 3 (36 page)

Vildecaz
[VIHL-deh-cahz]: small, semi-autonomous duzky on the northwest side of the Polzark Empire, facing the Drowned World

Vildecazin
  – of or pertaining to Vildecaz

voiture
  – the act of lighting magic candles

wallow-moj
[MOHZH]  – a swamp-dwelling bad-tempered beast something like a cross between a wild boar and a hippo; about the size of a cow

Warinach Mountains
[WAHR-ih-natch] – the eastern boundary between Udugan and Porcaz

Weeping Moon
  – in the Tenth or Eleventh month

wenrir
[wehn-REER]  – a juniper-like berry-producing thicket; the berry that comes  from it is highly valued

Wiandoj, Boriar
[WY-ahn-dohzh, BOH-ree-ahr]  – one of Hajmindor Elet’s officers

wisp-cotton
  – from southern Theninzalk or northern Fah, very fine-spun, sheer cotton

Womilaj
[Woh-MIH-lahzh]  – seal-brown pony

Womotomaj, the Fabricator
[Woh-moh-TOH-mahzh]  – god of all things constructed, bridges, roads, governmental structure, law courts, mendacity, and fabrication; the oldest son of Hyneimoj

Worjinranth Falls
[Wohr-ZHIHN-rahnth]  – high, broad falls on the River Dej, and the eastern end of the Dej River Road

World on Dozinthroee, and a chapter house on Zegul-Gnax;
Nimuar was trained there.

wyn
[WEEN]  – a Theninzaylin distance of about 2.3 miles

Wyrenthee
[Weye-REHN-they]  – fabled seductress of pre-Cataclysmic times

xanji
[KSAHN-zhee]  – mythic stag-headed sphynx

Xerizan
[Ksehr-EE-zahn]  – a remote fishing village

Yaee
[Yah-AY] –  consort of a Yao

Yahmah
[Yah-MAH]  – the territory of a Yao

Yao
[YAHOW]  – a noble of the fourth degree and of a Founding Family

Yaolaj
[Yah-oh-LAHZH]  – oldest child of a Yao

Yaonoi
[Yah-oh-NOY]  – all other children of a Yao

Yatsoleon, Gavviz
[Yah-TSOH-lay-on, Gah-VIHZ]  – Imperial messenger

Year Crown
  – the Last and First Days, one of the five yearly festivals

Yenotomaj
[Yeh-noh-TOH-mazh]  – god of diplomacy, contracts, unmagical intent, group dynamics, social dealings, clarity and obfuscation, and societal change.

Ymiljesai
[Yee-mil-ZHEH-sigh] the Fifth World, west of the Drowned World and slightly north of Fah

Ymiljesin
  – of or pertaining to Ymiljesai

ympara-oil
[yihm-PAH-rah]  – magical oil used in conjurations and protective spells

Yqumil [
Yeck-MIHL]  – grain-growing region on Ymiljesai

Ysmil
[Yes-MIHL]  – agricultural valley on Ymiljesai

Ysmili-fruit
[Yehs-MEE-lee]  – a slick-skinned grapefruit-sized peach-like fruit.

Yrich
[YE-ritch]  – footman at Vildecaz Castle

Yveth
[YE-vehth]  – the plague city of Porzalk, now a ruin

Yew Trees
  – a tavern in Valdihovee

Zaralk region
[ZAHR-ahlk] – in the southern part of Otsinmohr Province

Zaroga-Jin
[Zah-ROH-gah-ZIHN]  – Palace in the ancient city of Jinoarthcaz

Zarifaenee
[Zah-ree-FEYE-ney]  – an important trading island east-southeast from Theninzalk

Zaythomaj, the Retributionist
[Zahv-THOH-mahzh]  – god of justice and karma, of redressed wrongs, and cosmological magic; one of the Six Founder Gods
,
and patron of Pomig

Zegul-Gnax
[Zay-GOOL-Nyaks]  – the largest island in The Tail, about the size of New Zealand (both islands)

Zeimanevee
[Zay-mah-NEE-vey]  – goddess of winter

zenft
[ZEHNFT]  – a smock-like shirt worn in cold weather

Zengoarst
[Zayn-goh-AHRST] Sea  – one of the larger seas of the Drowned World.

Zhanf, Poyneilum
[ZHAHNF, Poy-NAY-loom]  – Priest of Mirvex-Dor and good friend to Nimuar

zhorel-wood
[zhoh-REHL]  – a particularly durable wood from the north of Theninzalk

Zjin-Fah
[dzheen-FAH]  – the equatorial and semi-equatorial northwestern peninsula of Fah, traditional opponents of and competitors with the Porzalk Empire

zlatz [
ZLAHTZ]  – fairly mild curse, similar to damn

Zomercaz, Haverdin
[Zoh-MEHR-cahz, HAH-vehr-dihn]   – Court herald in Tiumboj

Zunah
[ZOO-nah]  – Porzalk Empire’s imperial autumnal assembly, in the Tenth Month      after the second full moon following the Autumnal Equinox, one of the five yearly festivals

zyriha-cat
[zigh-REE-hah]  – a Fahnine big cat, very dangerous, similar to a tiger.

A professional writer for more than forty years, Yarbro has sold over eighty books, more than seventy works of short fiction, and more than three dozen essays, introductions, and reviews.  She also composes serious music.  Her first professional writing  – in 1961-2  –  was as a playwright for a now long-defunct children’s theater company.  By the mid-60s she had switched to writing stories and hasn’t stopped yet.

After leaving college in 1963 and until she became a full-time writer in 1970, she worked as a demographic cartographer, and still often drafts maps for her books, and occasionally for the books of other writers.

She has a large reference library with books on a wide range of subjects, everything from food and fashion to weapons and trade routes to religion and law.  She is constantly adding to it as part of her on-going fascination with history and culture; she reads incessantly, searching for interesting people and places that might provide fodder for stories.

In 1997 the Transylvanian Society of Dracula bestowed a literary knighthood on Yarbro, and in 2003 the World Horror Association presented her with a Grand Master award.   In 2006 the International Horror Guild enrolled her among their Living Legends, the first woman to be so honored; the Horror Writers Association gave her a Life Achievement Award in 2009.

A skeptical occultist for forty years, she has studied everything from alchemy to zoomancy, and in the late 1970s worked occasionally as a professional tarot card reader and palmist at the Magic Cellar in San Francisco.

She has two domestic accomplishments: she is a good cook and an experienced seamstress.  The rest is catch-as-catch-can.

Divorced, she lives in the San Francisco Bay Area –  with two cats:  the irrepressible Butterscotch and Crumpet, the Gang of Two.  When not busy writing, she enjoys the symphony or opera.

Chelsea Quinn Yarbro

Anthologies and collections

APPREHENSIONS AND OTHER DELUSIONS:

CAUTIONARY TALES:

SIGNS & PORTENTS
:

TWO VIEWS OF WONDER
:

THE VAMPIRE STORIES OF CHELSEA QUINN YARBRO
:

Saint-Germain, Olivia and Madelaine titles in Historical Order

Out of the House of Life (Madelaine

Blood Games

Roman Dusk

Burning Shadows

Dark of the Sun

A Flame in Byzantium (Olivia)

Come Twilight

Night Blooming

Better in the Dark

Crusader's Torch (Olivia)

Path of the Eclipse

Night Pilgrims

An Embarrassment of Riches

Blood Roses

A Feast in Exile

The Palace

States of Grace

Darker Jewels

A Candle for d'Artagnan (Olivia)

Mansions of Darkness

Communion Blood

A Dangerous Climate

Hotel Transylvania

Commedia della Morte

Borne in Blood

In the Face of Death (Madelaine)

Writ in Blood

Tempting Fate

Midnight Harvest

Sustenance (Not Yet Published)

Novels

AGAINST THE BROTHERHOOD

ARIOSTO
:

BAD MEDICINE
: see OGILVIE, TALLANT & MOON

A BAROQUE FABLE

BEASTNIGHTS

BETTER IN THE DARK
:

BLOOD GAMES
:

BLOOD ROSES

BORNE IN BLOOD

BURNING SHADOWS

A CANDLE FOR D’ARTAGNAN:

CAT’S CLAW
:

CHARITY, COLORADO
:

COME TWILIGHT

COMMEDIA DELLA MORTE:

COMMUNION BLOOD

CROWN OF EMPIRE

CRUSADER’S TORCH
:

A DANGEROUS CLIMATE:

DARKER JEWELS:

DARK OF THE SUN
:

DEATH TO SPIES:

DEATH WEARS A CROWN:

AN EMBARRASSMENT OF RICHES:

EMBASSY ROW:

FALSE DAWN
:

A FEAST IN EXILE

FENICE: SOUL OF AN ANGEL:

FIRECODE
:

A FLAME IN BYZANTIUM
:

FLOATING ILLUSIONS
:

THE FLYING SCOTSMAN
:

FOUR HORSES FOR TISHTRY

THE GODFORSAKEN:

HYACINTHS

KELENE: THE ANGRY ANGEL:

THE LAW IN CHARITY

LOCADIO’S APPRENTICE:

LOST PRINCE:
see THE GODFORSAKEN

THE MAKING OF AUSTRALIA Number 5: THE OUTBACK
:

MANSIONS OF DARKNESS
:

MIDNIGHT HARVEST:

MONET’S GHOST

A MORTAL GLAMOUR
:

MUSIC WHEN SWEET VOICES DIE
: Reprint:  as FALSE NOTES

NAPOLEON MUST DIE
:

NIGHT BLOOMING

NIGHT PILGRIMS:

OGILVIE, TALLANT & MOON
: Reprint:  as BAD MEDICINE

OUT OF THE HOUSE OF LIFE
:

THE PALACE
: PATH OF THE ECLIPSE:

POISON FRUIT

ROMAN DUSK:

THE SCOTTISH PLOY

SINS OF OMISSION:

STATES OF GRACE:

TAJI’S SYNDROME

A TASTE OF WINE
:

TEMPTING FATE
:

TIME OF THE FOURTH HORSEMAN
:

TO THE HIGH REDOUBT
:

TROUBLE IN THE FOREST vol I: A Cold Summer Night:

TROUBLE IN THE FOREST vol II: A Bright Winter Sun:  .