Love In The Gilded age pronunciation guide.

In case you missed my influx of posts and tweets, Love In The Gilded Age released this week. 

Because the stories are set in a high fantasy world, they carry a big amount of unfamiliar names. I know some people prefer not to have things such as these guides, and I understand that. Once the stories have left me, they belong you readers anyway, so it's up to you to decide how things are said. But I also know there's a bunch of people who appreciate a bit of direction, and I wanted to make a guide handy for those who want it.

There's no strict rule that these are the only acceptable pronunciations, but this is how I said the names as I wrote them:

Cities/Towns

Linxe - one syllable. Like the cat lynx.

Voivaren - VOI.varr.en. First sound rhymes with toy, the second sound rhymes with bar and car, and the last is basically en.

Sorrin - SORR.in.

Taul - one syllable. Rhymes with Paul and haul.

Characters

Xanna - XAN.na. First sound rhymes with van and can, and the last sounds exactly how it looks: na

Kiejn - KEY.enn

Koal - one syllable. Like coal.

Niesk - NEE.esk.

Kerenne - Kerr.ENN. First sound rhymes with burr and fur, the last sound rhymes with ten.

Elyn - ELL.in.

Rosany - ROSE.an.ee

Auriiel - AUR.ee.ell - First sound rhymes with oar and boar, and the last two are pronounced how they look.

Hope this helps clear a bit of any confusion that might arise. Just comment if there are any other words you'd like me to add to this.

~Saruuh

OCTOBER: Fairy tales and first chapters (including an excerpt of Love In The Gilded Age!)

 The Wandering is now out in the world in shiny paperback form!! It's very pink and, in my opinion, very pretty. If you signed up to the waiting list, your copy is winging its way to you right now. You can find a couple photos of The Wandering over on my instagram (and follow me if you're into books and photos of my cat.)

But this month isn't only the paperback release of The Wandering - it's the month Love In The Gilded Age comes out! It's not actually set in the Gilded Age, rather a fantasy world called Fissure, and is an anthology of fairy tales retold with a focus on diversity. The title is a nod to one of the fairy tales -  Rumplestilskin - in which the protagonist is expected to spin straw into gold. All the main characters of the anthology are people of colour, one of them is a lesbian, and one of them is disabled (a supporting character also has partial hearing.) LITGA explores themes and ideas I think traditional fairy tales lack - ladies saving themselves (and other ladies!), ladies being in charge of their sexuality, and so on.

It's out today, so I hope you'll check it out and buy it. It's just 99 cents/77 pennies and available on Amazon for Kindle. If you want to read the blurb or know more about the anthology, click the other books link on the navigation bar above, or visit my website.

BUY NOW

Want a sneak peek at Love In The Gilded Age?

Read on for the first chapter of A Fortress of Thorns, a retelling of Brier Rose (Sleeping Beauty)