by Shea Meadows
She turned to Ricky, “I will tell the rest of your group about the changes Nory has chosen and request they respect her wishes. I think that will help all of you.”
With that, the whole group was again in the guesthouse, waking up for long plane trips to different locations and promised to keep in touch with their new friends.
Click Here to receive a FREE copy of Two Wizards & A Witch! This exclusive book is my free gift to new subscribers. Plus, you’ll be one of the first to receive advance email notices about new book releases, sales and special promotions.
Download your FREE BOOK HERE!
Click Here for additional titles by Shea Meadows.
Connect with me on Facebook.
Acknowledgments
This cannot end without a word of thanks to those who supported this effort. I am grateful to the beta readers who selflessly wandered through the muck and mire of the early versions of this manuscript. I couldn’t have done it without your compassionate insights and sharp attention to detail.
Thanks also to Durham Editing and E-books who provided valuable information, support and proof-reading.
Sincere appreciation to Zenith Publications for patience, insight, formatting, and marketing suggestions, not to mention my fabulous website: www.sheameadows.com.
Mishka Navarre – Artist: Mishka is a professional Costume Designer from Olympia, WA, co-owner of Costume Atelier Masque & Pettycote and Staff Costumer at University of Puget Sound. She uses painting as a recreation as well as a visual and technical study to help in her Costume Design work. Many of her paintings are based on her own photography of theatrical productions and the world around her. Commission work considered. Contact Mishka by email at [email protected]
From the Author
This is the second book published in the York Street Series. The first book, The Gemini Bridge, has been downloaded over three thousand times over the last year and has received favorable ratings. Future books in the series will be available on different retail sites as well. Check my website and Face Book Page for more information.
There are many exotic names used within the text. Some of the characters are based on historically noted people, but the actions attributed to them in the book are fantasy. Since their names will seem strange and difficult to remember to some, I have included a short index of unfamiliar names for characters and locations. Feel free to use it as you read. You will find the link here: Appendix: unusual character and place names.
Shea Meadows has fallen in love with these characters, so they aren’t disappearing with the end of this book. The York Street Series will continue with The Gemini Twins, which will be coming out some time in 2017.
@Copyright 2016 by Shea Meadows
All rights reserved. No part of this book, including its cover art, may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, by any information or storage retrieval system, without permission in writing from copyright holder, Shea Meadows. This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, places, events and incidents are either the products of the author’s imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental.
Quick Guide to Unusual Characters and Places
There are many characters with unusual names throughout the book. Some will be familiar to readers of The Gemini Bridge; others will be brand new. Some are names lifted from writings about historical China, mentioned throughout the last chapters.
The Chinese characters have exotic names which would be pronounced differently than what English speaking readers would expect. I am not going to attempt a pronunciation guide. If you are interested, in correct pronunciation, do a search with a question, such as “How do you pronounce Xian?”. If this was an audio-book, I would have to have someone train me to say everything correctly.
What I will give you, is the following in the brief paragraphs: 1) Character or place name, 2) Chapter they/it are first encountered 3) completely fictional/ or historical but fantasized.
****
Sima Qian: He is an historical figure said to have lived between 135 BC and 86 BC. He was a member of the Han Dynasty court as reflected in the book, and the author of Records of a Grand Historian. He did follow his father, Sima Tan, court astrologer in that capacity as well.
Historically, Sima Qian served under Emperor Wu not Emperor Jingdi as portrayed in this book. There is a Sima Qian Temple in Xian, China, that is dedicated to this scholar. You can do a search to get an idea of the setting experienced by the lead characters.
You will find the first mention of him in Chapter 3 where Nory talks about him then again in Chapter 6. After that, he is mentioned multiple times throughout the book, right up to the last chapters.
All other information about this figure is fantasy. He would be a neat spirit guide to have.
Luan Du: This is an historical figure mentioned by Sima Qian in his book. He was said to be a Han sorcerer, or medium. This is the only record I found of this person. The Han Dynasty officially rejected the old gods and embraced Taoist and Confucian beliefs, according to Sima Qian. He mentions Luan Du as a rather conservative, backward-thinking charlatan.
In this book, he is said to be in the Qin Dynasty, which preceded the Han Dynasty. He is referenced in Chapter 7 as the first sorcerer to hide ghosts in replicas. That, of course, is fictional, as is 99 percent of what is attributed to him. He, again, is seen in Chapter 11 interacting with Ricky, then throughout the remainder of the book as a helpful spirit guide.
Wang Mang: He is an historical figure of the Xin dynasty that interrupted the continuity of the Han Dynasty. He was born in 45 BC and died in 23 AD. He started out as a personal attendant for a dignitary. Later on, he showed such humility and superior qualities, he was made a high-level dignitary. He had one wife and no concubines, which was unusual at that time. He was a Han emperor for a short time during the Han Civil War. He lost an important battle and died.
In this book, he appears in the Han Dynasty in the court of Emperor Jingdi. He is portrayed as a general in the army who had formerly been an herbalist. All of that is fictional. He is first encountered in Chapter 14 through a conversation with Ricky. Later in the book, he helps the group along with Sima Qian and Luan Du.
Ta Yi: This is a fictional character portrayed as a sorcerer in the Han Dynasty. He is first mentioned in Chapter 7 of the book as the creator of the artifact called the Bi Mo Chu. He is described as working under Emperor Jingdi, who was a historic ruler.
Were there sorcerers in ancient China? Yes, there were. They were also known as spirit mediums, shamans, masters of divination, rainmakers and healers.
Ta Yi is mentioned in multiple references throughout the book, up to the last chapter.
Lee Gee: This is a fictional character as well. In the story she is a witch, in the Han Dynasty. She also is a concubine of Emperor Jingdi and became Empress Wang Zhi, after Jingdi set aside his first wife. This opens the door to another question: Were there witches in ancient China? Yes, there were.
The religions of the old gods and goddesses, revolving around the elements, included the “Wu” who were both men and women. Lee Gee is first introduced in Chapter 9 and shows up throughout the book. She has a fellow witch who works with her and Ta Yi, named Ging Dee. All of these characters are fictional.
Jingdi: This was the name of a real emperor during the Han Dynasty period of Chinese history. This era lasted from 221BC to 220 AD, with multiple emperors ruling during that time. Jingdi’s claim to fame was the discovery of the Yangling Mausoleum. Jingdi followed the example of the Qin dynasty that came before the Han. Instead of killing all those who served in his court, he made replicas of them and had them buried in a necropolis near his tomb and that of the Empress Wang Zhi. This is historically true. What is completely fictional is the planting of ghosts in the replicas. He is first mentioned in Chapter 7 and plays an important part
through the last chapters of the book.
Du Yuesheng: This character was a real historical figure, born 1888 and died 1951. As reflected in this book he was an opium and gambling boss in Shanghai when the city had many French residents. The hotel where the main characters stay in the book was modeled after a real place and still allows tourists to stay.
Much of the facts about Du Yuesheng’ were real but there is no tradition of him inhabiting his mansion after his death. He did have a thing for monkeys, and a mummified monkey would have been a logical gift for him to give to Nory. You meet him in Chapter 15 and again in Chapter 22.
The Monkey King: This is an ancient mythical character known to everyone in China through a play created about him. He might be in the same category as Santa Claus or the Easter Bunny. Children delight in his story. Festivals are held in his honor, and the play is done frequently throughout China. The love and trust in this character was a big thing for the historical Du Yuesheng, so I had to include him in the book. He is prominent in Chapter 18 and in Chapter 22, with mentions in Chapter 15.
Sung Ho: This character is fictional, as well as his history, ancestry and relatives in Shanghai. I really liked the guy and wish I could tell you he was real. His ancient aunties typified many of the old traditions, and their ghostly hauntings were great fun to write about. On another note, “Sung” as a Chinese last name is the eighteenth most common name in the country. A variation of it is “Song.”
Qin Shi Haung: This is an historical figure that is mentioned by other characters in the book. He is considered the first emperor of China. He was the head of the first imperial dynasty which was known as the Qin Dynasty. He lived between 247 BC and 220 BC, and was the first to make funerary replicas rather than kill his entire court at his death. We know his mausoleum as that of the Terracotta Warriors. Jingdi, as we have seen, continued this tradition with much smaller figures.
In the story, the fantasy aspect is that his sorcerer was Luan Du, who forced the spirits of those in his court into the terracotta warriors so the statues all held ghosts. This fictional story is told to the main characters in Chapter 9 and again in Chapter 11. He is also referenced when the characters visit the Terracotta warriors in Chapter 20.
Zhuanxu: This character may have lived, and is mentioned in the ancient histories, but many people feel he was mythical. In the story, he is a previous incarnation of Norton Reston. He was also said to be an emperor but was before the Imperial era so would have been called a king. More likely, if he existed, he would have been a tribal leader. The myths about the Xia Dynasty are truly ancient. The years assigned to the succession of leaders named as Xia started in 2100 BC and ended in 1600 BC.
The first leader of the Xia was another mythical leader called The Yellow Emperor, who was said to be the grandfather of Zhanxu. In the book, that former incarnation is assigned to Ta Yi, who you’ve met before. There are other Chinese named characters in this book, but these are all of those that have a prominent part in the plot of the story.
Now for a few places:
Shanghai: This is a well-known city in China, and there are many interesting facts about it on the Internet. The only fictional place I have created there is Sung Ho’s mansion.
Wuhan: In this book, this city is the start of the cruise down the Yangtze River. The characters visit the Hubei Provincial Museum, which is a real place.
Yueyang: This is a real city where there is a real school built by a cruise company. The city and site were both fictionalized for the plot of the story.
Three Gorges Dam: This is really a dam on the Yangtze that is one of the biggest in the world. It did displace over a million people and flooded centuries-old sites. There are You-Tube videos about it.
Shibaozhai Temple: This is a real ancient temple, reached by a three-hundred-year old pagoda. It is now an island after the creation of the dam. It is much like its description in the book but there weren’t any ghost battles there that I know of. It was fun writing that chapter and imagining that it was real. Look on You-Tube to see how it looks.
Xian: This is a real city of ancient origin. This one’s pronunciation is interesting. It would be said as “Chin,” which is the root of the English word for China. You already know that you can see the Terracotta Warriors a short distance north-east of Xian. On the way from the airport, traveling toward Xian, you will see signs for the Yangling Mausoleum. Both places are featured in this book. If you like to drive around the countryside or join others on a tour, you can also go a couple of hours out of town to the Sima Qian Temple and museum. Multiple other ancient sites not mentioned in the book are also worth a visit.
