The Bones of Zora

AUTHOR'S NOTE

This story is the latest in my series about the fictional planet Krishna, a satellite of the star Tau Ceti. These novels, all of which have a Z in the titles for easy recognition, take place in the 22d century. Their chronological order is: The Queen of Zamba, The Hand of Zei, The Hostage of Zir, The Prisoner of Zhamanak, The Virgin of Zesh (a novella), The Bones of Zora, and The Tower of Zanid. For reasons of publishing expediency, The Virgin of Zesh and The Tower of Zanid were published in a single volume, although the first of these takes place before The Prisoner of Zhamanak and the second after.

While the reader may pronounce the names in the story as he likes, I have the following renditions in mind: a and á as in "add" and "wad" respectively; other vowels as in Spanish. Among consonants, k and q as in "keep" and "quote" regardless of adjacent sounds; gh = French uvular r; kh = German ch;' = a glottal stop or cough; others as in English. Words ending in a consonant or a diphthong are stressed on the last syllable; others usually on the next to the last. Hence Qirib is "keer-EEB" (with a guttural k); Sadabao is "sad-ab-OW; Mishé is "MEE-sheh"; Sainian is sigh-nee-AN; Bákh is close to (Johann Sebastian) Bach. The Portuguese name of Herculeu Castanhoso is "air-koo-LEH-oo kush-TAH-nyew-soo."