The Master of Verona

Confusion about Luigi and Antony

To be clear - there is a misprint in the novel.

In the Dramatis Personae, there is a glyph next to Luigi Capecelatro, indicating that he is a character from Shakespeare. This is not true. He is not from Shakespeare. His brother Antony is. As anyone who reads the novel is bound to deduce on their own.

I caught it, but it slipped in due to a miscommunication between myself and the typesetter (ironically I almost wrote "typosetter" - which is unfair as the novel is very well formatted).

So, again - Mari is young Lord Montague. Antony is young Lord Capulet.

Any guesses as to who Cesco is? Mastino? Let the theories fly!

DB

Pronunciation Guide and Update

This is something I should have posted a long time ago - a guide to how to say some of the names. I'll save the more esoteric ones for later. Right now, let's focus on the leads:

Cangrande della Scala  -- kahn-GRAHN-day DELL-ah SKAH-la

Scaliger, Scaligeri --  SKAHL-eh-jer, skahl-eh-JERR-ee

Cesco --  CHESS-koh (shortened from FranCESCO)

Montecchio -- mon-TECH-ee-oh

Capecelatro - CAP-ech-ell-AUT-roh

Katerina -- CAT-er-een-ah

It's the Scaliger that still hurts to say. I spent two years saying, "SKAHL-eh-ger," and that gets into your head. But think Jerry, not Gary - Scali-jerry. I know - but I figure the Italians know what they're talking about - it's their language, after all.

Sales are going well, and it's fun to hear the buzz as people begin to read it. For my part, Jan and I just sent off our TV pilot to a few readers, and we're settling back into life in Chicago - lots of time at the beach, and cleaning the house after two months away. So it'll be a few days before I start seriously hitting the internet again. But last night I dove back into book three - the title for that one is definite: FORTUNE'S FOOL. Right now the title for book two is leaning towards THE FALCON'S LURE, but we'll see. After all the to-and-froing on the title for MV, I am girded for more of the same.

Cheers, and hope the August heat is not charring you all.

DB

Important Infelicity

This is an incredibly minor flaw in the typesetting, one that I thought I had dealt with, but that didn't make the transfer from my notes to the actual physical book.

In the Dramatis Personae, on the page listing the Capulletti family, there is a diamond beside Luigi's name, denoting a character from Shakespeare. That diamond should be next to Antony's name - Antony Capulletto is a Shakespearean character.

(Oh, and on the same page, the typesetter misspelled it as "Anthony". It happens)

This is an important point, and one that I want my readers to be aware of. There's surely more than enough to confuse readers already.

Cheers,
DB