A NOTE TO THE READER

I've stolen all the verse quoted within this novel from Greek and Latin poets. Celondre is Horace, whose Odes I carried through Basic Training and into Vietnam. Rigal is Homer, and the passage quoted—to me, the most moving passage in literature—is from the Iliad. Etter is Hildebert of Lavardin; there's more to Medieval Latin than hymns and drinking songs, though I'll admit I found Hildebert a pleasant surprise.

No translation does justice to its original. These—mine—don't purport to do so.

The general religion of the Isles is based on Sumerian beliefs (and to a lesser degree, Sumerian practice). I have very roughly paraphrased the funeral service described herein from verses to the Goddess Inanna.

I think I should mention one thing more. The magical phrases (voces mysticae) quoted throughout the novel are real. I don't mean that they really summon magical powers; personally I don't believe that they do. But very many men and women did believe in the power of these words and used them in all seriousness to work for good or ill.

Individuals can make their own decisions on the matter, but I didn't pronounce any of the voces mysticae while I was writing Lord of the Isles. 

—Dave Drake
Chatham County, NC