Lost in Lexicon Characters

 

Ivan

Cautious, responsible, and yet adventurous, Ivan loves video games and is uncomfortable with writing.

“None of this can be true, but here it is. . . The world feels bigger here.”

Want to challenge yourself with some math puzzles and learn quirky facts? Visit Ivan’s number blog.

Daphne

Impulsive, soft-hearted, and determined, Daphne loves TV, poetry, and animals. She’s nervous around math.

“Oh, Emily, I’m so happy to see you. Yes, overjoyed, yes, truly ecstatic!”

Come check out what Daphne is writing about at her word blog!

Great Aunt Adelaide

A former children’s librarian, she has definite ideas about the evils of technology and the importance of reading and creativity.

“I must say I find that tragic. To think that imaginations and initiative have died out in you so young! Nevertheless, off you go.”

Emily

A thesaurus, she is soft, shy, and loyal. She likes to hear and reflect new words.

“Empty, breathed Emily, and Daphne wondered how the little thesaurus could be so wrong.”

The Mistress of Metaphor

Determined and opinionated, she’s ready to set up her pot and mix metaphors wherever they’re needed.

“JUST A METAPHOR? So you want your language dry and dusty, cracking under its own pompous weight, frozen and brittle like grass after a frost, catalogued in black and white, translated into bits and bytes—”

The Astronomer

Curious and kindly, idealistic but careless with details, the Astronomer loves mathematics and learning.

“Questions, how I love them! You’ll find the answers all jumble together. But tell me, don’t you have light shows in the night in your world?”

Bran

A mathematician of Irrationality.

“We like babies, all right. Completely irrational creatures, they are. We keep them around when they’re young and refreshing. But as soon as they reach the age of reason, we send them off to be educated.”

Timothy

A Nomologist of Origin.

“This is such deeply uncooperative, unhelpful talk. To reward our hospitality in such a fashion shows an appalling lack of cultural sensitivity.”

Mary Ann

Keeper of the Times Table Inn in Tessellate.

“It’s very useful, isn’t it? Writing things down, I mean.”

Mr. Prosaic

A greeter from Merry Measure.

“It is such a relief to be talking with people who speak my own native language. Prose, I mean.”

Mr. Garrulity

Schoolmaster of Radix.

“Today we celebrate our deliverance from a chaos of commas, a plague of periods, an apoplexy of apostrophes!”

Jack

A farm boy from Radix.

“…I am color-blind, and that’s why I’m one of the few kids left. . . . To me, it’s nothing but a set of dots and dashes.”

Mr. Morose

A tile manufacturer from Tessellate.

“I used to be able to tell you the square and cube of any number. . . . Now we hardly remember what a thousand is, and we can’t recall for sure if we used to have children.”

Miss Needle

A seamstress from Merry Measure.

“No way! If there was treasure there, I’d take huge steps! Humongous steps!”

Mr. Nomen

A noun man from Flora.

“Verbs! Tyrants! Traitors! Lowlifes!”

Lily

A beekeeper of Flora.

“The children were a little like the bees. They loved to mix. . . . Sometimes they came home with foreign pollen on their clothes.”

Abel

A beekeeper of Flora.

“Hey, bees! I ain’t got nothing for you today! Yow!”

Zeta

A Mathemagician of Irrationality.

“Evidently you are imaginary children. Which does not mean you can’t be useful for solving problems.”

Carter

A wagon-driver in the Land of Night.

“Words lie.”

Clemenza, Dorcas, Fay, HortenseClemenza, Dorcas, Fay, and Hortense

Ladies in the park in Brevity.

“The young folk lecture us for having the wrong hobbies.”

“Like knitting or square dancing or paper folding.”

“Feeding squirrels and kicking through piles of leaves.”

“We go to bed too early, and miss the sky concerts.”

Maxie

Negligent ruler in the shadowy forest.

“Freedom to be corrected. Freedom to be restrained.”

Vera

A Nomologist of Origin.

“Our great concern is how to harness the power of technology to foster growth of the whole child, heart, mind, and spirit.”
Ice Castle Characters
Ivan

Cautious but brave, Ivan has a strong sense of justice.

“Sometimes I think the reason we were sent here was to start a revolution.”

Daphne

Quick-thinking and resourceful, she struggles with her envy of her young cousin.

“Oh, please. Don’t tell. There’s someone I have to watch—keep safe—at the Palace.”

Great Aunt Adelaide

Even in illness, she maintains her stoicism and dignity.

“Good heavens. How the flock gathers. You’d think I’d pressed one of those ‘Help me!’ buzzers they supply to the frail elderly.”

Lila

Daphne and Ivan’s younger cousin is a talented singer who is dominated by her ambitious mother and has few if any friends.

“Why won’t you guys let me hang out with you?”

Aunt Leonora

Domineering and insensitive, Lila’s mother pushes her child forward at every opportunity.

“Your fingernails, Lila. Chipped like a bricklayer’s. What will your director think?”

Kanzat

Greedy and unreliable, the nomad chief has an inflated sense of his own verbal prowess.

“If you infuse to reveal your grade, we won’t know what to sell you for, now will we? So give us a song, boy.”

Ezengi

An expert tracker and bear master, he is full of trickery.

“The servant walks. Your voice must go home safe.”

Raibley

A gentle-hearted gardener, he believes in the social order of Capella.

“Trader brought home some runaways, Kit. They’re cold and all worn out. You know them?”

Kit

A servant at the school in Capella, she sometimes stretches the rules for her friends.

“Now hush, miss, or you’ll have me thrown back to the kitchen, and I do like nursing work so much better.”

Allegra

Rich and privileged, Allegra has the finest voice in the Capella school.

“If we allowed music made with instruments, just anyone could do it. Oh, Lila, don’t you see? They wouldn’t have to be pure of heart like you and me.”

Fort

A Dissonant with a ruined voice, he hopes to stir the masses to demand a better world.

“I beg the goddess to forgive you for your arrogance, your ignorance, and your oppression of the poor!”

The Hermit of the Mine

Twisted, dirty, and lonely, he works on a secret project deep within the silver mine.

“Fool! It’s here, don’t you understand? Trapped in here…music metal all around you, bound in the rock.”

Mr Sillica

Owner of a glass shop in Melodia, he is amused by the strange ways of Melodia’s elite.

“Whenever I worked at the Palace, repairing windows or installing stained glass, I used to whistle at my work. It was a habit, but whistling is frowned on, you know.”

Itzo Silica

A glassmaker hoping to rise in the world, he avoids his father and seeks to serve the Palace.

“What are you talking about? I don’t need to hear these things. You know I can’t go snooping into Palace business.”

Lady Nadia

Lady-in-waiting to the Diva, she becomes impatient waiting for her chance at glory.

“All that nonsense about it being poison. More like truth serum. No one died, did they?”

Master Thomas

A blind Composer, he enjoys the Diva’s special confidence.

“I must ask you, Your Highness, at this particular time of threat, when all sorts of hoodlums and revolutionaries threaten our country, do you think such irregularities are wise?”

The Diva

Beautiful, dedicated, and demanding, she uses the power of her singing to protect her people and summon the spring.

“I have heard you speak of your ‘gift’ for singing. Here in the Palace of Music, we don’t have gifts. We have duties.”