Year of the Monkey/Year of the Snow

Today marks the first day in the Chinese New Year of the Monkey.  According to Chinese Five Elements Horoscopes, "Monkey Years contains Metal and Water. Metal is connected to gold, whereas water is connected to wisdom and danger. The Monkey is a smart, naughty, wily and vigilant fellow, and therefore, you need to outsmart the Monkey if you want to make and keep any money this year. Metal is also connected to the Wind, which means events will change very quickly. Think twice before you leap when making changes for your finance, career, business and relationships." 

It's interesting for me, then, that the fourth novel in the Upper Kingdom series is called SNOW IN THE YEAR OF THE DRAGON. Here, SNOW has a double meaning.  With Sireth and Ursa back in Pol'Lhasa, Kirin, Kerris, Fallon, Rah and Swift in Lha'Lhasa of the Eastern Kingdom and Setse and Yahn Nevye traveling north in the Lower, our team is divided and facing hostility at every turn. While it may be spring in all three Kingdoms, it is by no means a sweet spring and there is still some bite left in the winds of winter.

But also, we journey into the close-knit and insular ranks of the Snow Guard and the Court of the Rising Suns. We learn that while the Snow are brilliant, they are also brutal and the leaders of the Nine Thousand Dragons will be hard-pressed to get out of New Lhasa alive.

Usually celebrated by a dancing lion, I hope you enjoy this first day of the Year of the Monkey!

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                                                                       Illustration by Alle Page