In Memoriam - Amy Sonada

This group is dedicated to the memory of its founder, Amy Sonada, who passed away in 2019 after a two-year battle with colorectal cancer. A wife and mother of two children, including a son with autism, Amy began her career as an EMT, then became an RN, PA, and finally NP. She joined TNBW in 2011 and founded the Medieval Fantasy/Magic group, which became a welcoming watering hole for writers of multiple genres, including works in Fantasy, Science Fiction, and Historical Fiction/Romance. She gave freely of her time, helping to mentor other writers while simultaneously penning four books in her magic series, including Acts of Academia, Dictates of Magic, Mandates of Magic, and Mantle of Magic. She can best be described as a force of nature, who surrendered her active life very reluctantly. She was also a wonderful friend and human being, and is remembered with fondness.

One of the most memorable moments in her novels was the first meeting between the half-elf Kha, a Master Mage of the Guild of Magic, and Sil, a Mage from the ancient Age of Magic, a time when mages were like gods. In their meeting, Sil was unexpectedly released from voluntary service that had held her in many forms, most recently a dragon. But it was the often-irascible Kha’s unexpected ritual of profound courtesy that sealed the dramatic and momentous moment, and perhaps allowed Sil to become a gorgeous – and terrifying – woman once more.

The Guild was Amy’s place of refuge for those cursed with magic to learn in safety. Most were cast out by their families, sometimes as toddlers, because until a mage was properly trained, they were a danger to everyone within a radius that varied with the mage’s power.

Other memorable characters included: young Anver, Kha’s second-in-command at his Guild school, who fought and won a duel to the death against the Mistress Alina, another Master Mage; the baffling Zyrtek, a time-defying chronomancer, whose messages from the ancient Age of Magic watched you watching him watching you; Tilly, the shepherdess of Kha’s grateful, devoted, and sometimes frightening students; and Tazar, a skilled and relentless fighter and strategic warrior, and a dedicated and selfless friend.

Perhaps the funniest character was the aging Alda, a feisty and earthy woman whose practical concerns included worrying about where to find a job that provided free dinners — with beer — were she to be kicked out of her role as a junior priestess. To her dismay, she was promptly promoted to the second-to-top rank of her order in one evening by the goddess Behira. Alda’s plebian attitude led to outrageous, often humorous, and sometimes dangerous solutions to problems, with an occasional push from Behira.

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