I like opera. I’ve always liked opera, as long as I can remember. I think my parents took me to my first opera — Die Fleidermaus — when I was eight or so, and I’ve been going ever since. Of course, I have a degree in music, and so do both of my parents, so we may be a little more open to people singing in Viking helmets than the average family. (Although I’ve never seen any Wagner, thank goodness.) So when I turned over Cameron Dokey’s Sunlight and Shadow and saw “Sarastro” and “Pamina,” I knew exactly where she’d gotten her inspiration for this story. Ms. Dokey was born in the Central Valley of California, and has a degree in archaeology. She currently lives in Seattle, with her husband and several cats. She has written several retellings of fairytales, as well as a handful of “Charmed” and “Buffy” licensed novels.

Sarastro, the Mage of the Day, and Pamina, the Queen of the Night, each rule half of the entire world. They are married and they have a daughter, also named Pamina (called Mina), but they barely get along, due to differing philosophies. Pamina raised Mina, and was supposed to hand her over to Sarastro on her sixteenth birthday to be married to a man of his choosing. The night before her birthday, though, the Mage of the Day enters unexpectedly and kidnaps Mina, intending to force her to marry Statos, his apprentice. Mina, of course, is not particularly enamored of the idea. Her friend and protector in the lands of the Queen of the Night, Lapin, has bells he can use to call birds, but how can that help Mina escape? (more…)

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