M.L. Forman's Blog, page 4

The Giant Question Catchup Post

Someone once told me that a blog post should never be more than 1000 words.  Well, maybe if I posted everyday I could do that, but I doubt it.  So, first up some information on the upcoming book signings.  I did find out who all is supposed to show up at which signings, so here we go.

Tuesday, August 14 from 6 to 8 PM at the Fort Union Deseret Book in Salt Lake city.  Authors Josi Kilpack, Lisa Mangum, Rachel Nunes, and Tyler Whitesides.

Wednesday, August 15 from 6 to 8 PM at the University Village Deseret Book in Provo.  Authors Josi Kilpack, Lisa Mangum, Rachel Nunes, and Tyler Whitesides.

Thursday, August 16 from 6 to 8 PM at the Bountiful Deseret Book.  (Yes, that’s in Bountiful.)  Authors Julianne Donaldson and Lisa Mangum

Saturday, August 18 from Noon (12) until 2 PM at the Salt Lake City Downtown location. Authors Julianne Donaldson, Lisa Mangum, Rachel Nunes, and Tyler Whitesides.

So share the info with family and friends, but maybe not strangers you meet on the street ’cause they’ll just think your strange.

O.K. so, Thank you Dan for your soapbox moment.  Yes it is hard when people keep asking answered questions over and over, and for the most part I won’t answer them.  That’s why Dan and several other readers of the blog have been so helpful in putting up answers for you.  Thanks.

Person’s question about going back and forth between known lands and the adventure shop to change age and live for a long time or even forever is an interesting one.  Alex doesn’t need to do this as he is a wizard and will probably live for a very long time anyway.  Alex is also a dragon, and dragon’s also live for a long, long time.  Other adventurers might try this, but it doesn’t happen often.  One lifetime is enough for most people, and one lifetime lived well is all most people want.

Is it possible to have adventures on Alex’s “Home” world.  I’m sure this means the world he grew up on, which I never said was earth but most people think is earth so I’ve just kind of gone alone with the basic idea that it is earth.  So, Yes, it is possible and it might even happen before we get through the whole series.  This could be a lot of fun because adventurers from other worlds would be very confused by almost everything in a “Modern” world like earth.

Book Signings:  So I know that all of the book signings I’ve done so far have all been here in Utah, and there are a couple of reasons for that.  First of is that I live in Utah and signing close to home makes life easy for me.  Secondly I don’t setup the signings the publisher does.  I would love to do signings all over the country, but where I get to go depends on how well the book sells, and if the publisher thinks it would be a good idea to send me someplace.  (Yes, if they send me someplace further away than I can drive, they pay for it, so the money things has a lot to do with where I go.)

True Silver is a lot like Mithril from Lord of the Rings.  I think it is just more than super hard silver that doesn’t go black as it gets old.  It has some magic in it, like the fact that it will reflect curses back at the person casting the curse.  There might be more to true silver than that, but for now you can think of it is magical mithril if you like.

As far as I know Alex does not have any wizard or dragon lord ancestors.  Magic doesn’t run in family lines, and as wizards are uncommon and dragon lords very, very uncommon, well, it is possible that he did have such an ancestor but that would be hard to prove.

For those of you asking about age and age changes, Alex is currently around 20 years old.  I don’t think he will be changing his age much in the future, we’ll have to see what happens if/when he comes back to his “home” world once more.

Who would win a fight, Salinor or Shruikan?  Well, I don’t know much about Shruikan because I never finished reading that series, but I think Salinor would win and I’ll tell you why.  Salinor is not just an ancient, magical dragon, but also a guardian and lord of dragons.  Salinor is also a dragon made of true silver, and if it makes such great weapons and armor, imagine how tough a dragon it would make. 

Bane?  Lots of thoughts there and I’m not sure what’s going to happen with our “Paladin” friend.  Alex didn’t recognize what Bane was mostly because he didn’t understand what a Paladin was.  As he said, he knew a different name for what Bane is, so the word Paladin didn’t really mean anything to him.  Will Bane be back?  Not sure.  Will Alex and Bane team up on a quest?  Probably not because Bane is already on a quest and wouldn’t take time off to go on a normal (if there is such a thing) adventure.

Female wizards.  We went over this once before and the answer is yes, there are female wizards.  I think we decided that they were just called wizards, or possibly wizardess if you like.  Are there female wizards on the counsel of wizards?  Yes I believe there are.

Does Alex have to fully change into a dragon or can he partly change growing only scales or wings or something?  Good question, and I never really thought about it.  Right now my thoughts are that Alex always fully changes into a dragon when he changes.  On the other hand, Alex can call on his dragon magic and power when he is still in his human form, so I guess it is possible for a part change but I don’t know what use it would be.  Remember that Alex doesn’t want too many people knowing that he can change into a dragon, and a part change might give his secret away.

Book 3 and using magic destroy the hellerach.  O.K. here’s the thing.  When Alex destroyed the hellerash he was upset, angry, and almost out of control.  He did destroy all the hellerash in Thraxon, but that doesn’t me all the hellerach in all the known and unknown lands.  No, I don’t know what other lands have hellerash in them, but if it’s important I’ll find out.  To destroy an entire race of people, like the elves or the goblins would take a lot more than what Alex did in book 3, and I’m wondering why he would even try to do something like that?  If there was some great need, maybe he could, but all goblins in all lands, a difficult task and maybe just too much for anyone to do.

My favorite moment to write in the books???  Hard to say as it changes with each story.  There are many parts I like to write, I liked writing in Horn when Alex turns Otho into an ox, in Slathbog when Alex fights the three-legged-troll, and so many other bits.  I honestly don’t know what my favorite part to write is, but I know how happy I am when the final version is done and off to get published.  I also know that if I re-read the stories once they are published I’ll find things I want to change but cant.

Tara, well, that’s a problem.  O.K. so I had planned on bringing Tara back in a story called, “The Madness of Lazbo”, but that one won’t fit into the series. (Dang it was mostly written as well.)  So now I don’t know if Tara will be back or not.  The broach that Tara gave to Alex was a symbol of friendship, but not what you think.  Tara is the daughter of a king in the land of Kess, and the broach was a sign for anyone in that kingdom to know that Alex was considered a friend of the kingdom.  (does that make sense?)  So, in the now missing book, Alex wears the broach and when he and his friends get to the city gates the guards see it and treat them in a more friendly way, escort them to the king, ect.  There was also an old wizard in that story named Pykle that I really liked.  (That is pronounced Pee-Kill in Kess, not Pickle, so don’t make the mistake of calling him Pickle.)

The wizards counsel is not a formal body, there are no set number of seats on the counsel, and no age requirements to be part of the counsel.  Alex could become a member now if he wanted to and if the other members agreed.  They are more a group of volunteers who try to keep track of what is going on, who is doing what, what lands are in danger, what evil is out there causing trouble, etc.  They meet when they can, but there is not set schedule as different wizards are free to meet at different times.  As Alex is now helping the counsel to discover what evil is moving through the known lands he might be considered a part of the counsel, but there aren’t any official papers or anything like that.

My favorite book???  Tough one there as I love so many different ones.  I don’t think I have one favorite, but there are books that I re-read every few years because I like them so much.  A short list… Well, The Lord of the Rings series, obviously.  The Wizard of Earthsea series also gets read over and over again.  Most anything by H.P. Lovecraft even though some of his stuff is a little weird.  Lots of sci-fi, some horror, and a fair amount of non-fiction historical stuff.  Dang, I’m behind on my reading again.

An apprentice, a familiar, a love interest, and what else does he need?  O.K. so, apprentice, sort of .  Love interest, Yes.  Familiar, maybe or something close to it anyway.

Now a few off topic answers because you asked.

Jacob:  About writers conferences.  Yes, I also find out about many of them after the fact and am way to late to attend.  Keep track of the ones you’ve heard of anyway because they will probably happen again next year and you can go to them then.  You can also check the internet for things in your area, but be warned, some conferences are expensive $$$ so you want to look at that before setting your heart on going to them.

SilverPen:  The story, “Seeds of Power” is mostly written now.  What that means is that I have a complete story but I’m not 100% sure I like it all and want to go back and change some stuff before I send it off to a publisher.  Once we finish up edits and such on “The Sands of Nezza” I will probably pull it out and work on it some more.  If things go well and I get it really finished it could be available in bookstores in a eighteen months or two years.  If things do not go well… then we’ll just have to wait and see what happens to it.

Cameron J: Advice for young writers?  Write!   O.K. as things in your story have slowed down and you haven’t moved forward much after that first 50 or so pages, you might try something that I do.  First of all, don’t try to tell the whole story in the first 50 pages, that never works on a novel size story.  Second, write each chapter as it’s own story, which means, tell the story of that chapter, then in the next chapter go from what just happened to the next important thing.  I look at the book as a series of events, and each chapter is one or more of those events.  O.K. so in chapter 3 this happens and moves my characters to this place where, in chapter 4 this can happen and that moves my hero to chapter 5 where something bad happens and maybe my hero isn’t so heroic which brings me to chapter 6 where… see how that works.  If you tell me everything in the first 50 pages, well, then you have a short story or a novella, not a novel.  Two more very important things to remember when writing.  1. If you are bored writing it, your readers will be bored reading it.  If you are writing and the story bores you, stop, delete the boring parts, change the story so that you are excited to write it.  You might have an overall plan for the story, an outline, don’t be afraid to break it, change it, or just toss it out.  Let the story speak to you, and stay excited with the story you are telling.  2. Read.  Read everything you can, read a lot of different things.  Pay attention when you read to how the author writes the story.  What do they do to keep things moving?  How do they keep it interesting?  No, there doesn’t need to be a major battle or giant explosion in every chapter, but something does need to happen, and it has to be important to the overall story.  Finally, if the story just wont come to you, leave it alone.  Do something else, write a new story, write a short story, go fishing.  Sometimes you just need to walk away from a story and let it sit before it is ready to be finished.  Good luck, and keep writing.

Wow, I think that’s it, and we’re under 2400 words.  So much for what the expert blogger told me to do.

I’ll see you all next time, and I will try not to make it such a long wait.  No, really, I’ll try.

-Mark

30 July – The Quick Info Update:

O.K., I’m way behind, late, and even unforgivably tardy in posting.  For those of you who follow the facebook page, you will know that I’m so far behind that changing my name and moving to a new state is an option I’ve been considering, but I really hate moving so that won’t work.  (Dang, it seemed like a good idea at one time.)

So, as you can tell from the title of this blog entry, this is the quick information update for things happening or going to happen soon.  A larger, more detailed update will be coming later this week after I read and find answers to at least some of the many questions that have been asked while I’ve been falling behind.  (No, really, I do plan on a bigger update with answers and stuff this week.)

First up on the info list, we have some signings coming up because it’s time for Deseret Books Author Palooza party time.  I plan on attending all of the signings, so look closely and see when I’ll be somewhere close to your house.  (You can show up at the signings or bolt your doors and hide, your choice.)

Tuesday, August 14 from 6 to 8 PM at the Fort Union Deseret Book in Salt Lake city.

Wednesday, August 15 from 6 to 8 PM at the University Village Deseret Book in Provo.

Thursday, August 16 from 6 to 8 PM at the Bountiful Deseret Book.  (Yes, that’s in Bountiful.)

Saturday, August 18 from Noon (12) until 2 PM at the Salt Lake City Downtown location.

The plan is to have multiple authors at each location each day.  Sorry, I don’t know who else is going to be there, but I am trying to find out.  When I know more I’ll be sure to share it with all of you.

More info:  Book 4 is coming along slowly.  I need to pick up the pace because I think my friends at Shadow Mountain are getting nervous and want to move on to the deep edit part of the publishing game.  I know what I want to fix and change, I just need to pound it out on the computer and get it back to them.  (maybe not pound, the keyboard is already getting a bit beat up.)

Finally, a little fan fun.  Some fans, I’ll have to ask them if I can name them, have put together this movie like trailer for Slathbog’s Gold.  I really like it/love it, so I thought I’d share it with you so you have something to watch while you wait for the larger update that is really coming later this week.  Enjoy, and make sure to like it in YouTube so more people will watch, more people will read, and more and more stories will be created.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mC7H-3mWvWM&feature=youtu.be

Thanks for not complaining too much or too loudly, and I will try to be more up to date on getting posts out.

-Mark

I’m not dead yet.

Yes, it has been too long.  No, zombies have not gotten me, yet.  Yea, I am busy working or at least thinking about book 4. (More thinking that working so far, but that’s about to change, I hope.)  So, lets jump in on the giant pile of questions and comments and try to cut it down to size.

Haley, the idea about Alex and company running into a group of, “Bad” treasure hunters is one I thought about some time ago.  I haven’t decided yet if it will happen in one of the future books or not.  The problem with the idea is that having two groups of adventurers/treasure hunters makes for a lot of characters and it might be very confusing for me to write and for you to read.  I’ll keep thinking about it.

Peter, Yes, there are small or smallish dragons as well as the massive ones.

Alex’s Dad?  Not saying how he really died  just yet, but I do know.  If it fits in, I hope it will, you’ll find out in a future book.  This is one of those things like more info about his mom.  When I first wrote Albrek’s Tomb, there was a prologue that talked about Alex’s mom and something that happened when Alex was little.  Sadly it got cut from the story so you don’t get to see it.  I think the truth about Alex’s dad will come up in a later adventure.

The extra staff.  In Albrek’s Tomb Alex found a staff and we don’t hear much more about it.  Alex still has it in his bag.  Yes, he came out of the trees with two staffs, but one of them was his own as some of our helpful commentors have said.  Staffs are not inherited like magic bags, and are normally buried with the wizard that owned them.  Yes, wizards can die, yes, they can die of old age as well.  We will learn a bit more about dead wizards when we get to book 6, or at least I think we will.

A quick word on writing.  Write what you want to write not what someone else tells you will be popular.  If you can’t sit and write for more than a few minutes, don’t try to.  Write when you have time, when you feel like writing, and if it’s only for 10 min. a day that’s fine.  I think, if you try to write for at least 5 or 10 min. a day you will soon discover that you are writing for 15 or 20 min.  It grows on you and you get used to writing and want to write more.  No, there is no right or wrong way to write a book no matter what anyone says.  Write the story you want to write, and when it is done only you have to be happy with it.  (Well, hopefully other people will like it as well, including a publisher.)  Also, if/when you get a publisher, listen to what they have to say.  The publisher wants you’re book to be successful, and even when it hurts, they are trying to help.

Aniki, yes, I have thought about what might happen if Alex who lives in an earth like world – (I never said in the books that it was earth but most people thought it was.  Yes, I think I did say on the blog that it was earth, because so many people just thought it was.) – brought guns or explosives or something to the known lands.  My thoughts are that advanced technology tends not to work very well in magical worlds, so he really couldn’t change things at all.  Oddly, magic doesn’t show up much in worlds with a lot of technology, though I’m sure Alex can do magic in his home world without any problems.  We may go into this in a later book as well.

Anders…?  Things that can’t go in a magic bag?  Well, it would be hard to put some very large things into a bag, and foolish to put some magical creatures in, but most things will fit as long as you have an expanding room to put them in.  Well, you wouldn’t want to put say, a mountain or a lake in your bag, but a castle would fit in your expanding room without trouble.

Day to day life snips on the blog is a good idea, but as you see from my lack of blogging this last month, you might not get a lot.  Don’t know if the publisher would mind or even care, so I’ll have to think about it and see how much time there is to write such bits.

Taylor:  On the question about any of Alex’s adventurer friends coming to Alex’s home land/world.  Yes, I think some of them might, and the adventure will be an interesting one.  I hope I can make it fit before the series is over anyway.

Claire, the shaman in “The Horn of Moran” was in fact a true shaman.  I believe Alex is the only one who knows this for sure, and he didn’t say anything about it to anyone else.

A search engine is a good idea Silver Pen.  I didn’t create the website so I don’t know what is available out there.  I’ll ask.

Finally, a bit of advice for the young or not so young writer.  1.  Write for yourself.  In the end, you are the one who has to be happy with the story.  2.  Keep writing no matter what.  Your first story might not work, your first book may never get published, but you have to keep writing sooner or later thing will work out.  3. Submit your work for publication.  Hey, the only way to get published to to submit.  It’s scary, it’s painful, and you have to deal with people saying, “No”.  You might want to re-write your work when people say, “No”.  You might find things that can be better, that need to be fixed, or that just don’t work.  That’s why you don’t write on stone, because you know there will be things that need to be changed, fixed, an deleted.  Keep working on it or maybe put that first work on a shelf somewhere and move on to something new, just don’t stop.  Let’s see, anything else?  No, I think that’s it for now.  I’ll try to keep up on the blog, in fact I’ll put something on my Google calendar to remind me to blog.  That will help if I remember to check the calendar.

Thanks for all the comments and questions, and I’ll be back soon, honest.

-Mark

Aniki – have fun in Japan.

Things and thoughts

What kinds of things and thoughts?  I’m not sure.  Last weekend I attended that LDS Story Makers conference, which for those of you who don’t know, is a writers conference.  Had a great time, saw some friends, made some new ones, and learned some cools stuff about writing.  That’s why you go to conferences, to see/make friends, and to learn how to be a better writer.  Lets hope that some of the lessons sank in.  On the subject of writers conferences, I would encourage anyone who wants to write to try and attend as many such conferences as you can.  Yes, they can be expensive, so don’t think you have to go to everything that comes up if you want to be a writer.  As with all things, do as much as you can or as much as you can afford.

Let me see… no real news on book 4 at this time.  It is moving forward, but as always the publishing business is all hurry up and then wait.  (I hate waiting)  So I guess for now we are moving slowly, but at least we are moving.  Also, I don’t know what the color of book 4 will be, and I’m not sure what will be on the cover, but we are talking about it.

Just a few questions since the last post, and a few comments that need more comments added, so here we go in no particular order.

Connie is right, Dragon.  You should write down all of your ideas for stories, you never know when you might need them.  Don’t worry if you aren’t a strong writer or not, you get stronger by writing more.  Yes, it’s strange that both reading and writing make you a better writer, and studies show that they also make you a better overall student.  Write those ideas down, someday you might want them.  Also, Dragon, the reason Alex didn’t go into his bag when he was alone in the mountains on his way to face the necromancer is simple.  You would be safe and warm in your bag, but you don’t know what might be waiting for you outside your bag in the morning.  Better safe than snug in this case, as Alex didn’t want to come out of his bag and be facing some undead monster first thing in the morning.

Peter, most adventurers are friendly people so I don’t know if Alex will ever go on an adventure with someone he doesn’t like.  It is possible, or he might go on an adventure with someone who is just annoying or maybe cocky, we’ll have to see.

Now, about movies.  Yes, I would love the books to be made into movies, but that isn’t really up to me.  First of all, I don’t have the money to make them into movies myself so we need to find a producer who wants to make them into movies for us.  Second, well, the publisher holds the rights to the movies, so they will have to agree to sell them to our as yet unknown producer who wants to make the books into movies.  I hope it happens, but I don’t know if it will or not.  (Anybody know a big time producer?)

The great arch?  Yes, you do need to talk to someone when traveling through the great arch so you end up in the right land.  The people who run adventure shops, like Mr. Clutter, can arrange this for you.  (See The Horn of Moran-)  Also, wizards can work the great arch so that they can travel where they need to without waiting for anyone else to set things up.  And speaking about the great arch there was a question about Mr. Clutter being a door/gate keeper.  In a way Mr. Clutter is a door/gate keeper, but not.  He can arrange for the great arch to send you to the right land, he has the magical back door and the wardrobe, but he doesn’t have the ability to open paths into other lands by himself.  Hope that makes sense, and if it doesn’t let me know and I’ll try to explain more clearly.

Joshua, Yes, healers would normally be paid an extra share for being healers.  Alex is a healer, but so far he hasn’t claimed an extra share for being a healer.  I believe that any adventurer with “special” abilities might get an extra share, but they can also decline the extra share if they want to.  If, for example, they don’t think their ability will be needed in the adventure, they might decline.  This also happens if when they join the adventure there doesn’t appear to be a need for any special ability.  If they do need to use their talent as healer, or thief, or spy, or whatever, the leader of the adventure can adjust the adventures agreement when the adventure is over.

How long will the Sands of Nezza be?  Not sure yet.  Right now it is a little shorter than Albrek’s Tomb, but we still need to do edits and changes, so it might grow a bit still.

Finally, about my friend Dobkin and the other smithies.  I believe they will reappear in the series, but I don’t think the hex on Dobkin has a major part in the story… unless of course I change my mind and add something that might be important later… dang, now I’m not sure.  Well, for now there isn’t anything special about what happened to Dobkin.

I think that’s it for this time.  Currently I’m waiting on feed back for The Sands of Nezza so I can do re-writes, and as I wait I’m working on a completely different story which will be, when I finish it, the first book in a trilogy.  I’m calling this new book, “Seeds of Power”, but that might change as things get done.  What’s it about?  Well, I’ll work on the short, short synopsis and hopefully post it next time.  I will say that there are going to be dragons in it, but that’s because I really like dragons in all their different forms.

Until next time, I am yours in fellowship,

Mark

 

 

Curses, Hexes, Staffs, and Door Keepers

First off, I’m sorry this post has taken so long to get out.  I was laid up this last week after having a bunch of teeth pulled, (Ouch!) so things had to be put off for a bit.  Yes, I’m mostly fine now, and I hope to keep up with the weekly posts.  Also, thanks again to all of you who help to answer questions that have already been answered in old blog posts.

Second off, (hmmm, that just sounds strange, “second off”).  Well, lets take a minute or two and talk about writing.  Yes, I know there are several of you out there who are trying to write your own books and stories, and I think that’s great!  There are never too many good books to read, so keep working on it.  Most writers will tell people who want to write to read a lot, and to write a lot.  I agree with this, because writing a lot will help you improve your storytelling abilities, and reading a lot will help you see how other writers tell their stories.  Reading a lot will also help you get ideas for stories, and I know when I read I often think of the “What if’s” in what I read.  An example?  Well, what if in the Hobbit, the goblins had never captured Bilbo and the dwarves?  Bilbo would never have found the ring, and so he couldn’t become invisible and save the dwarves later from the giant spiders or from the elf dungeon.  What if he had to find another way to do those things?  What way?  See, now you have a different story with different problems that need to be solved.  One thing does jump to mind when asked if there is anything else I would suggest for beginning writers, and that is, try to find a writing group to join.  A writing group is just a group of writers like you, that get together, read and comment on each others work, and try to help each other become better writers.  Why is this important?  Because you need honest feedback on what you write.  Your mom will love everything you write, you can’t trust her to give you honest feedback.  You need honest feedback so you can improve and get better.  It’s hard, it hurts, and it is worth it.  Find those other writers and help each other, I always learn things and improve my writing when I go to writers group.  Oh, and Connie, dialogue can be tricky at times.  There is no rule that I know of saying how much is too much or too little.  It’s what feels right to you, which doesn’t really help.  Try reading it out loud to yourself, if it seems to go on and on, cut some.  Reading your writing out loud also helps you to find problems with things that just don’t sound right.

Door Keepers?  No, I don’t mind explaining this, and it will come up in a later story.  A door keeper is someone who can open a magical portal or doorway into another land.  I’ve mentioned before that lesser known lands don’t have a great arch for people to travel through, so how do you get there?  Door keepers can open a passage for you.  They are called door keepers because for adventurers they open a doorway to the lesser known land at the start of the adventure, and then open it again at the end so you can get home.  It takes a lot of magic to open paths to different lands, so you can’t just open one and leave it open.  Wizards can act as door keepers, and often travel quickly by opening paths to places they need to be, even in the known lands.  There are not a lot of door keepers, they do not normally go on the adventure, but they do get a share of the treasure because without them you can’t go on the adventure or get home.  Hope that all makes sense.

Staffs!  O.K. so one more time.  The magic is in the wizard, not in the staff.  Yes, staff’s have some magic in them, a little bit, but for the most part they are tools.  They help a wizard focus his/her magic, which makes it more powerful.  If you don’t have enough magic to use a staff, then it is basically just a walking stick.

Curses, Hexes, and other stuff.  My thoughts are that curses are more powerful magic than hexes.  Hexes are most often dark magic, bad, evil, put out there to do no good.  This is mostly true, but not always so don’t think that all hexes are evil.  Curses, as you can tell by the name, are used to curse people or things.  Are curses always evil?  No, I don’t think so.  Alex might curse an evil person who has it coming, does that make Alex evil?  Hexes are easier to break than curses because there is less magic in them.  Let me see, anything else you need to know about this?  Oh, most people with little real magic, village witches and such, normally use hexes because curses are just too much for them.  Hope that helps.

Cooks?  O.K. well, the question came up about why the guy or gal who cooks for the company of adventurers doesn’t get an extra share in the reward for an adventure.  It is simple, but you wouldn’t really think about it I guess.  They don’t get an extra share because they do the cooking but they don’t do the other stuff like setup the camp, take care of the horses, fetch the water, etc.  There are a lot of things to do when you go on an adventure, and cooking is just one of them.  Also, a lot of the cooks on adventures simply like to cook, they are good at it, and they want to do it.  I guess I could also say that I never really thought about the cook as a job that needed an extra share in the reward, but no, I thought of everything.  (I wish I thought of everything at least.)

If you are not invited on an adventure how do you find one?  Well, the best way is to go to an adventure shop and let Mr. Clutter, or whoever is running the shop you go to, know that you are available to go on an adventure.  New adventures often need people to go on them, so letting the people who setup the adventures know your are ready to go is a good place to start.  As you go on more adventures and get to know more adventurers, you will start getting invited to new adventures.  (Wow, that was a bit confusing.)  At least you’ll get invited if you are a good adventurer and get along with the others in your group.

Mr. Roberts, Magic?  Sorry, no.  Mr. Roberts has very little magic that I know of.  He was a good adventurer, but not a magical one.

Now, there are some questions from the last post that I’m just not going to answer.  Sorry about that, but to be honest I don’t know all of the answers yet.  I planned a lot of things, people meeting, old friends coming back, magic bags being returned, places Alex would go, and all kinds of other stuff, but I don’t know if any or all of it will get into the series.  Why don’t I know?  Well, when I started writing these books I didn’t have a giant plan for the whole story and where it would go and end.  I was thinking of just writing a bunch of books about Alex and his adventures.  Yes, at one time I thought, “27 known lands, 27 books”.  Well, publishers are funny about that kind of thing, and they didn’t like the idea of 27 books in a series.  I think I’ve mentioned all of this before, but so you don’t have to go back and look, I’ll go on.  So, the publisher said, “Come up with an over all story for the series, and the number of books it will take to get there.”  Urk!  Um, 27?  No, that won’t work.  So I did as they asked, since they are the publisher, and came up with the number, 7 or 8.  (Right now, 8 is what I’m shooting for.)  Great, 8 books in the series, and here’s a basic idea of where we are heading and where the series will end up.  Wonderful, um, now how do I fit all the ideas I came up with way back when I started this into just 8 books?  Well, I can’t.  So, there are many stories I had planned that may not get written, or at least not written as Adventurers Wanted books.  For now I’m going to try and finish the 8 books in the series, and when that’s done maybe we can slip in an extra book or two about Alex’s other adventures.

Oh, and here’s a bit of news for you all.  Yes, book 4, currently titled, “The Sands of Nezza” is moving forward.  Also, the Adventures Wanted books have just been licensed for publication in Turkey and Thailand.  I’m not sure what the licensed for publication really means, but hopefully more readers and more reasons to keep the series going.  Not sure what the release date for book 4 will be, only early 2013.  Currently we are looking at fixes and changes to the story, and talking about what the cover should look like.  Pretty cool, as this is the first time I’ve been asked about what the cover should be.  I think that’s it for this time, so until next time I remain, yours in fellowship,

-Mark

Oh, I almost forgot.  I live in Northern Utah for those who have asked.

Strange Day

Yes, it is a very strange day.  For some reason I keep slipping into a half asleep, half awake state of mind.  All kinds of disconnected images float through my mind and I don’t know what they mean.  It’s weird, and at the same time kind of fun.  Has anyone else ever had this happen?  Maybe it’s just me, and maybe it means something that I haven’t figured out yet.  Well, while I’m in a mostly awake state of mind, lets see what’s happening…

So, I mentioned on my face book author page the other day, that I’m 90% or a little more sure of what the title to book 4 is going to be.  What?  You don’t look at the face book page?  Well, I don’t blame you.  Face book can be addictive and time consuming, but if you want to risk it, the page is https://www.facebook.com/pages/ML-Forman/165353446913522.  Um, where was I… dang sleep state changes.  Oh, the title I believe we are going with is, “The Sands of Nezza”.  What this means for those of you patiently waiting for the next book?  Well, um, it means that the next adventure will be taking place in the land of Nezza.  Sadly, just because we’ve decided on a title it doesn’t mean the book will be out any sooner.  On the plus side, it also means that the book won’t be delayed while we fight over the title.  (Gotta look for those silver linings sometimes.)

Now, to answer some questions.

For those who have asked, No, Alex’s parents did not know about being related to royalty or dragons or any of that.  Alex’s relation to most of the “modern” royal family’s is distant, the connections are hundreds of years old.  Like a lot of people who trace their ancestors back, there are often links to “royal” families somewhere in the past.  I know my family is related to several different royals, but that doesn’t really mean anything for me today.  (Dang!)

Roger, Connie is correct.  There isn’t anything fishy about how Skeld and Tayo were acting in book 2.  They were in love, which makes most of us act and talk and think differently than we normally would.  They are also changing from the free spirited, wild adventurers that they were, Skeld more than Tayo, into responsible (mostly) married men.

Aniki, on dwarves and their money, or more directly, on Thrang standing good for the items Alex needed to buy on his first adventure.  When Thrang said he would stand good for Alex, that meant that he would pay for whatever Alex needed.  There was an unspoken understanding that Alex would at some future time pay him back, and it is mentioned in Albrek’s tomb.  Alex mentions paying Thrang back, but Thrang says that they have collected enough treasure together on adventures, mostly thanks to Alex, that he had already been paid back many times over.    On the wall question, mostly Alex only sees the shadowy, peaceful lands beyond.  He did see Tayo’s wife, but he hasn’t ever seen his own parents or relatives for one simple reason… It’s not his time to cross the wall.  The dead don’t just hang around the wall waiting for people to turn up, they have things to do in their new lives.  The dead only turn up at the wall when they know it’s someone they love’s time to cross over.  (There are exceptions of course… Tayo’s first wife for example.)

Scott, on the geebs bringing things into Alex’s bag.  Geebs do not deliver large items such as crates or boxes.  Even if geebs did deliver large items they are smart enough not to take a box holding a person into someones magic bag.  At one time I was going to introduce another magical creature, a very large, hairy, creature, that did the job of delivering large objects and items to people like the geebs do with letters.  I forgot what I was going to call them, and I’m not sure they are going to make it into the series anyway.

Manga/Mangas… that would be cool, but there aren’t any plans to convert the stories into manga at this time… well at least as far as I know.  And speaking of this, the movie idea is also a good one, but there aren’t any plans for movies at this time.  This, again, is as far as I know.  The publisher would have to agree to any of this, and as they haven’t said anything to me, well, we can still hope but no plans for now.

Devon, nice synopsis of book 4, but I think you’ve missed a few details and may have misjudged just how things are going to happen.  Wait… How’d you find out so much about book 4?

SilverPen, Yes, Alex will mess up.  He has messed up on small things before, but yes he will mess up on something bigger as we go.  Hmmmm… what should we have him mess up on?  I’m thinking something important, something deadly, something that… oh, sorry.

What… more magic bag questions???  O.K. well, you can add almost any room you can think of, and probably a lot of things you never thought of to your magic bag.  Yes, magic bags can be changed to shapes other than bags, but the bag helps identify people as adventurers so that’s fairly standard.  If, for example, an adventure  came to earth, they would probably modify their bags to look like backpacks or something else, but they might not.  Also, the layout inside a magic bag is changeable, and the owner of the bag can move things around.  If you want a hallway, you’ve got a hallway.  If you want the kitchen closer to the storage room or cold room, move it.  As you add more rooms to your bag you will need hallways, maybe stairways, all kinds of things.  Oh, what about a magic bag with two or three levels, each harder to get into than the last.  It’s wide open, and it always works because, hey, it’s magic.

Do humans have true names like dragons?  Ah, a good question that.  I think that some humans do, but I’m not sure if all humans do.  Or maybe all humans do have true names but most humans never figure out what they are or how to use them.  Thanks for asking Kit.

Off the subject, but I’m going to make this comment anyway because I love that movie to.  SilverPen, the screen play to that movie was actually written by the man who translated and abridged the book from the original Italian.  That book is fairly old, and if you buy the book you will see some of what the translator cut out.  He actually stops in the story and says things like, “I took 27 pages out here because they were talking about politics and we don’t care.”  The book is a fun read.  He was also going to do the translation/abridgement and maybe the screen play of the second book, “Buttercup’s Baby”, but the family of the original author decided that they wanted a “Relation”, to do it.  Who was this relation you ask… Why it is Mr. Steven King.  And no, I don’t think it has ever been done and I don’t know if there are any plans to do it.  Inconceivable!  Well, that’s the story included in the book at least.

Peter, Yes, I think Alex will have to fight something he can’t beat.  Now, what can he do if he can’t beat his enemy?

Bethany, a good idea about the Horn of Moran, but that’s not how the horn works.  The horn can only be blown by the true king.  Oh, sure, the true king has some link to the dragons, but not even Alex could have gotten the horn to play for him.

Aniki, you can check the blog as often as you like, but I’m not going to update it 4 or 5 times a day or even a week.

And some final quick answers.  Classes of adventurers… Most common are these, Warrior, Wizard, Leader, Sear, Healer, Adventurer.  Adventurer is what most adventurers are, because they don’t specialize in any of the others.  There are some very special groups, Rogues, Door Keepers, things like that.  The special groups aren’t needed on most adventures, so they normally travel as just adventurers.  Let’s see… how old is Thrang?  I’ll have to ask him and get back to you on that.  Yes, Alex will someday get married, not saying anything more about that.  I don’t know what Alex’s hardest and most exciting adventure will be because he hasn’t had all of his adventures yet.  There might be fairies and witches in upcoming books, but there are both fairies and witches in the magical lands.  Finally, the magical world is vast.  There are 27 known lands, which means 27 worlds.  There are many more lesser known lands, which are lands that people know about but that don’t have a great arch to help you get there.  There are even unknown lands, which are worlds that are out there but that we haven’t found yet.  VAST!!! Huge, unending, who knows?

Until next time, I remain yours in fellowship,

-Mark

10 April – Blogger Time!

Ah, back for more are you?  Well so am I.  First up I would just like to thank all of you who help to answer questions that you know have been asked before.  Hopefully everyone reads all the other comments so they can find their answers as we go.  Thank You! 

Let me see, any important news this week?  Well, not unless you count my trip to the dentist yesterday, or my upcoming trip to an oral surgeon this coming Friday.  Yes, it’s time to have some teeth removed, which is unlucky for me but in a way it is also a good thing.  How can it be a good thing you ask???  Well, it will make my teeth stop hurting for one thing, and leave me unwilling to wander too far from the computer for another.  I should have a lot of time to write in the next few weeks, and with any luck we’ll get something worth reading when I’m done.  So, apart from my wish that magic could fix my teeth, lets see what other questions are out there this week.

Ah, Kieora asks how many books I will write, which is kind of a trick question.  In this series I’m shooting for 8 books.  Now, I have no idea how many other books I will write, but I hope a lot.  I have ideas for several other stories, some that link together, others that stand alone.  Currently, apart from the Adventurers Wanted books, I am working on the first book of a trilogy which I am calling, “Seeds of Power”.  I’ve hit a bit of a wall at the moment, as I know where the story is going but I’m not sure how to get there.  Well, it will come to me sooner or later.  I’m also thinking about a couple of other stories I’ve started, but as I’m not working on them now I won’t bring them up.

On Aniki’s question about the bond between Alex and Shahree, Peter is partly correct.  They were close because they had saved each other.  Merrill also gives part of the answer when he says that Alex is part elf.  Alex may not be able to understand his horse as well as an elf, at least not yet, but the horses do understand him.  Also, I have mentioned that the horses of Alusia are considered the best and smartest horses in all the known lands, and both Shahree and Dar Losh are from Alusia and even there they are considered exceptional.

SuitedCougar asks about adventurer traditions from Kess and other lands, and if they have traditions like the one in Norsland.  Yes, you all remember the Norsland tradition of offering treasure for someone saving your life.  Well, to answer the question, I’m don’t believe that Kess has any such tradition.  Some other lands might, but we’ll have to wait and see what happens.

Brandon’s question about jumping between bags inside of bags has honestly confused me.  I’m not sure what he’s asking???;}  However, I can tell you that Alex keeps his dad’s bag inside his own bag.  He can be in his bag and then inside his dad’s bag at the same time without any problems.  So I guess, yes, you can be in two bags at one time.

Deostoer asks about magical gateways to other lands, and all I’m gonna say about that is, “Dang, you’re getting ahead of the story.  Slow down.”  Alright, that’s a yes.  It is possible for wizards to create gateways between lands, but you don’t want to do it just randomly.  The wizard needs to know something about the place he is going to or his gateway might drop him in the middle of a lake or someplace worse.

Oh, and just to finish for Deostoer… No, Alex’s dad never met Salinor.

Aniki is correct, the third expanding room, or any of the expanding rooms for that matter, would allow Alex to change into a dragon inside his bag without any problems.  No tweaking needed, the room would just get bigger.

Madeline, Alex is always both man and dragon, so he doesn’t have to change from one to the other unless he wants to.  Also, remember that at the end of Albrek’s Tomb, Alex goes off to Alusia and accepts a new home there.  So even if he does change, it won’t be in the modern world.  As to how big Alex is when in his dragon form…  Well?  Bigger than any single engine airplane, tall enough that you need a latter to get on his back unless he helps you climb up, probably not as big as say a 747 passenger jet, but fairly big just the same.  I don’t know, I have a size in my head but it doesn’t really compare to other things.  Dragons are big, but how big is big?  How big would be too big?  I’ll have to think about that.  Other dragons would recognize Alex as a dragon lord, meaning a wizard who knows more than most other wizards. (Alex does know Salinor’s true name.)  Other dragons would at least talk to him before attacking, and if Alex wanted them to know that he was also a dragon they they would know that as well, even if he was in human form.

Now, on the question about loss of honor if Alex didn’t go help a friend in need, or if he was on an adventure when a friend called.  First of all, there is no adventurers rule about going to help friends while you are in the middle of an adventure.  There is a rule about abandoning your current adventure, so most adventurers would need to finish their current adventure before going to help.  Alex, however, is a wizard.  Wizards have a special, well it’s not really a power, but it is something most people will accept as a right.  This special something is called, “Wizard’s Privilege”.  What that means is that wizards can change adventurers agreements and a lot of other things as well because they are wizards.  They can use the wizard’s privilege to change an adventures goal, even if they aren’t part of that adventure.  Wizards are respected and when they, “Ask” for something most people are more than willing to say yes.  So even though most wizards won’t use the wizard’s privilege very often, if ever,  it is always there if needed.

Oh, just a note here.  I’ve noticed that a lot of you are referring to lands as realms and realms as lands.  Here’s the deal.  A realm is like a kingdom, so when I say, the dwarf realm of Thraxon, that means the kingdom of the dwarves in the land of Thraxon.  If, however, I say Nezza, that means the land of Nezza which is it’s own world.  Just thought I’d point that out.

So, Nelson. Yes, true silver dragons are more powerful, normally, than other dragons; and yes, their hides or scales are true silver.  Also, Taylor, yes, Alex will change into a dragon in book 4, but I’m not going to tell you why; and no, Alex will not be finding a dragon egg any time soon.

Bethany, tell your brothers that they are welcome and I’m glad they like the books.

Mr. Clutter, so glad you stopped by.  I never really explain how Alex does works his magic, or the words he uses on purpose.  It’s magic, and you don’t need to know the words.  I know that some people get really bent out of shape when authors start writing magic spells and such, so to avoid any panic or complaints I just avoid it.  I know, some of you really want to know how he did that, or what magic words were used, but trust me, it’s better this way.  Yes, Alex can cast spells as a dragon, as any dragon can.  As for where things go when he changes from a human into a dragon… yes, that has been asked a few times, so here’s how it works.  Whatever Alex is wearing or carrying or holding changes with him when he becomes a dragon.  His magic bag is there, but you can’t see it, so is his staff, his clothes, etc.  When he changes back into a human everything is right where it should be.  Magic does this on purpose, because it would be really bad if for example his clothes got torn apart when he changed and then he was naked when he changed back.  Not a good thing, and possibly very embarasing as well.

Zach, yes.  The fact that Alex is a dragon, even though he didn’t know it at the time, did help him to defeat Slathbog.

Taylor, I don’t know what the cover to book 4 will be yet.  I think that might depend on what title we decide on.  Hmmm… better email the publisher and see where we are at on titles.

A couple of words on magic bags.  When entering a magic bag it is normal for the adventurer to be holding the bag and whisper the password into it.  You never want to try and enter from too far away because 1.) The bag may not understand that you are talking to it, and 2) You really don’t want to say your password very loud because anyone who hears it can also enter your bag.  There is no limit to the number of rooms you can add to your bag, but if you get too many rooms it can be confusing for you so don’t go crazy.  When leaving a magic bag you can be anywhere in the bag and use the exit password to get out.  O.K. I think that covers it.

Connie, Alex does not go to regular school, at least not any more.  I was going to have something about his “Normal” school way back in Slathbog’s Gold, but it didn’t get added so I’ve just left it out.  Now that Alex has moved to Alusia, well, there isn’t much need.  Also, sorry, no, Alex’s dad did not have any powerful magic.  He had some magic, but nothing even close to a wizard’s magic.

Deostoer, I haven’t really thought about short stories, at least as far as Alex is concerned.  At one time I was going to write some short stories about Whalen Vankin and try to get them published in magazines and such.  I might have to think about that again.  I do have two or three stories about Whalen, but they need some work.  I was hoping to write a bunch of them and then maybe publish them as a book called, “Tales of Whalen Vankin”.  We’ll have to see if that ever happens or not.  (Hey, Whalen has been around for over six hundred years, there should be some good stories about him shouldn’t there?)

Finally, for Ted.  Salinor is a “Lord of Dragons”, meaning he is a lord among dragons or to make it simple, a dragon that most other dragons will obey.  Yes, there are always a few evil dragons that won’t pay attention or that might try to get away with things and such, but most dragons will do what Salinor wants.  Alex is a “Dragon Lord”, which means he is a wizard that most dragons will at least talk to before starting any trouble.  Alex is not a prince of dragons because dragons don’t bother with things like princes or kings or anything like that.  I was, at one time, going to write an adventure called, “The Dragon King”, but it had nothing to do with a king of the dragons, it was a different idea completely.

So, I think I got all the questions for this week, and I know I have a lot of writing to do now that I’ve managed to blog.  So until next time, I remain yours in fellowship,

-Mark

5 April: And the winner is… or are?

Sorry for the delays this week, but a lot has been going on and I’m behind on almost everything, even things I don’t know about yet.  (Yikes, I promised to do what now?)

We have our winners for the audio book giveaway, and I am currently planning on escaping from the house and mailing the CD’s before Saturday.  Yes, I said escaping the house, as it isn’t always easy for me to just slip out, at least not since they put the guards near the doors and windows.  As I’m not sure how the winners will feel about being named, I won’t name them, but they are real people.  As for the magical creature ideas, well we had a lot of things from all of you and I will quickly pass along some of the ideas that were sent in.   The list went from gremlins to giants, and from exotic little known creatures like ice spine toads to the better known unicorn.  (Ice spine toad give you a clue, but it’s about the size of a small elephant, lives in cold areas, and yes, it is covered with ice spines.)  Also suggested were a minotaur, shape shifters of various types and sizes, pixies, the evil wargs from LOR (I think that’s what the wolves that goblins ride are called), sprites, naiads, sirens, zombies, nixies, kappas, an undead dragon lich, and even the elusive western jack-o-lope.  Oh, there are more, but I’m not giving all the new ideas away.  Will all or any of these creatures turn up in future adventures?   I can’t say just yet, but I’m going to have to try and get at least some of them in.  Too many great ideas to not use, and thank you all for submitting them.

Alright, before we jump into the questions and answers, I have to admit that I was wrong.  (Oh, don’t look so surprised, it happens a lot.)  Alex in fact did buy a second treasure or expanding room in Horn of Moran.  Thanks too everyone who pointed that out.  So I guess he does have three expanding rooms in his bag for a total of eleven rooms.  Dang, now what am I going to have him use the other one for?  Well, I’m sure something will come up, and I can’t wait to find out what it is.

So, questions and answers.  Lot’s of comments on the blog this week, and I am happy to see that you long time readers are trying to help answer questions that have already been asked.  Thanks for the help.  Yes, it can be a pain going back through all the old blogs to find the answer to one question that you need to know.  I wish there was a better way of indexing things so answers would be easy to find, but I don’t think there is.  Until we come up with an answer to that, ask away and I’m sure someone will answer, even if it’s me.  ***Oh, I should also say I’m sorry to people who have emailed questions in, as I see them but don’t always write them down and answer them on the blog.  I’ll try and work on that.

There are questions about why Alex grew up in a little known land.  No, his parents were not trying to hide him.  Mr. Roberts was Alex’s dad’s best friend, and he just happened to live in this little known land.  That’s the only reason Alex grew up where he did.  The order of Malgor (did I spell that right?) did not get Alex’s dad sick, they did not try to kill him, but when he was sick they were not able to find a cure for him.  I believe that his dad was doing a job for the order, somehow got sick, and then came home.  I do have a story for all of this, and I hope I can slip it into a future story so I won’t give it to you now.

Aniki, on the picture.  No, I don’t think you can upload it to the site, but send it to me and I’ll upload it for you.

Everyone wants to know more about Alex’s father’s bag.  Well, Alex has gone through it, his father was successful as an adventurer, and we may return to it from time to time in future stories.  I don’t know how much detail we will go into, as his father’s bag doesn’t really play into the story line, at least not yet, and editors hate it when you wonder off to talk about something that doesn’t have anything to do with the story you are telling.  (Yea, weird, I know.)

Rod, Thrain does have more dwarf magic than Thrang, but not nearly enough to become a wizard.  (Hey, there aren’t many wizards and there never have been.  The fact that we have at least two in the stories so far is surprising.)

On Dark Elves:  Yes, there are still some around, if you can find them.  No, if a dark elf makes a staff it is not better than any other staff.  I’ve said many times, the magic is in the wizard, not in his staff.  I hope to find some dark elves before the series is finished, but they may not be as friendly as other elves have been.  Remember, they were nearly destroyed, and so they aren’t as trusting as they once were.

Why does it take a year to get the paperback of the newest book out?  Well, that’s a publisher thing.  Basically they want people to buy the more expensive hard back book when it comes out, so they almost always wait a year before putting out the paperback.  This is true of most publishers and books, so sorry about that.  O.K. think about it, the paper back is what, half the price of the hard back or less.  They’re in business to make money, to sell as many hard backs as they can before putting the less expensive version out.

No, Salinor is a dragon, only a dragon.  Now, dragons are magical and can do many things, but as far as I know Alex is the only (person) who has two true forms.  So, when Alex is in his dragon form he is all dragon, just like any other dragon.  He has all the powers of a dragon, but he also has his human knowledge.  When Alex is in his human form he is human, but he can still call on the magical powers of a dragon.

Ed, stop being a baby about a few rocks on the ground when you sleep.  Bathrooms in magic bags are very useful but hardly ever mentioned because, well, you don’t normally announce that you are going to the bathroom.  Bedrooms, which don’t get used as often as bathrooms, are still good to have.  You might be traveling alone from time to time, and it might be safer to sleep in your bag than outside of it.  Unfortunately there isn’t an easy way to know if it’s safe to come out of your bag when you’re alone, so it is best to find a safe place where nothing large can get you to put where bag while you’re inside it.  Also, always be ready to go back inside your bag when traveling alone, just in case.

The idea of putting a doorway between two bags is an interesting one, but I’m not sure it would work.  Most adventurers only have one bag, so not many would ask for such a thing.  As for Alex, well, he’s a wizard and has other ways of traveling besides walking or riding his horse.  I know, you haven’t seen it yet, but it’s coming in a future adventure or two, or maybe more.  (Hmmm… doorway?  I wonder if the doorway needs to go to another bag, or maybe just to some other place.)

Nelson,  Dragons are not invincible, and wizards are not invincible, so no, Alex is not invincible.  Alex is powerful, and I don’t think too many things would want to fight him, at least not in the open and fairly.  A sneak attack, a betrayal by someone he thought was his friend, a trap of some kind, all of these might happen, but you’ll have to wait and see.  Also, it would be hard to gather an army of adventurers, and as far as I know it has never happened.

Connie, there are female/girl wizards.  Now don’t go nuts, there aren’t many wizards.  There have been and always will be both male and female wizards.  I don’t know if Alex will meet one, but it is possible.  As for Alex falling in love, well, that’s coming but you’ll have to wait and see what happens.  No, it won’t happen in book 4.

Alex’s “Step Brother” doesn’t know anything about magic and adventures, so it is unlikely that he will discover what Alex is.  Mr. Roberts could visit Alex if he wanted to because he’s an adventurer, and remember that only adventurers can get into Mr. Clutters shop.  At one time I was going to have Mr. Roberts and possibly his son, Todd, get involved in an adventure, but as the series is limited in size, I don’t think that will happen now.  Remember that Todd is Alex’s step brother, not his half brother.

Rance, no harm done on the email virus/spam attack.  I think my filters killed it before it got to me, but thanks for the warning.  Also, sorry, no.  Alex can not make his new horse, Dar Losh, un-kill-able.  Not to worry, I don’t see anything bad happening to Dar Losh in the future.

Merrill, Illusions like the dragon Alex uses in Horn are dangerous because you might lose yourself in the illusion and not be able to find your way back.  To create such a realistic illusion takes a lot of concentration, and if you are thinking too hard about the illusion, and enjoying the illusion you created, you might forget where and who you are.   Yes, Alex does have the dragon eye power/spell when he is in dragon from.

Finally, or almost finally, Necromancers.  O.K. here’s my view.  Necromancers are evil.  No, you don’t need the power of a wizard to become a necromancer, and I don’t think there are any special books that will tell you how to do it.  Why evil?  Well, they drag back the dead and force the to live on.  Oh, that wouldn’t be so bad you might think, lots of people would like to live on.  Well, maybe, but how would you like to live on as a slave to the necromancer?  Live on in a decaying, corrupt body that real, living people would fear and avoid at almost any cost?  Live on only to do what the necromancer commands you to do.  You can’t taste food, you can’t smell flowers, everything in the dead body you now have tastes and smells like dirt.  You are in pain all the time because your body is falling apart from the inside out, and you’re only real emotions are self pity, sorrow, and hate.  So, does that sound like something a “good” magical person would do?  Would you want to live that life for, well for as long as the necromancer thinks you are useful?  Sorry, necromancers, at least as far as this story goes, are evil.  (Yes, that could change in another story, but not in this one.)  The danger?  Well the danger to the necromancer is that he/she has to become evil, and that some wondering wizard might find and destroy you.

And finally, thanks Ted for the financing offer.  I’m fairly sure the publisher will go on with the series, but if things turn south I’ll let you know.   Also, don’t worry about bad spelling, any of you.  I’m a terrible speller because I try to spell everything the way it sounds to me, which in English just doesn’t work.  Thank goodness the computer has spell check.  To bad it can’t also make sure I use all the right words even when they aren’t spelled wrong.  (since, sense, wonder, wander, later, latter, and the list goes on.)

Until next time, I remain yours in fellowship,

-Mark

Ah!  A magical update.  I just got this news and thought I’d tack it on and share it with all of you.  Check out the latest post on my friend Jeff Savages blog, it’s great news for readers of all ages.  http://jscottsavage.blogspot.com/