Questions? Why so many questions?
Yes, there are a lot of questions out there, some that have been answered already, some that I need to answer, and a few that I just don’t get. How do you come up with so many questions?
First off, book 4, “The Sands of Nezza” is at the publisher’s being reviewed. What that means is that the book is mostly done except for last minute changes the publisher might ask for and edits to fix my poor spelling and grammar. If all goes well it will be in stores this coming February. No, I don’t have an exact day yet, and no I haven’t seen any cover art yet so I can’t tell you what it will look like. So with that out of the way, lets get on to the massive pile-O-questions. Oh, and thanks to all of you who try to answer questions while I’m not here. Hopefully people take the time to read the answers you give.
Will Alex get a rival wizard? (one that he might not be able to defeat the first time they meet that is.) Wizard? well, not a true wizard but a wizard like evil person, yes. We will see or at least hear about this person in book 4.
The watchers? Yes, they will be back, they are important, and they are powerful. I’m not 100% sure when the watchers will reappear, but I’m sure they will before the story is done. Sorry, I’m not going to give you a lot of details about them just yet.
Dragons: O.K. so yes, Alex will transform again. As far as dragons having a government, no, they don’t. Yes, Dragons have a land of their own. Good dragons, like Salinor get along just fine with other good dragons, but evil dragons don’t really get along with anyone, not even other evil dragons. Alex is part dragon and can change into a dragon, so when he mentions his connection to the other dragons it is because he is a dragon. Yes, Alex is a human/man as well, but he’s a dragon too and that’s the connection.
Using magic to make people? No, that just doesn’t work. Using magic to summon a “Humanoid” army to fight for you? No, I don’t think that would work because you’d have to control them all at once, or make them one at a time which would be a lot of work. (What?) O.K. so you use magic to create an army all at one time, great. Now you have to control that army because they are mindless humanoid things. Or, you can create the army one at a time and give each humanoid thingy a job to do, but that is really the only job they will do until you tell them to do something else. Anyway, who wants a bunch of mindless humanoid things running around the battlefield?
The sign: Why is it famous? Because not many adventurers have ever seen the sign, and those who are chosen that way are normally very good adventurers. So the sign is famous because the adventurers who see it are normally famous. As for putting the sign up and taking it down… I think Mr. Clutter was confused about what Alex saw, and didn’t realize that Alex had seen the magic sign. The magic sign is always there, or I think it is, but only a few people can actually see it. Mr. Clutter was probably talking about his own “non-magic” sign, which Alex didn’t even notice. (Yes, I should have explained that a long time ago, but I didn’t think about it.)
Will we see Todd, or even Mr. Roberts again? Maybe. O.K. we’ll probably see Mr. Roberts again, or I think we will. Todd??? Not too sure. At one time I was going to put in a story with both Mr. Roberts and Todd, but it just won’t fit into the series, so I don’t think Todd will be back.
The ring? Yes, that is answered in book 4, so hold on a little longer and you’ll know.
Devon, thanks for the info on goodreads. I’ll have to go and claim my page there when I get a chance.
Can Moon Slayer cut through anything? Well it’s not a light saber, so no, not anything. As for Alex’s general appearance… Well he’s grown up a bit since the series started, hasn’t he. He was what 15 going on 16 when he became an adventurer, and now that he’s living in Alusia he doesn’t change his age, so… Alex is about five foot ten inches tall, maybe a bit taller, he has sandy blond hair, blue-green eyes, and is in good shape. No, not an Conan sized guy, but not a stick figure either. I’ll leave anything else to your imagination or to what I’ve said in the books that I don’t remember right now.
Symbolism? Would I do that to you? Alright, there is at least some symbolism here and there. The lamp that is carried or not carried in book one… I’m thinking that the lamp is used to lead someone to the oracle or the truth. Why isn’t it carried when Alex is taken to the oracle? Because Alex already knows the truth, he just hasn’t accepted it yet. Also, as a wizard, Alex has a light of his own, or he will once he understands what it means to be a wizard, and so he can find his way to the truth without the aid of the lamp. Yea, O.K. sometimes he still needs help or at least time to understand, but he does have his own light.
Will Alex go on an adventure with someone his own age? Yes, but that’s mostly because Alex is getting older as the series goes on.
Alex has already been to the brink of death, and he has not seen his parents at the wall. Why? Because it was not his time to cross the wall, and people on the other side of the wall would know that. Also, Yes, there is a kind of heaven/hell concept to the wall. Evil people would not be met by loved ones and family, they would be met by the people that they had hurt in life, and would have to answer for their evil deeds. You didn’t really think evil could escape by just dying did you?
Paid assassins after Alex? No, I don’t think so. Assassins are a bit funny about who they are willing to go after, and as wizards can be extremely dangerous the assassins would tend to pass on them no matter how much money you offer them.
Is there more than one adventure shop? Yes, many more. Clutters’ is the most famous and the only one in Telous. The adventure shops do work together for the most part, and often make their money by finding adventurers for other shops that need them.
Yes, Mr. Clutter has magic, but we are not going into that. Mr. Clutter is not immortal, he is a kind of door keeper, but not one that can open doors to just anywhere, and I’m not sure how old he is, but I’m sure he’s at least five or six hundred years old. As for Mr. Clutter being wrong but not really wrong… I’m not sure if that will be explained in any of the books because it doesn’t have any effect on Alex or the story we are in. Maybe, someday, I’ll write a story called, “Mr. Clutters Mistake”, but for now we’ll leave it alone.
Yes, crossing the wall and dying are the same thing, Megan is correct. O.K. so you die first and then you cross the wall, but you can’t do one without the other, so the same thing.
Yes, Alex would still be a warrior if he didn’t have Moon Slayer.
Yes, all of the known lands are populated, as are most if not all of the lesser known lands. Unknown lands I can’t say because, well, they are unknown.
Right, so magic and making things out of nothing… I don’t think even magic can make something out of nothing, but on the other hand it can make something out of your imagination. Yes, it takes power, and the power in this case would come from a wizard. No, you can’t make just anything because the bigger the thing the more magic it will take. Some things a wizard can create and make them stay, other things he can create and then have to keep adding more magic to make them stay. It gets very confusing at times which is why I don’t give you a lot of details. No, wizards don’t pull things from another galaxy or reality, they use their mind, their magic, and their imagination.
The wizards bowl of magic. Yes, wizards have a limited amount of magic they can use before things go dry. No, wizards do not die if their bowls go dry, they just can’t do much magic at that point. Some magic is possible even if their bowls are dry, but nothing too powerful. Most people have a little magic in them, you might call it luck or good fortune, or bad luck even. When a wizard’s bowl runs dry, his luck will still be there, so some magic will work and/or he might be able to escape harm because of his luck.
Religion in the known lands? Yes, there are many religions and beliefs. No, I don’t talk about them because they have nothing to do with the stories, at least so far. Religious freedom is a big deal in the known lands, which means that as long as a religion doesn’t cause trouble or hurt anyone, things are fine. Religions that do cause trouble, like trying to start wars or something, or that hurt people, don’t last long.
Garth: Feel free to link this to your webpage if you want to. Glad I could help.
Being an adventurer has nothing at all to do with your parents, your race, or anything like that. Just because one or both of your parents were adventurers does not mean that you will be an adventurer. Many people would like to be adventurers but if they aren’t chosen they aren’t adventurers. You can’t buy the title if your a king, you can’t steal it if you are a thief.
There are twenty seven known lands, and yes I do have a list of them all but I’m not sharing. If I ever write the “Adventurers Handbook” they will be included in that. O.K. maybe I’ll share all the names and stuff, but for now I’m not because I want to keep them secret until the series is done. Why??? Because I’m not sure which lands Alex will travel to before we are done, and I don’t want you all getting funny ideas about where he’s going.
And finally, for Cowboyusa, normal western style saddles are most common.
O.K. so some of you will be upset and say, “wait, you didn’t answer my question!” Yes, I know, and there are reasons why. Firstly, many of the questions asked will be answered when The Sands of Nezza comes out. Second, other answers will come as the series goes on. Finally, many questions don’t really need answers. I’m not answering because I want you to find your own answer. Not everyone will be happy with the answers I give to some questions, so I’m letting you decide for yourself what the answers are. Is Alex right handed or left handed? What do you want him to be? Does it matter to the overall story? Yes, I know, the kind of saddles used doesn’t matter to the story either, but as a cowboy asked I had to answer. Anyway, I’m going to leave some questions for you to answer yourself. Make the answer what you want it to be, and I’ll say I’m sorry later if I destroy your answer in one of the future stories.
Finally, on visits to different places to sign and talk at schools. I know in the past I put an email address up for the person at Shadow Mountain you can contact to set visits up with. I’ll try to find that email address again and post it for you. I’m happy to go anywhere, but as the publisher normally pays for longer trips… well, we’ll have to see what happens. If I happen to just be in an area, say on vacation or something, I’ll try to post it and let you know, and I’ll try to at least setup a signing as well.
I think that’s it for now, so thanks for all the questions and I promise to try and answer any new questions that I can. If I don’t answer, well… The answer is coming in the future.
Yours in fellowship
Mark
