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/
