Red Alert! Red Alert! Oh dear, not again.

Right, it’s red alert time here at the work desk, and I’m not sure how bad things are going to get.  What’s the problem you ask?  Well, I’m glad you asked.  I just got some feedback from my publisher, and things are looking dangerous.  They were good enough to point out some problems with book 4, “The Sands of Nezza” that I need to fix before we print it.  Dang, why didn’t I see these problems before???  Well, I’m seriously thinking and working on the problems and I hope to have them under control in the next week or so.  I’m not sure what our current deadline for printing is, how this will affect when the book comes out, or when the new preview chapter will appear on the website.  I’m doing what I can, but there might be some delays.  Sorry about that, but if you wanted things done faster you shouldn’t have let me make these mistakes in the first place.

Right then, time for some answers to questions.

Chelsea, Yes, I believe Alex will have more dreams as we go along.

Why did we never mention Alex going to School while he was still living with Mr. Roberts?  Well, first of all it wasn’t important to the story, and second of all I did mention in a not so obvious way that Alex did go go school.  Alex does mention in the first book that he knows how to read and such, but that he can’t read one of the books Arconn gave him because it’s not written in a language that he understands.  (That would be the magic book.)

I’m sure that Hobbits will never make an appearance in the Adventurers Wanted series.  Hobbits do belong to Tolkien, and even though I like them I don’t think we’ll see them.

When will Alex meet Tayo’s son?  That will have to wait until Tayo has a son and that son gets to an age where he can be Alex’s apprentice.  We have a lot of stories to tell before that happens, and sadly I don’t think it will happen before the series ends.  Maybe an add on book at a later time, or another series, we’ll have to see.

Typing mistakes in the books:  Yes, it happens more often than you might think.  What can be done about it?  Well, the publisher keeps a list of all the mistakes they find or that people point out to them.  When they re-print the books, they fix all the typing mistakes that have been found.  You can send any you find to the publisher, but most have been found I think and will be fixed next time they print new books.

Will Calysto be back?  I really don’t know yet.  I’d like to bring her back, but I’m not sure how I can.  I’ll think about it, but we’ll have to wait and see where future adventures take Alex to find out.

Aaron, wow, that’s a long list of questions you’ve posted.  Let me see what I can answer.  Yes, in some places there are slaves, but most of the known lands have laws against slavery.  No, Alex will not inherit a kingdom.  We do learn something of Alex’s family in book 4.  Alex might fall into something like madness, but I’m not going to say what happens, Alex will learn to make impressive weapons but I’m not going to compare them with weapons made by the dark elves.  No, Alex can not create a dragon like he created the dog when he got his staff.  Dragon’s are not created like that and they wouldn’t be happy if you tried to get rid of them like the dog.  Skipping a couple and going to say a little something about Salinor here.  Yes, I did say that Alex and Salinor were equals, and if they fought they  would probably destroy each other.  Honestly, thinking about it now, I think Salinor might win if Alex and Salinor fought now.  Why?  Because Salinor knows so much more than Alex does, so he would have an advantage.  Alex, however, knows Salinor’s true name, so that would help him if they were to fight.  I think the equals is something more than just magical power and knowledge, I think it is that they accept each other as equals.  They respect one another, so there isn’t much of a chance that they would ever fight.  They are equals in the same way that people are considered equal to each other.  I hope that makes sense to you all, but if not I’ll try to explain it better as the books go on and the blog gets longer.

King Ted:  Alex is not building an army.  Why did you think that?

I don’t know why the subscribe button the the website doesn’t work, but I’ll ask about that.  I do know that at one time if people subscribed to the site they would get an email every time anyone posted anything.  I tried it, it was annoying.  They might have turned it off because of all the emails and just forgotten to turn it on again or maybe they never figure out how to fix it.  Oh, and yes, I do have a title in mind for book 5… Ha, not saying what it is.

Dragons are not adventurers.  Dragons aren’t that interested in adventures and such mostly because they are dragons.  Trolls are not that smart, but they are very good at hiding.  I think the hiding thing is mostly instinct.  The reason they can capture and kill adventurers and such is that they are fairly strong, hard to kill for the most part, and a bit sneaky.

Wizards can exchange thoughts and memories but they don’t have to touch heads to do it.  People on adventures do get colds and the flu and other sicknesses.  If they have a healer he can help them.  If they don’t have a healer they deal with these minor sicknesses as well as they can.  Most adventurers do carry some potions and things that help with common sicknesses, so those aren’t a real problem.

Yes, Alex will get married one day.  No, not to Tara from “Horn of Moran”.  I’ve said before that I wanted to bring Tara back and that I was writing a story with her in it, but that story doesn’t fit into the series, at least not now that we’ve decided on only doing eight books.  I’m not sure we will ever see Tara again, and if not I’m sorry but she does end up having a happy life and all, so don’t worry too much about her.

Nanowrimo??? I’m thinking about it.  Not sure what will happen but that’s O.K.  If I do Nano, I won’t know what I’m going to write until it starts in November.  I’ll be sure to let you all know if that happens and what the story is about.  I would also encourage everyone to give it a try.  It can be painful, but it can also be a lot of fun.

Yes, I’m a guy bartender, but I’ll forgive the mistake.  And yes, Morraticus, I am.

Finally, as I think I got most of the questions that needed to be answers and only skipped a few that have been answered or that will be answered or that I’ll let you answer for yourselves… wait, that sentence went too long and I forgot what came next???  Oh, um, I will be doing a signing this Saturday, October 6th at the Bountiful Deseret Book Store from 4:00 until 5:30 ish.  If you’re in the Bountiful area on Saturday afternoon stop by, have some cake or pie, and say hello.  Also, appearing with me, will be Camron Wright, who I haven’t met yet, so I’m looking forward to this.

Until next time, or until you show up at the signing, I remain yours in fellowship,

Mark