First off, I’m sorry for the long delay in getting this blog out. We had some problems with the blog for a couple of weeks, comments vanished and it took some time to figure what was going on. Most of the problems are are now fixed, though I am aware that the fun monster pictures are now missing. We are looking at that problem now and hope to have them back soon.

So, it’s Thanksgiving time, and I know that I have a lot to be thankful for. I’m thankful that Sands of Nezza is finally out, I’m thankful for all of you readers and all of you who take the time to comment on the blog. I’m thankful that tomorrow I get to spend time with my family and eat a giant pile of food. (Mmmmm food, my favorite.) I hope that all of you have a wonderful thanksgiving, and that you all take a few minutes to think of all the things you have to be thankful for.

Right, so now lets get right into the questions, and the biggest question you’ve all been asking is, “Why didn’t E.B. Stevens do the reading for Sands of Nezza?” Well, there are several answers to that question. I’ve been told that E.B. had a few difficult weeks where he fell out of a hot air balloon, got shot by a stray arrow during the deer hunt, and a few other mishaps. O.K. none of that happened, and I can tell you that E.B. Stevens isn’t a real person, it’s a name used by the person who has done the reading. E.B. Stevens has retired from doing readings, and that’s all I can really say. Oh, O.K.  he’s very busy with other things and simply can’t make time to do the reading. I don’t think he’ll be back, sorry. Maybe if you all email Shadow Mountain and ask for E.B.’s return, but I don’t think that even that will work. Sorry about that.

Branden Cox: Signings are being setup now, and Logan could be on the list. Right now nothing is set, but I believe I will be at the Midnight Madness event on Dec. 6th at the Book Table in Logan. I’ll post as soon as I get more details on that and other signings.

Adventurer Gal: I don’t think the name Thrain came from the Hobbit. Oh, I love those books, but was there a Thrain in there? (It’s been awhile since I’ve read them all.) I think I was watching something about vikings when I came up with Thrain, but it’s been a long time.

Rhino: A cyclops or a Medusa? Interesting idea for future creatures to run into, but I don’t know yet. We’ll have to wait and see.

Porter Rocks: I don’t think Alex will ever be compared to Merlin, and I’ll tell you why. Merlin is not known in the the worlds of Adventurers Wanted, except of course on earth. I think, at least right now, we will leave Merlin out of the stories.

Ryan: A more direct way to ask questions so as not to put spoilers on the blog?  Well, I think it would be best to just ask on the blog, but maybe put a “Spoiler Alert” before you ask your question.  Of course, now that the books is out everywhere we may not need so many Spoiler Alerts.

Ben Stubbs: I don’t know what Alex does with the extra staff he found at the Nagas’ lair. For now I think he just has it in his bag, but it may come back into the story at some point.

Braden Cox: No, sorry, I haven’t seen your letter yet. I did warn you that it could take a long time for Shadow Mountain to forward it to me.

Matthew: No patience to write a book… It happens more often than you might think. My best advice to you is keep writing. You don’t need to sit down and write the whole book or even a whole chapter at a time. Just keep writing. Write a page and then take a break. Write another page that goes with the first and then take another break. It will come together if you just keep trying. You only need to write a little at a time, but you need to keep going if you ever want to finish. It’s not easy, it can be a pain, but you have to keep going.

Sam: Did my writing style change?  It wasn’t on purpose, but I think the changes might be just that I’ve changed as a writer as time has gone by. Hopefully I don’t change too much, but that I get better with each story I write.

Julia: The next book is well underway. In fact, I only need to make some final changes to make things match with Sands and the other earlier books. I’m hoping to be able to turn things in to Shadow Mountain around Christmas and then we’ll see what they say and what changes they want.  Yes, Lisa has been my editor on all the books so far. I hope that she will also edit the next book, but she has changed jobs and so I’m not sure what will happen there.

Afavfan: Bring Sindar back?  Not sure. Yes, I know there are things he might need to tell Alex, but I just don’t know. Sindar might be back in book six… but I’m not sure yet.

Chelsea: The forth magic bag isn’t mentioned in Sands because it wasn’t returned. Things were too rushed, Alex didn’t have time to return a bag, and the next bag didn’t belong to anyone in Nezza. Oh, we may return more bags before we get to the end of the series, but things are getting busy with this whole dark brotherhood group, so who can say?

Adventurer Gal: If/when I write another series I would not change this blog. I would keep this blog going, and if I need to start another one I’d do that as well.

Ewight2: Not sure if or when Alex will lead an adventure. When you read Sands you’ll notice that Alex doesn’t actually join an adventure this time around, but he also doesn’t really lead the adventure. I guess we’ll have to wait and see.

lol: Alex’s middle name?  I don’t believe Alex has a middle name.  Maybe we should have a contest to find a middle name for Alex, but I don’t think Alex has a middle name.

dragon’sblade: I was going to have Tara take part in a different adventure, but that adventure doesn’t fit into the series so… Well I don’t think Tara will be back, but maybe. We’ll just have to wait and see if she is needed.

Ichanban: The ring… well, I knew that the ring would play into a future story, but I wasn’t sure how at the time. The ring was going to be a couple of different things as I wrote the stories, and it finally ended up as what it is in Sands.

Afavfan: It was just a strange spell. Alex knows how the spell works, but I don’t think it is something he could just use at will. It would take some time to set things up to work that magic, and Alex is just saying it was strange, something he didn’t expect. On the “time travel” idea or meeting someone from your own future while on a long adventure. No, you can’t do it. Magic might allow for time travel, but it is a dangerous thing to do even for a wizard. The time difference between worlds and such simply does not allow for people from the future to meet people from the past and then return to their own times. Reason… The longer you are away from home the more time passes at your home. So, if someone from five years in your future turns up where you are on your adventure, then five years have passed where you came from and you are probably very old now and won’t ever go back home.

Prof. Z  No, I said book five. Sorry for the confusion. Alex’s love interest will appear in book five.

Sky Moon:  There are different types of dragons, but I don’t know if we’ll go with eastern and western dragons. Different colors, different types, some good, some evil, and some that aren’t really good or really evil but just are dragons.

E.L.M.  People immune to magic?  Now that’s an interesting idea, and I’ve read another book with that idea. I don’t know if that will happen in this series or not, but I will consider it.

David:  I’ll pass your comments on to Mr. J. Scott Savage and remind him how far behind he is.  I’ve mentioned this to him once already, but I’ll remind him once again and see if we can’t get him going again.

O.K. I think we’ve covered everything for this time, so I’ll just end by wishing you all a happy Thanksgiving. Don’t eat too much, have some fun, and until next time I will remain yours in fellowship,

Mark

Wow… I just noticed that a lot of the answers in this blog are, “wait and see”.  Sorry about that, but I’ll be honest and tell you that I don’t know yet how a lot of things are going to work out or when they are going to happen or if they are going to happen. I know that’s not the answer you want, and it’s not the answer I want either, but we will all have to wait and see what happens.