I just thought I’d write and tell you that the first book of the brand new The Six Crowns series is in the stores now. It actually came out on the 1st of April - no fooling!
The series is fantasy again (I do like fantasy, I don’t care what anyone says…) - but it is quite different to The Faerie Path and Warrior Princess. For a start, all the characters are talking animals - and the hero and heroine are hedgehogs - and here is a picture of them, drawn and coloured by the amazing Gary Chalk. The one sitting on top is Esmeralda Lightfoot, she’s a Roamany and she has strange magic powers. The one flat on his back is Trundle Boldoak, a quiet, home-loving kind of guy who gets ripped out of his simple, straightforward life by Esmeralda and sent off on wild and dangerous adventures.
The series is aimed for a younger age group than the Faerie Path - kind of from 8 to 12 - but older people than that have read the first book and they’ve told me it’s a lot of fun - which is great, because that’s exactly what it’s meant to be. So,even if you think you’re too old for these books, maybe you could buy one for a younger brother or sister or cousin or friend - and then sneakily read it yourself before handing it over.
There is a dedicated website for the series. You can find it at www.thesixcrowns.com - and Gary Chalk and I will be running competitions regularly with signed books as prizes, and also with framed and signed copies of some of Gary’s coloured artwork - like the picture here. Please take a few minutes to look at the site - I’d love to know what you think, whether you’re 8 years old or 68 years old!
Hi Mr. Jones,
I was just wondering if you have had your meeting with the man about publishing a fearie path 7 yet. Did we send enough mail? Will he publish it? If not, KEEP TRYING!! Just keep looking for someone who will. Or you could self-publish it. There is an author in my town who self-published her book.
Sarah
Here are some very random question about the Faerie Path.
What happen to Edric parent?
When did Edric make up his mind about marrying Tania?
What gave you the idea about the Fearie Path anyway?
Why did you choose Zara to die?
Will Sancha find her true love?
When did Gabriel actually become power hungry?
AFJ. Sarah - yes, I met him on Saturday and we had a long talk about it and I showed him the volume of Faerie Path mail I get - and I handed over to him the 80 emails asking for a 7th book. He is now going to go and see what can be done - but I am not expecting any response for six to eight weeks.
T.K.B. - wow ! Very random. Edric’s parents were killed in an accident when he was very young - then he was sent to Caer Liel to work as he had no other relations living nearby - and in time he was noticed by Gabriel Drake and became his servant and then his secretary. I’m not exactly sure when he decided he wanted to marry Tania. He knew he wanted to spend the rest of his life with her from quite early on - but I guess the final trigger was the wedding of Cordelia and Bryn. The idea about the Faerie Path series is too long a question to get into here - if enough people tell me they want to know how it all came about, I will blog about it. I decided Zara should die because she was my favourite of the other princesses, and I wanted the death to have a big impact. As for Sancha - it may be that her true love is her books. I think with Gabriel and the power thing, it crept up on him because he was using the Dark Arts to try and find Titania and Tania - and the Dark Arts kind of got inside his head and made him bad - which is why Tania was so worried that Edric might go the same way if he used the Dark Arts too much.
Interesting, now here the tuff question why is love forever in Faerie.
I love it - and just included it on my best books round-up. http://imaginationsoup.net/2011/05/favorite-childrens-chapter-books-spring-2011/
AFJ. Melissa - thanks for this! These books were such fun to write - I’m glad people like them.