tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7362953395147206742.comments2011-06-17T09:43:34.038-04:00Books And SunhiKittenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06346736861693794751noreply@blogger.comBlogger3125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7362953395147206742.post-48004757734520261842011-06-17T09:43:34.038-04:002011-06-17T09:43:34.038-04:00I saw a spy/detective theme party, where the basic...I saw a spy/detective theme party, where the basic idea was a treasure hunt (clearly, for somewhat older kids.) Would definitely be easy to adapt to whatever book that turned on clues caught your child's fancy..... perhaps even the Westing Game!Helenhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04747005870468793154noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7362953395147206742.post-86044987124014479912011-05-19T01:22:11.468-04:002011-05-19T01:22:11.468-04:00Tim, thank you kindly for responding seriously to ...Tim, thank you kindly for responding seriously to my nearly stream-of-consciousness review. <br /><br />I always thought it was probably the publisher who suggested the pseudonym for exactly the reasons you stated. (What a change from a hundred years or so ago, eh?!) This is why it's under thoughts rather than in the review. I don't count this against the book, just interesting to me, personally.<br /><br />Since I often adjust a novel's score after giving it a month or two of thought, I've been considering more and more of bumping this review number up to a seven because of the fact that the book caused me to lecture (bore) my husband for twenty minutes on how interesting the magic of the book was and how great the world-building was. I think I described the Alcatraz/Possible Witch scene as clearly as I remembered it which was pretty DAMNED clearly. ("And then they had to turn in a circle three times and walk through the WALL which wasn't there! They were in a different dimension!" "And then she KNEW which universe they were in, or mostly did, based on questions she asked! Let me tell you the questions and the answers!")<br /><br />Like I said, I think while this novel wasn't to my taste one hundred percent, I find myself excited to try another of your non-Marla books.<br /><br />PS. Seriously, a magician who uses a train circling in a loop as a source of magic is awesome.Kittenhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06346736861693794751noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7362953395147206742.post-27070054141561677872011-05-18T16:21:01.674-04:002011-05-18T16:21:01.674-04:00Hi there,
Thanks for the kind words.
Bradley Bow...Hi there,<br /><br />Thanks for the kind words.<br /><br />Bradley Bowman appears in the third book, and has large parts to play in books four and five. (I love him too.)<br /><br />To clarify, I never pretended to be a woman -- the publisher wanted a "gender neutral" pseudonym because there's a perception that some readers won't buy a book with a female main character if it's obvious a man wrote it. (I dunno if that's true, but that's what they think.) <br /><br />Regarding your final question, my series was dropped by the publisher as part of the Great Collapse of Publishing in 2008 -- my editor was laid off, and the imprint that published the series was reorganized out of existence, and I was a casualty of that whole mess. Many of my readers were not happy, as book four ended on something of a cliffhanger, so I serialized the fifth book based on reader donations.<br /><br />I agree that having the first novel set somewhere other than Felport was a weird choice. Here's why: I didn't plan a series. I just wrote a book about a character I liked, who'd appeared in some of my short stories. Then the publisher said, "We love it -- will you write us three more books about her?" It seemed impolite to say no. :) But if I'd planned it as a series, yeah, I wouldn't have started with an away game.Tim Pratthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03292061955838636005noreply@blogger.com