Hi there everyone, and welcome to 2008!
            I feel like I spent half of 2007 flying over the Pacific Ocean between Sydney and Los Angeles, and I’m about to make that crossing again, to do my US book tour for The Six Sacred Stones, beginning in LA on January 15.

To my US fans, if you live in LA, San Francisco, Houston, Philadelphia, Baltimore and New York, please come along to an event and say hi! [Dates and locations are in the ‘Appearances’ section]

SOME SKETCHES FROM THE SIX SACRED STONES

Well, in October 2007, The Six Sacred Stones was released in Australia and I’m thrilled to report that it has been my biggest book yet.
            The lines at booksignings were enormous (one signing in Brisbane went for nearly three hours) and the response to the book has been overwhelmingly positive. When I was writing it, I felt that 6SS was taking my work to a new level: it’s a bigger story than the others, simply gigantic in scale, but with all the action that my fans expect.
            With that in mind, I thought I’d include here some of my drawings/sketches for 6SS, just to show you how I pictured some of the scenes in the book.

            Like this one:

The First Vertex at Abu Simbel (MR Drawing)

This is a drawing I did of the First Vertex at Abu Simbel in Egypt, showing the tiny figures of Jack, Zoe and Wizard standing in the hall before the massive inverted pyramid. (I draw the picture in pen first then scan it into Photoshop for shading.)
I like to draw scenes like this to give me a sense of the scale of what I’m describing for readers—and in this image, it’s the tiny people who give the pyramid scale. On other occasions, it’s stairs or windows that lend scale to an image.
I’ve found that if I draw a scene first, then all I have to do is describe that picture for readers. It keeps the novel very visual and cinematic.
            Here’s another:

The Fall at the Second Vertex (MR Drawing)

Those who have read 6SS will recognise this scene from the book—for those who haven’t read it, this scene occurs quite late in the novel, so you might want to skip ahead.
At one stage, I suggested to Macmillan that this image be the cover image for 6SS—I figured it would match nicely with the ‘man-on-a-rope’ image from the cover of Seven Ancient Wonders (which was called Seven Deadly Wonders in the US).
But this scene does happen quite late in the book, and as such I didn’t think it was wise to have it on the cover of the book. And in any case, I prefer the Mystery of the Circles as a cover image anyway: it’s more intriguing and by being less overtly ‘action-oriented’ has (at least in Australia) invited a new kind of reader to pick up my books.
            And here is a more complex picture that I drew:

The Realm of the Neetha (MR Drawing)

Once again, as the locations of my novels become more complex, I rely more and more on my drawings.
            As you can see, my abilities at 3-dimentional perspective are limited, which is why a picture like this is given to a real artist who redraws it with proper perspective for the finished novel (interestingly, my publishers in Australia and the US get different artists to redraw my pics, so I have to check both editions separately).
            I loved inventing the realm of the Neetha tribe for The Six Sacred Stones. Creating a workable maze was a fun mental exercise. The Neetha’s maze was inspired by a sundial; storywise, it had to protect the entrance to a sacred tabernacle but still allow the Neetha priests to get to that sacred place.
When all is said and done, the main reason for the pics is pace. I want my readers to picture a new location quickly, hopefully find it spectacular, and then get on with the story.
            So there you have it.

“WHEN IS THE SEQUEL THE SIX SACRED STONES GOING TO BE RELEASED!!!”

Now that the book is out there, the emails are coming in and yes, most are demanding to know when the next book in the series will be released.
            The answer is: it is currently slated to be released in 2009, but if I write it fast enough, it’ll be released in Christmas 2008. Ultimately, however, I’d rather not rush the writing of the new book: I think it’s better for everyone if I take extra time and produce a good read, rather than rush it.
            This discussion, of course, is propelled by…
           

THE ENDING OF 6SS

Yes, the ending of the book was certainly a surprise for some.
            This was intentional.
And, yes, I was expecting a passionate response from readers (just as I expected a passionate response to the killing of a special character in Scarecrow).
            When I conceived it, I quickly realised that the story of 6SS would be took much for one novel. So I figured I had to do what I do best: create a book that is in some way self-contained and satisfying, but which leaves the reader hanging and wanting more.
            And so I thought: what’s the biggest, most outrageous cliffhanger I can come up with?
Of course, I have had numerous emails from fans about The Six Sacred Stones commenting on its ending. Most have understood what I was trying to do and are simply keen to find out what happens next.
A small minority (one guy) have thought it was a greedy grab for cash on my part, because it forces people to buy a second novel down the track. This was not my intention. I was just trying to write a huge epic story which unfortunately wouldn’t fit into one volume.
There is always a danger in trying to do something new, and I can’t control what people think of me. I can only do what I’ve always done: write what I think will show readers a good time and take them on a rollercoaster ride.

Well, I’d better go pack now. I’m off to America again...