I've had a run of emails lately from readers who have requested, in the nicest way possible way, that I go back and write sequels to both the Tide Lords and the Demon Child series, not so much becasue they want more, but because they don't like the endings.

In short, they'd like a sequel that will redress the mistakes I obviously made by either not finishing the book in the way they liked, or by not having characters they believed should hook up, hooking up, and that a sequel will give me an opportunity to set the record straight.

I am bemused by these requests. I often wonder what goes through the mind of the reader who sits down to compose such a letter.

Does their internal dialogue go something like this?

"Gee, Jennifer Fallon really got it wrong, here. Perhaps I should point that out to her. Perhaps, if I mention to her that I would rather have an ending where [insert preferred ending] happens. Maybe she never considered this, although I can't imagine why, because clearly that's how it should have gone down. I've read the whole series now, so I'm pretty much the expert here.

"I know, I'll email her! Once she realises how badly she's screwed up, she will contact the publishers, (who must not have noticed how wrong she got it, or they would never have allowed this ending to go to print) and inform them that she's writing a sequel to fix the problem.

They'll be thrilled, of course, despite the fact that they have their publishing schedules mapped out for the next two years, and have already contracted Jennifer to write a completely new series. I'm sure her agent will be able to negotiate a suitable deal. After all, the fans (me) are demanding it! And I'm pretty certain all the other fan mail she gets says the same thing, she's just ignoring them because... well, I don't know why she hasn't done anything about this yet. Perhaps my email will be the one that gets her off her ass .

"Oh... I'm not sure what else ought to happen in this book of, say... 180,000 words. That's Jennifer's problem. She's the author, after all. It's her world and her characters so I'll let her figure it out. Just so long as it ends the way I want it to."

Yup... I figure that's how it goes.

So I am going to drop everything, and write a sequel to both series which ends the way these fans want them to...

Only problem I have, is that I have about 10 emails offering about 10 different endings.

Oh no! Which one is right?

Here's a wild suggestion... maybe the one I wrote in the first place that passed the scrutiny of my agents, multiple editors around the world and the several hundred thousand people who read the book and don't think I need to change a thing.

Just a thought:)

On the upside, I think, as authors go, I'm probably lucky. I think Trudi Canavan's "how dare you end your Black Magician series like that?" emails run into the thousands...LOL

Yup! Here 'tis kiddies...

The mass market paperback edition is now available in the US.

You know what this means, don;t you?

The US release of The Palace of Impossible Dreams is only a six weeks away!

I've turned into a true Kiwi. Tonight I am lamb sitting a very sick little day old ram with fluid on the lungs and possibly a deformed spine. Not sure he's going to make it through the night.

Secondborn is taking him in to the clinic tomorrow to xray him to see if the spine is congenital or if he's just walking funny 'cause his mum rejected him and he'd dehydrated.

Poor little thing. He's so cute with the most awesome markings. Hope he makes it.

Sorry I've been so quiet. Writing heaps and getting the house ready for the three wood fires to go in this week, but we took time out last night to go the the theatre to see the Showbiz Christchurch Production of Jospeh and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat.

It was stunning. Totally blew me away. Brilliant singing, amazing constumes and a very funny production. Dace, however, has a somewhat different opinion. To the amusement of everyone in earshot, as we're leaving the theatre we asked him what he thought of it.

"It was pretty good, I suppose," he conceded loudly. "But there weren't enough explosions."

ROFL...

I seriously effed up bring the old laptop tis trip. It's slower than molasses on velco, and it doesn't have Photoshop on it, so I can't load up the Supanova pictures of me hugging hunks like James Masters and Alex Meraz (eat your heart out Twi-hards... hehehe).

I also bonded with Mary McDonell at Supanova, who is truly one of nature's most gracious ladies. She took The Immortal Prince with her to read on the plane home. She made me want to watch Dances with Wolves all over again:)

Anyway... I'm currently sitting in a hotel getting ready for the fight back to NZ, which for once, leaves at a very civilised hour. I have "convention throat" which is lanryngitis brought on by spending two consecutive weekends screaming over the ambient noise of 30,000 excited fans all crammed into one venue, and then delivering a couple of 4 hour lectures at the end of it, followed by a midnight podcast. I don't believe the shots I consumed at the cocktail party Saturday night with Paul Jenkins and the boys from Cool Shite in any way contributed to my current infirmity. Alcohol is an antiseptic, after all. Isn't it?

BTW, I wouldn't swap a minute of my life. Exhausted but havin' a ball, I am.

PS: Someone from the hotel just knocked on my door and gave me chocolate.

I am truly blessed, I tell you:)