In case you're wondering why I've been quiet of late, I have been hammering through the inevitable rewrite of The Undivided. Anybody who thinks they can write one draft and the book is done, is nuts. This rewrite was extensive, thanks to some aweome feedback from my beta readers, and the book is much better for it.

I was on a deadline to finish it (about 2 weeks ago actually). But I was detemined to finish it in time for the Rythms of Ireland show last night. I had the tickets and nothing was going to get in the way. Turned out to be a great motiviator!

For the record, if you get a chance to see this troupe on tour, take it. They are awesome. The show was amazing. It wasn't full of flashy special effects, just a group of awesomely talented people who I suspect are fitter than marathon runners. I've seen the Lord of the Dance DVD heaps of times, but it is nothing compared to seeing these dancers live.

They were really nice people too, and I promised them I would give them a great rap on my blog, so here it is. And a big shout out to the dancers, too. You rock!

It could just be me, but there seems to be an awful lot of similarities between The Chaos Crystal cover and Terry Brook's new Shannara novel due out later this year.

Should be interesting when the hardcover US edition of The Chaos Crystal comes out next year sans border.

Will people buy his book thinking it's mine or better yet (for me, anyway...teehee) pick up my book thinking it's his?

I know you're going to say it's just a case of reading the name on the cover, but I know of at least 3 people who saw Kim Falconer's book and thought it was one of mine because it had a similar border.

Thoughts?

The Fantasy Book Critic site have posted the review of the US edition of The Palace of Impossible Dreams.

Among the nice things they say about the book...

...The pace of the book is unrelenting and you *have* to turn the pages to see what happens, while the continual switching of pov's is superbly handled, so you never feel a lack of balance. The twists and turns keep coming, alliances are formed and broken, power jostling is ongoing and the Tide is still going higher since as the uber-immortal Lukys notes, after such a long low tide, there usually comes the ultimate one in a million years "king-tide". As with the previous novels, some of the most poignant moments are given by the past stories of the immortals.

The series proceeds seemingly naturally from one scene to another, however looking back from the beginning of the first volume, the change in focus and the expansion of the storyline is quite visible and on every reread of the books I am still amazed how well the author pulls it off so looked from a distance "The Palace of Impossible Dreams" could be said to belong to a different series - though again it just flows from the previous volumes.

The only niggle about the novel is that it truly begs the next volume since the tension is raised so much and the plot-lines are ready to "explode" that not having "The Chaos Crystal" to read asap can lead to frustration. "The Palace of Impossible Dreams" is epic fantasy of the highest level.

Aren't they nice? The full review is here 

This is awesome...

Not as cool as the English language trailer but the sexy male voice over sounds cool. Just gotta wait until my German friend Matty pops over some time this week so I can find out what he's saying:)

You Tube Trailer here