New Fan Club - Mystic Realms

By Allan | Wednesday, 12 May 2010 at 09:02
Category: Fan Club | Tags: , ,

I know a lot of you have been visiting the Fan Forum (http://faerieroom.proboards.com) that was set up and is being run by Arya (http://seaofpages.blogspot.com). Well, Arya has been beavering away quietly in the background for quite a while to set up a brand new Fan Club site. She showed it to me a couple of days ago and it looks great - I’m sure you’ll want to visit. You can find it at http://mysticrealms.co.nr. Arya says she hasn’t quite got it looking the way she wants it to look when it’s completely finished, but it is up and running. She plans on doing more work on it over the summer to give it a more “Faerie” look.

An exiting part of this new site will be that you will be able to post your own fan-fiction on it, as well as fan-art and even fan-videos, if that’s what you’re into. I’ll be posting some of my own artwork on there soon - including my sketches of what Tania’s sisters look like. Arya says there will be competitions and prizes (signed books etc) and, of course, plenty of opportunity for you people to post comments and suggestions and ideas.

I hope you’ll take the time to visit the new site and reward Arya for all the hard work she’s put in.

Meanwhile, other stuff is going on as well. I have just read through the “copyedit” version of The Charmed Return - Faerie Path 6. As most of you know by now, the “copyedit” stage of the book is where all the spelling is checked and the punctuation and grammar are tidied up, so that the book is ready to go to print. One of the things that has to happen at this stage is for my spelling to be changed so it works in America. For instance, in the UK we spell color “colour” and we spell gray “grey” - and we call sidewalks “pavements” - oh, and a whole lot of other little things that need to be changed for the American market. Well, that’s pretty much all done now and in a few days the copyedit manuscript will go back to the Publishers so they can prepare it for printing.

A lot of you have been asking when The Charmed Return is due to be published. Right now, I don’t have a firm date - but I’m guessing that it will be in the stores in January 2011. I know that’s a long way off, but the Publishers think one Faerie Path book a year is enough - although from what I have heard, plenty of you disagree!

I also have the first draft of Warrior Princess Book Four back from the UK editors. They really like it, apparently, which is great. Here’s a censored extract from the mail I got from them:

We are completely blown away by your draft of Warrior Princess 4. What a
harrowing, breathtaking ride: Oh! Ironfist trying to ******! And Iwan and Branwen *****! And the big *****! And ********’s death! And the final battle! And just everything! We’re really thrilled at how strong this is.

In a few weeks I will have the time to start looking at their comments and suggestions and get to work altering the things that I think need altering, before we send it off to the Publishers in New York.

That’s just about it for now - don’t forget to take a look at the Fan Club site!

FAN FORUM! FAN FORUM! FAN FORUM!

By Allan | Monday, 5 April 2010 at 20:38
Category: Fan Club | Tags: ,

I know a lot of you were disappointed when the fan-site crashed a while back, so for all of you who had made friends there - and hopefully a few more who have come aboard more recently - here’s some really great news!

Arya, who runs the seaofpages book review site, has been working away in secret and has put together a brand new Fan Forum where you will be able to chat among yourselves about all things Faerie Path and Warrior Princess.

Now I really hope you’ll all take a look at this - it looks really cool, I think! - and I hope lots of you will  join the forum and have plenty of conversations about all the things that interest you in these two series. The topics are for you people to pick:  from whether Tania should end up with Edric, to who you’d like to see in any potential movie, to which character you’d like to be, to how to drum up more sales to ensure there is a 7th Faerie Path book and a 5th Warrior Princess book, or whatever else interests you.

Basically, the FORUM belongs to all you people - I hope you like it!

I will drop in now and then to check out what you’re all talking about - and I hope some of you still want to write to me here. But let’s make this a scucess -and let’s all give Arya a great big thank you for her hard work.

And Arya’s not finished yet - she has other plans on the go - but I’ll let you in on them closer to the time.

So, please check out the Fan Forum on:

http://faerieroom.proboards.com

and let me know what you think!

Latest News

By Allan | Thursday, 4 February 2010 at 12:24
Category: Fan Club, Writing | Tags: , ,

Wow - February already! For the time being all the snow we’ve been getting in England has gone away - and we were getting plenty! Up to 16 inches in the Counties around London. I’ve had to trek to the bottom of the garden to break the ice from off the bird-baths, but apart from that, I’ve learned that working from home can be really great when there is four inches of snow outside!

I have been working on the suggestions for The Charmed Return (Faerie Path book 6) that came to me from the American editors, and the manuscript is back with them again at the moment. I think the book is not due out till January 2011 - which must seem like entire lifetimes away! The thing is, publishers like to have a “finished” book in their hands 12 months before they publish - I’m not really sure why, but it is partly to do with advance publicicty and print-runs and stuff like that. Hopefully, in a few months, I should get a cover I can show you and then some sneak-peeks like I did with The Enchanted Quest.

I have the green light for starting to write Warrior Princess 4 now - so I’m going to be getting down to that from next week. It should take me till about mid-April, so if I’m slow at answering your mails or posting new blogs over the next eight or nine weeks, I apologize in advance.

As the eagle-eyed among you may have noticed, I have a couple of new “Coming soon” books on the Home Page - and I’ve added some new information about Warrior Princess Book 3 (The Emerald Flame) and also more about The Sundered Lands series.

My information at the moment is that The Emerald Flame will be out in October this year. I’m intending to post some sneak-peek stuff for this in the same way I did for book 2 - but it will be a few months before that starts happening.

Some of you will have noticed that Marisa’s Fan Site is down at the moment. I’m hoping this will be sorted out quickly, but for the time being there’s not really anything I can do about it. Sorry.

On the other hand, I have been speaking with a friend of mine - the one who helped me to set up this AllanFrewinJones site in the first place, with the plan of adding a “Picture Gallery” page here. I can post some photos and drawings and paintings of mine here, as well as letting you see alternate books covers for other countries. And I’m also thinking that maybe I could post pictures that you guys create - I think it would be fun to see how you imagine the characters and places in Faerie look. Does that seem like a good idea?

Also, I’m considering adding a “Fan-Fiction” page, which might work a little like the Fan Site - letting you chat among yourselves and post your stories online for other people to read.Thing is, that kind of site really needs a moderator - someone who will regularly check what’s being posted and weed out spam mails and anything else that shouldn’t have gotten in there. I’m not sure I’ll have time to do that, but I’ll have a think about it and let you know what’s what in a little while.

A lot of you guys are asking about the possibility of a Faerie Path book 7.

Here’s the thing: originally I was asked to write three books. These books sold well enough for the publisher to come back to me and ask for three more. So, in answer to fans who are clamouring for book 7, 8, 9 etc - it’s really out of my hands right now. If the word is spreading about The Faerie Path series, and plenty of people are buying the books, then there’s a good chance that the publishers will want more. I know that some of you are already out there spreading the word - and the more you do this, the more likely it is that there will be a 7th and an 8th book.

Amy Havre posted a comment a few days ago, asking for good ideas about how to spread the word. So - why not let us all know your thoughts on this. If you’ve already started telling people, tell us what you’ve done, and also post some ideas about what you think might work. You know the kind of thing: airships flying over New York with BUY THE FAERIE PATH BOOKS! written on the side. That kind of thing! Over to you!

Storytelling Competition Results

By Allan | Saturday, 19 December 2009 at 10:55
Category: Fan Club | Tags:

Hello there - I just realized I haven’t put a new post up for a while! Quite a lot has been going on, though, and I’ve been kept pretty busy.

Here in the the south east of the UK we had our first snow of the winter yesterday - up to four or six inches around London, but there was only a thin coating where I live.  I’m a big fan of snow - but then I get to work from home, so I don’t need to go out in it, except to go down to the bottom of the garden with a kettle to un-freeze the water in the bird baths and keep the wildbird food topped up.

My wife Claudia has to go out in the bad weather, poor thing! But it’s only a fifteen minute drive for her to work, so it’s not so very bad - and today she brought home our Christmas tree. I’ve just set it up by my desk, and I’m going to let it settle for a while before we start to decorate it. Because Claudia is German, we tend to decorate German-style - which means all white and silver with just a touch of red here and there. The lights are white and the hanging balls and bells and stars are silvery, plus we drape lameter over the tree.  We inherited the hanging balls from Claudia’s parents - they are very delicate and made of very thin glassy stuff - so we have to be careful with them. Fortunately, Siouxsie the cat doesn’t find them interesting, or there would definitely be trouble.

Anyway, my chief purpose in writing this post is to let you know the results of that story writing competition that Marisa set up on the fan site a few months back. I have now had the chance to read through all the entires.

I’ll tell you guys one thing - every one who entered could make a living from writing if they wanted, I’m totally sure of that. I enjoyed every single one, and it was really hard to come up with a winner.

I was especially excited to read the ones that dealt with other aspects of the world of Faerie - like “Before Anita”, where Liz explained really well what it must have been like for Princess Tania when she first stepped into the Mortal World and got sick. And “Her Little Doll” by Laurelei was a great idea - seeing the attack of the Sorcerer King from the perspective of someone else in Faerie. I really liked that one a lot. And Kayla’s story of how childhood wings faded with first love was great - it’s such fun for me to see you guys taking part of the world of Faerie and adding stuff to it.

Christina’s Moon Spirit worked really really well, I thought - the idea of a love found but almost immediately lost was very intense. Oh, and I adored Reese’s idea of the elf who could make a carnation out of snow. That is a very Faerie idea indeed! I want to make a special mention of Kayla’s The Pigs On The Furniture story. I thought that was fantastic - totally weird but funny and engaging and a lot of fun. Come up with more stuff like that, Kayla, and you’re set for life!

But in the end - and it took a while, I can tell you - the story that really worked best for me was the one by Arya - the story of Ikos the Selkie. I know there are lots of stories out there of people saved by merfolk and suchlike, but somehow this story just rang really true to me - and also left a lot of questions unanswered, which is what a good short story ought to do, in my opinion. How had Elizabeth’s parents drowned? What kind of world is this story set in? Will Elizabeth survive her leap of faith? What is the underwater kingdom like? Do selkies always hear the thoughts of people about to drown, or was there a special bond between Ikos and Elizabeth? I really like thinking through questions like that after I’ve read a story. It leaves me wanting to know more.

So, well done Arya - all you now need to do is to go the the Contact Page and send me a message with your full address on it, and with the name you’d like the book dedicated to when I sign it. Then you’ll need to be patient with me for about 6 weeks, I think. I’m expecting to receive my copies of The Enchanted Realm a week or so before publication - 1st Feb next year - and I’ll sign and send your copy off as soon as I get it.

I do have more news - but I think I’ll save that for later…it’s nothing mind-blowing - just some updates on what’s going on work-wise for me. So, for now, congratulations to Arya - and I guess its maybe time for me and Marisa to come up with another competition. Anyone out there got any ideas?

Pictures of the Princesses

By Allan | Wednesday, 30 September 2009 at 10:21
Category: Fan Club | Tags: ,

Ever since I posted some of my artwork on the Fan Club site, I’ve had requests to draw pictures of what I think the princesses of Faerie look like. Well, I have just posted some quick sketches of Tania’s sisters on the Fan Club website - go to Picture Gallery, and you’ll find them.

But here’s the thing: this is only what I think they look like - if you have them looking completely different in your imagination, then your version is as valid as mine.

The great thing about books is that they allow the individual reader to imagine what everyone and everything looks like. Sure, I’ll describe places like the Royal Palace and Crystalhenge and the sinister fortress of Dorcha Tur (oops - sorry…that’s in book five…), or people like the princesses or Lord Aldritch or whoever - but ultimately, you the reader will decide inside your head what they really look like. And that is why I prefer books to movies - in a book every reader is in charge of how things look, not some casting director, set designer or CGI computer freak.

So, what I’m trying to say, is that if you disagree with how I see Tania’s siters, that’s fine with me - in fact, that’s great. Don’t let my idea of how the girls’ look change the way you see them.

Artwork & Photo

By Allan | Wednesday, 9 September 2009 at 21:21
Category: Fan Club | Tags:

I just thought I’d let you know I’ve posted three more pieces of my artwork on the Fan Site - plus a photo of my cat taking over the office!

Allan Frewin Jones Artwork

By Allan | Friday, 21 August 2009 at 13:31
Category: Fan Club

Hello there,

I just thought I’d let you know that some of my artwork has now been posted on Marisa’s Fan Club website, if you feel like taking a look. They’re in Photo Gallery - and if you click on the pictures once you’ve opened the album, you’ll see the pictures enlarged and with captions.

If you like them, I’ll post a few more.

WIN A COPY OF THE ENCHANTED QUEST

By Allan | Thursday, 20 August 2009 at 09:11
Category: Fan Club | Tags: ,

Hello there,

I’ve already told you about the new Fan Site that Marisa has set up, well, we put our heads together and we’ve come up with a great idea!

Marisa is organizing a short story writing competition for members of the Fan Club - and the prize will be a signed copy of Faerie Path 5: The Enchanted Quest.

One other little thing - as most of you already know, there are currently planned to be 6 Faerie Path books published by Harper Collins. I’d love to write more, but this will depend on the sales of the first six. At the moment things are looking good - but what will help is if I can show the Publishers that I have a big Fan Club - so any of you guys who haven’t joined up yet, might like to consider doing so - it costs nothing and it will definitely have exclusive stuff on it.

I’ve already given Marisa two short stories of mine, and I have another ready. Plus I plan on posting some poems - and some of the more eagle-eyed among you will spot that some of the words of these poems will have already appeared as songs and chants in the Faerie Path series.

Plus she will have some of my artwork for you to look at. All things considered, Marisa’s Fan Club is going to be a great place to visit!

FAN CLUB

By Allan | Wednesday, 12 August 2009 at 07:46
Category: Fan Club | Tags: , ,

I’ve just been told by one of my fans, Marisa, that she has set up an Allan Frewin Jones fan club website. That’s pretty exciting for me- I don’t think I’ve ever had a fan club before!

It would be really great if you guys could check out the site and maybe join the club and do some blogging. I’ll be checking in on it regularly to see what you’re all talking about.

The URL is: http://www.greatbooksrock.webs.com

Thanks so much to Marisa for organizing this - now it’s over to all of you.