The first book in the re-published series formerly known as Warrior Princess and now called Destiny’s Path hit the stores on the 6th June. Most of you will know the story behind this, but for any of you who missed the explanation, here’s the thing: Harper Collins New York originally commissioned me to write 4 books in the Warrior Princess series. Because of cut-backs due to the economic climate, they decided not to publish book four - despite it being written and handed over to them in plenty of time, and despite the fact that the editors really loved it. This decision was not based on quality, but was the product of number-crunching by accountants and the need to save money. Shame, but what can you do about it?
Well, it turns out that there is something that can be done. People wanting to follow Branwen’s adventures with the Shining Ones to their end, can buy the fourth book in the stores if they live in the UK or Canada or Australia or New Zealand - and can buy it on import or as an e-book if they live in America. The British publisher Hodder Hachette have bought the series and are re-packaging and re-publishing the first three books and are also committed to releasing the missing fourth book.
The only slight complication is that they didn’t much like the series title “Warrior Princess” and decided to change it to “Destiny’s Path” - which is fine, except that the 2nd book of Warrior Princess is also called Destiny’s Path - so that could be confusing. Also, some of the people at Hodder Hachette didn’t like the American covers - so there was a lot of debate about that by their various departments before it was finally decided to go with covers that are only slightly different from the originals - which is good, because I liked them.
The publication schedule for the 4 books goes like this:
Book 1: Destiny’s Path: Rhiannon of the Spring - June 2011.
Book 2: Destiny’s Path: Govannon of the Wood - September 2011.
Book 3: Destiny’s Path: Merion of the Stones - January 2012.
Book 4: Destiny’s Path: Caradoc of the North Wind - April 2012.
The thing to remember is that books one to three of Destiny’s Path are virtually the same as books one to three of Warrior Princess - the only differences are tiny editorial corrections that I made. So, if you have already bought the first three Warrior Princess books (Warrior Princess, Destiny’s Path & The Emerald Flame) - the only one you need is Caradoc of the North Wind. I’m explaining this upfront so no one feels cheated because of having bought the same book twice with different titles!
On the Faerie Path front, I’m planning on having a final meeting with a UK representative of the publishers in July - I’ll report back, but I don’t want anyone to get their hopes up about a 7th book - things are not looking good.
Meanwhile, the first book of The Six Crowns series is doing so well that it has already gone into reprint in hardback, which is great news.
Finally. I’m working on a new series aimed at boys - a kind of boy-spy thing that a UK publisher has commissioned. I’ll let you know more about it when the paperwork is done and the contracts have been signed. I know this isn’t something that the majority of you people are longing for - but rest assured I’m not going to abandon Tania and Co. Promise.
