For those of you who like to read about the author of a book, here’s another interview with one of us. Pop over to this site for a quick view of what may or may not happen next!
We’re also open to suggestions – which dragon would you prefer to have as the star of the next book? Mind you, we’re not promising anything yet. Two books in two years is quite hard work. But we value your suggestions.
That’s the plus point.
The minus point is this:
We would also like to apologise to those of you who have found the error at the start of chapter 19: the typesetters dropped a couple of lines after we proofread it. This is how it should have read:
“We need to talk to Ru,” Kris repeated as he walked with Hannah back along the riverside towards her home.
She looked numb with cold and her teeth chattered.”
If you already found the slip-up and were annoyed, it’s nothing to how we felt when it was pointed out. But hey, it’s Christmas and not a time for being angry and pointing fingers. Overgrounders make errors and luckily it wasn’t anything more serious. But yes, we’re sorry.
When we decided to write about an environmental disaster that was threatening the dragons and the overgrounders, we’d already chosen East Lothian as the place for our books. But why Musselburgh for Farlkris?
Well, you know how it is – you visit a place, you fall in love with it and something in it reminds you of something you knew a long time ago. And everything clicks into place.
For one of us (remember, Kelsey Drake is two of us!), there was a love of a little place in Sussex called Rye (which had a harbour and interesting streets and a hill) and this was followed by a love of a place in Yorkshire called Whitby (which has a harbour and some interesting streets, and a hill) – so when we investigated Musselburgh, gosh, there was the harbour… and some interesting streets, a hill… and a river to carry the poison we were writing about.
Get it? Musselburgh grabbed us, not the other way around.
We fell in love with the harbour, and then with the footbridge over the river between Hannah’s home and the industrial park. So here it is in all its glory, just as we found it the first day we visited.
It really does rock a little when you run over it. Or did we imagine that bit? Go and try for yourselves!
If you’re interested, you can find out more info about Farlkris at our new entry on the Conversations with POD website here.
We’re really sad about the demise of Borders. No bookshop should be allowed to close when it’s making money – which some of the Borders stores are. It’s a bit like when the whole class gets punished just because some kids are making a nuisance of themselves.
The Borders staff in Gateshead, Newcastle and Edinburgh Kinnaird have been really good to us and we hope the staff who have to get new jobs find them soon, still working with books and children.
If you get a chance, go and buy lots of books before they shut, to show them you really like books. Make their day!
We feel like sending the dragons in to sort things out in a better way! A touch of magic, a different way of doing things… Oh well. They only get in touch in real emergencies and I don’t think any overgrounders think this is one.
Hello to all of you who bought either Scordril or Farlkris at Kinnaird Park yesterday. It was great to meet you.
We thought you might like to hear a bit of Scordril read for you. Chapter 2 is the hardest part because it’s written in dragon script and is a bit old-fashioned in style. Well, what do you expect? It was recorded by claw in 1800.
If you want to listen, either click the audio player below or go get your Scordril copy first, and follow as you listen. It’s pages 18-23.
***Heart attack alert: it’s not exactly bedtime listening!
Yikes! The floor is covered in books. Farlkris is published!
You can order the book from the publisher here, or from Amazon, or at any bookshop. And we’re looking forward to seeing many of you at Borders in the coming weeks.
In the meantime, here is Hannah’s map:
And if you’d like a small picture with both book covers on it, you can download it in your browser by clicking on the image and then saving the file to your desktop – where you can print it out and leave it around for people to take the hint that you’d like a copy of Farlkris in your Christmas stocking!
Due to Borders going into administration, all signing dates have had to be cancelled. We are investigating other options for meeting up with our readers.
We now have dates for in-store signings of our new book Farlkris in Gateshead and Newcastle.
These are:
Borders, Team Valley, Gateshead at 12 noon: Saturday 21st November
Saturday 19th December
Borders, Silverlink, Newcastle at 12 noon Saturday 28th November
(another date will be added for Silverlink in the two weeks before Christmas, on a weekday)
We look forward to seeing all our NorthEast readers at one of these events or in Edinburgh (see last post). Anyone else can buy signed copies from Amazon when it’s published or order copies in advance from Matador.
The story ends in the run-up to Christmas so it’s a brilliant time to read the book. We’re dying to know what you think of our ending. Be sure to let us know!
We are signing copies of the new Lothian Dragons book 2: Farlkris in Borders bookshop at Kinnaird Retail Park outside Edinburgh on two dates before Christmas. The book will be published around 2nd November if you can’t wait till the signings.
Kelsey Drake at Borders: Kinnaird Retail Park, Edinburgh
Saturday 14 November 11am – 3pm
Saturday 12 December 11am – 3pm
Front cover of Farlkris: Lothian Dragons Book 2
These dates are just in time for Christmas stockings, presents for your friends and family, and for yourself.
So we’re looking forward to seeing you at the book signings – we’re always happy to talk dragons with our readers, and to hear what else you’ve been reading.
We’ve put loads of Musselburgh stuff in the new book – try finding the school Hannah and Kris go to, or the supermarket near the entrance to Farkris’s dragon layr. Or even the house where Hannah lives. There’s a map to help, as usual. I expect you’ll be able to tell us a thing or two about Musselburgh, too, if you live there.
Anyway, that’s all for now. I need to print some more bookmarks for you.
Now isn’t that brilliant? I won’t spoil the fun by explaining what the cover pic means. You’ll have to buy the book to find out. But you won’t be disappointed. Keep an eye on the main website for exact publication day!
An interview with us is now on Conversations with POD (which stands for Printing on Demand). It talks about why and how we decided to publish Scordril with Matador. (You can find the previous interview here, if you missed the one on the The Crafty Writer blog.)
We are still proofreading Farlkris. We want it to be perfect. And we are still haggling a little bit about the exact colours on the cover. If you’ve been in library and school sessions with us, you will have seen a manky example of how the first cover of Scordril didn’t come out quite right and we asked for it to be changed to the one you know.
The problem is the designer has done a brilliant set of colours, but Farlkris needs to be the same as Scordril but different – or no one will know they are in the same series. I mean, that’s how we find the next book we want in bookshops, isn’t it? So we’ve asked for some slight changes. We’ll put a cover up here when we have the final version.
"Just wanted to tell you how much I enjoyed Scordril, I had to really discipline myself to put it down and go to sleep. I really enjoyed the 50's setting and the way the dragons could morph into humans for a while and communicate with the children. I like the idea of the historical alliance with the fishermen and the other links between past and present. When's the next one coming out?" JC, Leeds
"At last - a children's book my 10-year-old couldn't put down!" HA, Munich
"This book was very enjoyable and every chapter wanted me to read more. The bit that I started to nod off was when he was reading the book about what happened a long time ago but it was very good how you broke it up. Well Done!" L, Newcastle
"I love the fact that dragons can morph into human form. I've never come across that in other fantasy books and films." LT, Newcastle
"I thought Scordril was really good and I really enjoyed reading the book. My school is Seaton Hirst Church of England Middle School." RT, Ashington
"I read it and although I am not qualified to give a critique, I enjoyed it, so it must have something to appeal to a near octogenarian!" FD, Harrogate
[re Farlkris] "More exciting then ever." KA, Munich
