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!

Scordril chapter 2 Chronicles:

That’s all – back soon.

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!

That’s all for now. See you soon!

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.

The latest post is below – this is a sticky!

=============================

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!

Front cover of Farlkris: Lothian Dragons book 2

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.

I wonder if JK Rowling had this bother?

Just 6 weeks to go until we see Farlkris in the flesh – well not quite, unless you visit Musselburgh and get an invite into the dragonlayr under the town. But the book’s the next best thing. So to help you wait, here is a taster of the beginning of Lothian Dragons Book 2 Farlkris:

Summons

Dragonclaws! Scordril cursed the loud rustling of his chocolate-veined wings as he stooped and entered the curved room. He’d disturbed Threah.

In the glow of the brushwood torch, he watched her blue-grey form shift a little as it lay curled round the hatchling egg they were protecting as it matured. He reached towards her with his mind.

»Not so long now,» he said, sending his feelings of pride and joy down the link to his mate. »Are you comfortable?»

»With our son ready for his own layring, it will be good to have a smallone around again,» Threah answered.

They remained still for a long moment, aware of how precious it was to share every dragonscale of time before Scordril must go, and everything would change.

Suddenly, the strong mindspeech of the dragonmaster Ygdrann broke the spell.

»The council is to meet urgently, Scordril. The menace is spreading and the danger now grave. We must send the youngone to live overground to find out the cause of this threat to our layr. Only then can the mages hope to find a solution.»

Scordril rose heavily to his feet. »I must go, Threah,» he said. »This is the first time anything has endangered the Musselburgh layr in all the sun-rounds since the Great Split from Traprain Law. Maybe it was a bad idea to live so near the overgrounders, but be they dragonfriend or dragonfoe, we are all now at risk… The mages must not fail.»

You can pre-order Farlkris from here and Scordril from here. But if you’d like us to sign your copy and can get to the north of England, hang on and we’ll be happy to do it for you. You can get signed copies of Scordril already from Amazon, of course.