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Writer's pictureMark Sanders

Top Secret

What do we talk about when we can't talk about the book?


There's so many things I want to write about now, but I can't spoil my own surprise. Believe me, I want to, because I'm so excited about both works. But if there's one thing that I cannot stand about online culture, it's spoilers. I really like how DIsney is (apparently) only putting out two trailers for Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker. That's enough for me. I don't want to see anything else from the film until that majestic John Williams fanfare opens with me writhing with excitement in my theater seat.


I'll bet J.J. Abrams is about ready to come out of his skin, though.


One of the best parts about being an artist of any kind is sharing your work with other people. My art is limited, and outside of writing, amateur quality at best. I can play drums well enough to sit in with a church's praise band or play a set with a local band at a restaurant or private party. No one's going to sign me to a record deal, ever. I also like to act in my college's community theater company, especially in comic roles, because I love to make people laugh.


That sense of anticipation, though, is both a thrill and a pain. You know you've got something good to share with an audience, but the waiting, as Tom Petty so aptly sang it, is the hardest part. Rehearsals start to come together, a spark of chemistry begins to form, then you start to take off from merely rehearsing to really performing, and you know it's going to be great, but you still have to wait for the performance date to arrive. And oh, the anticipation before the curtain goes up or the spotlight comes on, the anxiety is palpable, almost crushing to endure. Let's get this party started, already!


That's how I feel right now about my next two novels. The second in a series (why limit myself to a trilogy now?) will be available for purchase next month. Titled The Spring of Llanfyllin, the new novel picks up five years after the conclusion of the events from my first book, Dylan's Treasure. We get to see how the characters we met in the first book have grown and changed. There's a deadly threat from an invading horde of Norsemen that drives the action ahead, but beyond that, I'm not willing to share much else. I want you to read the book, but I also want you to be delighted with the surprises I discovered for myself along the way.


In the same way, as I'm in the beginning stages of writing a third novel, still set (at least in part) in the Kingdom of Llanfyllin, my mind is bursting with ideas, and so far—I've been writing for a week now—the production has exceeded my highest expectations. I've got a prologue and the first two chapters done in a total of 26 pages. While I don't work as slowly as James Joyce did, past performance would indicate that this is more like a month's output from me as opposed to a week.


I can't say a single thing about the new book—not even the title—until after the second book has been in the hands of readers for a while. I'm going to blog a lot about The Spring of Llanfyllin after it comes out, but for the next few weeks at least, I'm going to have to cope with the anxiety of anticipation. I hope you'll trust me when I say it's far and away the best thing I've ever written. I'm working hard to make sure I can say the same thing about the third book when it's finished. I hope you'll be excited to read them, as well.

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