Russell Kirkpatrick's Journal
Bittersweet
15-Oct-2008
I'm a few lines from the end of Beyond the Wall of Time, the final book in the Husk/Broken Man trilogy, and definitely the final word on the world of Faltha, Bhrudwo and Elamaq. I'm now finally certain how it's all going to turn out. I cried a little tonight, but there was an undercurrent of happiness and satisfaction there too.
Sound silly? Consider what it's like to live with a character for quarter of a century. That's how long Stella, for example, has been in my head. I've known her as long as I've known my own wife, and tomorrow will be the last time I ever talk to her. I don't go back and read my books after they're published, so tomorrow is it.
I'm also saying goodbye to the world I've played in for such a long time. I won't return. I want to develop a broader canvas, one where the rules are different, where things are a little more ambiguous and a lot more complex. While I'm looking forward to the new challenge, I'm sad to be leaving Faltha.
Well, the Epilogue gets written tomorrow, then that post-novel bittersweet feeling will set in. Never fails. I'll have to console myself by playing lots of golf. Sigh.
'Beyond the Wall of Time', the last in the series, should be released in the middle of next year in Australia and New Zealand, and perhaps a month or two later in the UK and the US. I hope you like it.
Go, play golf. Enjoy life. Then get right back in and write something all new!!
Lindha the donkey