There will be a sixth Stravaganza!

[Mary Hoffman]

To reinstate this thread, Bloomsbury are commissioning a sixth Stravaganza novel, City of Swords, from me and a third historical, whose subject I am keeping under wraps. So that's me sorted till 2011!

 

[maya248]

wow. that's great.
i just finished your third book, like, today which took me a while cause i read your first book around april 08 and had to go on a mad library hunt to find your 2nd book and then your 3rd of the stravaganza series. just to say, i'm a really big fan of your books and i scream a lot while i'm reading them.
I just got off of the stravaganza website and realized that there's a fourth book! =O that is just the best news ever, although i knew there just had to be a fourth book cause you can't end the series without knowing about luciano and arianna. and to hear that you'll have a sixth is the greatest news of the decade cause your series is one of my 3 favorites and knowing that i will be occupied with knowing that the stravaganza series goes on will keep me happy the next few years.
sorry this is so long, just can't keep down my excitement that i'm actually on the same website that you go to.
ciao!

 

[Mary Hoffman]

wow. that's great.
i just finished your third book, like, today which took me a while cause i read your first book around april 08 and had to go on a mad library hunt to find your 2nd book and then your 3rd of the stravaganza series. just to say, i'm a really big fan of your books and i scream a lot while i'm reading them.
I just got off of the stravaganza website and realized that there's a fourth book! =O that is just the best news ever, although i knew there just had to be a fourth book cause you can't end the series without knowing about luciano and arianna. and to hear that you'll have a sixth is the greatest news of the decade cause your series is one of my 3 favorites and knowing that i will be occupied with knowing that the stravaganza series goes on will keep me happy the next few years.
sorry this is so long, just can't keep down my excitement that i'm actually on the same website that you go to.
ciao!

What a wonderful post! Especially since I've just found it after coming back from my flu jab (ow!).

So glad you like the books so much. I'm about to start writing number five, City of Ships, and am getting round to it by making lots of timelines and mind maps and even a retrospective scrapbook for the first four books. This is how I get myself back into the world of Stravaganza after leaving it to write another historical novel (Troubadour - out next August).

I've already had a research trip to Ravenna, which is the place Classe is based on. In the meantime, just to keep you going after City of Secrets, my first fantasy book, Special Powers, has been re-issued this month by Barn Owl Books.

And are you on Facebook? There's a Stravaganza page and a Mary Hoffman page and I'm thinking of starting a Luciano and Arianna page, to keep fans interested between books. I mean to put scenes and dialogues on it and maybe even get some young actors to do a video - what do you think? I'd have to run it past my publisher first.

Thanks for writing and happy reading! (Why do the books make you scream? - I'm intrigued)

Mary

 

[maya248]

Lol, thanks!
That's a lot of work to make City of Ships! I've tried making a series of my own, but always hit writer's block. I will be looking out for Troubadour, since I've already read The Falconer's Knot.

That's so great that you can go to the cities where your books are based on. It gives you more of a feel of what your writing on and you can use many descriptive languages. When I'm writing, I'm always afraid of putting down wrong information on the setting and end up doing a lot of research. And I can't exactly travel since I'm only 13.
Oh, I'm so excited because I remembered the Nucci went to Classe and now di Chimici are going there too which is not good. I already researched on Special Powers and read the sumary, I'm going to be looking for that too.

Hmm..no, I don't have a Facebook, but I will definitely try to get one so I can join the fan chat. Wow! A video! I think that would be great! I would definitely love to watch that.

Well, here are some parts that I belive I screamed at or put the book down and stare at the wall in shock. (My parents always ask me why I do and I have to do a long explanation why, lol)
-When Luciano died in our world and didn't even get his notebook back
-When Enrico blew up his fiancee
-When Georgia won the Stellata
-When Falco came back to Remora on Merla
-When Camillo struck at Carlo
-When Barbara got the blow intended for Arianna (I am still wondering who did it...you don't to tell me)
-This might seem mean, but everytime Enrico wondered what happened to Guiliana I laughed a little because he was so clueless and so despicable he killed his own fiancee
-When Luciano hit Grand Duke Niccolo and he died (to be honest, I was actually a little sad.)
-When Luciano proposed to Arianna.

Those are a few things. I am always sad when I finish your books because usually I can't wait to finish a book, but at the end of your books I read very slowly at the end so I don't finish it fast.
Wow that was a long post.

-Maya

 

[Mary Hoffman]

Dear Maya,
Thanks for the list of "screamy points"! It's good to know exactly when and how the plots had their greatest effect.

Because you are new to the Chrons, I hope you won't mind my giving you a little advice. If plot twists are going to be revealed in a post, people usually type SPOILERS or SPOILER ALERT in capitals and then press the return key many times before mentioning the actual incident.

That's just so that those who haven't read a particular book, or are halfway through it, won't spot something they don't know by mistake.

Hope you don't mind my mentioning it. It's just one of the conventions here, which you will soon pick up.

Mary

 

[maya248]

Your very welcome.
I don't recall reading that in the rules, but It's okay. I would've said the same to a new person too.
I've tried to find the edit button, but I can't find it so I'm afraid I can't do what you said.

Maya

 

[Mary Hoffman]

I don't think you can edit your posts til you're a fully-fledged member, i.e, have more than 15 posts but I'm not a moderator so can't be sure.

All best

Mary

 

[luciano]

I am always sad when I finish your books because usually I can't wait to finish a book, but at the end of your books I read very slowly at the end so I don't finish it fast.

-Maya

I agree. On the City of Secrets I read really slow, because on the first three books I just flew right through them. (Eventually I ended up going through Secrets pretty fast, too.) Currently I'm doing a book report on City of Masks. I hate book reports... At least I'm doing it on a really good book!

 

[Mary Hoffman]

How very kind, Luciano, and to make this the subject of your first post! Welcome to the chrons, where I'm sure you'll spend many happy minutes if not hours.

I've started writing City of Ships, a bit later than intended but at least it's launched.

Glad you've enjoyed the others and good luck with the book report!

Mary

 

[luciano]

Thanks! Make Ships as long but as fast as possible!(Just Kidding) I hate the part, in a really good series, where you wait for the next book to come out, because you always wonder what's in it and you can't stop thinking about it.

 

[DeannaBeckham]

I'm just like every other fan.
I love your books! i saty up late reading them!
I'm just like maya, I just finished the third one.
WOW!! I love it.
I was about to cry!
Then I was like "Wait this cant be the last one! What happens to Cesare Montalbani? And the arrest warant? And Adrianna and Lucien?" So then I came looking to see if it was the last one.
And its not! yeah!
I havent read the fourth one yet, but I dont think I can wait till 2010 to read the fifth one!!
You are a really good write you have inspired me in my writing and I thank you.
Keep Up the Great work!!


-Deanna

p.s. I was reading slowly at the end of the book,so it wouldn't end too!

 

[luciano]

I'm trying not to think about the wait. I'm not sure i'll make it. I'll be in high-school by then (ahhhh!!!) .

 

[Mary Hoffman]

Welcome, Deanna! I'm glad to hear you like the books so much.

I have a cunning plan to release little snippets about Arianna/luciano. Georgia/Nick etc on Facebook. So watch that space.

I have started City of Ships and will bear in mind your desire for a long book, Luciano, but it won't be out any sooner even if it's short! You have to blame Bloomsbury's schedules for that.

They want me to alternate the historical novels with Stravaganza ones and they will publish only one book by me a year. That's OK by me, by the way, since I don't want to write more than that and it gives me time for journalism too.

But just think, one day the sequence will al be published, whether six, nine or twelve, and then there will be readers who jsut start at book one and then carry on till they reach the end!

No consolation to you who greedy up the books as sooon as they come out but it is to me.

 

[luciano]

Well if that's the case... go longer!

 

[DeannaBeckham]

Dont worry I will be looking on Facebook!
Yeah the wait will be long and unbearable but it sure will be worth it!
Do you already have a name for each book or do you make them up as you go long?
Luciano, if it is really long, then that means theres a chance that the other books could be shorter! And I don't want that!

-Deanna

P.S. The people who read the seires when it is finished are really lucky.

 

[Mary Hoffman]

The titles are all determined already. The current one is City of Ships and the sixth is City of Swords. If the other six ever get commissioned they will have the names by which the cities are known - Music, Dreams, Dragons, Fire, that sort of thing. (You can find the cities' names and descriptons on the revised site Stravaganza)

Yeas, lucky future readers; they will know what I don't know now! (I sound like Donald Rumsfeld)

 

[luciano]

That and the fact that they don't have to wait. I envy them....

 

[DeannaBeckham]

I went to my library for like the tenth time, and I go on to the web site like all the time but the fourth one is always checked out!!!! i'm starting to get angry! buti can wait. I'm like it doesnt take a month to read this good a book!

 

[luciano]

how true... maybe the person who checked it out just keeps reading it over and over and over.....

 

[Mary Hoffman]

I went to my library for like the tenth time, and I go on to the web site like all the time but the fourth one is always checked out!!!! i'm starting to get angry! buti can wait. I'm like it doesnt take a month to read this good a book!

Um, it might not for me to say but it IS only £6.99 ( a paperback original).

It may seem a lot or a little to you Deanna but it took six months of my life to research and write, so that's just over a pound a month.

And although I understand that lots of you borrow from libraries or share among friends and that's absolutely fine, when a publisher decides whether to publish an author's next book, they don't know or care about that. All they look at - seriously, this is true - are the sales figures of the previous book.

So if all the readers get it from the library they think, "these Stravaganza books aren't that popular so we won't do any more. (They don't see library borrowing figures - only the authors get those).

Food for thought?

I hope you enjoy it when you do get hold of it, by whatever route. I agree it shouldn't take a month to read!

Mary