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Ralph ' Rand McNally' Askren sent me this email:

Many of you have asked if I would create a scale of miles for the Triagia map. I finally got around to it. The scale is based on that found in the hard cover ADAS map (thank you John Bunting for sending me a scan over a year ago), the Triagia map at the Midkemia Press web site, the map of Triagia in MP's Jonril: Gateway to the SunkenLands, and numerous comments made by REF on the list. It is not 'official' but is as close as I can make it with the info available. I have created a new framed page to play around with the scale and measure various distances. Visit the Unofficial Atlas and check it out. Enjoy! The address is http://www.elvandar.com

I've said it before, and I'll say it again: Ralph's map is perhaps the best Feist thing on the internet. Everyone needs to go to the site and admire it.

Ray posted this teaser about Conclave:

Dash did, and became a VERY wealthy businessman.

James will show up in Conclave of Shadows, so I'm not telling you what he did. <g>

Ray has had a science fiction novel in his targets for a while now. It doesn't look like he will get to it for a few years, but this should whet your appetite:

The Final Countdown was a relatively simplistic plot, dealing with a time paradox that turned out to be different than what the main character thought it would be.

There are similar elements, obviously, but trust me when I tell you that the book I'm planning is quite a bit more complex and vast: I won't be dealing with just a single aircraft carier, and there won't be any unexplained 'magic' as to why the carrier went back in time, and it won't be a round trip. They're back there for good.

For those that don't know, The Final Countdown was a movie in which an aircraft carrier travelled back to the 1940's in an attempt to prevent World War II.

No, its not going to happen, but Ray did post this interesting bit about what Sony wanted during the game's development:

You don't need a 'developers license,' but you do need a developer's deal with Sony. We talked to Sony at one point because they wanted us to hold off on RtK and make it a PSX2 exclusive product. We'd be who knows where had we agreed (who knows, maybe Havas wouldn't have dumped Pyrotechnix if it was currently retooling code to make the game work over on that platform); but it would most certainly have been a very different game.

Some people felt that Krondor the Betrayal lacked the depth of Ray's previous novels. Here's his thoughts on the subject:

The Krondor books are first and formost 'swashbuckle' i.e. adventure tales with little of the depth of the other work. That's intentional on my part and partly due to the underlying origins of the work.

Once in a while it's fun to have a 'shoot-em-up' instead of always dealing with heavy stuff in the 'emotional wear and tear' department. The next one, however, will be darker.

Ray posted this about Return to Krondor:

Dynamix, 7th Level, and Pyrotechnix employees created all the characters that weren't in the books prior to the games, i.e. Limm, Lysle, Jazhara, Sidi, etc.

It could be any or all of the above. I think most people found BaK did a better job of doing what it set out to do than RtK did achieving its goals. There are many reasons, but in short, it works or it doesn't. For me, they both had problems (in fact, Bak had many more story problems than Rtk, while RtK had more game problems than BaK).

It has NOTHING to do with my novels. It's 100% unrelated. The marketing department at Sierra decided to name it 'Betrayal In Antara,' to attempt to capitalize on BaK. We hit them with a cease and desist letter when they tried the first press release calling it the 'Sequel. . .' They stopped that rather than face a lawsuit they couldn't win, but they did get heavy into the 'from the people who brought you BaK,' which was techinically true (same parent company) but factually BS (everyone associated with BaK was long gone).

Nothing at present. We're at the last stages of disentangling ourselves from Sierra now that Pyrotechnix is dead.

John Bunting has made a flurry of posts recently:

For the Collectors,

I have recently verified that the UK Magician Hardcover was reprinted in 1988, and has the same cover as the early Paperback
If you would like to see the cover and details go to

Publication Information

'UK Editions' button

Look for the 1988 HC, if you want to see the full cover, back and front, click the thumbnail.

Next word of an interview on his site:

For those who are interested I have posted to my website an interview with Ray, which he was gracious to provide for me for inclusion in the program of FantasyCon XXIII.

It can be found at

Select the 'FantasyCon XXIII' button

Finally:

I have just uploaded the cover from the German Paperback of KtB which is due in October 2000. It can be found at -

'German Editions' Button

Krondor the Betrayal - Die Verschwörung der Magier

The resolution of the larger image is not too good, but will be replaced as soon as I can get a better one.

John Bunting posted this note about his site:

I have just uploaded the cover from the German Paperback of SOABC which is split in 2 parts, the first part being due in October '99. 'German Editions' Button

A new page has been uploaded that contains the titles of the books, abbreviations, and the series to which they belong. It is still under construction and will be updated with info on which book was the 'First Edition'. 'The Series' Button

Another new page uploaded contains information and cover images of some of the other books that have Ray's works in them, Computer games, Audio tapes or articles by Ray. Again this is incomplete and under construction. With larger images being made available in the near future. It can be found at - 'Other Works' Button

I have also Finally added Ray's Bio which can be found at - 'Biography' Button

John Bunting found this interesting item:

For those who are interested, the Sorcerers Apprentice Magazine issue 17 had the Village of Hoxly <sp> by Midkemia Press

Copies of this are still available, at reasonable cost

Here are the contact details:-

www.flyingbuffalo.com

Other Midkemian Press titles can still be ordered from Steve Abrams. Information can be found on the MP website. Also, The Black Tower is available for free in PDF format.

Ray posted this note about how the Kingdom of the Isles came to power on the mainland of Triagia:

The Kingdom began on the Island of Rillanon. They conquered their neighbors to form the Kingdom of the Isles (that's how they got the name). Their first foothold on the mainland was the conquest of Bas-Tyra. From there it was just expansion until they ran into the Empire.

At roughly the same time, the rebellion of the Keshian Confederacy caused the Empire to pull its forces to the south, allowing the Free Cities and Queg to become independent, and giving Isles more room to grow.

Here's the latest word from Ray on the status of Midkemian computer games:

Nothing planned at this state. We're still trying to get dis-entangled from Sierra after Havas shut down Pyrotechnix and cut back Sierra Studio.

There have been hintings all along that a massively multiplayer role playing game is in the works...

Ray posted this about the cast of characters in the new series:

You will see very few of the characters you're familiar with in the new series, and when you do they will be in minor or cameo roles.

Consider it a new series, just one step this side of a new world. Same background issues, but new players.

Ralph Askren posted this update regarding the Unnofficial Atlas:

For those interested, I have made a few more cosmetic improvements to the map of Triagia at the Unofficial Atlas. Yes, the image file keeps getting bigger and the load time longer. I hope you will think it worth the wait.

Ray posted this message about the place of The Conclave of Shadows in the overall scheme of five Riftwars:

The 3rd Riftwar will take place after the Conclave of Shadows series starts. I don't know if that's going to blend in or if I'll start a distinct series. It depends on where the story of the Conclave takes me.

Wondering about the size of Roldem? Ray posted this:

As far as size, think England.