Forum and Interactive Chats
I've always enjoyed hearing from my readers, and I've generally tried to respond to them. I was taught that if someone sends you a letter its only polite to return it. Sadly, over the past couple of years I've gotten busier, and the amount of email I receive has grown, and I can no longer respond to most of it. Fortunately, most people have the same questions: "When is the next book coming out?", "Did you know you made a mistake on . . .?", and "When are you coming to my town?" being perrenial favorites.
This website is an attempt to answer some of those questions, and let people know what I'm working on. The problem is, the information only flows from me to the readers. What I wanted was some way to communicate directly with my readers. I considered posting my phone number . . . to fans all across the globe . . . in different time zones . . . and rejected that idea. However, we have set up a live chat system, and once a month or so I take a couple of hours to sit down and talk with whoever happens to drop by, and a forum system to allow reader to talk with one another.
Chat Server
The "Chat" button above will take you to our chat server. You'll be promted to enter your preferred nickname, then the chat room will open. On your right you will see a panel that shows the names of everyone currently logged in. Since we only use the chat room for a couple of hours a month, most of the time you'll quickly become lonely, and opt to go somewhere else. However, you're welcome to use the chat room whenever you like, and if you want to set up a meeting with some friends from the forums (or wherever) be our guest.
One advantage of the chat system is that the chat log can be extracted and through some strange alchemy, turned into a web-page. The "Chat Archive" contains all of our past chats, so you can always gosee what you missed if you can't make one of the chats.
Next Scheduled Chat
Sorry folks, we're holding off on chats for a little while. We're trying to sell our current home and find a new house (Gypsy blood and all that), and Patty's still recovering from back surgery. The bottom line is that we not only have a lot on our plates, but we are frequently called away from home for a day or two on short notice. I'd hate to schedule a chat, have a bunch of nice folks show up, and then stand them up (again!). We'll resume the chats when our schedule is a little more predictable — sorry for the inconvenice.