Greetings All: We thought we’d leave a quick note to let you know why we haven’t had an entry recently. Currently we are both working like mad beavers to finish the second de Soto book and PEOPLE OF THE FOREST, another novel about the formation of the Iroquois confederacy. The first de Soto novel, COMING OF THE STORM will be out in February and deals with Black Shell and Pearl Hand. Those of you who read this are aware that Black Shell has managed to sneak in and leave a message of his own. He’s still kicking, and headed for a place called Mabila, where he and the Tuscaloosa high chief are going to try and put an end to the monster who has invaded their world. Meanwhile, in PEOPLE OF THE FOREST, evil old Ganajero is still stealing kids for nefarious purposes, but will finally face a… Well, you’ll just have to wait to read it. We are headed to the Buffalo Gold Rush conference in Cheyenne on September 18 and 19. For anyone interested in the bison industry, in raising buffalo, or marketing their products, this is a MUST do conference. It will be held at the Terry Bison Ranch just south of Cheyenne off I-25, with sessions at the Cheyenne Holiday Inn off I-80. Registration can be made through the Rocky Mountain Buffalo Assoc. See their website. From Cheyenne we are driving to Roswell, New Mexico, where we will pick up Jake, the newest addition to our family. Jake is a tri-color (that means black-white-brown) Sheltie puppy. He comes out of Al Harris’s Worthington kennel, home of many champion Shelties. So far Jake has been dutifully emailing us on his progress as growing sheltie. He’s even been to a dog show already, and particularly enjoyed the treats people gave him. Last week he lifted his leg for the first time–an event with astounding implications for a male dog. Finally, the first weekend in October we will be at the Simon & Schuster booth at the Books-A-Million managers’ meeting in Birmingham to give away reading copies of THE COMING STORM to BAM managers and staff. Any of you BAM people, be sure to stop by and get a signed copy. Or, if you are not going, have your manager pick one up for you. We will be on the trade show floor for the entire day. Oh, and to the Russians who keep sending us blog comments. We can translate Latin, Greek, Spanish, Hebrew, and some Aramaic. Russian, however is beyond us. If you are commenting about our books that have been translated into Russian, we’ve got to have it in English. Otherwise it just gets deleted. Thanks, all. We wish you well. Oh, and Black Shell sends his regards, too. Until next time, Mike and Kathy