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World of Warcraft Traveler 2: The Spiral Path

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Polonium writes...

Thank you very much for a thoroughly enjoyable experience in the first two Traveler books -- they have made for a captivating story time with my two children, spanning months! The journey of Aram and his evolving entourage have kept them riveted, and coming back for more. Is Book Three being worked on currently? (If it is, or it's planned for, is there a tentative release date?)

Greg responds...

I'm so glad you liked my two Traveler books. By now, you may have gleaned that I was let go after the second book. World of Warcraft commissioned a third book with a different author, which was pretty devastating to me. But whatchagonnado?

Response recorded on July 14, 2021

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Tamamo writes...

Hello Greg, I deeply enjoyed the Traveler Warcraft novels that you worked on. I am a roleplayer who enjoys writing stories about the Warcraft universe, but Blizzard has a tendency to be inconsistent with explaining things about their universe and leaving a lot of blank spots. Your novel has added so much to the world so far. One thing eludes me though...

We know very little about how Dryads reproduce or how they age and about their life cycles. Book 2 had some hints, but there's still many questions left to answer. What about Frost Nymphs from Northrend? What about Lunara who predates the Kaldorei civilization? There's many questions to ask, but my main one is the following:

Will we learn more about Dryads in book 3?

Greg responds...

We would have if I had been allowed to write it. Maybe the new writer did. But I haven't read the book.

Response recorded on July 09, 2021

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Todd Jensen writes...

I just finished reading "The Spiral Path" today, and enjoyed it. One of my favorite elements was your narrating the scenes told from the point of view of the gnoll, ogre, etc. characters through their speech patterns; I think it added some variety to the story. I also enjoyed the humor in it (to me, one of the funniest lines was Valdread's "We stole a significant amount of cheese."). I'm looking forward to the next book in the series.

I noticed a couple of Shakespeare allusions (at least, I thought they were Shakespeare allusions) such as the echo of the St. Crispin's Day oration in Throgg's backstory).

Greg responds...

Hey, Todd, I'm so glad you enjoyed The Spiral Path. I really enjoyed writing it. And "We stole a significant amount of cheese." was one of my favorite lines, as well. And the St. Crispin's Day thing was also intentional.

Unfortunately, I was told my services would no longer be required for the next book in the series. This was a huge disappointment to me, of course. It was never really explained to me why they went with someone else. But they did. So you can read the next book in the series, but I can't bring myself to, I'm afraid.

Oh, well...

Response recorded on July 02, 2021

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Gia writes...

1) I haven't seen Greg on Twitter for ages...what happened to him?
2) What is with "Masque of Bones"? Is there any hope left for the Rain of the Ghosts series? They were some of the best books I ever read and I would be so disappointed if the project just died...

Greg responds...

1. I took a break from social media.

2. I'll get to it eventually, but it may be a LONG eventually. I'm afraid that neither book in the series sold well enough for my publisher to want to publish the third book. I was hoping that the audioplay version of Rain would generate some interest, both in itself, and the series as a whole. But that hasn't happened. So I will get back to Rain - and self-publish, if necessary. But right now, I need to pay the bills, with projects like World of Warcraft: Traveler.

Response recorded on September 11, 2017

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Todd Jensen writes...

I just finished reading "World of Warcraft Traveler" today.

About all I know about "World of Warcraft" is that it's a computer fantasy role-playing game; I've certainly never played it. But I recalled how, though I didn't know much about DC Comics, I had no difficulty following "Young Justice" when I saw it; the episodes made it clear who the various characters were, their nature and motivations, including the ones I'd never even heard of before I saw the series. So I suspected you'd do the same here, and I was right. While this world was new to me, I was able to follow the events without difficulty - and anything mysterious was cleary meant to be (such as the nature of the compass and why the Hidden want it).

Your protagonist gave me a bit of a start, since a while before the book came out, I began writing a story where one of the major characters was a young boy with a sketch-pad and an interest in drawing. (Though it didn't scare me, since my character didn't have much in common with Aramar beyond that - for example, he's a supporting character rather than the lead - and his drawings had a different role in the story.) I was also pleased to see Aramar's drawings actually contained in the book's pages, so that we can see his artwork.

I was amused to see a minor character with the surname "Frakes" and the use of the phrase "can no more stop protecting than breathing the air".

Aram's uprooting from his home in Lakeshire reminded me of a recent change in my life. Last year, my parents, who live in Arizona, urged me to move from St. Louis to Phoenix, so that I could be nearer to them, and I wound up giving in, though I wasn't any more keen on it than Aram was to go off to sea (if for different reasons). (I confess that I still don't feel at home out here in Phoenix.)

I found your variety of characters well-done - including the different members of the Hidden - a "villain group" that matches the Pack, the Canmore Hunters, and the Sinister Six of "The Spectacular Spider-Man" in a set of distinct antagonists working as a group.

And clearly this is the first of a series. I'll be looking for the books that follow.

Greg responds...

Thanks. I tried very hard - since I'd never played WoW either - to make this a book that ANYONE could enjoy, no matter their familiarity or lack of familiarity with Warcraft. Also tried to drop in an easter egg or two for my regular fans, as you noted.

I had a lot of fun writing that book and am DEEP into the writing of the second book now, which has the tentative title: WORLD OF WARCRAFT: TRAVELER, BOOK TWO: THE SPIRAL PATH. It's due out in November, 2017.

Response recorded on January 30, 2017