Oh goodie Steve now we are on a first name basis & share the same interests.. Am in Malaysia at present therefore, Could you purchase an xtra copy for me & meet me at Heathrow on 22 May 7.55am. Looking forward to seeing you there, I will be wearing a, black robe, but not a burka. Regards Barbara
From: Steve Penfold <[email protected]> To: [email protected] Sent: Monday, 6 May 2013 9:57 AM Subject: Lurkers de-lurk – now or never! After way, WAY too long lurking on this wonderful list, I’d like to finally say ‘Hi everyone’ from the western outskirts of London - and to apologise for the Subject of this posting which (unintentionally) sounds a little like a call to arms! I first registered on here in August 2005, and after receiving many tens of thousands of e-mails from you active lot over the past 8 years or so, it is more a reflection of the way I feel about not having ‘spoken directly’ to any of you up until now, and wanting to say at least something as we all approach what feels to me, with the imminent publication of Ray’s last Midkemia-universe book, something akin to ‘The End’. I have read all of Ray’s books, and many of your postings (albeit not all of them), and I’d quite simply like to express my immense gratitude to all of you. Ray, your books have given me huge amounts of pleasure over many years, and have kept me up later than I should have been on way too many occasions. Long ago, I lost count of the number of incredibly vivid images that you have conjured up in my mind: of forests, villages, towns, cities and worlds that I have ‘visited’ through your writings, of battles in which I feel I have almost taken part, of political machinations that I have been privy to, and of course what must be many hundreds of ‘friends’ that I have made with the characters in your stories (for the record, Jimmy and Nakor are my endearing favourites!). I am of course looking forward to your future writings, Ray, but will miss them all, good and bad, and this universe, forever! Thank you from a man to whom you have given back such a wonderful gift - the enjoyment of reading. As for the rest of you here on this list, you have provided me with much entertainment, laughs, and information – and not just on Ray’s literature either, but on plenty of other subjects. I am, as always, taken by the rising excitement on this list of the book launch, helped on this occasion by the tantalising pre-release chapters now available (that I have resisted reading thus far). I intend to drop in and see Ray tonight at Forbidden Planet in London (welcome back to the UK, Ray!), and perhaps will have the honour of chatting with one or two of you, but my heartfelt thanks go out to all of you on this list, many of whose names are now very familiar to me, and I hope that you continue to entertain and inform long into the future! Briefly (I know, it’s probably obvious by now that my communications are often anything BUT brief!), a couple of things I had considered contributing previously to the list, but somehow never quite got around to posting: - For the locationists amongst you, I live with my wife of three months (whom I managed to persuade to read Magician and half of Silverthorn, but nothing further so far, sadly) in a mid-sized town just inside the western side of the world’s largest car park, the M25 motorway, which surrounds London. I’m 46, and along with half of the rest of the world, work in IT! - Some time ago, shortly after reading about a fort set in one of Ray’s out-of-way places (the Dasati, or perhaps the demon, realm? – I can’t recall for sure), I drove past a road in a little town called Ware somewhat north of London, with the name of Demontfort Rise. Well, it made ME smile! For any of you that have made it this far into my overly-long message, apologies for the length of it. Oh, and if any other lurkers feel brave enough, please join me in saying hello, if only on this one ‘special occasion’. Go on, you know you want to. ;-) Thank you again to one and all, and finally : Magician’s End, here I come! Steve (resisting the strong urge to re-lurk!)
