GRADUAL INTERVIEW
SPOILER WARNING!   ..........   Spoilers - The Runes of the Earth
Spoilers - Fatal Revenant
Mike White:  Hi Mr Donaldson,

Just a quick query, really. Glad to hear about the second draft of "Fatal Revenant". However, the day after you posted that on your page Amazon.co.uk printed the following:

"Synopsis
Fatal Revenant, Book Two of "The Last Chronicles of Thomas Covenant," begins where The Runes of the Earth ended: Linden Avery watches from a balcony while Thomas Covenant and her adopted son, Jeremiah, ride desperately toward Revelstone. But their reunion has vast consequences which she could not have foreseen. Soon she is betrayed by the people whom she most needs to trust. Transported deep into the Land's past, she is forced to confront mysterious strangers, legendary heroes, and ancient evils, and to stand alone against the malevolence of the Despiser's minions. Abandoned in Garroting Deep, the most bloodthirsty of the Land's long-dead forests, she reaches a fearsome decision: she determines to reshape reality in an attempt to end the Despiser's evil and her son's suffering. However, her purpose requires her to find Loric's krill, a weapon abandoned among the Hills of Andelain millennia ago. And she needs the aid of friends and allies who will turn against her if she reveals her intent. Attacked by enemies old and new, and harried by strange beings with ambiguous agendas, she strives toward Andelain. But the ravenous skurj are rising, and all of her actions appear to serve her worst foes. "

This was posted along with a release date of October 2007. Obviously speculation release date wise as you stated - but I am surprised Amazon know so much about the content of the new book..

Care to comment?

I'm actually quite angry about this. My UK publisher asked me for a synopsis which I was led to believe would be for "in-house" use only: forewarning salesmen, prepping art and marketing departments, that sort of thing. So I tossed off the "teaser" you've quoted--and was horrified to see it "go public" on amazon.co.uk almost immediately. I've already complained to my publisher; but unfortunately that doesn't undo the damage. In addition, announcing an October 2007 release date at this stage is pure fabrication.

So, yes, I wrote that; and, no, I did not intend it to be made public. For the sake of what I call "a level playing field," I'm posting this on my site. And to protect readers who really don't want to feel cheated in advance, I'm posting it under "spoilers".

Please accept my regrets.

(08/22/2006)