In some cases, yes. I see no need to go into grotty details, but I don't always politely fade out before the action starts, either. But largely I mean that the actions and conversations are adult: mercenaries cussing each other out, whores beckoning to potential customers, and so on. Characters piss, fart, and get a morning--*ahem*. It's not a sterile world, nor an innocent one.

And in the later books...yeah. There's rather more, err, intimacy. Not for the sake of "sex sells"--I won't ever do that. But the various relationships grow and change, and, you know, stuff happens. I won't flinch from detailing a necessary moment, and I can only hope my readers stay with me along the way.

I did invent a number of swear words and insults to suit the setting; however, writing is about communicating. Imaginary swear words never resonate with me as deeply as "real world" swearing does, and there are times I needed to provoke a gut reaction from the reader. I'm very careful with where I put the stronger cuss words, and try to use them as sparingly as possible. But "ta-karne" doesn't always convey the same effect as "you @**hole!"--which is, after all, what ta-karne means.

As for anachronism, not really. The concepts of "hell" and "damnation" are very much alive in the Northern Church; most southerners, unless they spend a lot of time up in the northern areas, don't use those terms. The southern religion does not assign sinners to a fiery fate. And in my view, a term such as "for unlawful carnal knowledge", under the Northern Church's strong conservatism, is a perfectly understandable development.

Finally, in some spots the story deals with mercenaries and sailors; and those are expected to swear heavily. Northerns, especially, wouldn't use the southern terms very often: so, as I deliberately patterned the common kingdom tongue after English, I had to use common English swear words.

Not small children, no. Over fourteen is probably all right for the first two books, but they do get very adult quickly after that point. Keep in mind that I was reading Jean Auel and Samuel Delaney in sixth grade, so my perceptions on this may be a touch distorted. There is some swearing (see below), and some very adult situations (ditto). But parents, as always, must judge for themselves. I always recommend reading a book first before deciding if it's suitable for your kids.

*Evil grin* Well, yeah, that's kind of the whole point, isn't it?

But to be serious here, I'm not really being mean to Idisio. I'm carrying through a logical consequence of some prestated conditions, both internal to him and external to the situation at large. And rest assured, the reason he's acting so squirrelly in book 2 gets fully explained in book 3 (and his POV returns, as well).

So be patient, it will all make perfect sense in the end.

Yes. I know. I believe there are five typos in Secrets of the Sands, not including the misspelling of "Qisani" on the front map. If you find more than those, please do let me know. I will sincerely applaud your dedication.

No, actually, they are entirely independent. Several people were confused over this, and I can understand why; but here's what happened. Civilization began in the southlands; after the Split, a group of people moved north of the Horn and began building themselves a kingdom. The first few years were a bit chaotic, as the tribal structure was still strong, and King Ayrq needed to be a touch stern with bringing them all under one banner (his, of course). In the end, the Northern Kingdom claimed the lands north of the Horn (Wezel's followers later claimed all lands north of the Hackerwood, but that's another story). The desert Families are each their own entity, rather like feudal lords, with a complex interdependence system and network of understandings kept viable through frequent Conclaves. The Northern Kingdom used to have much closer ties to the southlands; recent events (such as crossdressing kings and psychopathic advisors) have weakened those connections and widened the political gap between the two areas.

No, it's not. I drew a lot of inspiration and guidance from culture, history, and geography all over our world, but I created an entirely fictional world to tell my stories in.

Somewhere between five and ten years, depending on whether you count actual writing time or include the slack time when I wasn't actively working on it.

For Secrets of the Sands, Michael Sullivan is the man to thank for the amazingly cool cover. Aaron Miller went a step further for Guardians of the Desert, creating a real life acrylic painting for the cover (prints, mugs and more are all available; check Aaron's Zazzle page for all the options.)

I'm honestly surprised by how many people really liked Cafad Scratha! The answer is, though, that this series was never meant to be about Cafad; it's about Idisio, and Alyea, and has branched off to include some other characters along the way. There will more than likely be a book in the future that handles Cafad's full journey from childhood to maturity and the eventual end of his story arc, along with the intersecting stories of Azaniari Aerthraim, her twin brother Allonin Aerthraim, and Nissa of Sessin, as well as Lord Evkit of the teyanain and Lord Irrio; but that, I think, will wind up being at least a two or three book episode all on its own. In the meanwhile, rest assured that I'm not done with Cafad yet, although his direct part in this particular series is largely over.

Just like real life (and real politics), the overarching story is awfully large, and complicated; no one, or two, or even three viewpoints really do it justice. Also, keeping the same character point of view throughout forces the reader into a one-lane street: either she agrees with that perception or she doesn't, in which latter case she is quite possibly going to stop reading. By changing points of view, I hope to allow the reader to decide which perspective best resonates with his own ethics and beliefs, and so make it possible to enjoy the story even if he doesn't like Alyea's impulsiveness or Deiq's indifference in a given situation.