There was a time when I thought I would write this series of books forever. I never envisioned massive sales, but I thought if people liked the books, if they continued to be well reviewed then readership would grow with each addition until they made enough money to keep everyone involved happy. That didn't happen. The first two were published by Carroll and Graf as hardbacks and Dell as paperbacks. Doubleday did the third in hardback. There was no paperback. The story of the fourth book is chronicled in the essay in the Thoughts section titled, Sea of Time.

 

For years after the manuscript of Sea of Time was deep-sixed, I received very nice letters from readers who all asked the same question: When's the next one coming out? These letters would arrive three or four times a month, year in, year out. Finally, I sent a letter to Carroll and Graf asking Kent Carroll if he was interested in any more in the series. I received a reply from Phillip Turner, the chief editor at C&G, telling me the company had been sold to Avalon Publishers and Kent was long gone. But he, Phillip, was interested in publishing another in the series. I wrote a proposal, he approved it and I went to work.

 

18 or so months later, a finished novel popped out of the pipeline and hit the shelves of the nation's bookstores. It stayed face-out at the front of the store for two weeks, moved to the regular shelves for a couple of weeks more, then disappeared for good. About 1,500 copies sold, making it a financial failure by anyone's standards.

 

And why did it fail? Well, there are several reasons, though no one can ever predict, except with a few authors, failure or success in the book business. There was virtually no marketing campaign; Carroll and Graf is a small firm and doesn't have much in the way of extra money for that sort of thing. Phillip Turner, the editor, was/is an excellent editor and a stand-up guy, but as much as he would want to he can't singlehandedly make a book a success. Books in general have the shelf life of Mayflies, pulled and pulped in a few weeks if there's no immedediate groundswell of sales. The much-vaunted "word-of-mouth" buzz that publishers long-for never happened. I suppose my loyal readers made an effort to get the word out, but in the end it came to nothing. This is common in the business and has very little to do with the quality of the work. It's almost all luck, and this series just didn't have enough to make it a success.

 

Would I like to write more of them? You bet. Anyone who reads In Time of War knows that Alex is still vulnerable, as is the rest of his little family. His father is still floating around in Time, waiting to pull his grandson away from Alex and Molly. In fact, I had originally planned to write two Civil War era books in the series. Alas, I fear it will never be. Publishers just don't publish books that have failed financially, no matter how good they may be, no matter how well-reviewed, no matter strongly the loyal fans may feel about them.

 

Unless I can get famous writing some other book, then publishers will flock around making grand offers to pick the series back up. Will it happen? I keep trying. Those of you who have read this far in these pages will be the ones who could make it work. Look for me, friends, on the shelf. I've got a hell of an idea for a new series which I'm in the process of writing. Who knows, if it ever gets published, if it sells, then maybe, just maybe, we'll see Alex Balfour again. And find out just how his story really ends.