Welcome, In Serein!

After nearly four years, In Serein has finally arrived in the Hard, and we're pretty sure the planes will never be quite the same again! This morning, on the day of the Lord August 5th, 2004, the very first ever proof copy of Book 1, Sorcerer & Apprentice, was delivered by motorcycle messenger and a celebration ensued to celebrate the birth of In Serein - from a stream of ideas, to a stream of computer data, and now it's a BOOK!

Silvia Hartmann writes:

I can't begin to explain what it is like to finally hold a copy of the first book in my hand! I can't explain what it is like to read the opening words, "For as long as I can remember, I always wanted to be a Serein ..." inside a BOOK - it is the strangest sensation. When I saw the map of the kingdoms, I was totally astonished and thought, my goodness, I *made that map*!

It's an extraordinary experience indeed and it is inherently very DIFFERENT to how I feel when I see one of the non-fiction books of which I've written a great many over the years.

This is my first FICTION project, very personal to me, very exciting and ... well, it's an amazing experience. I can only wish other authors the day when it happens, when it is all become true and real, and hey look! There it is! And listen - that's the sound it makes when it is dropped on the table top! It is REAL!

It's much bigger and heavier than I thought it would be and I would like to apologise for the cost of the hard copy - I believe it comes out at around £20. There's nothing we could do about that, it is printed in a very, very short run and so of course each copy costs A LOT to produce in turn. But there's a cheaper ebook version for home printing, and to save the considerable freight costs, especially overseas, and of course, the entire text is still available entirely FREE OF CHARGE on http://InSerein.com as well.

This is not and has never been a commercial project for me and I want to seriously THANK all those who worked so tirelessly and patiently to make this magical transition happen.

Firstly, THANK YOU to ALEX KENT, my publisher and my son! Without his belief in me, his solid encouragement and active involvement in editing and proofing the text, I don't know if this book would have ever come to print at all!

Secondly, a heartfelt bow and THANK YOU to STEVE COLLINS, who basically nursed me through the unfoldments of the entire trilogy with immense patience and without whose encouragement I doubt very much I would have had the courage to write all that down and really finish it in the end.

And finally, also my absolutely sincere appreciation and THANK YOU to Steve Kent, my teenage flat mate and my son, who supported me in his own way whilst I was writing it, often going without attention for prolonged periods of time and having do deal with the fall outs from the emotionally charged atmosphere writing this book inevitably produced, and also, and this really blew me away, for ACTUALLY READING IT earlier this year.

Thank you guys, I love you all and I really DO appreciate your very unconditional support in my strange and inexplicable sojourns.

And to In Serein itself, be very welcome in the Hard, child of my imagination and my heart, I've learned so much from you and still continue to learn more, each time I  pick you up.

Sparkling waves of champagne all around!

Silvia :-))

Silvia Hartmann

Author, In Serein

Member, The Society Of Authors

Related Links:

• The In Serein Web Book FREE Online - http://InSerein.com

• E-Book & Hard Copy Editions Pre-Order - http://DragonRising.com