originally posted by Steve Redpath
HJ, definately the best time to come with the good weather, really shows off well what they have done.
Robert. Welcome, hope you find the chat as interesting as I have done. Always good to get another insight/perspective.
originally posted by Robert
Thanks everyone for making me feel so welcome. I will participate as I can!
originally posted by Blue
Hey, Robert, once upon a time we were all newbies. Fortunately, Janny is one of those authors who seems to have classy fans. It also helps that the Gryphon (Trys) keeps out the riffraff.
As for participation, well, while it is agonizing to wonder what Janny will pull off next, it is a lot of fun, in the meantime, to speculate on exactly what she might do next. She usually turns all expectations on their ears, but it is still fun to try to anticipate. Be ready for ANYTHING in the books, is probably the best advice I could give you.
originally posted by Sharon Preece
Hello everyone I am another newbie but have been reading the books since about '92. Hello to HJ and Steve, I am a black country girl myself and have never met anyone who has read the books! You have given me the encouragement to send a message…thank you
And to Janny…I've never read anything that has gripped my imagination so much and left me begging for more. Can't wait for Stormed Fortress…Thank You
originally posted by PurplePenny
I'm from Oxford: the city of dreaming spires and aspiring dreams (also Lewis Carroll, Tolkien and Inspector Morse).
Janny, when you make it back to the UK I'd love to show you around Oxford and Oxfordshire.
originally posted by neil
Hello Sharon, I'm in London.
I think I probably bought Curse of the Mistwraith in Birmingham (I lived there back in 92-95).
Outside of the UK "the black country" might be misunderstood…was it mining that gave it its name?
originally posted by PurplePenny
Some claim that The Black Country was named after the pollution caused by industry but historians believe that it was indeed named after the mining; or more accurately the outcrops of coal that made the heathlands dark.
The Black Country is believed to be the inspiration for Mordor. Tolkien lived in Warwickshire as a child and Mordor means "Dark Land".
originally posted by Jay_Jay
quote:HJ - I have driven all over your country, coast to coast, east west, north south, AND - I would NEVER drive in your major towns! Just picking up a rental car in Manchester about did us in! Oh, and don't ASK about us doing loop de loops in a few of the Welsh towns, or getting messed up in Chester.
Heh, sounds familiar! In May, I visited Edinburgh, then, after a few days with friends, decided to DRIVE across the highlands and take the ferry to Iona.
I thought I would never get out of Edinburgh alive. If it had not been for the kindness of an elderly couple, who offered to come in the car with me and direct me, I might have given up, and returned the car!
Driving across the one-lane road from Craignure to Fiohnport on the Isle of Mull was a snap after that. Actually, it was one of the highlights of the trip, as it was dusk, and the red deer had come out to graze! One walked right in front of my car, almost close enough to touch!
Roundabouts. How I HATE roundabouts!! Even in the small towns, like Oban, I still had trouble with them. If I hadn't gotten messed up and missed the correct turn for the ferry not once, but twice, I would have made the 4 o'clock ferry, and been able to take the bus across Mull instead of paying an extra 60 pounds to take my car on the ferry!
PurplePenny - I'll take you up on that, if it happens! 
originally posted by Derek Coventry
PurplePenny,
You've reminded me of a great day I spent in Oxford in the early 60's. It was the village pub coachtrip. I spent the first part of the day in a wonderful bookshop that had all the Burrough's books that I was after and I stocked up for weeks to come. I still remember that blissful afternoon stretched out in a punt immersing myself in John Carter's adventures on Mars! Mind you, some of my friends were a bit choked that I'd spent most of my card winnings from the up trip on books.
originally posted by Aria
How strange this seems. It looks like plenty of us Brits have delurked for the sneak peek, so I thought, why not delurk for the first time in over a year as well.
Janny, as always your sneak peek's have left me wanting to read the book, which I guess is the point but still. Fantastic.
originally posted by Raja Velloo
Hey i don't want to be left out!
I'm a Malaysian(near Singapore}…we were under the British rule once.
Been reading Ms Wurts books since 2003.Can't wait till the next book.
Welcome Raja Velloo - I know at least one of your fellow country persons visits this site…!
originally posted by Raja Velloo
Thanks Mrs Wurts.I am glad that there are other Malaysians here as well…i managed to introduce the books to a few of my friends.
Thank you for the wonderful novels!
originally posted by Ika Nurain
lol janny, guilty as charged.
*waves* hi raja! good to see other malaysians here too.
Ah well, good thing they aren't quiet either!
Malaysians seem a friendly bunch…amazing to think of the books traveling so far and wide, and to places I have never been.
originally posted by HJ
Hi PurplePenny, I missed your post. Just caught up with it and will tell you what I know.
The Black Country, an urban area to the west of and adjoining Birmingham, is traditionally a place of heavy industry, overcrowded and poor socio-economic conditions. I've always been told our area derived it's name from the density of smoke in the air years ago. My Grandfather suvived the Battle of the Somme only to die at the age of 59, in 1945, of TB, supposedly caused by the horrific conditions of the iron foundry he worked in. He was untypical of his generation in that he survived WWI, but typical in that he died as a result of the poor conditions people lived and worked in at that time.
I've also heard that The Black Country was the inspiration for Mordor and can understand if it was especially given that Tolkein moved here from South Africa and must have found it a cold and ugly place. The West Midlands is still far from the most picturesque area of our country to visit, but as I told an idealistic and naive friend of mine years ago, Britain has more to it's heritage than pretty thatched cottages, medieval castles and rolling hills.
Our local bus company does a tour called "The Tolkein Trail" which includes many of the landmarks Tolkein is supposed to have been inspired by. I think this is wonderful and one day when I have the time, I will do it!!
originally posted by PurplePenny
Hi HJ,
I think that there used to be Tolkien tours here in Oxford too (walking tours) but not now. We've also had CS Lewis tours, Morse tours and Brideshead tours!
A lot of the Shire names seem to have been inspired by the area around Oxford: we even have Buckland! I always think of the Shire, or the area around Hobbiton anyway, as looking very Cotswolds. We (Oxfordshire) do have thatched cottages, lots of them 
originally posted by HJ
I spent a very cold Easter Weekend camping just outside Morton-in-Marsh when I was a student. I remember us doing a pub crawl of the main street. It's a lovely part of the country.
I was so cold I didn't get a wink of sleep all night. I gave up at around 5:30am and went for a drive to Stow-on-the-Wold, with the car heater on to warm up. The following night we camped with a traveller and her kids, horses, dog & chickens. She had a real reconstructed "Gypsy" caravan because she said it was more economical to run that a van. What a wonderful evening we had with that lady. An inspiration and an education.
originally posted by Maurice Peter Vialle
Tolkien explicitly rejects allegory in all its forms in the preface.
The destruction of the English countryside was the basis of the scouring of the shire, no more than that was intended.
Although the reader was left free to form his own associations…