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Dedication

To Robert C. O’Brien,

Samuel Shellabarger, Stephen King,

Susan Fromberg Schaeffer,

Lee Smith, Marge Piercy,

George R. R. Martin,

and all the other writers

who have held me enthralled.

FROM THE FAN PUBLICATION THE WORLD OF SWORDS AND SHADOWS

R. M. HALDON RELIES ON TEENAGE RESEARCHER AS HE WRITES EYES OF THE FOREST

Have you ever loved a story so much that you dreamed of becoming part of it?

For Bridget S. (she asked us not to use her full last name), what for most people is just a dream has become her reality. The now-seventeen-year-old was only twelve when she met R. M. Haldon at a signing, where she impressed him with her encyclopedic knowledge of his series. Haldon hired her to create a database containing Swords and Shadows’ myriad details.

When Haldon recently mentioned Bridget at a fan convention, ardent aficionados wanted to know more about her work with the master.

We reached out to Bridget by email to talk about her collaboration with Haldon, how she keeps track of all those details, and why she thinks the books are better than the TV series.

What’s it like to work with R. M. Haldon?

It’s pretty much all done by email. He sends me questions, like asking if he’s mentioned any heraldry with nine-pointed stars, or what he’s written about a particular king. Sometimes I ask him questions, too. Like when one character’s death was not depicted on the page, I asked if he was really dead.

And what was his answer?

I’m afraid my lips are sealed.

How do you keep track of all the details?

I approach it one page at a time, sorting out where everything belongs.

How many times have you read the books?

To be honest, I’ve lost count.

Is it hard juggling your work for Haldon as well as schoolwork?

I’m a good student, and I’ve kept up my grades. That’s one of the agreements I made with my dad before he let me do this. I have to maintain a 3.5 average. I’ve never gotten below 3.8.

What do you think of the TV show?

The TV show’s good, of course, at times even great. But because of the limitations of TV, they’ve had to compress storylines or even cut entire subplots. And for me, it’s the details that make the books so good.

When do you think we’ll finally see Eyes of the Forest?