Dear Gryphon Fans,

We get emailed some variation of this question nearly every day and I'm sure many of you have come to our website today looking for information on when THE BLACK FORTRESS (The Gryphon Chronicles, Book 6) will finally go on sale. Yes, it has been a long time between releases. :( We humbly, truly, deeply apologize for that and thought we'd take a moment to give you a quick update on why it's been taking so long and also where we are in the writing process. But straight up rest assured, YES, IT'S COMING. It's well underway. 

"What's taking so long?"

First, THE BLACK FORTRESS is going to be about two books long. (Like SECRETS OF THE DEEP was.) And not only that, the level of complexity in writing a series finale is tricky and that also slowed us down. (Ow, my brain!!) With lots of big plot threads to figure out and wrap up, we don't want to get this wrong just for the sake of getting it out. So we took a lot of time in the planning stage. We even went all the way back to THE LOST HEIR and listened to the whole 70 hour series on audiobook just to make sure we weren't missing anything important. (That was fun, actually. Jamie MacKenzie's narration goes down quite easily.)

Second, we hate excuses, normally we agree with never complain, never explain, but I gotta say this time, a multitude of personal/health/family and professional issues, (sometimes disasters!), seemed to hit one after another over the past year and a half. All of them were completely unavoidable.

"How close are you to being done?"
​
Never fear, beloved readers! After our spate of trials and tribulations, we are officially back on track and have been going strong, knock on wood, since June with no new calamities. Whew! A quick recap then of what we've been up to: All of the plot twists and turns have been ironed out in great detail all the way through to the end of the book. So we know exactly where we're going and how each characters storyline will be wrapped up at the end. Sorry, no spoilers right now. We've got 30+ chapters written & done. Yay!

​At this point, we have about 10-15 more chapters to go, depending on how we decide to break things up. Of course, there'll be a round or two of revising, and then a team of editors who will get the book polished and ready for primetime.

​So again, sorry about the long delay. We feel just terrible about making you wait. And it's not just you getting impatient and mad! Red is ready to bite our heads off and Jake is threatening to hold us upside-down over the keyboard with his telekinesis and shake us till the book falls out. :)

So, thanks again for understanding. We love you all the more for sticking with us and being so kind and patient with us. Although I don't want to guess at a release date, we'll be posting some sneak peeks here on our website as soon as possible and we will certainly update you on our progress. One reader made a comment that perhaps all of these misadventures kept hitting us because deep down we didn't want the series to end. Hmm??? There might be a little truth in that. Well, sorry, subsconsious, it's time to press on and finish the job! Onward.

​Lots of love, Gael & Eric

Starting this spring, Hachette Jeunesse is releasing The Gryphon Chronicles in French. How awesome is that?! This is the first foreign translation of any of our kidlit books. Check out the new LOST HEIR cover next to the original from 2012. Red the Gryphon is looking a bit more intense. AAARGH!!! Can't wait to see GIANT next. Fantastique! Love it...

Wishing you and yours a very Merry Christmas, and a happy, healthy, peaceful and prosperous New Year. Thank you for reading our books! We just received this wonderful illustration from one of our great readers, Gaby, from sunny Costa Rica, who created this Nativity scene from the one at the end of JAKE & THE GINGERBREAD WARS. She kindly gave us permission to share her artwork, and we couldn't wait to show it to you! I just love Archie peeking out from behind the stable! Here they're just waiting for one of the village infants to be brought in to play the Gryphondale Christmas pageant's Baby Jesus. :) Thank you, Gaby, and all the blessings of the season to all of our wonderful readers. Thanks for sharing the adventure with us!

Merry Christmas,
Gael & Eric

PS: Hey, kids, if you draw a picture from the Gryphon Chronicles, we'll post yours here, too! Have your parent or guardian email it to us at egfoley@egfoley.com. :)

Just a quick note to let you know that as we count our blessings this Thanksgiving, we'll be thinking of you! We sincerely thank you for reading our books. You've made our dream of writing middle grade/YA books possible, and we are deeply grateful for the opportunity. 

We hope you enjoy a wonderful holiday with friends and family. We two are just happy not to be the cooks this year! All we had to do this year was order a pie from the bakery and bring it along to the feast. I know some of you are whizzes in the kitchen, so best of luck with all your cooking. Maybe your turkey be juicy and your stuffing be moist, and may everything be ready at the same time, lol. And good hunting to you brave souls hitting the Black Friday sales. *g* Hope you find some good deals!

And speaking of deals, there are a few more days left on the big "KIDS LISTENING SALE" at Audible.com. Until Nov. 27th, you can buy THE LOST HEIR audiobook (normally $24.95) for only $3.95.

Here's a link if you are interested: Buy THE LOST HEIR Audiobook

Well, that's all for now. Thanks for visiting our blog and again, Happy Thanksgiving!

Best wishes,
Eric & Gael
​E.G. Foley

Wow!!! Check this kid out! It's like someone smashed together Jake and Archie (Archimedes) and got Jakeimedes. This is 13-year-old, genius, inventor, wunderkind and viral internet sensation, Max Laughlin, inventor of a possible free energy breakthrough. Looks like Jake, talks like Archie, lol (and has a few of Dani O'Dell's freckles). What a cute kid, and holy smart! I wish I were this good at public speaking, lol. I always wonder about the parents of child prodigies and what it's like to have a kid that's way smarter than you, lol. Pretty neat, also, that Max has a twin brother who seems equally charming and very down-to-earth (see second video clip). 

Of course, I should mention, some people in internetland think he's a big hoax. I don't think so...I sure hope not. He seems legit to me, but what do I know. He claims to have invented a contraption that cost him only $14 to build that converts electromagnetic energy into usable electricity. Basically, an endless supply of free, no waste energy. Building on Nikola Tesla's ideas about energizing the whole planet. Watch some of his videos and see for yourself. What do you think? Is this kid for real? Hoax?