It's a halfhour comedy set in, of all places, the publishing industry. I figured that after ten years in the book world, I'd acquired many funny tales, so I decided to put them into a TV show. The heroine is not an author, though, but a publicist who promotes authors for a publishing house.

The script led a charmed life through Hollywood, going from my agents to Darren Star (producercreator ofs.e.x and the City) , to Sony, to the lovely actress Jenna Elfman, and then to ABC. For a while there, I was flying back and forth from Sydney to Los Angeles to do meetings with studio and network executives, which was all pretty exciting. We shoot the pilot later this year, so my fingers are crossed that it gets picked up.

This has meant that I've put my ambitions for aContest movie on hold for a while after all, you have to run with the show that's actually getting made. ButContest isn't going anywhere.

Q:One question that many fans are asking is, will we be seeing Shane Schofield again in the near future?

MR:Yes, Scarecrow is a character that my fans really do love-especially after what I put him through inScarecrow. And, in all seriousness, I thank my readers for allowing me to venture into other stories and write about other heroes (believe me, as an author, it is possible to get pushed into writing about the same character over and over again). When, one day, I look back on my career as a novelist, I'd like to see an array of standalone books and different series, from the Schofield and Jack West series, to the (current) stand alones of William Race and Stephen Swain and who knows who else.

That said, having taken a break from Scarecrow, Iam rather keen to write about him again, and a new idea featuring him has started to form in my mind. So as I write the sequel toThe 6 Sacred Stones (after all, I can't leave Jack West falling down that abyss forever!), I'll be fleshing out this idea that I have for a new Scarecrow novel with the hope that it will be the next book I write after that. I should add that I also have lots of kids demandingHover Car Racer II!

(Oh, and for those who missed it in 2005,h.e.l.l Island -the short novel that I wrote for the Books Alive initiative-features Scarecrow and is now available again in stores across Australia and New Zealand.) Q:Any final words?

MR:As always, I just hope you enjoyed the book that it took you away from your world for a few hours or a few days and entertained you in the way a good rollercoaster should.

And rest a.s.sured, I'm already typing feverishly away on the next one.

Best wishes and see you next time!

BIBLIOGRAPHY.

I'VE NEVER actually included a bibliography in one of my books before, but with this novel I thought I might since it delves into so many different fields of study (from ancient Egypt and China to the African slave trade, to s.p.a.ce and zeropoint fields, to the intricacies and history of diamonds). As an author of fiction, I have to be the proverbial jackofalltrades and master of none, and while I readily admit that I am no expert in astronomy or astrophysics, I do my best to read as widely as I can so that my characters can be.

I have not divided this bibliography into princ.i.p.al or lesser sources-some might only have provided me with information on a single point in my novel, but that makes them no less valid to my mind (after all, it might have been a big point)-nor is it in any particular order of importance. It is simply here so that readers who have an interest in certain aspects of the book might like to read further.

Michael Baigent and Richard Leigh,The Elixir and the Stone (London: Random House, 1997).

Michael Baigent, Richard Leigh, and Henry Lincoln,The Holy Blood and the Holy Grail (London: Jonathan Cape, 1982 London: Century, 2005).

Ian Balfour,Famous Diamonds (London: William Collins & Sons, 1987).

Robert Bauval,Secret Chamber (London: Century, 1999).

Bill Bryson,A Short History of Nearly Everything (London: Doubleday, 2003).

Deidre Cheetham,Before the Deluge: The Vanishing World of the Yangtze's Three Gorges (New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2002).

Robert Guest,The Shackled Continent (London: Macmillan, 2004).

Manly P. Hall,The Secret Teachings of the Ages (New York: Jeremy P. Tarcher/Penguin, 2003 original text, 1928).

Graham Hanc.o.c.k,Fingerprints of the G.o.ds (London: William Heinemann Ltd., 1995 London: Century, 2001).

Graham Hanc.o.c.k,The Sign and the Seal: A Quest for the Lost Ark of the Covenant (London: William Heinemann Ltd., 1992).

Graham Hanc.o.c.k,Underworld (London: Michael Joseph/Penguin, 2002).

Stephen W. Hawking,A Brief History of Time (London: Bantam Press/Transworld, 1988).

Robin Heath,Stonehenge (Glas...o...b..ry: Wooden Books, 2000).

Peter Hessler,River Town: Two Years on the Yangtze (New York: Harper Collins, 2001).

Adam Hochschild,King Leopold's Ghost (London: Macmillan, 1999).

Christopher Knight and Robert Lomas,Uriel's Machine (London: Century, 1999).

Peter Marshall,The Philosopher's Stone (London: Macmillan, 2001).

Giles Milton,White Gold: The Extraordinary Story of Thomas Pellow and North Africa's One Million European Slaves (London: Hodder & Stoughton, 2004).

John North,Stonehenge: A New Interpretation of Prehistoric Man and the Cosmos (New York: The Free Press, 1996).

Lynn Picknett and Clive Prince,The Stargate Conspiracy (London: Little, Brown & Co, 1999).

Reader's Digest,The World's Last Mysteries (Sydney: Reader's Digest Services, 1978).

Chris Scarre, ed.,The Seventy Wonders of the Ancient World (London: Thames & Hudson, 1999).

Dava Sobel,The Planets (London: Fourth Estate, 2005).

Duncan Steel,Rogue Asteroids and Doomsday Comets (New York: John Wiley & Sons, 1995).

Gordon Thomas,Gideon's Spies: The Secret History of the Mossad (New York: St.

Martin's Press, 1999).

Hugh Thomas,The Slave Trade: The History of the Atlantic Slave Trade: 14401870 (New York: Simon & Schuster, 1997).

Craig Unger,House of Bush, House of Saud: The Secret Relationship Between the World's Two Most Powerful Dynasties (London: Gibson Square Books, 2004).

Peter Watson,A Terrible Beauty (London: Weidenfeld & Nicholson, 2000).

ABOUT THE AUTHOR.

MATTHEW REILLYis the international bestselling author of seven other novels:7 Deadly Wonders, Ice Station, Temple, Contest, Area 7, Scarecrow, and the children's bookHover Car Racer, and one novella,h.e.l.l Island. His books are published in more than twenty languages, and he has sold more than 3 million books worldwide. In addition to his novels, he has recently written a television show for the ABC network, set in the world of international publishing.

ALSO BY MATTHEW REILLY.

7 Deadly Wonders.

Contest.

Scarecrow.

Ice Station.

Temple.

Area 7.