Pandora's Box - Note from the Author
Unlike “Grimm’s World”, the previous book in the K-Team saga, “The Light of a Thousand Suns”, suffered a difficult ‘birth’ that delayed its publication by about a year and a half. After the wave of personal enthusiasm that followed the publication of the first book in the saga, this new ‘work’ had instead got bogged down in continual delays caused by various factors, not least that of a necessary re-working of the text that led to the reduction of a good 150 pages, judged stuffed with useless repetitions, considered by the person who revised it as obstructing the flow of the story. Putting together the various revised parts was a long and complicated job, also slowed down by designing the K-Team website and the translation into English of “Grimm’s World”. These additional activities delayed the first publication of “The Light of a Thousand Suns” to December 2018.
Overall, some three years of intense work. During that time, various things have been changed and adjusted in the storyline of the second part of the saga, especially with relation to what happened in the fateful ‘cave’ where Marchand and Lefèvre disappeared. Those who have read this story know what I am referring to, those who do not could find it helpful to read “The Light of a Thousand Suns” before continuing with this new book.
Anyway, for those following the K-Team adventures, I want to talk about the final event of the Prologue in the second book, when the new bishop Marchand and the curate Lefèvre made their night-time descent into the mysterious cave in the Pyrenees, leaving their two deacon companions to keep guard at the entrance. These latter were also entrusted with what they had brought from the fortress, including the legendary ‘treasure of the Cathars’. Now, those who have read the book know that a few minutes after Marchand and Lefèvre disappeared into the cave ‘something’ happened that terrified the two deacons left outside, making them flee. In doing so they left behind everything they had with them. When describing this scene, and what in certain situations makes the art of writing so intriguing, I hadn’t the slightest idea of what inside the cave had so frightened the two poor deacons! At the time I wasn’t very concerned because I planned to tackle this issue in the third book of the saga – that is the book you’re now reading. With hindsight I realised this was a mistake.
The delayed publishing of “The Light of a Thousand Suns” prompted me to rewrite the final part of the prologue. But I also laid the foundations for this new third book in the K-Team saga, and in particular I introduced a new ‘actor’ in the clash between the two arcane entities for the ancient manuscripts that allow reality to be manipulated. This actor has hitherto remained in the shadows, although we have ‘glimpsed’ (if you could call it that) its gigantic and monstrous extremity reach out of the cave to grab the sacks containing the Cathar’s treasure and drag them back into the obscurity.
What I wanted to stress in this short preface is that this enigmatic scene is completely new, with a new character added only at the last moment when the rest of the book had already been written! Moreover, I also now know what happened to Marchand and Lefèvre. No small feat, eh?
In this third book, you’ll be able to discover more about this new personage and also many other equally menacing characters. The K-Team will certainly be facing greater challenges than it ever had before.
So, stay beside me as we descend into the darkness.
If you dare.