Tortall Prediction Wrap-Up and Q&A Party

It took me just over two years to get to this point, and I’m struggling to cope with the idea that I’ve now read seventeen Tamora Pierce books, AND I’VE GOT A WHOLE LOT MORE. As I graduate from the world of Tortall and begin my journey through Emelan, I wanted to take a look back at this experience and celebrate it all with you. 

First things first: let us go over my predictions for the final Provost’s Dog book.

1. At some point, Beka and Achoo will get more training. This counts even if it happens in between books and off-page. Yeah, this didn’t happen. 
2. ACHOO FALLS IN LOVE. THIS IS A GREAT STORY, MAKE IT HAPPEN. CORRECT, SINCE I FELL IN LOVE WITH ACHOO.
3. I’m bringing back a prediction, too, but it’ll be in multiple parts. First part: Rosto will be a giant baby around Beka when she sees him, and it’ll take a while to warm up to her. HELP ME, I THOUGHT THIS BOOK WOULD HAVE LOTS OF ROSTO IN IT.
4. Now she will work closer with the Rogue of Corus throughout the book. NOPE
5. She will also have to deal with her own attraction to Rosto. NO, HELP ME.
6. In the end, I predict that she and Rosto become a couple. REMEMBER WHEN I SAID THIS
7. Tunstall will be a HOT MESS when he first gets back out as a Dog after breaking his legs. TECHNICALLY, THIS IS ALL TRUE BECAUSE HELP ME
8. MUCH COMEDY WILL BE DERIVED FROM THE PERFECT BUDDY COP DUO OF TUNSTALL AND BEKA. Tragedy. The word you are looking for is TRAGEDY.
9. MUCH COMEDY. I made this happen. This is my fault.
10. One of Beka’s siblings will express a desire to become a Dog. Hey, this wasn’t a bad prediction. Just utterly wrong.
11. This is an easy one, I know, but because of something Beka does in this novel, she’ll earn the nickname Mastiff. “Because of something.” Look, this was hard, stop judging me.
12. She will get a promotion at the end of the novel. Actually, she didn’t!
13. Lady Teodorie will finally warm up to Beka. What the hell.
14. THAT’S ABOUT ALL I’VE GOT. Like Bloodhound, I have no context for what Mastiff will be about. I had no idea what I’d done, y’all. NO IDEA.

Unsurprisingly, I did terribly. How could I have ever predicted what Mastiff would do to me?

So, two things we’re doing at this point. If you’ve not attended a Q&A before, imagine it as a giant party where y’all can ask me (and others) questions comprising the entire Tortall experience. I will be answering as much as humanly possible and shall be hanging out in the comments all day. I actually have a flight from Chicago to San Francisco later today, so I’ll have a good four hour chunk to do this on top of the morning stuff. I will announce in the comments and on Twitter when I need to step away from the site to get to the airport. Your questions also don’t have to apply to Tortall. If you’ve ever wanted to ask me something, I’ll answer it, as long as you’re not rude or weird. I think it’ll be fun to hang out with y’all and reflect back on my journey through all of these books. It’s comprised TWO YEARS OF MY LIFE, so it’s very important to me.

There are currently eleven Circle of Magic books, which I’ll be reading pretty much in publication order. At some point, the books that Tamora Pierce is currently writing will come out, and I’ll add them to the schedule (probably as a double feature) once they are released. So, since we have just eleven more books to go, I thought it would be fun to announce what would be replacing the Queen Tammy books.

I have asked folks who came to see me live to keep this a secret, and the hundreds of folks I told HAVE ACTUALLY DONE SO. WHICH IS BEAUTIFUL, THANK YOU SO MUCH. Without any further delay, the next major series I will cover for Mark Reads will be:

The Young Wizards series by Diane Duane. 

This does mean that you are now allowed to commission this series as much as you like. I will be reading the New Millennium versions of these books, so please take that into account as you commission them, since they are different than the original version of the series. This has easily been the most-requested series for Mark Reads for about two years, and I will be thrilled to finally make it happen. We will read all of the books in the chronological series that are out in order, then Book of Night With Moon, To Visit the Queen, and The Big Meow.

I will also be participating in the IndieGogo campaign for CrossingsCon 2016, a Young Wizards convention taking place in Newark, NJ at the Courtyard Newark on June 24 – 26 in 2016. It’s happening, I’m going to be a part of it, NONE OF Y’ALL SHALL BE PREPARED.

IT IS AN EXCITING TIME ON MARK READS. I hope to also bring back Double Features once my touring dies down, but until then, MUCH SHENANIGANRY. Thanks, y’all. Now, let’s talk about Tortall until I’m dehydrated from crying so much.

Mark Links Stuff

– If you would like to support this website and keep Mark Does Stuff running, I’ve put up a detailed post explaining how you can!
– Please check out the MarkDoesStuff.com. All Mark Watches videos for past shows/season are now archived there!
– My Master Schedule is updated for the near and distant future for most projects, so please check it often.
– I will be at quite a few conventions and will be hosting numerous events throughout 2014. Please check my Tour Dates/Appearances page often to see if I’m coming to your city! I have events in Dallas/Addison, Las Vegas, and Reno in the next month, and more will be added soon!