Duncan DVD

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Welcome!

Summer must be over because Ive started receiving e-mail from readers doing author reports.  How can time pass so quickly?  It seems like yesterday that I was getting e-mail from those same readers exulting, Schools out!  No more dumb author reports till next fall! 

Well, here's some exciting news -- Little Brown, the publisher who brought out my early suspense novels, is now publishing new, updated editions with wonderful new covers.  During the past two years I had the fun of bringing those stories into the 21st Century.  I haven't changed the characters or plots -- those have held strong over the years -- but I've been able to update the language (which was sometimes sort of old-fashioned) and the clothing (which was definitely old fashioned -- polyester pantsuits?) -- and the hair styles. Most important, I've given my characters computers and cell phones and digital cameras.

New technology has created some challenges, because many of my suspenseful situations were caused by the fact that my endangered characters couldn't make contact with the outside world.  (Think of DOWN A DARK HALL, for instance, with those girls closed away in a boarding school with the gates locked.)  So I've had to find ways to disable their e-mail and have their cell phones fall into rivers or toilets. 

We've also included author interviews in each book so I can respond to the questions that readers ask me most often. For instance, about DON'T LOOK BEHIND YOU:  "Is the Witness Protection program really as difficult as you portray it in this book?"

Actually it's worse. I received an e-mail from a teenage boy whose family is in the Program. He says, 'In our case, the feds staged our deaths.  It's hard to disappear, but it's even worse to know that the family you left behind believes you're dead. I've grown up without being allowed to have a girlfriend, go to parties, or have friends over, because something might 'slip out.' I can't even be part of a social networking group like Facebook."

The new editions are being released
 a few at a time.  The first three --
DON'T LOOK BEHIND YOU (about the Witness Protection Program), KILLING MR. GRIFFIN (about students who kidnap their English teacher) and I KNOW WHAT YOU DID LAST SUMMER (we all know what that's about) were published in September 2010. This past spring new editions of STRANGER WITH MY FACE, SUMMER OF FEAR and DOWN A DARK HALL were released.  In autumn 2011, we now have DAUGHTERS OF EVE and LOCKED IN TIME.  DAUGHTERS OF EVE was the hardest book to revise, because my editor thought that in todays world the vengeful acts of the girls should be more violent than they were in the original book. In other words, shaving Peters head, which was a horrible thing to do to a boy when that book was first written, would seem like nothing today when many boys shave their heads of their own free will. So I have the girls do something much worse to Peter.  (Youll need to read the book to find out what it is.)

And, for younger readers, we now have MOVIE FOR DOGS, the third book in my HOTEL FOR DOG trilogy. In this new story, Andi and Bruce produce a video about their dogs' adventures. They enter it in a contest, get into the finals, and they and their dogs go to Hollywood where Red Rover gets to compete with a dog who can talk.

Warm wishes for a happy autumn -- LOIS DUNCAN

My daughter, Robin, has now established me on Twitter. If youre interested in trailing me around and listening to me chirp, feel free to join me at twitter.com/duncanauthor.  

We are excited to announce the release of a new DVD, created specifically for classroom use:

 Classes who view A Visit with Lois Duncan can write to Duncan by e-mail, and she will respond, so it can be an interactive experience.

For more information click on the following link:

Duncan DVD