Well, we can’t find a clue to that answer, so hey, I guess you’re free to make it up!

Hi, Ethan!  Thanks so much.  I just checked with the HarperCollins International Department, and the publication date will be May 13, same as in the U. S.  Not too far away!

Hi, Matt.  Well, thank you so much for that!  I’m honored that my two books had such an place in your memory.  ANTARCTICA was very close to my heart, and also to the heart of my editor, David Levithan.  We were both knocked flat by an exhibit of Ernest Shackleton’s voyage, at the American Museum of Natural History.  That became a springboard to my own obsession with polar exploration.   As a boy, I loved the adventure stories of Jack London, and I’d always wanted to write about heroism and survival in extreme polar climates.  One by one, the characters entered my mind and assembled on the fictional ship, and I knew we were in for a wild ride.  So glad to know the story it had such a lasting effect.

Thank you, Julie!  We all enjoyed the visit so much.  Your kids more than matched our energy!  I’ll send a separate email message to you.  Can’t wait to see the video.  Heck, I may post it if there’s nothing incriminating or embarrassing.  Or maybe even if there is.

Hi, Miles!  Thanks so much for letting me know that you’re enjoying the SEVEN WONDERS series.  (I hope your dog enjoys it as much as you do!)  Thanks for offering to buy Book 3, but I won’t have copies for a very long time.  Sometimes I get my own copies WAY after the stores do.  In fact, I just received my copies of Book 2 yesterday!  When Book 3 comes out in May, I will be on tour.  So your best bet is to get a copy of Book 3 when it comes out in May, and then you can either mail it to me and I’ll sign it, or stop by to an event when I’m on tour in California.  I’m not sure yet exactly where in CA I’ll be, but I will post info on my website when I do know.  I’m super-excited about TOMB OF SHADOWS and can barely wait till May!

Hello, Austinn!  I’ll start with some general tips for writers, then I’ll talk a bit about series, OK?
Generally speaking, here’s some advice I usually give people who are serious about writing books:1. You have to want it more than anything else in the world. You have to be the kind of person who doesn’t settle for no.2. Reading voraciously — all the time — is the single best training to become a writer.3. It helps to be intensely curious about how your favorite authors make their work so good. What kind of words do they use? What kind of words do they leave out?4. You need to practice. Like a musical instrument or a sport, writing gets better with constant work. Write some things for yourself, pieces that no one else sees. Also write stories that you show to people you respect — teachers, librarians, parents, siblings, other authors, etc. Listen to their feedback. Learn to recognize useful and useless feedback. Useful feedback is your best friend, even though it may feel painful.5. You must collect ideas. Write them down. A pad or a writer’s notebook is great, but anything will do, even a receipt or a scrap of paper. Collect your ideas from conversations, things you observe in everyday life, dreams, other books and movies, etc. When you have a bunch of them, read them over and decide which is the best. Which one makes you the most excited? Start working on that one. If you like it, chances are your readers will too.6. You need to recognize that the stakes in your story must be super-high. Even in stories about everyday life, there must be some dilemma that seems impossible to solve, something the readers will hang on to until the very end.7. Regarding step 6, think hard about what you want to leave out of your story. That’s the thing that will pull your readers in.8. Live life to the fullest. It’s easier to write compelling stories if you’ve experienced compelling events in your life.9. Don’t worry about getting published right away. Almost no one is published at a super-young age, and that’s OK.10. Did I say practice?11. Practice.
About writing series:

It’s a good idea to sketch out the whole story idea in advance.  From beginning to end.  Don’t worry yet about how many books your series will have.  Just get down the whole story.  Remember Step 7 above.  Keep back a huge secret till the end of the book.
Really think about your characters, and write about them — just for yourself.  Get to know them really well.  In a series, you spend a LOT of time with these people, so you want to know them inside and out.  Make them become real to you.  Give them personalities that are different from one another.  Make sure they speak in different voices from one another.  If they’re alive to you, they will be alive to your readers.  Give each of them flaws.  This will give them room to learn and grow in the series.  Your characters must change and grow — by the end of the story, they must be different from the way they were at the start.
Figure out how many BIG DRAMATIC MOMENTS you have in your story.  Even though you are leaving the solution to the big secret until the very end, you need other big secrets to reveal within your series.  Each book of the series needs to have its own huge secret.  It needs to stand alone as an exciting book.
Plan how many books your series will have, based on your big dramatic moments.
Then sketch out each book of the series — beginning, middle, and end.  You don’t need dialog or exciting prose, just a summary, just a plan for yourself.  Like a blueprint.  It’s always good to know in advance where your plot is going and how your characters are going to grow.
 Once you have your separate plans for each book in the series — these plans don’t have to be super-long, remember — you will already be halfway there.  Now comes the fun part.  You start from the begnning and make it all come to life.

Hello, Nicolas, good to hear from you again, and a very belated Merry Christmas!  After touring October–December, I got backed up in my deadline for Book 3, so I’m only now getting to my Guestbook.  I hope you enjoyed THE COLOSSUS RISES.  As for your question, I haven’t decided on a title for Book 4 yet, and I’m in the process of changing which Wonder I’m going to feature.  I was headed one way but I thought of a much cooler idea.  More info when things settle!

Hi, Trey!  You are more than welcome.  Glad you enjoyed THE VIPER’S NEST.  (If you ever visit South Africa, let me know if I got the details right.)

Thank you so much, Hannah!  I’m busy writing the SEVEN WONDERS series and promise to get all seven of them done as fast as I can!  I had to take a break from the third 39 CLUES series, but I think the two new writers are doing an awesome job on UNSTOPPABLE, along with Jude and Gordon!