"Whisper Mountain is the lair of the beast," say the frightened mountain elves. "Beware the Shadow Demon, for it will hunt you down and eat you alive."

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The small, proud villagers are by no means timid, but they are thoroughly cowed by the unseen menace that looms high on the mountain. No one ventures up there except foolish travelers and would-be heroes. "Even if you're able to run from its monstrous jaws," the elves warn, "the demon will look upon you with its ghastly eyes and lay a death-curse upon you. You will never make it off the mountain alive."

Whisper Mountain gets its name from the frequent cries of ghosts echoing down the mountain, the souls of hundreds, perhaps thousands of people who have run afoul of the demon. "The low and mournful whispering means the beast is calm," the villagers say, "but if you hear the hideous wails of banshees, well, then you'd better run, run as fast as you can, for the beast is on the hunt!"

According to a crazy old soothsayer, Whisper Mountain is "the key to everything" – but what does that mean? Miss Simone has more immediate problems to deal with, and the children don't believe in prophecies... and yet the mountain seems to be appearing in visions, drawing them closer. Hal and his friends feel compelled to find out more, and they set off on a mission. They hope that all this talk of demons and ghosts is superstitious nonsense, and that the demon is just a mountain lion or some equally mundane creature.

However, the stories turn out to be true. The mountain does whisper and wail, and there is a demon on the mountain. And it's hungry.

Those who have read both Island of Fog and its sequel Labyrinth of Fire will have some idea of the issues the children must tackle in Mountain of Whispers, the final part of the trilogy. But why does "the key to everything" lie on the top of a mountain? Development of the novel is underway and is planned for launch in 2010. Stay updated with progress!

Progress so far...

First draft 54% written (about 51,406 of 95,000 words)

• 28-Feb-2010: Chapter ten completed. A key scene is taking shape!
• 22-Feb-2010: Well into chapter nine now.
• 17-Feb-2010: Seven chapters done. Thinking of changing the prologue.
• 14-Feb-2010: Six chapters done.
• 6-Feb-2010: Four chapters done.
• 14-Jan-2010: Started writing Chapter 1. It begins!
• 13-Jan-2010: Prologue written! Chapter summary finished except for a few details.
• 02-Jan-2010: Title finalized and mountainofwhispers.com registered.
• 29-Dec-2009: Chapter summary taking shape.