Dear Burning Questions,
I loved Tony Parsons' Man and Boy. It was a poignant depiction of a failed marriage and the aftermath of a boy torn between his parents. So very true to life. I was wondering if this wonderful author has anything else coming out in the near future.

Rowshan Daneshy
via e-mail

Many shared your love of Man and Boy, a witty tearjerker without the saccharine. Parsons knows whereof he writes; he had himself just turned 29 when he was awarded custody of his four-year-old son. Parsons does have a new novel (One for My Baby) coming out on the other side of the Atlantic, but as of yet there are no plans to publish it here. But if the success of Man and Boy is any indication of his appeal stateside, his publisher, Sourcebooks, expects a U.S. release at some point.

Have 'Mercy' on us

Dear Burning Questions,
I love Julie Garwood. Too bad I read them faster than she can write them! What does she have in store?

Kendra
via e-mail

Next month, Pocket Books brings us Garwood's follow-up to Heartbreaker. In her second novel with a contemporary setting, Garwood returns to the story of attorney Theo Buchanan. Mercy is a tale of love and intrigue on the bayou.

While she was gone . . .

Dear Burning Questions,
Sue Miller is one of my favorite authors. I just read While I Was Gone, which I devoured in a matter of hours. She writes so well about relationships, among other things. What's she working on next?

An eager reader
Dayton, Ohio

In October, Knopf will publish Miller's latest, The World Below. It is the story of a woman rediscovering her grandmother's past and in the process finding out one or two things about herself. As in While I Was Gone, there are secrets from the past that lend that deliciously subtle, suspenseful element we love so much.

The perfect follow-up?

Dear Burning Questions,
The Perfect Storm was one of the most amazing books I have ever read. What is Sebastian Junger working on now? (And is there a pub date?)

Jo
via e-mail

Junger has already taken the publishing world by storm, so there's a lot riding on his next book. We'll find out if he can write another perfect bestseller in October when W.W. Norton brings us Junger's latest, Fire. This collection of nonfiction pieces offers accounts of fire, terrorism and war. Light reading? We think not.

Get your Gabaldon on

Dear Burning Questions,
I loved the series of books beginning with Dragonfly in Amber by Diana Gabaldon. It took everything I could do to put her books down at night; they were simply captivating. Does she have any plans for another series or maybe even expanding that one?

S. Watson
via e-mail

Dear Burning Questions,
When will the next book in the Outlander series, penned by Diana Gabaldon, be released? It has been such a long time between books! Thank you.

Randi Willcox
Piqua, Ohio

The above queries are but two of the hundreds we receive about the gifted Gabaldon. We're happy to inform her legions of fans that The Fiery Cross (Delacorte) arrives in October, weighing in at almost 1,000 pages. In the new novel, Jamie learns from his 20th century wife that the American Revolution is coming.

A lovely portrait

Dear Burning Questions,
I'm a fan of Isabel Allende and am always excited to discover that she's coming out with a new book. Do you have good news for me about future books on the horizon?

Lara
via e-mail

If you liked The House of the Spirits and Daughter of Fortune, you'll love Allende's new work, which completes the trilogy. In Portrait in Sepia, to be released in November by HarperCollins, young Aurora de Valle strains against her restrictive upbringing.

Family history

Dear Burning Questions,
I really enjoyed Edward Ball's Slaves in the Family -- I found it fascinating. I was wondering if he's currently writing another book. Thanks.

Henry
Memphis, Tennessee

In his National Book Award-winning Slaves in the Family, white Southerner Ball investigated his family's slave-holding past. Now in The Sweet Hell Inside: A Family History, to be released by William Morrow in November, he investigates the Harlestons, an elite black family of the Jazz Age.

How do we spell relief? J-E-A-N A-U-E-L

Here at BookPage, author Jean Auel is known informally as the "Queen of Burning Questions." Month in and month out, the letters keep coming, and they all share the same desperate question: when will Jean Auel write another book? Auel's fans aren't just burning with desire, they are positively aflame with eager anticipation for another entry in her Earth's Children series.
So it is with joy (and relief) that the great Burning Questions oracle finally has this announcement to make:

Jean Auel is publishing another book!

That's right -- the agony of Auel's long-suffering fans will finally end in May 2002 when Crown Publishing is set to release The Shelters of Stone, the fifth book in one of the best-selling series of all time. Auel (pronounced owl) launched the prehistoric series in 1980 with The Clan of the Cave Bear and followed it with The Valley of Horses (1982), The Mammoth Hunters (1985) and The Plains of Passage (1990). Thirty-four million copies of the books have been sold worldwide, in 28 foreign language editions.
"When people ask why it has taken so long, I always wish I had a good answer," Auel commented about the writing of the fifth book. "Many rumors have circulated to account for the delay, from my demise by sometimes colorful means to various illnesses and disputes, none of which is true. I do research the background extensively, and it does take some time to develop the material and work it into the story. While this has taken me 11 years to write, it has been a labor of love. I can't wait to be able to share it with the world."
In The Shelters of Stone, Auel picks up the story of her Ice Age heroine, Ayla, an orphan who was raised by the Clan of the Cave Bear. After a long journey, Ayla and her companion Jondalar arrive in his homeland. But Ayla faces rejection by Jondalar's people, who fear her strange and powerful ways.
Auel, who lives in Portland, Oregon, recently traveled to South Africa and Europe to do research on her sixth book. Could this mean that fans won't face another long wait between books five and six? At Burning Questions, we can only say -- we hope so!