At the heart of Sepulchre, is the story about a deck of Tarot cards, which is known variously as the Bousquet or the Vernier Tarot. In a strange case of art becoming life, when you tap in 'Vernier Tarot' to your search engine, it appears on the web even though the deck doesn't actually exist.

I had eight of the key cards painted, however - The Fool, The Magician, The High Priestess, The Lovers, Strength, Justice, the Devil, the Tower - to represent leading characters in the novel.

To coincide with publication in America, there will be coverage on many different Tarot websites, which I'm delighted about. I interviewed more than 25 Tarot readers as part of my research, in the UK, in America and in France. I wanted to have advice from women (mostly) and men who engaged with Tarot now, to see how they felt about what they did and how they would advise me to write about it, as a curious outsider. I used the comments, the emotions, the experiences - theirs and mine - to underpin the Tarot story in Sepulchre.

I'd love to hear what those of you who care about Tarot, who engage on a regular basis with Tarot, think about Sepulchre. I hope I've got most of it right, although I'm sure there will be things I've misunderstood or misrepresented in the fiction. Check the sites out. Post your thoughts. Share your ideas.

Curled Up With A Good Book
Book Club Queen
Tarot Garden
Aeclectic Tarot
Arnell Ando
Gaian Tarot Artist's Journal
American Tarot Association
Super Tarot
248 Book Club

A bientôt

Kate

Authors have different views about this, but many novelists - myself, Chimamanda Adichie and Elizabeth Kostova included - also teach creative writing. We do this for different reasons, of course - a wish to share good practice, an enjoyment of engaging with other writers at the beginnings of their careers - but also, especially out of a sense of giving something back. If one has been lucky as a novelist, if you're lucky enough to be published at the right time, to find your audience, to be published well, then it seems only right to try to give other writers a leg up too.

All potential writers are readers too, of course. There are now increasingly less formal, more social ways for authors and readers to engage with one another, other than at bookshop readings or at literary festivals. One of the biggest areas of growth is literary tourism, where organisations plan a whole day, often a weekend, around the setting or subject matter of a particular novel. The participants are sometimes writers hoping for advice, sometimes purely readers wanting to know about the background to an author's work. But those of us teaching or talking at such events get as much out of it as the participants. As a writer, you learn by listening to other writers, other readers.

In this spirit, I will be going to the Villa de Mazamet in the south of France to talk at a weekend exploring Aude Cathar Country, the location of my novels. The Villa de Mazamet is a new venture, set up by Peter Friend, and offers a mixture of history, literature, gastronomy and tourism over the course of the weekend of Friday 19th - Sunday 21st June.

If any of you are traveling in France then, do book and come along. It looks as if it will be a wonderful weekend.

A bientôt.

I've just had a comment posted from a reader in Finland - thanks for that, Tommi! It reminds me of why blogging is so powerful - it is the only quick way to keep in touch with readers and to let people know what is happening.

When you're lucky enough to be translated into other languages, it usually means the publication dates are spread out over many months, often years. I've just answered queries from my Hebrew, my Spanish, my Japanese and my Bulgarian translators, for example, for publication during 2009. But, the first published edition of Sepulchre was in the UK on 31st October 2007. The last is likely to be sometime in 2010!

So, to Finland. From a reader who was kind enough to post a comment, I know that Sepulchre is actually already available in Finnish! As it happens, I am going to be in Helsinki for the 19th and 20th March, so just a little after publication. I don't have my schedule yet, but there will be a major book club event on 19th March, followed by interviews and signings on 20th March to celebrate the fortieth anniversary of the publishing company, Otava. More details will appear on the Otava website - www.otava.fi - in due course. For now, it's just great to be visiting Finland in the spring and to have a little time to explore.

A bientôt.

Kate

Hi, I'm back! Paperback publication of Sepulchre in the US is March 3rd. Over the past 18 months since the UK edition came out I've visited 16 countries (Sepulchre is published in 38 languages and 42 countries, so I made it to less than half!). This time, I'm not going to be over in America for publication, which is both a relief (because it is so hard to write a new book when talking about a novel already out), but also a shame. I had not realised, until not being in the US in the Spring, how much I'd come to love being in the States.

I love touring. I love meeting readers in different countries, with different ways of seeing books, different values, different imaginations. It does stop you writing and thinking and getting on with the next book. But, at the same time, it feeds your imagination. There were also several 'firsts' for me for Sepulchre - first time visiting Poland, Singapore, Australia, New Zealand and Slovakia. And many happy returns to countries such as Holland, Germany, France and Norway.

So, although I'm grateful for a break from touring, I find myself longing for an early morning walk down to the Ferry Terminal in San Francisco. Or for a glimpse of the mountains in Denver. For a glass of red wine in the bar of the Pfitzer Hotel in Milwaukee. Or, after the momentous events of January, even taking on that bitter wind in Washington DC.

The next novel takes priority, though. So it's writing, not talking that matters most at the moment. That, and the exciting, nerve racking, long wait until March 3rd for the paperback to hit the US bookstores!

A bientôt