In 2003, Harper Collins approached me with a new book series: A young wizard apprentice discovers his powers in an alternate, fantastical land. A Harry Potter spinoff, I thought; but on digging in, it proved much more richly-wrought than that. Angie Sage's universe is like no other, and it has sucked me in to the point of geographic obsession. And as of 2009, the story is still being told.