SECRETS OF THE WELL OF TEARS CD     Cecilia Dart-Thornton writes: The free CD with THE WELL OF TEARS depicts a glimpse of a beautiful virtual world. Since there are no 'game elements' on the CD - no puzzles to solve or dangers to avoid - we have given users/readers another excuse to return again and again to this fantasy world (besides being curious to follow the story from the books). The reason is Discovering Secrets. Some of these secrets are semi-concealed, while others appear and disappear at irregular intervals. The Marsh Scene * There are two (or possibly three) waterhorses wandering about at random in the Marsh. They don't just wander, sometimes they stop and eat or look around or toss their heads. * In one of the Marsh pools the reflection of a mysterious face appears and disappears. (That's from a reference in THE IRON TREE.) * You can look right into the window of one of the houses and examine the interior of the room. * A faerie lady called a 'gruagach' can be glimpsed gliding like a dancer through the trees. * Out on the lake you can see the silhouette of a couple of fishermen in a boat. * The lake water flows gently towards the still waters of the marsh. This effect is quite intriguing. * Birds fly through the trees now and then. Sometimes bubbles drift through the air. Mostly, we wanted readers to be able to explore this beautiful world and soak up the ambience at the same time as they followed the story that largely takes place there. The CD is interactive in that users can 'stroll' through the landscape at whim, taking their own time, rather than just clicking on a two-dimensional scene and looking at it before clicking on another, as was the method with many computer games in the past. The Rowan Green Scene. * The balloon floats from the Rowan Green shelf out across the mountain plateau and back. If you look closely at the people in the balloon, you can see them gesticulating and moving individually. They are animated crew members in there, not just a motionless drawing of people. * You can actually walk right inside the courtyard of the Stormbringer house. * You can peer in one of the windows of Ellenhall, and see the great chamber where the weathermaster councillors hold their moots, with its chandelier and high-backed chairs. * In the enclosed garden of one of the houses, a supernatural trow-wife can be seen limping about. Sometimes she kneels and digs in the soil, or hobbles into a garden shed. Other times she just lumbers out of sight. Have fun exploring! Plans for the future: We would like to include updated versions of the Marsh Scene and the Rowan Green scene in books #3 and #4 of the CROWTHISTLE series, in addition to extra scenes. Some suggestions for updates are as follows: * The user has the power to jump, run and fly. * Shape-shifting faerie creatures can be seen actually morphing from one form to another. * We'd like to include some game elements such as solving a puzzle in order to find a magical object or some interesting information, or the key to unlocking a gate. * More characters. * The ability to go inside every building and travel on every road. * Any more suggestions? Share them on the Message Board.