(another linguistic tidbit) Added to my notes at lower right. As a child in Luxembourg, I started learning German in first grade and French in second grade. Luxembourg school children still do that today, though they start on English before entering high school.

Here's my note. I have it ingrained in me that the French spelling is 'Luxembourg' and the German spelling is 'Luxemburg.' Therefore, the French spelling should be Luxembourgeois, and the German spelling for the same concept (a person or thing from Luxembourg or Luxemburg) should be 'Luxemburgisch' (or, I suppose, 'Luxemburger.' That's as in Luxemburger Wort, which could translate into English as Luxemburgish Word or Luxemburg Word or Luxemburger Word (but not Luxembourgish Word).

It really grates on my inner editor to see the common usage 'Luxembourgish' in the press and elsewhere. It just looks wrong to me, as a professional editor and writer with language skills that one would take for granted in much of Europe. So I will suggest that the German spelling should be 'Luxemburgisch' and the French spelling 'Luxembourgois,' depending on one's context and usage. A woman from Luxembourg (or Luxemburg) would be either in German 'eine Luxemburgerin' or in French 'une Luxembourgeoise.' A man, likewise, would be either 'ein Luxemburger' or 'un Luxembourgeois.'

In Anglophone usage, I am comfortable with 'Luxemburgish' or 'Luxembourgois' given that modern English has lost the 'c' found in the German 'sch' ending. A German, therefore, would learn Englisch, whereas a visitor from San Diego or Melbourne or London or the like would speak English to the Englisch-Lernende.

For this novel you invented the term Progressive Thriller. What can we understand from that?

Readers should enjoy the story and find it suspenseful. That's what makes it a thriller. And yet I find it important to fortify the story with serious ideas that will make it progressive. The reader should be moved toward contemplation, recognize the moral of the story, and make something of its ideas.

Why did you borrow the story structure of Buchan?

Old stories have long fascinated me. Shakespeare wrote little that was original, but knew well to borrow from the likes of Ovid, Boccaccio, and Petrach. Take Romeo and Juliet for example: Shakespeare looked to several contemporary novelists with that theme on the Continent (French, Italian), even as the archetype was conveyed in Ovid's Metamorphoses.* I analyzed John Buchan's 1915 novel, and figured out how to make the structure work for me.** Maybe others will do the same. That's how literature works.

The story plays out mainly in Luxembourg's Valley of Seven Castles. What fascinated you about this (tourist) region?

I began by wanting to wrap Luxembourg into an adventure story. I stumbled on the information about the Valley of Seven Castles, about which in general I didn't know very much.***

Did you come to Luxembourg for research?

No, sorry to say, but I had the Internet and my memories.

For Luxemburgish readers especially it is interesting that there are a few Lëtzebuerger sentences. Regrettably, there were a few errors among those. Did you not have a Luxemburgeois editor?

You're right. My cousin Jean read the book and pointed those out to me (**** in the galley you read, which I also sent to him). Thank you for pointing those out. Corrections are being made in the next edition. … (continued next page)…Sarah Dawson, my talented and brilliant editor, did a great job on the English, but she knows no Lëtzebuergesch (and my long-ago memories are imperfect). But see my further added note at lower left for another linguistic tidbit.

*NOTE: Ovid in turn borrowed that story from a far older tale set in Babylon at least half a millennium earlier, presenting the story under the names of Pyramus and Thisbe. Who knows how many thousands of years ago someone first told the story of Romeo and Juliet (maybe using Sumerian or Sanskrit or Harappan names or who knows what).

**NOTE: Specifically, I set myself to the task, thinking that if Buchan's story was not only a classic, but an archetype (a story that begs to be retold endless times from generation to generation, for many centuries) then I might have a successful story in hand. My only self-critique is that my novel turned out, on the face of it, to be much fatter than Buchan's; *HOWEVER* I was also conscious the whole time of how it would work in screenplay form. So hello, any producer or director out there (hello! hello!) if you want a tried and proven archetype modernized to our day, here it is!

***NOTE: I remembered this about Luxembourg: that is is green and hilly, mountainous in the northeast, with dense (Ardennes) forest. In fact, my grandmother's ancestors lived for centuries in that area, around the town of Wiltz (which I included in the story). Also, I should point out that, as a child with the Luxembourg variation of Cub Scouts (Wöllefchen) I stayed with my troop at one such castle. I think it might have been Hollenfels. Amazing places. I have seen at least two of the movies made from Buchan's archetypal classic, and the English countryside, with its green rolling hills, rivers, castles, etc. captured in those films reminded me of Luxembourg.