The Rumor Mill

The purpose of this collection is not to help spread them, but to help show how ridiculous some of them can be - especially when you put them all together. If all of the following had actually befallen Jean, we'd have the material for a really interesting story!

If you happen to come across one that isn't already represented here, please email it to me and I will add it to our collection!

• There will be two more books. Apparently, Auel is trying to get Crown to cough up more money.

• I heard she was ill - but that she was now back to work on the last two books.

• Last I heard, word was that Jean Auel has fallen victim to Alzheimer's Disease. Apparently, someone was supposed to be ghost writing with her.

• All I have heard is that she is hard at work on number 5, apparently with some revisions being due to recent archaeo/anthro developments.

• I do believe that there was a car accident or something.

• I have tried the usual sources in the UK and was told that only 4 were written and published in the USA, and that the series was never completed because they didn't sell too well there.

• Of late, I have been quashing the rumors that Ms. Auel is no longer among us. Well, in fact she is. She is not divorced. She is still writing.

• I am told the likelihood of Books 5 AND 6 coming out at the same time is strong. They will not, it is suggested, bring an end to the saga but rather lead into a new series and a new era. It is believed the TWO books will come out simultaneously, or one will be closely followed by the other, sometime in the spring or summer of 1997. (I've been hearing for some time the speculation of November 1997.) BOOKENDS ~ Bruce Taylor - Judy Taylor ~ e-mail: ajijic@aztec.asu.edu
  

• I met Jean Auel this weekend at a writer's conference and I asked her for news. She said she's very slow and she's had some major changes in her life to deal with -- liking moving into a different house. She's actually received letters saying "Are you dead?" But I AM working, she assures her readers.

  The fifth book, incidentally will take place largely in the south of France and the sixth in France, Italy & Spain. She is researching them together since they cover much the same territory. dloft@netcom.com (David J. Loftus)

• "...she died before she wrote the last 2 books in the series."

  I guess Jean Auel hasn't heard that she's supposed to be dead, as she's currently working on a new book.

• I just got information from the president of Doubleday Canada that Jean Auel's next book will be released in November 1997. kfarr@blvl.igs.net

• Ask the Bookseller FAQ: It is our understanding that Jean Auel has suffered a serious stroke and it is not known when, if ever, the next book in the series will be published. It will definitely not be this year.

  But, according to Ann Shayne from ProMotion,Inc/BookPage:

  Not true, not true! According to Jean Auel's agent in New York, Ms. Auel is very much alive and well and at work on her fifth volume of Earth's Children. She had tea with President Clinton recently, in fact. Her agent asks that we go online and spread the word that all is well with Ms. Auel.

• Bookseller FAQ correction:
  The rumour about her stroke is false. We received the following information from Jean Auel's son:

  It appears that the fifth book will not be ready for at least another year. Jean is my mother, and we speak often. She is very aware of the anxious fans who want to read the next book (including me!). All I can say is that she is healthy, happy, and working hard on finishing the book. You might also check out a web page, written by a fan in Cincinnati. It is very well done: http://www.geocities.com/Athens/6293/auel.html

  Much thanks to Kendall Auel for the information.

• I too, heard the stroke rumour in 1993.

• I had heard from a bookstore in Oshawa (Ontario, Canada), when enquiring on Jean's next book, that she had died.

• I talked personally to the representative of Crown at the 1996 Frankfurt Book Fair in Germany. And the answer to my inquiry about "when book 5 would be published" was:

  "Well, you know.... Mrs. Auel is a *very* rich woman and doesn't need to write anymore."

  Needless to say I didn't pursue the conversation after that one.

• There are so many people in my town that get together to discuss Jean Auel's books. We are anxiously awaiting her 5th. We had heard she has cancer. Rumor?

• From what I have heard from people who work in various bookstores here in Ottawa is that she has Alzheimer's and even though her research for the next book is complete she has yet to release it for publication.

• I had heard that she had cancer.

• Don't know the validity of my information, as I do not personally know the bookseller that my information came from, however, she too says November 1997 is likely, but says that there was a change in publishers, due to the aforementioned problems, which is the reason for the delay.

• The gossip I heard was that she was going through a messy divorce, so the books are tied up in red tape. But I didn't hear that from the most reliable of sources.

• The highly-anticipated fifth book of the Earth's Children tm series is due to be on the shelves later this year. According to the publisher, we can expect this book to appear around "late summer" ~ from Banamba's Cave.

• We heard that it had gone to the publisher, with a scheduled release for this spring. Our area bookstores say they know nothing about it.

• Jean Auel's next book is expected to be out by the Fall of 1998 ~ newsgroup message reply

• I too was hearing rumours about Ms. Auels death. ~ Kate Taylor - Toronto, Canada

• The rumor from the book store I go to is that Jean Auel was having legal confrontations and the book was tied up in court over something to do with the research end of it. (They said something about the research she (Jean Auel) had done was copied.) ~ Michelle Rollheiser - Camdenton, Missouri

• The (false) rumour that I heard regarding Jean M. Auel was that she was going through a divorce, and that the fifth book was not going to come out because her ex-husband had ghost-written the previous four and refused to do the fifth (possibly the reason for the divorce). ~ John Moore - Dalton, Georgia, USA

• Here's a doozy I picked up at my local bookstore. "Ms. Auel released the 5th book in Great Britian without the permission of her publisher, and the release of said book in the US was tied up in the courts." Now isn't that one to laugh over? ~ Melissa Ward - Ada, OK

• I called Thorndike Press's customer service line today and was told by the representative (Nicole??) that Thorndike is no longer associated with Jean Auel, and that Random House is now carrying her publications............hmmmmmm. ~ Stephen Stewart

  (I believe Thorndike was only publishing the large text copies in the US. Crown was publishing the 'regular' print hardcover books.)

• I'm hearing more rumors about the 5th book being published in Europe already. Not so. At least two translations are in 5 volumes (French and Polish). The Plains of Passage was split into two books because of the size in both translations:

  Le Clan de l'Ours des Cavernes La Valle des Chevaux Les Chasseurs de Mammouths vol 1 - Le Grand Voyage vol 2 - Le Retour d'Ayla

  Klan niedzwiedzia jaskiniowego Dolina koni Lowcy mamutow vol 1 - Rzeka powrotu vol 2 - Wielka wedrowka

• Here's one from Darlene:

  I asked Barnes & Noble at their web site if they knew when the 5th book would be out and this is the information they gave me:

  Thank you for your inquiry concerning Jean M. Auel's next book.

  We contacted Thorndike Press at 1-800-223-2348 and found her next book will be released in March 1999.

  If you have any additional questions or comments, please email us at service@bnonline.com . Or, if you prefer, you may call our Customer Service Center at 1-800-668-7053 (outside the United States, dial 201-750-4426). Customer Service Representatives are available to assist you 7 days a week from 9:00 a.m. until 9:00 p.m., ET.

  Sincerely,

  Customer Service Representative
  Barnes & Noble
  World's Largest Bookseller Online
  AOL keyword: barnesandnoble
  http://www.barnesandnoble.com

• I just asked at a bookstore and was told "this is strictly gossip, but..." and he repeated the rumor about the divorce, but said she was delaying the release because she didn't want her soon-to-be-ex-husband to get any of the proceeds.

• About 3 years ago I heard that book 5 was done but that there had been a copyright issue involved and that it was being settled in court.

• I have recently been hearing that indeed Jean has died and that a ghost writer is being considered to finish book 5. (AU)

• I was looking on the net and I stumbled across a page saying Auel died.

• I live in Scotland and always seem to have problems when trying to find out about book five in the Earth's Children Series. We are being told by bookshops that Jean is terminally ill and that she will not be writing books five and six herself, and that someone else will be commisioned to write the books for her.

• From a member of a list to which I belong: (dated 22 Feb 1998) This lady saw Jean Auel speak at a writer's conference recently and she said that #5 will hopefully be coming out later this year as in 1998; that she has had some ill health since writing "Plains" and had to put book #5 off until she could gvet up to complete her research on it. She intimated, but did not say for sure, that it would be about Durc and the Clan as he grows into adulthood. She did say "The character ofc Ayla is about as far as I could take her as a central figure in my writing." So I took that tgo mean that Ayla is now where she can be revisited as a character but is not perhaps the subject of any further books. Margaret Miller

  (Note: The bold print above is for those unbelievers who actually think Jean really did die!)

• Well i'm not sure if you heard this one but, what I heard was pretty good for a novel. Remember when Clan of the Cave Bear came out on Video? Well over here in the UK we heard that Jean was so disgusted with the film that she said she wouldn't realease any more books until it was recalled, then we heard that she'd been killed bacause she refued to write!

• I heard from the manager of the local Barnes and Noble that Ms. Auel has finished writing her fifth book, but that she is going through a divorce and won't publish the book until it is final. (US)

• We did hear that Jean had passed away over here in Australia.... even the Public Library told me that!!

• I thought you might to hear this ridiculous rumor that I got from the bookshop in Sydney - "Ms Auel died before the fifth book was finshed and her daughter is now writting the fifth book!" How stuipd is that! Anyway I rang HodderHeadline in Australia and they said that she is alive and kicking (which we knew anyway) and that the fifth and sixth book is due late '99 - they have not even received a manuscript yet.

• I am just writing on behalf of a bookstore in Newmarket, Ontario...they heard that Jean M. Auel was sick and unable to finish her 5th book.

• I thought that Jean Auel died several years ago. I had a friend who worked in a bookstore, and it was big news in their industry that such a wonderful author had passed away. From what I've heard, book number 5 was to be ghost-written by Jean's daughter. (US)

• I work in a book store in Athens, OH. and I contacted Crown publishing. Crown will be publishing book 5 and book 6. Our sales rep. latest information is the book 5 and 6 will be coming out at the same time in the fall of 1999 or spring of 2000. (Email dated Feb 99)

• I work in a book store and the manager went to an ordering bookfair last week. The time frame of publication covered went from January 1999 to late August of 1999 and unfortunately for myself and other family members who are Jean Auel fans there was no mention made of a release date for her new book. If she finishes her book this year it probably won't come out before late November or December of this year. (Email dated Feb 99)

• I heard one too, from both Waldenbook bookstores in my town. They told me that at least a dozen attempts had been submitted to the publishers and rejected, that Mrs Auel had lost her writing ability and that there never would be a book 5.

• Found at another site and emailed to me in March:

  My nephew works as an intern for the "Today" show helping to book fill-in guests. Anyway, a few weeks ago he was browsing over an advanced copy of the guests that have been pre-booked for a general time frame but who are still not booked for a specific show. As he neared the bottom of the list he came across Jean Auel's name (they're placed in chronological order for the 1999 year). The date next to her name read "October-December" and was underlined with a wavy line. The wavy line means that this time frame could easily change but more importantly that they need to contact Jean Auel's publicity agent around then to set a more specific show date. Guest bookings usually tend to coincide with the release dates so my guess is that you might expect to see the book out around that time as well.

• I was on an author's lounge chat room and was told that she died in a farm accident, her hair got caught in some kind of machine.

• I heard that she has died and was buried in the fall of '97.

• I heard that Ms. Auel and her husband were going through a messy divorce, and she was very upset about this, consequently, she moved to Australia, and is now writing a book about the Aborigines, with no plans to continue the Earth's Children Series. Isn't this ridiculous? And I got it from a Crown Bookstore Worker!

• Last week I was at Barnes and Nobles and asked when Book 5 would be out, and they informed me that it would be in their shelves in February 2000!!!!!!! (Email dated April 1st...)

• When I asked about book 5 at our local bookstore.. .(a major chain) I was told that Jean was in the midst of a divorce, that there was a legal battle over creative ownership... (postponing the release of any other books until a legal decision is made.. )That the publishers had gone to her home and were told by Jean that if people would stop mailing her, emailing her and bothering her in general that she would finish. (June Email)

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