Several of you have asked about PHANTOM STALLION movies, TV and merchandise. Here’s what I can tell you –
I’d love to have a PHANTOM STALLION movie or TV series available for my readers. Making movies is a skill far different from writing books, so this isn’t a challenge I’d attempt on my own. I need an expert, and so far the perfect director hasn’t approached me — though I have had quite a few offers and I’m looking at one now.

Here’s the thing…I’d want the movie or TV series to be a delight, not a disappointment to my readers, so I’m being pretty picky!

About auditioning…It’s my understanding that the casting director selects the actors and actresses for the movie and for TV series, though of course it would be incredibly exciting if those chosen were PHANTOM readers! In fact, I’d LOOOOOOOVE that!!!!

As soon as a great director contacts me and we make a deal, I can promise you I’ll post the news on my website — or you might just hear my shouts of joy from where you are!

Merchandise is on its way! The Phantom Phanclub is still getting its website together, but you might keep your eye on http://www.phantom-phanclub.com/home.html and RESCUE (all profits go to help nonprofit horse rescues) is putting together a Phantom basket which will have an original Phantom plush horse, an original song on cd about the Phantom, by Lacy J. Dalton and other goodies.

If you’d like to keep track of any of this stuff, please watch my blog on TerriFarley.com or my MySpace or Facebook accounts or, of course, PHANTOMSTALLION.com which will be getting an extreme makeover very soon.

Hugs to you all!

Terri

Your Fan,
Lucy ;;)

And, why do you say not to share your ideas for writing until you’ve written it?

About my pets — I’m sad to say that I lost two of my big dogs recently, and I’m still sad about them, but I do have Zito, a nutso Brittany Spaniel/Golden Retriever mix and she keeps me plenty busy. And Sherlock, my beautiful gray tabby keeps her in line. In addition to those two, I have a tank of tropical fish, the three horses in the pastures next door (Shamrock, Whiskey & Darlin’) and a plethora of wild life — quail, deer, and the occasional cougar.

Tori,

I’m not related to Walter Farley, but I’m sure when he was alive he loved horses, too. As you’ve probably noticed, my stories take place far from the world of Thoroughbred racing and one of the reasons Samantha is my heroine is that most adventurous horse stories I read while growing up had boys as the main characters and that was something I wanted to fix!

Ali,
Thanks so much for being on the lookout for WHI #2 THE SHINING STALLION. I talked with my editor this week and she’s seen the first copies off the press! She says it should be in stores just before August 21, its onsale date!

Best to you all,
Terri

I have to tell you that Pani is taking his own sweet time about coming home to Wild Horse Island. He hasn’t even called yet! Spring and Summer are busy times when you’re rodeoin’, but still.

You will find out all about Megan’s father, Ben Kato in RAIN FOREST ROSE and a mystery surrounding his death will be solved, too.

Lydia,

About the villain…Darby just let me know that she had WAY too much to deal with already for me to throw another, bigger challenge at her in the first book.

She will meet a BAD guy in THE SHINING STALLION. And he doesn’t live far away at all. Not far enough, anyway.

Aloha!

Terri

You asked if there’s meaning hidden in my books and I love that question. As an English major & teacher, I’ve been dragged through classes in which teachers made symbolism a chore. There’s no reason it should be troublesome; humans see it naturally. If we see an old dog sleeping on his master’s grave, we see loyalty. If you’re given a flower, you see affection. So, if I write stories in which horses and humans have problems that are solved in similar ways, is that symbolism? You decide.

Can I share one of the most incredible “symbolism” experiences I’ve ever had? It’s grown even larger in my mind since I realized it was the day I saw the real Phantom…so maybe this is a good place to answer Cassie’s question about where I got the idea for the Phantom Stallion series, too…

I was gathering research for a magazine article on “the last great cattle drive.” It began at Soldier Meadows, Nevada and went to Ravendale, California. We were on horses, moving cattle for ten days. I was interviewing cowboys and was late when they assigned horses and I ended up with a fourteen hand bay mustang named Ace. He was a tricky little guy from the beginning and most of the things the fictional Ace pulls on Sam, the real Ace pulled on me.

One night, we had a driving rainstorm (yes, I was on nighthawk duty, of course). The storm was so serious, we had to trench around our tents…like making a moat, so that we weren’t washed out of our sleeping bags. I remember a cowboy showing up with a shovel and asking, “You call 911, ma’am?”

The next morning dawned with a combination of sun, mist and steam rising off rocks. I rode drag, behind the herd, so that if Ace performed his daily rodeo (he continued to pretend to be TERRIFIED of the wind-ruffled pages of my notebook…and once he even tried to roll with me), I wouldn’t have much of an audience.

As we were riding, I looked up a little slot canyon and saw a white horse. I did a double take, trying to figure out if it was mist or mustang and that was when a cow broke from the herd and Ace — a better cowpony that I am a cowgirl — zinged after her. By the time we’d brought the cow back to the herd, we were far past the little canyon…and when we rode back, after all the commotion, of course there was nothing there!

That’s where my idea came from and here’s the symbolism part..

An hour or so later, a rainbow appeared. Next, virga (rain which doesn’t reach the ground) appeared in a curtain beneath the rainbow’s arch. And then two whirwinds appeared way, way out on the range ahead of the herd…and arranged themselves one on each end of the rainbow. Know what the cow boss said to me?

“Now tell me that don’t mean nothin’…”

But none of us knew what it did mean. Then.

Later guys,

Terri