Patrick Carman has come a long way since he first began visiting the Tri-Cities to promote his self-published children’s fantasy novel, The Dark Hills Divide.After being picked up by publisher Scholastic Inc., the Walla Walla writer’s story of the 12-year-old heroine Alexa and the mythical Land of Elyon spent six months on the New York Times best-seller list, selling half a million copies so far.Now, with the second book in his Land of Elyon series, Beyond the Valley of Thorns, coming out, Carman’s coming back to Kennewick to share more of the stories that began as bedtime entertainment for his daughters.At 6 p.m. today Carman will read and give out limited-edition posters bearing maps of the Land of Elyon at the Barnes and Noble store at Columbia Center mall in Kennewick.For fans of The Dark Hills Divide, Carman has some words of reassurance — all of the favorite characters, like the diminutive Yipes, Murphy the squirrel and Darius the wolf, will be returning in his second book.But their adventures this time around are going to expand far beyond the walled cities of the first book — in fact, they may be traveling beyond the Valley of Thorns itself, which as any student of the Land of Elyon can tell you, is pretty far.And the characters will be facing some more weighty decisions in the new book, Carman said in a phone interview last week — decisions involving very grown-up matters indeed.”I think there are more twists and turns in this book,” Carman said, “And we’re really getting much more heavily into good versus evil in this book, and the decisions (Alexa) has to make.”The book also delves into the history of its mystical setting, and brings in several new characters who will play significant roles as the series unfolds, including a new villain, Victor Grindall.”It also ends on a cliffhanger note,” he said. “I should warn fans now that it may be a little tougher to wait for the third (book).”Carman has traveled far himself, recently ending a four-month, cross-country book tour with his family, driving in an Land of Elyon-decorated bus.For the first leg of his new tour, he said he’s returning to the southeast Washington communities that helped get his self-published book on the map the first time around.”The Tri-Cities has been so great,” he said. “I’ve been to most of the schools there, and it’s been just a great, supportive place.”For more information about Carman, The Dark Hills Divide and Beyond the Valley of Thorns, those interested can visit the Web site www.landofelyon.com.

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