I’ve had the great pleasure to have read most of the SK library, am now reading duma key. I am an artist and am curious about the Venus pencils used in the novel. Venus pencils were acquired by Faber-Castell in 1973 and went out of production under that name. If this book was published in 2008, where is he getting the numerous sets of pencils? They are available as rarities on eBay. I wonder about this, would find it out of character to let that detail slide. Or is it something I’ll find out later in the book—he’s found a portal to artists materials from another dimension that give him these heightened powers of vision?