Enlarge By Aaron Johanson Jean Auel says she's "relieved, happy and sad" to be ending her Earth's Children series. JEAN AUEL'S EARTH'S CHILDREN SAGA JEAN AUEL'S EARTH'S CHILDREN SAGA The Clan of the Cave Bear (1980)

The Valley of Horses (1982)

The Mammoth Hunters (1985)

The Plains of Passage (1990)

The Shelters of Stone (2002)

The Land of Painted Caves (March 2011) She has spent a night in a snow cave in January, softened hides with deer brains she has squished with her bare hands, and learned to start a fire without matches. Those survivalist skills, gleaned through research, have served author Jean Auel well in her best-selling Earth's Children series, which began with the iconic The Clan of the Cave Bear in 1980. Sept. 30 marks the 30th anniversary of the novel set 35,000 years ago in prehistoric Europe during the Ice Age. Cave Bear and four sequels star blond, blue-eyed Cro-Magnon Ayla, an early modern human. Three decades later, with 45 million copies of the books sold worldwide, the publishing equivalent of a party has begun. On Oct. 6, the series will be released for the first time as e-books; paperback editions will be reissued with new covers next spring; and on March 29, 2011, Crown will publish The Land of Painted Caves, the sixth and final book in the series. "I'm relieved, happy and sad," says Auel, 74, of the series' wrap-up novel. "What am I going to do with my life? Keep on writing." When we meet Ayla at age 5 in Cave Bear, she has lost her family in an earthquake. She's taken in by a woman of the Clan, a tribe of more primitive Neanderthals who find Ayla's Cro-Magnon appearance ugly and strange. In Painted Caves, Ayla, now about 25, is training to become a spiritual leader and healer among the Zelandoni (Cro-Magnons). Her training includes a series of harrowing journeys. For Auel, who was in her 40s when she began writing, it was important to paint an accurate picture of Ice Age people. "I started with the same view Hollywood had at the time, that there were these ugga-mugga savages and cavemen who wore leopard skins over one shoulder because the other shoulder never got cold. That's the typical picture, but after researching, I discovered so much more." Accuracy became the author's obsession, so much so that she fought to win back the movie rights after 1986's The Clan of the Cave Bear starring Darryl Hannah. Auel hated its unrealistic portrayal of prehistoric life but doesn't rule out a future movie deal if she has script approval. Busy putting the final touches on Painted Caves, Auel says future books might continue the story of Ayla, even though this is it for the Earth's Children series. "Who knows?" Auel says. "I'm leaving all avenues open." Guidelines: You share in the USA TODAY community, so please keep your comments smart and civil. Don't attack other readers personally, and keep your language decent. Use the "Report Abuse" button to make a difference. You share in the USA TODAY community, so please keep your comments smart and civil. Don't attack other readers personally, and keep your language decent. Use the "Report Abuse" button to make a difference. Read more