Dammit...

Right, well, SOMEBODY at Harper Collins messed up, and I am NOT a happy writer. But, for those of you who may have heard, yes, it is true, you are getting a Tanith Low novella coming you way early in 2013 so, um...

SURPRISE!

Grrrrr.

And before you get carried away with what it might be about or who might be in it, the synopsis provided was an early one, before I'd actually started the damn thing. Biggest change? Ghastly ain't in it. Probably.

So what IS it about, you ask?

It's about God-Killer weapons. Four of them, scattered around the world. Four weapons that could hurt- even kill- Darquesse whenever she arrives. Tanith, being thoroughly devoted to dear Darquesse, does not want these weapons falling into enemy hands. So she recruits a gang of misfits and villains and off she goes to snatch them before the good guys come calling.

Now, if you'll excuse me, I'm going to stomp away and find someone to beat up...



EDIT

Also, to all my east coast Ameriminions, you better stay safe during this storm and all these power outages. That is an ORDER.

Happy Birthday to Meeeee

(I'm not exactly sure WHERE this image came from. Andrew, from my agent's office, sent this to me this morning. Haven't a clue where he found it, but it is AWESOME.)


Hullo there.

It's my 38th birthday.

First of all, thank you for all the birthday wishes I've been reading online. You care, you really care... sniffle... It almost made up for the fact that I will have no birthday cake today, and I have no one to sing me happy birthday. But that's fine. That's okay. I was woken up this morning by a birthday text, which would have started my day off with a smile were it not for the fact that the text was from O2, my phone provider...

Even so, thank you, O2. It's nice to know you care.

Before you feel TOO sorry for me, I celebrated my birthday last Saturday, when we combined it with a Halloween party because three of my nieces will be down the country on Halloween night. So, y'know... my birthday was hijacked by three princesses and a pirate. But that's fine.

So, what did I GET for my birthday? I shall tell you. I got a remote controlled toy car! From my brother and sisters! They got me a remote controlled toy car! Yes! They did! For no reason! For no reason I can possibly comprehend, they got me a remote controlled toy car! Thank you, brother and sisters! Just what I've always wanted but could never put into words! Joy of joys!

So, after picking myself up from the floor, it was my mother's turn to give me the present from my folks. It was a shirt! A shirt! A blue shirt! But not just any kind of blue shirt! A blue denim shirt! DENIM! The most awesome material you could possibly make a shirt FROM! A blue denim shirt!

Truly, I am blessed. It's not like when their birthdays come around I buy them computers or TVs or designer handbags. Nope. That's not what happens at all.

So you wait, my family! You just wait till your birthdays roll around again! You cannot BEGIN to guess what WONDER of a present I shall be buying you!

Joy of joys!

Frankenkids

Just a short note to let you know that if you have any younger brothers or sisters and they like a fun, creepy little scare on the run-up to Halloween (and really, who doesn't?) then my suggestion is to check out Frankenkids, by Annie Graves.

Annie Graves may or may not have been helped out in the ideas department by a gent called David Maybury. The name sound familiar? I've developed a habit- especially in the short stories- of killing off the Maybury brothers in increasingly horrible ways, and the real-life David Maybury is now trying to get his own back. In Frankenkids, the poor boys who are the victims of the terrible Uncle Fraser are named Landy, and the older one is called Derek...

I'm not going to tell you what terrible fate befalls them. All I will say is that David Maybury better watch out. In the next short story, he's getting his head cut off.