Greetings and happy May Day! Last week, Wednesday 28th, I was through in Edinburgh for an event at the bookstore Ottakars on George Street, along with my Simon&Schuster compadre, (Debbie) Miller Lau. We were there to do some readings, a bit of question answering and signing anything that came our way. There were some 2 dozen or more folk there and it seemed to go off pretty well, even tho` Ottakars were unable to source copies of book1 Shadowkings from S&S.....

Wine and orange juice was imbibed, and a coupla guys from an org called Northman Fight Arrangers were also in attendance, impressively tartaned up and toting some chunkily authentic bits of weaponry, an axe and a long sword. Naturally your humble author got his mitts on both of these pieces just for an experimental hefting thereof (and to pose for a coupla daft photies!). After the do was done, we removed ourselves round the corner to Yo Sushi where I was treated (courtesy of S&S - Ta, Digby!) to various sushi comestibles - for the 1st time. Yes, true. And I found it all to be very tasty indeed - lots of little snacks, it seemed to me, one after another until suddenly I realised that I was replete!

Work on Shadowmasque is going well - I know where the story is going and I`m happy with the progress made. I have plans in mind for some self-driven publicity once I`ve finished and delivered bk3, something along the lines of distributing posters, flyers etc around a few bookstores in the central belt, and perhaps pursuing possible radio interviews and the like.

Also, the proofreading for the `Iron Mosaic` collection is done, so the first proper print run should be coming in a few weeks.

As for world news, suffice to say that the Iraq disaster remains uppermost in my thoughts. To say that we are pursuing doomed policies is to put it mildly - our Prime Minister is completely missing the point when he says that everyone should get behind the reconstruction and security efforts regardless of stances prior to the invasion. As long as UK and US troops remain in Iraq, the horror and the pain and the deaths will go on and on - the US/UK presence is now the problem and need to be pulled out as soon as possible.

If only.

Anyway, till next time,

take care and Do svidaniya!

cheers - Mike