What a strange world we live in. Just today, while driving back from Edinburgh, I heard on the news that John Peel, veteran DJ, had died of a heart attack while on holiday in Peru. It really made me stop in shock and sorrow - for as long as I have been listening to music that went beyond yer basic chart choons, I have been a fan of Peelie, right from listening to his show in the mid-70s under the blankets late at night. A lot of people praise him, very rightly, for giving a lot of punk and new wave etc bands their first break on radio, but they forget that he was playing a lot of left-field music before punk, mainly stuff that those who praise him now affect to despise, namely progressive rock. Peelie played the whole of Mike Oldfield`s Ommadawn on his show - and he had a liking for the stranger hues of prog like Van Der Graaf Generator, or straightout weirdness like Ivor Cutler and Viv Stanshall. But he had a vocal presence that was oddly reassuring, even when he was playing something by Napalm Death or the Electrohippies that sounded like a buzzsaw and a pneumatic drill engaged in a fight to the death. I will miss him very much.

As for developments on the Cobley front, well - big changes are afoot. I shall be moving to Moldova, the former Soviet republic sandwiched between Romania and Ukraine. This is only a temporary removal, as I shall be returning to Scotland to work on a new project in a few months.

On the Shadowkings front, Shadowmasque is finished and I have the imposing mass of the copyedited manuscript before me, which is and will absorb all my attention until just before my flight out of Blighty to points east. Shadowmasque is very slightly the longest of the 3 books, and I`m looking forward to finding what reader response will be - publication is provisionally set for July next year, when my publishers will also be reprinting bks 1 & 2 to take account of the vast need for my mega-epic - well, I can hope, can`t I?

Also, foreign editions continue to mount up; Azbooka in Russia have affirmed that they`ll be translating and publishing Shadowgod, and contracts have been signed for the German editions to be published by Heyne. As for other signs of interest, nibbles of the bookish kind - well, certain rumours have been whispered in dark temples at the edge of the world, and exchanged between messengers and emissaries in out-of-the-way bookshops where only the valiant dare to tread - okay, okay, thats about all I know, but I`ll keep you informed.

And of course, I`ll be keeping a beady eye on developments in Ammurica on Nov2nd - possibly the most important/ominous presidential election of modern times, given the unshakeable support that W is maintaining despite his awful record, domestically and on the world stage. Enough, I could rant for weeks if not for Britain….
Take care, and y`all have a good time while I`m gone, y`hear?

Pip pip!
Mike