If you're a Firefly fan, then you have to see this.

It's the Fisher Price Firefly collection which somebody with a wicked sense of humor recently posted on YouTube.

I was particularly taken with Inara in her shuttle, and Wash driving the mule. :)

Some people have the most amazing imaginations and way too much time on their hands, me thinks...

As for me, when I stop laughing I'm going to kick back and relax. Secondborn is out of town tonight, so I shall spend the evening in total control of the TV remote. After I've fed Bruce and Oscar and Fluffy, that is... and Kali (the boxer we're babysitting)... oh, and JoJo and Stevie, the cats... oh... and the other three cats she's minding for a friend in the next street, whose names I don't even know (they all answer to "pussy" thank god), despite having  to change their litter box.

Why is it I never seem to stop running around after my kids?

So, here's the thing... after being sworn to secrecy about the cover of the new Stargate SG1 novel, Roswell, it pops up on the Forbidden Planet website, along with the blurb neither my co-author Sonny Whitelaw nor I have seen, and a new publication date a whole month earlier than we knew about.

Authors really are the last to know this stuff:)

Anyway, now it's out there, I suppose there's no harm in showing off the brilliant cover (which still may change, I suspect - note the absence of cast members, whom I think are contractually bound to appear on the covers), reprinting the blurb, which is actually spot on, or putting up an extract for you to read.



When a Stargate malfunction throws Colonel Cameron Mitchell, Dr. Daniel Jackson, Teal'c and Colonel Sam Carter back in time, they only have minutes to live. But their rescue by an unlikely duo – General Jack O’Neill and Vala Mal Doran – is only the beginning of their problems…



Note the time-travel reference... and the Asgard on the cover of the book. No prizes for guessing where SG1 winds up. hehehe

And if that doesn't give it away, note the title - Roswell (It was originally called Post Hoc, BTW, as in the Latin saying post hoc, ergo proctor hoc, but Sonny had an epiphany late one night and decided that seeing as how this book spent much of its time in Roswell, maybe that would make a better title...LOL)

And just in case you're wondering how much of the Roswell legend is true, have a listen to this. It's the original news report of the US government finding a flying saucer in Roswell in 1947.

Yup. It's finally happened. My newest baby has flown the coop and has stepped out in the big wide world, all on its own...

So far, the big wide world has been very nice to my new baby. The fan mail has been universally glowing - no how could you end it like this! rants; no religious experiences (you know, the Dear God, how did this get published? emails)  The reviews have been kind, too.

And nobody has emailed me with any typos yet. Always a good thing:)

Best of all, after only 2 days on the shelves, it has popped up on its first bestseller list (at Galaxy Books). Still waiting for the official figures, of course, but it's always nice to get a call from your editor two days after a book comes out, telling you they're happy with the sales figures... :)

So, if you're in Australia... run out and buy your copy from any good bookstore (or a bad one, I'm not fussy). Right now.

If you're in North America, you'll have to wait until January next year. If you're in Germany, France or Russia, I'll let you know soon, when it's due out over there.

If you're in the UK... just buy the damn thing from Galaxy now. Orbit are not even releasing Wolfblade until next year, so I reckon the release date for this series in Britain will be somewhere up around 2029, which is a shame, because if you read my blog of a couple of days ago, you'll know the world is going to end in 2028. Bummer:)

There are two undeniable facts. I am renovating my kitchen. I am a gadget geek. And I have found a tap (faucet) that dispenses chilled water on demand on one side and boiling water (hot enough to make tea or coffee) on the other.

Secondborn thought this was a grand idea. Until I mentioned what it cost. My conversation at breakfast with Secondborn went something like this:


So... there you have it. I have been guilt-tripped out of my groovy tap.  *sigh*

Wonder what she's going to say when I tell her about the sensor tap I bought for the bathroom that turns on automatically when you put your hands under it? tee-hee

For the last 15 years, my youngest child has held the title of King of the Scammers, for a stunt he pulled when he was about 12-years-old.

In case you're wondering what the scam was, he conned me into buying him a bag of little plastic army figures. I think it was about $2 for a bag of 50. A few weeks later he had lot of spending money. And I do mean lots of spending money. "I'll spring for the pizzas for dinner for the family" quantities of spending money.

Knowing he hadn't got the money from me or his father, and figuring the only way a 12-year-old boy could come by that much ready cash was dealing drugs, I confronted Thirdborn and demanded to know where the money had come from.

Turns out he'd commissioned one of his friends to hand-paint, in glorious and exacting detail, all the little army men (for free) and them sold them off at school for $2 each. Then the cheeky little sod finished up by telling me he'd sold all of the last bag of plastic soldiers and would I mind buying him another bag so he could keep the business going!

Hence the title, I'm sure you'll appreciate, "King of the Scammers".

Thought we'd be carving that title on his headstone. Until today.

I had to go to a meeting this morning. Secondborn came with me, and because it wasn't that far, we decided to walk and to bring Mount Bruce along for the exercise. Being Saturday, of course, Dace had to come too.

So we walk to the meeting. We tie Bruce up outside the hall and leave Dace with all the other kids playing outside while waiting for their parents, with the instruction to keep an eye on Bruce.

We go inside. We're sitting there waiting for the meeting to start. About 15 minutes later, Dace comes in and sits down beside Secondborn.

How's Bruce? Secondborn asks.

Fine, says Dace.

The kids outside aren't bothering him, are they?

Nope.

Are you sure?

It's all under control, he assures her. They've got tickets.

They've got what?

Tickets, he explains. They've got a line and they're taking turns. I sold them all tickets so they could have a pat.

Behold, a new king takes the throne. And he is only seven.

God help planet Earth when he's seventeen:)