So, there I am last night, watching Stargate SG1 on the Sci-fi Channel, because the episode was Mobius, which caused Sonny and I no end of brain-hurt, trying to work out where that wretched temporally enhanced jumper would finish up in the new time line, so we could use the thing in Roswell.

Anyway... an ad break comes on and they're showing an ad for Supanova, the Pop Culture Expo I'm a guest at in Brisbane a couple of weeks from now.

Hey, says I to Secondborn and BFF.  Look! I'm a guest at Supanova, a couple of weeks from now...

The voice over is offering all sorts of enticements... Billy D Williams (Lando Calrissian from Star Wars), Aaron Douglas (the cute flight chief from Battlestar Galactica), Rod Glass (Shepherd Book from Firefly) and so on, while flashing up pictures of the celebrities and other groovy things that hopefully will make Brisbanites part with the entrance fee to go along...

And then, to my utter astonishment,  the cover of a couple of my books pop up on the screen, too. Seriously.

There are two explanations for this. Either I was hallucinating, or I've been sucked into an alternate universe, where people think I'm a drawcard for SF fans along the same lines as Lando Calrissian.

As I wasn't alone when I was watching the ad, and the others saw it too, I have to discount the psychotropic drugs in my pizza theory.

Therefore, I can only conclude that I am now in a galaxy far, far away...

And in two weeks time, I'll be schmoozing with people who know Joss Whedon and have Yoda's phone number.

Clearly, the Force is with me:)

56,298 / 165,000 (34.1%)

Just for fun, here's some more completely out-of-context lines from Palace of Impossible Dreams to whet your appetite, but which will, in fact, do nothing more than confuse you...hehehe

Declan Hawkes, about to interrogate yet another character (Hmm, he seems to be doing that a lot)

Prince Mathu discovering they've made a bit of an ooops...

Tiji the Chameleon Crasii...

God, I love my job:)

55,369 / 165,000 (33.6%)

Why does going to the cinema during the day when everyone else is at work feel so deliciously decadent? I'm off to see The Last King of Scotland today. I'm going to the afternoon session. I have written nearly two chapters today. I have nobody to meet, pick up or care for...

So why do I feel vaguely guilty about it?

I don't need to feel guilty. I am beholden to nobody and not required to account for my movements to anyone. I have put in a good day's work. Even better, I actually have to watch this film for my job as a movie reviewer.

Perhaps there is some truth to the accusation that's been levelled at me more than once, that I'm a manic workaholic who doesn't know how to relax:)

Whatever... I'm going to the movies. I am going to eat popcorn and ice-cream and have a Diet Coke with them, because, as anybody in the know will tell you, diet drinks with junk food cancels out the calories.

Anyway, technically, I'm working, so any calories not cancelled out by the tumor-inducing chemicals in diet drinks will be wiped out by the fact that I'm on the job, and therefore anything I eat isn't fattening.*

53,662 / 165,000 (32.5%)

*And you wonder why I write fantasy.... LOL

I am turning into the Dog Whisperer. I have to. I am sick of 80 kg of manic dog running around the house "playing".

So I'm doing the whole "dominant dog in the pack " behaviour thing. I am barking and growling to break up the dogs when they get out of hand. I am taking their food away, because I am the pack leader and I get to decide who eats, who doesn't who plays, who sits it out, and who gets the toys.

And let me tell you, it works a treat. I have trained the dogs to sit and wait while I'm cooking dinner. Kali will even stay for more than 30 secs at a time.  We've got them eating only when they're told they're allowed to. If they come into my office, they know to sit and be quiet, because nobody's allowed to play in there.

Now, if only I can get through to Mount Bruce (who is creeping up toward 45kg and he's not a year old yet) that when we say "Brucie bed!" we don't mean my bed, and that just because he can take up most of a queen-sized bed when he sprawls out, that doesn't mean he owns it....

Oh, and in case you're wondering, the pecking order in the pack goes like this...

• Me (naturally)
• Secondborn - 'cause she's the other human in the pack
• JoJo the Cat - no power in the 'verse gets in the way of this animal
• Stevie the Cat - who bows to no creature - except JoJo
• Fluffy the Maltese - who can beat up a mastiff by hanging off his jowls
• Oscar the Maltese (or Prince of the Fatty Pumbahs as we like to think of him) - he of the goldfish memory who will bark at anything new... which means anything he hasn't seen in the last 15 minutes
• Mount Bruce - a big, soft, cuddly, thick-as-two-planks 45kg walking natural disaster just looking for a place to happen
• Kali the Boxer - she who is here in rehab for an eating disorder. Has now reached an acceptable weight and is looking like a dog, again, rather than one of the undead. Alert the paparazzi.

50,083 / 165,000 (30.4%)

Got the release dates for the Wolfblade trilogy in the UK today. Not because Orbit thought it might be nice to let me know. Not because someone told my agent. No... as usual, I found out because a fan spotted the books on Amazon UK and emailed to let me know.

You know, it's a good thing they're in the phone book and send me reprints every few months, otherwise, I'd start to wonder if Orbit UK was a figment of my imagination.

Although, I have to say, I do periodically get emails from them telling me who's been promoted and how happy they are with their fabulously rocketing careers in publishing (only Orbit does this, btw... weird) .

Anyway, can't show you covers yet (I'll be the last to know about them, too, I suspect, hehehe) but I can give you the dates:

Wolfblade:     17 Jan 2008
Warrior:          7 Feb 2008
Warlord:         8 Mar 2008





In the meantime, Stargate SG1-Roswell is rocketing up the charts and is already on the Amazon UK Sci-Fi/Fantasy Top 50 and it's still a month away from being released:)

47,870 / 165,000 (29.0%)