Apologies for not posting last week. My cold turned feral.

Some good news: Wet Ink has accepted a short story and it will be published in the December 2010 issue. (Doin’ the happy dance. Point the toes, wave the arms, shuffle the feet…) It will be one of the ‘sneak read’ stories on the Wet Ink website, so if you can’t buy a copy of the journal you’ll be able to read it online.

I’d like to recommend three books I’ve read in the past few months.
1. Markus Zusak, The Book Thief, Picador, 2008. (Adult fiction) I’m ashamed it’s taken me this long to read it. What an amazing book. There aren’t enough adjectives to do it justice. The man is a genius. The main narrator is Death, but he’s not a comic character like Pratchett’s Death (one of my favourite fictional characters). However, that doesn’t mean the story is all grim. There’s joy, there’s whimsy, there’s tension, there’s courage, there’s love… It’s no wonder this was a best-seller world-wide.
2. Rosanne Hawke, Marrying Ameera, HarperCollins, 2010. (Young Adult) The story of an Australian/Pakistan girl, who thinks she’s going on a holiday to visit relatives in Pakistan, only to discover she’s being married off. Hawke writes with respect and sensitivity, and by the end of the book we are all much wiser about the nuances of Pakistan culture. It’s a beautiful, engaging book.
3. David Almond, My Name is Mina, Hachette, 2010. (Children’s) Ok, I said ‘Children’s’ but discerning adults will love this extraordinarily clever book, too. Almond is blessed with wit, creativity, insight and wordcraft. His work sings. Perhaps it helps that I see a lot of myself in Mina, but I just love her. You will too.

Thank the Lord for talented people like the three I’ve listed here. The world’s a better place for them being in it. Happy reading, everyone.