for those of you in Melbourne (and surrounds), Dymocks in Southland are hosting an informal Halloween (costumes encouraged but not obligatory) get together, and I’ll be there along with members of the Australian Horror Writers Association. If you get the chance, come and join us for conversation, drinks, signings and maybe even some spooky fun!

The details:

Date: Friday 31st October, 2008
Venue Dymocks Southland, Shop 3067, Westfield Shopping Centre, Cheltenham VIC
Time: 5.00pm – 9.00 pm (arrive anytime, stay as long as you like)
Price: FREE!
Register Attendance: Chuck McKenzie, (03) 9584 1245

In other news, I’ve almost finished moving out of the old house, but it’s taking a whole lot more time than I need or want right now. For the last two weeks I’ve basically worked every day at the joint (I’m sure the junk has been busily breeding away when I wasn’t watching it) and I’m basically a mass of bruises (falling down stairs while carrying boxes is never a good idea. lol).  Which means that writing has slipped by the wayside thanks to the fact I’m totally stuffed by the time I make it home each night.  Of course, deadlines are deadlines, and I now have to write 8 pages a day for the next two months to get the book finished and corrected on time. Easy (NOT!). At least I have nearly a 100 pages done–better than starting at the beginning, I guess.

Just found out tonight that Wolfsbane and Mistletoe, the Christmas werewolf anthology edited by Charlaine Harris and Toni L.P Kelner (and in which I have a short that features a werewolf hero), made the NYT Hardcover extended list at #31! Which is pretty damn cool. A huge thank you to everyone who bought the book and made that possible

In other news, I have the covers for the UK and Australian versions of Deadly Desire and Memory Zero, and I have to say, they both rock (I LOVE the new look for the Riley series):

Here’s the Memory Zero Cover:

And here’s the Deadly Desire cover:

I’ve been off line for the past four days thanks to the fact that I’m shifting house, and it’s so good to finally have access to the outside world again! I had no idea just how addicted I was to jumping online to read email or simply cruise the net–being without it was pretty much my version of hell. Well, it is when you add the fact that I also had no TV and no Foxtel! I did at least get the dvd player and half the sound system up and running (the other other requires professional installation via the roof), so I had movies. I watched Ironman last night–brilliant movie (Yes, you probably already know that, but it’s taking me a while to catch up. lol) The Foxtel guy is supposed to be coming today, so hopefully I’ll have that up and running soon. It had better be all running by Monday–if I miss the next episode of Supernatural, there will be screams!

The move itself went as well as these things can go. The new house is a fair bit smaller than the old one, so my furniture dominates the rooms. And I’ve discovered I have far too much in the way of junk–most of which is still laying in drifting piles in the old house. lol. I’m gradually sorting through it and bringing up the stuff I’m going to keep, but it’s going to take a while.

Writing wise, I haven’t done a whole lot, although I got totally sick of the whole cleaning thing yesterday and sat down in front of my computer and opened the next Riley book. Several hours later, I have eleven pages done, so maybe not having the internet connected is a good thing for writing. <g>

And while I haven’t updated my website yet, the winner of the Destiny Kills contest is Kim Moore from Australia! Nice to see an Aussie girl winning one of my contests for a change  (and the bonus is, the postage cost won’t be so high! <g>)