(Was intended to be the...) Bumper Final Issue (for the year that is...)

Well, 2008 has come and nigh gone again (indeed, it is gone!) and all the while I have been wrestling through some book I am supposed to write *rolls eyes* ;P The previous two books of the Monster-Blood Tattoo series so far has been a distinct journey and this third is now different - as another author once said you never learn how to write your next...

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If douchebags like Criss Angel and David Blaine are your type of heros, here is a video for you:http://www.yourdailymedia.com/media/1230324928/Use_The_ForceSensei Mike Capaldi breaks some wood pieces in shopping center's parking lot without touching them. Of all places, including his own studio and dojo; why would he perform this stunt on a sidewalk...

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Merry Thing!

Merry Jesus-birthday!Bless you one and all, may this be an excellent day for you - and congratulations on reaching over 80 comments!(I knew you could do it... I certainly gave you a read hot go by taking so long to post)And welcome back Anna from your African adventure - hope all went well.Bumper issue post coming so...

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(Intentionally left blank)

It is about time I answer Pearlius' question: "About how old is Europe? She looks either a very tired young woman or a good looking old woman."I have always thought of the Branden Rose as about 29, as we currently know her, more in the line of a tired, world-weary young(ish) woman who has seen and done about as much as there is to see and do in the Half-Continent. I have to admit I think I overdid...

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A few years back there was a sitcom on NBC called Committed. In one episode, one of the lead character had some tattoo work done at New Orleans and it turned out to be something along the line of "of two men who love each other, you are the one plays the woman." Eventually he got the tattoo fixed to "Lemon Chicken."www.hanzismatter.com/lemonchicken.mov...

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Ompholascepsis [SPOILER WARNING]

I tell you, the navel issue has been baking my noodle for a few years now, but I am of the notion that our hero would possess an ompholic dent that would pass enough as a navel. With the often more rudimentary delivery of babies in the Half-Continent I am thinking that there would be such a variety of quality of "belly-buttons" that Rossamünd's little dent would not look too out of place.As to theroid...

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Aurealis Awards 2008 Shortlist.

Hello, hello, long time no post...Here is some happy news to put up - I just learnt today that Monster-blood Tattoo 2, Lamplighter has been shortlisted in the 2008 Aurealis Awards in the Best Young Adult Long Fiction category AND to add to that the fantasy series, The Sorcerer’s Tower (beingThorn Castle, Giant’s Lair, Black Crypt & Wizardry Crag) written by the eminent Ian Irvine and illustrated...

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Mark & Rachel pointed me to Victor Mair's recent post about the latest cover of Max Planck Institute's flagship publication, MaxPlanckForschung.To honor the theme of the issue [China], the editors asked one of the journalists who worked for the magazine to find an elegant Chinese poem to grace the cover. This was the result:No sooner had the journal...

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please interpret...

from: Jessica ***** <************@hotmail.com>to: tiangotlost@gmail.comdate: Thu, Dec 4, 2008 at 7:32 PMsubject: please interpret...OMG - I have been looking for your site for years! I am so glad that I found someone to interpret and tell me how bad my tattoo really is. This is suppossed to say "SMS" - my ex's initials....

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"celebrate the knowledge of a dangerous, crazy father"

Reader Kat has emailed me yesterday this photo of her husband's back:He got it done four years ago and the characters should be Knowledge, Loyalty, Courage, Warrior, & Father.Since Alan just got back from Japan, I forwarded this to him. Here is what Alan concludes:Besides the terrible calligraphy, the character 識 is missing a dot at the upper...

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Mirrored Death

http://www.rankmytattoos.com/tattoo-designs/chinese-symbol-tattoo-11776006292354.htmlAnother gem from Rankmytattoos.com, it is a mirrored 死 (deat...

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Terre des Monstres 2: Marque de Sang

A hasty post to share the absolutely splendid rough for the proposed cover of the French edition of what we commonly know as MBT2 Lamplighter. Mr Lacombe you have made my day!And I am liking the spontaneous character descriptions, too - will seek to do something with them in the new year I reckon...

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WBBT!

...& and here is the link to my Winter Blog Blast Tour interview at Finding Wonderland from yesterday. Thank you so much TadMack & Aquafortis for such excellent questions, they were a joy to answer.Please make sure you check out all the other interviews this week past a present - so much authorly goodness... if I was not needing to get back to writing I'd say more on it. Only a short while...

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Twilight for HP... or 75 comments! Woohoo!

My word, you folks sure got close to 80 comments. Impressive - but you are not a jedi yet... I certainly gave you enough time to have a red hot go, as "they" say. But alas, guilt has got the better of me and here I am posting after a bit too long not posting... um... I'm like, an excellent writer and stuff...On with the show!As much as the hype is off-putting, I am very glad the Twilight series has...

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"Spiritual Strength"

HS reader Anna sent this photo to our attention:http://jjb.yuku.com/topic/418982/t/New-tattoo.htmlIts owner, LuvBug, said she got this exact tattoo along with two other friends and it meant "emotional and spiritual strength. "Besides the obvious botchery of two characters, the phrase is not 100% grammatically correct.In my opinion, the proper version...

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Freecon, Sydney Saturday November 8th & Sunday November 9th

Nothing like last minute information but here goes...People living in or near Sydney will find me if they dare to look in at this year's FreeCon 2008 Science Fiction Convention, both on Saturday 8th & Sunday 9th, at the Norman Selfe Room of the Sydney Mechanics School of the Arts (SMSA) building, 280 Pitt Street, good ol' Sydenytown. No charge for entry or any part of it, which is nice.Here is...

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A word by any other word.

This week's word is:calimere.I have no idea what it means yet, just found it today as the word verification code to place my comment on the previous post. It could either have something to do with potives - maybe a piece of equipment; perhaps some type of swamp, or the name for a place... hmmm.It is always a joy to find new things that grow the Half-Continent and once I have settled on new word and...

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Bushido Virtues Lost

User "Silat1" posted this photo in tattooartists.com:http://www.tattooartists.com/images/asian%20tattoos/kanji-tattoo.jpgThe seven virtue of Bushido are so poorly done, many have left with missing strokes.Rectitude (義)Courage (勇)Benevolence (仁)Respect (礼)Honesty (誠)Honor (誉)Loyalty (忠)The character for rectitude 義 has been spited into two, 王 &...

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"Prostitute"

This photo's caption says "My girl's 'Bitch' tattoo. So fitting"http://www.checkoutmyink.com/tattoos/grampagravity/bitch-2However, 妓 means "prostitute".Why would anyone want that to be displayed on their body?Even so, she should at least tattoo a price list underneath. It is so hard (no pun intended) to haggle, when all the blood has left the brain...

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Tit for Tat

From checkoutmyink.com:http://www.checkoutmyink.com/tattoos/winkydinkink/30767Not a good looking tit or tat...

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'Tis The Season to be Chosing (for some anyway...)

Here were are, November and even though I am an Ossee (to use the American pronunciation ;) and having once been a keen student of US history, I have one question burning in my mind:Obama or McCain?I wonder what Europe would be like as the ruler of a state? and I wonder what life in a place ruled by the Branden Rose might be like for Joe the Plumber...? Who would you like from the Half-Continent to...

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"Wendy"

Facebook (remember the days when it was exclusive to students only?), aka. cum bucket of the internet, has so much to offer.You can get reconnect with "friends" that you never had interest in real life, lose your privacy, get bombarded by clever data-mining advertisers, and blah blah blah...It comes with no surprise there is a group called "CooLeSt...

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Enola's Tattoo in Waterworld

io9.com recently posted something about futuristic bad-ass tattoos, one that received much attention is on the back of Enola in Waterworld (it was a shitty movie by Kevin Costner, come to think of it, were any of Costner's movies good?).From Engrish & Hanzi SmatterI thought Enola was a dwarf when I first saw the movie. Perhaps that was because...

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Europe v 3.11

me was wondering: "It's nice to see that there are upgrades, add-ons, plugins, etc [Europe v3.11, perhaps?]. in the half-continent. Are these upgrades limited to internal organs only? Are there pugnators out there who figure an extra eye/arm/thorny-bark-like-skin-in-sensitive-areas/claw/magic-big-toe in addition to their modified innards might improve their trade [and fees]?."You have hit the nail...

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Advice for young players

This weeks piece of folksy wisdom: do not stay up way past your bedtime, tap yourself a glass o' water when overtired, go to bed and have your wife/partner/flatmate wake up 3 hours later to find that said tap (faucet) has not been properly turned off and the kitchen bench, floor and draws are all swimming, then spend next hour+ ladling water out of draws that can not be removed and towel dry every...

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Nov 2008 Wired - Lost, in Translation

In November 2008 issue of Wired magazine, there is an interesting article about underground (or should that be "under-net") volunteers that would add subtitles to popular American television shows for those who do not understand English.The concept is interesting however the illustration accompanying the story is not so.While both English and Arabic...

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Dad 9.15.94

Alan and I both can't figure out what this tattoo is about.http://www.bmezine.com/tattoo/A81015/high/obkj-my-first-tattoo.jpgIs it 伕, "common laborer", or 佚?Update: This tattoo belongs to "Joker" in Rankmytattoos....

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Going back to go forward...

Something I find frustrating when I write is those times when I am keen to press on with the story but it occurs to me that one of the characters (usually Rossamünd, bless him) is not being quite true to himself in an earlier chapter. Sometimes I will try to write on, enjoying too much the sensation of the word count increasing and chapters being marked off (especially with the hot breath of deadlines...

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Scary Spice, tell me what you want?

While scanning through gossip site, The Superficial, I came across several images of Melanie Brown, aka. the former Scary Spice, modeling for Ultimo Autumn/Winter lingerie line.http://thesuperficial.com/2008/10/scary_spice_will_frighten_your.phpI have no idea what the character circled in red supposedly to be. Is it 女? Or, is it 太?Oh, Melanie B, why...

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Sharing the Misfortune

http://www.bmezine.com/tattoo/A81006/high/n77m-my-chinese-tatto.jpg有難同當 is a Chinese idiom means "to share the misfortune together". If this was picked from a tattoo template book, I am sure there are many sharing this misfortu...

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BBC: The Kremlin Digger

Alan noticed something odd about the photograph in BBC's article about Russian journalist, Elena Tregubova.http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/3227666.stmAlan says: "The Japanese in the background is obviously reversed. Perhaps the BBC published a mirror-image reversed copy of the photo. Although obviously intended to be Japanese, the text in the background...

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Map Prototype

Just a quick heads-up that there is a prototype version of the Zoomable Map of the Half-Continent up and functioning. My esteemed comrade G.R. Morton and I shall be working to make it a tad more Halfcontinenty over the next x period, but I figured folks had waited long enough, so sneak preview away!(oh, and if it seems to stay blury, just give the map some time and maybe a click and it should focus)Ok,...

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Words, Invented & Real

A great little post I found over at Whatever by John Scalzi (and its original source @ xkcd - thank you Tom) regarding word length of a book as being conversely proportional to is unreadability. The comments are illuminating too, MBT even gets a mention from a Seattle-based bookseller friend of mine in comment #51. Have a read if you will and come on back...In reading the aforementioned blog and its...

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Quick Pointing to Other Place

I should probably say more but if I spend too long Rossamünd will get eaten by a very large s.... ah but that would be telling.Just quickly Jack is asking over at the Unofficial MBT Forum if folks want a Q&A section to it. Given that I do tend to miss a lot of questions here I certainly am all for it - would make it very clear what I had and had not responded too (I hope). So, please please, head...

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A New Button to Push!

Folks might notice my rather enthusiastic response to Jack so excellently putting up an Unofficial Forum in the form a snazzy link image to that very same place! Thank you very much, sir!/... I guess that answers the poll question then...Plus: Carlita's expectoratingly insightful question: "If anything, happens if a leer catches a cold and still uses his sthenicon. And what would happen if a wit or...

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Lebanese Tattoo by Moe Barjawi

Alan spotted this photo of what appears to be Kanji tattoo by Moe Barjawi in BMEzine's gallery:http://www.bmezine.com/tattoo/A80922/high/n0t6-lebanese-tattoo-moe.jpgAlan emailed me this after seeing it:Let me see if I got this right. Some tattooist named “Moe” tattoos himself with his name in the “Gibberish Font” and, thinking this will be good advertising...

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A Forum for Horses

So, I am thinking I shall keep up with this blog (indeed, that was my hope and intention) - I very much look forward to a forum happening though (hint hint - am I allowed to do that...?) - probably a powerful benefit I see is having some kind of section where questions are asked of me so I can clearly see what I have and have not answered.I am afraid to think of the number of questions that have gone...

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New Post, New Poll

So, to the question of a forum.Do I? Don't I?I shall be running a poll regarding this for the rest of the year. Just so folks know I will be unlikely to be able both blog and moderate a forum, and given the choice I would rather stay with the blogging (I wonder if I will have to eat my hat with that statement later...?) So if a forum did go up it would most likely be moderated by another party, with...

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Did someone say 'Release Date'?

Should I tell you..?Do you really want to know?...Want to know just how long you will have to wait?Well... Monster-Blood Tattoo Book 3: Factotum (English language editions) will be released ~MAY 2010Please don't be too dismayed or beat up on me; it is a bit of a wait yes, but it will be worth it... he says in faith... =/In the meantime I found this very cool bit of "fan art" - if I may call it that...

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The Handsome Grackle ... or, Spring is sprung and I missed it!

(Following to be read with some strange accent in mind - I have no idea why, just cause...)Please being 'Hello!' to my good friend, the Handsome Grackle.(Cease with accent, please.)He is what is called nadderer - a sea-nicker, a water-dwelling monster - with neither head nor tail, but both at once, being able to walk on either end when he/she/it ventures...

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Name-dropping in American Philosophical Society's Publication

Reader Bryan points me to the latest issue of American Philosophical Society's publication, where this humble little site was mentioned on page 54.The main article is titled "How Maya Hieroglyphs Got Their Name: Egypt, Mexico, and China in Western Grammatology since the Fifteenth Century" by Byron Ellsworth Hamann fromDepartment of Anthropology and...

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This is cool...Wing

My fren dhivager's tatt...

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"Lotus"

Every time I see signs for Sierra Mist, I laugh. It is because "mist" in German slang means "[something] with terrible quality".http://www.bmezine.com/tattoo/A80804/high/n2j8-lotus.jpgThis person probably think his/er tattooed 荷 means "lotus", but that depends how it is read.In Japanese, it means "burde...

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Sinful

I was showing a visiting friend parts of northern Arizona over the weekend, when we encountered this young lady at Sedona.She probably has no clue what the three characters 猛威勝 on her t-shirt meant, nor the fact there are mirrored.Update: August 24, 2008 - Reader BH pointed out that Sinful is a brand of women apparel & this particular shirt is...

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A post at last! (Would you believe it?)

So much commenting goodness with the last post! I was going to respond there but thought maybe it might work just as well here... (given I am feeling a tad stuck with post ideas right now because a certain 3rd book has most of my attention).Amongst all the excellent ideas batted forth and back I wanted to answer two things:Firstly, to fulgars using swords: well, the idea is feasible - it has certainly...

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FREE RICE - A worthy undertaking, surely.

Here is something worthy that Will has brought to my attention: Free Rice - a vocabulary guessing game where every word you get correct has the organisers donating 20 - yes 20! - grains of rice to the hungry and disadvantaged. Better still I suppose, is to help folks fend for themselves but they still need to eat in the meantime.20 rice grains does not sound like much but it all adds up if you get...

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Poor, Down-trodden Teratologists

Taylor - by email - asked this recently:"I have a question that has been rankling at me for a bit as I've become immersed in Monster Blood Tattoo, and it is this: In a world as monster-ridden and monster-phobic as the Half-Continent, why do people tend to have a negative view of lazhars, skolds, scourges, and any kinds of terotologists? I realize people might be a bit afraid of them due to their powers,...

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Amor, Dios, Familia

A couple of days ago I received this photo link in Flickr from Sara in Canada.http://www.flickr.com/photos/24732264@N07/2619349327/Its caption in Spanish said:Amor, Dios, Familia Traduccion literal Ama a Dios cmo a tu Familia Which means,Love, God, FamilyLiteral translationLove your God & familyLove God the way you love your familyNice sentiment,...

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Allergic to Tattoo Ink

Allergic reactions to tattoo pigments are fairly uncommon except for certain brands of red and green (with which some many people have a slight problem with itching, swelling, redness of the skin, oozing). People who are sensitive or allergic to certain metals may react to pigments in the skin by becoming swollen and/or itchy, oozing of clear sebum is also common. People with allergies should think...

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Monster-Blood Tattoo & YouTube

Well, it has finally happened - a YouTube [TM] book trailer of MBT!Made by the skillfully deft and technically versatile Courtney Wood over at Putnam (my US publisher). (A bit of trivia about Courtney; she set up this blog in the first place for me to go on with - if you go right back to the beginning of it all you will find a test post from her...)I must say it is rather odd to see MBT out there...

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"Leah"

Here is another reason why it is a bad idea to tattoo a person's name onto your own flesh:http://www.bmezine.com/tattoo/A80714/high/nr1e-mes-tatouages.jpg利娅 is the Chinese transliteration for "Lea...

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Monsters & Music

Do you know (in response to a couple of posits last post on the titular notion above), my firsts thoughts about the monsters is that musically they are largely quiet. They sing softly to themselves, to Providence, in sympathy with the cosmos, in sorrow; perhaps some of the more feral might gather together to spontaneously hoot and jabber at Phoebe, while others might chortle off some rhyme or ditty...

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Europe and Sebastipole fall in love?

Well, that was a (tongue in cheek) offering last post. Could it be possible? Would it be probable? If ever they married I would expect Sebastipole to get eaten at the end of the wedding night like some poor male praying mantis.Monday had a question (similar to one I received via email from Nick Nitsch of Nashville):"What kinds of music are most prevalent on the h-c?"Such a topic is indeed not distracting...

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Shouldn't I be Writing?

Two possible thoughts for further Half-Continent stories:- roving the vinegar seas hunting pirates and kraulschwimmen and any other tasks required in the Emperor's service = sea battles, vinegaroon life, wider politics;- some kind of expedition (ala. King Solomon's Mines H. Rider Haggard - a most excellent book!) for lost and longed-for secrets in monstrous places = monsters, history, more monsters.Should...

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Nereida Gallardo's "Ass-Guard"

Nereida Gallardo, the hot girlfriend of football star Cristiano Ronaldo, has some characters tattooed on her lower back.http://thesuperficial.com/2008/06/nereida_gallardo_still_wearing.phpI would assume there are more characters tattooed below her bikini bottom, otherwise the exposed portion of 戎友 means "armed friend", or in this case: "ass-guard".It...

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Average Daily Word Count

... or AWDC - as I have just cunningly coined it.I am going to reveal this knowing full well there are many authors out there who do a goodly bit more in a day - and my publishers will be crying "Write faster, dang it!", yet since fellow word-wrestler R.J. Anderson has asked I shall dare to admit:1000 words/day*wince*I have had brilliant days of 1500+ (even 2700 one day) but when all is averaged,...

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Still here...

... writing... writing... writing... writing... writing...

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The Key to Harmony

I went by a local Blockbuster store today to rent There Will Be Blood (good character development, a bit slow for my taste, could've be an hour shorter) , and saw this plaque in the garb section:The first two characters 福 and 愛 are correct, but I don't know why the character for "key", 钥, is referred as "harmony".O...

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Young Writer braves germ-warfare to offer a solution to my problem

I was at the Young Writers' Night last night (with my ragging lurgy and all - doing my best for germ warfare by spreading it around). It is an event where authors sit with a group of 10 children or so from around the state (that being South Australia for all you out-of-towners) and listen to them read out their prose or poetry then give encouragement - I am not sure how much use I am to the brave...

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Get out your violins...

Just letting you all know that I am still here folks... I have a bad head cold, am madly writing and trying not to feel sorry for myself. As femina recently admitted, I cannot decide whether to wear my cranky pants or my grumpy trousers.I hope you all are doing well, though - sunshine and cheer will return soon enough, Lord willing.Anyone else out there got the dreaded lur...

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L'édition en Français

I very excited - nay! I am le plus merveilleusement excité!! - to see a sneak preview of the French cover of Foundling over at Monsieur Benjamin Lacombe's excellent site (English translation version here).As you will see, Mr Lacombe has illustrated so much more than just a gorgeously maudlin Rossamünd, but Europe, Licurius (ahhh, old Boxface!) and a rather serious looking chap who I cannot decide...

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Hippo Birdy Two Ewes!

Today in the Queen's Birthday Holiday and I would like to say Happy Birthday! to our dear Queen, bless her and the fact we get a day off here Oz.On a lighter note ;) I found this review thingy over at OF Blog of the Fallen the other day and just wanted to share because I so love it when a fellow soul is on the same wavelength - don't we all...Oh, and I am as yet to have breakfa...

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Lost Soul Tribal Tat

Alan points me to one of the latest photos in BME:http://bmeink.com/A80602/high/nr4v-tribal-tats.jpgThe caption suggests this is a tribal style tattoo, however it is not true. This is just another ill-informed individual got quasi-Chinese gibberish tattooed on his arm.Interesting enough, this same tattoo design has appeared before. We are not certain...

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The day after...

So the Official Launch [TM] happened last night, and I believe it went rather well - public appearances are difficult things but deeply rewarding at the same time (which is a tad frustrating when all you want to do his hide away and write... or procrastinate). I was very gratified (happy in fact - even delighted) to meet MadBomber - one of "the gang" here at Monster Blog Tattoo (if I may use that...

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