gosh, that time already

First of all, thank you to all those who have posted nice comments. It is so cheery to be greeted from afar, and I was really delighted, Stephanie, that you enjoyed the first two Perfect Fire books so much. Paradise Red comes out later this year and I hope you find it a fitting end to Raimon and Yolanda's turbulent tale. I learned such a lot writing those books and hope that even if they are set in an unfamiliar time, an unfamiliar place and in an unfamiliar set of circumstances that this will not put readers off!

I wonder if historical novels will ever become as fashionable as the fantasy that sweeps all before it at the moment. I doff my hat to the fantasy greats, but it's never quite been my bag. I like elements of fantasy but in the end prefer my characters' feet to remain firmly on the floor. That's just me, though. My children read fantasy and the Son, whose bent is Maths and Philosophy, has been to see Twilight twice.

I'm working on a new idea now, which I'm loving - a stand alone book whose details I'm not quite ready to reveal. My only other stand alone book is How the Hangman Lost His Heart, which, though I think of it as being a jolly romp, begins with an execution. This one will not do that, and for the first time, my heroine is going to tell her own story. Indeed, she's at my shoulder now, urging me to close this down as she's anxious to find out where she's going today. When I tell her to hang on, she flicks her red locks and bids me hurry up or she may just gallop off without me.

So, off I go - hey wait for me, wait for me ...