I hope 2008 is a good year for you all - I have a new book coming out in March, called Fury. It's published by Barrington Stoke, and I'll post more details closer to the time.
Due to platefuls of spam lately, it's possible that e-mails you have sent me have been identified as Junk by my computer. In the absence of a good fire-breather mail system, please try again, and give your e-mail a heading that makes it clear you know something about one of the books. Anything that looks as though you're trying to sell me something will be dumped unread...
Today I achieved a lifetime's ambition by seeing a pair of adders in the wild. September is a good time for spotting snakes in England, as the weather has begun to get a little cooler and they are more sluggish. Although adders are poisonous, and a bite should always be treated seriously, there have only been 12 deaths from adder bites in the last 100 years. Snakes are far more frightened of people than we realise, and they will escape at the first opportunity.
I do like reptiles; I think they're really beautiful, and when, eventually, these two slithered off it looked as though someone had poured them away like water. Adders in England hibernate each winter, and a lot of them may use the same place. They don't lay eggs; they give birth to live young.
