Started to re-edit Hell's Horizon, the second of my trilogy of adult books, which will be released in the UK and Ireland in March 2009. It's been a long time since I worked on it (it was published in February 2000, one month after Cirque Du Freak was released), and I'm pleased with how nicely it stands up. I haven't had to change much so far (though I did get rid of a prologue which I felt slowed the start down a little too much), just tweaked it a little here and there. I always felt rather proud of this one, and that feeling has been reinforced by today's read through. I'm about as emotionally detached from the book as it's possible for a writer to be, so I'm reading it in pretty much the same way as fans will, and I'm enjoying what I'm reading -- I even worked on it until after 9.30pm tonight because I got so engrossed!!!! Hell's Horizon was never given a real chance first time round -- Ayuamarca hadn't done very well, and my original publisher just seemed to lose interest in this one. It didn't help that it was marketed as a science-fiction book either!!! I've always believed this one had a lot of untapped potential, that it could be a real crowd-pleaser, even more popular than the first book of the series. We'll find out in 2009 if I'm right about that or just dreaming ...

Saw the movie Bridge To Terabithia tonight. It's a nice family film, old-fashioned, a bit slow perhaps, but sweet and well made. What drew me to it most, however, was that it stars Josh Hutcherson, who's set to play Steve Leopard in the Cirque Du Freak movie. I've seen him in a number of other movies, and was impressed (I knew who he was when I was first told by my agent that he was to be in the movie), but this was the first time I've watched him in action since I learnt he was to be Steve. I have to say, I think he's going to be really good in the part. He's played quite wholesome characters thus far, but he's not a Macauley Culkin-type actor (when Culkin tried to play a bad kid - I forget what the movie was - people just laughed, because it was completely out of character for him). There's more to him than that. I think he'll capture Steve's darkness nicely, while bringing a touch of sympathy to the role -- and I think it's important that people DO feel a bit sorry for Steve, at least in the first film. I never meant him to be a throwaway baddie -- I always wanted readers to feel there was more to him than that. There's a bit of Steve Leopard in most of us, I think, and given the right combination of circumstances, many of us might find ourselves walking the dark, fearsome path that he treads ...