I've been busy editing the first couple of books of my new series over the last two days - I finished off the first and am almost halfway through the second. They're fairly short, especially the first one -- I want them to be breakneck, swift reads, so I won't be spending much time dawdling in them!! I also cleared my fan mail pile again -- hurrah!!

I've spent the last few nights preparing for my appearance at the Edinburgh festival. I always like to do one or two world-exclusive readings at Edinburgh, and this year I'm actually going to be reading out three pieces for the first time anywhere in the world!!! Before I do that, though, I had to choose which extracts to read, and then edit them down (I never read directly from a book, but trim it down for a live reading). I still want to edit the extracts a bit more, and then I'll have to practise a few times, but I've chosen the parts I want, which is the most important thing. New readings, generally speaking, aren't as much fun for me or an audience as the old reliables (nothing in my canon beats my Cirque Du Freak or Lord Loss scenes). But, hey, they're NEW!!!! I think the thrill of hearing an extract from an unpublished book, knowing you're beating everybody else in the world to the punch, more than makes up for it being a bit stiff and unwieldy!! At least that's the way I see things...

Watched Jackie Brown again last night, which I enjoyed more than I thought I would. I liked it first time round, but it had dwindled in my memories and I wasn't sure if it would hold up. It's certainly not as much fun as Tarantino's first two films, and it's a bit slower and longer than it should be, but it was still an enjoyable flick. I saw a 1970s horror film called The Sentinel this afternoon. It was directed by Michael Winner, so it was never going to be a classic (Winner made one or two interesting movies, but he a very poor director generally speaking!), and the two leads were dreadful. But it had an amazing supporting cast, made up of old movie legends and up and coming stars, and some interesting story quirks, so it was never less than watchable. It also gave me a germ of an idea for my new series, which I'm warming up to the more I think about it -- a good (or desperate!!!) writer can find inspiration in the most unlikely of places!!!!!