|
Jackie's April message continued . . .
This is the stunningly perfect time of year: blue sky all day and then
it rains at night, fruit dripping off the trees- apples and pears and quinces
and pomegranates and tamarilloes and lemons and passionfruit and grapes and the
first new season avocadoes are nearly ripe and we've picked the first few limes too. The creek is flowing, there's no smoke on the horizon, the roos have young joeys in their pouches and even the echidnas seem frisky. Well, frisky for echidnas anyway. And in the vegetable garden I'm picking the first of the coloured carrots- red skinned and white ones and yellow ones and purple ones- plus the yellow and white and wierd shaped beetroots and we are totally sick of beans so they're all left on the vine...
What other news?
We're having a new bedroom built, so I've been writing this month with a
circular saw screaming three metres away from my desk, which makes it a bit
hard to concentrate. It was worse when the builders started doing bird
imitiations. No, don't ask me why they were doing bird imitations...actually, I
do bird imitations too sometimes. Great fun when the birds answer
you. Books
Calloo callay, Blood Moon has just come out. It's the sequel to In the
Blood, and the second in the trilogy. Like In the Blood it's sci fantasy
triller romance- In the Blood looked at vampire legends; Blood Moon has
genetically engineered human wold crosse- 'werewolves'- and the question is,
are humans more savage than wolves?
Both books are real escapism- real float off into another world stuff-
with a few deeper questions to add a bit of bite. (no pun intended)
Meanwhile Ride the Wild Wind is selling like hot cross buns at Easter.
it's a book of horse stories, but not JUST horse stories- they look at the way
the friendship between humans and horses has changed over thousands of years.
And The White Ship has just gone to the printer, with me sending hurried
emails every day to just change one more line before it goes....it's one of
those stories that has lingered in my imagination for many years, before I
finally write it down. The cover is just beautiful- I can't wait to actually
hold the book and see it in my hand, not on the computer screen. It should be
in the books stores in June.
Also an Aurealis Award a
few weeks ago for Cafe on Callisto, and in the U. K. Hitler's Daughter has won
a WOW! award, which is fantastic as it's only just come out
there.
And Bruce Whately keeps coming up with yet another hilarious stunner of
a wombat painting for Diary of a Wombat later this year: can't wait to get each
one- I don't think I've ever enjoyed a book as much. Which brings me
to... Wombats
Meanwhile Mothball wombat is VERY annoyed (this is puting it politley)
that we've build the extension over one of her holes.
Nevermind that she had at least four others; that she hasn't used this
one for two years, mostly because whenever it rains it turns into an
underground river, with a great gush pouring out the front. She's still
p...annoyed.
Actually it was the second hole she ever dug- the first one collapsed,
so maybe she's sentimentally attached to it,. it's also just outside my study,
so she could yell at me around 4 o'clockish for carrots.
Anyway, two weeks ago she chewed up our clothes line (Had to go and buy
a new one) and there've been
wombat droppings on every plank and bit of building material around, as though
to say " I claim this extension in the name of Mothball
Wombat.'
|