Samuel's Girl - the cover.

The cover art is now in its final form. Thanks are due to the Eternal Press cover artist, Dawné Dominique, for another wonderful job.

Next - the editing. With luck it will prove to be as painless as for Jessica's Trap.

There are advantages to being fussy.

Busy times.

A great deal has been happening here at Dume Towers.

First of all, there is a very nice review of Dark Thoughts and Demons at the Horror Zine. While you're there, the latest issue is now available.

Then there was the cover art for Samuel's Girl. I've seen it but can't put it here until it's been finalised by the publisher. It's very, very demonic.

Amazon have decided to place all those CreateSpace books, previously only available in print in the US, onto the European Amazon sites. It's not automatic. You have to go in and select the new channel for each book yourself, but within 24 hours they appear on all the other Amazon sites. Excellent timing, just to coincide with the Horror Zine review.

Meanwhile I have a review to finish and I have also sorted out, at long last, all those Alienskin articles. There are 46, I have found 45. Even if I can't find the last one that's still around 40 - 45,000 words which is enough for a small print book and more than enough for an Ebook. They'll need to be edited and grouped into sections. Some might be combined if they cover very similar subjects.

That shouldn't take too long.

So, all good news so far. Wait, I hear the sound of something breaking in the laboratory...

Not quite dead.

I expect both readers of this blog will have assumed, by now, that little Caligula has succeeded in his patricidal ambition to take control of Dume Towers.

Not so. Not yet, anyway. He did manage to lock me in one of the dungeons for a few days and he let the toys run wild for about a week. Scabby Ted left needle marks all over poor Click's face, and Jugular the Clown nearly succeeded in draining all the blood out of Senga. If it hadn't been for her somewhat violent version of sleepwalking, he might have succeeded.

Senga has now taken Caligula to visit her parents. I have put Jugular back together but confiscated his knives, Scabby Ted is back in his cell and the other toys are in their strong-box. All that's missing is the stretchy doll and the pot of slime. With luck, Caligula has taken them with him.

Click's face is encased in plastic to contain the bleeding. I did remember to put breathing holes in the plastic, once I worked out why he had turned purple.

In my absence I have not been entirely idle. I have reviewed an excellent book entitled 'Rain' for the Horror Zine, and am in the process of reviewing a wonderful collection of short stories called The Night Library. Oh, and I still have to post a review of What Fears Become which is long overdue - so overdue in fact that the Horror Zine have another anthology out!

Then there is Samuel's Girl, which has now been accepted by Eternal Press and will be available from November 1st. I've just seen the cover art and it's perfect. Once it's finalised I'll put it here to tease you, because you can't have the book for nearly six months yet.

Now it's time to get some writing done, and to revive this silent blog. Click should be along at any moment with the electrodes.