Things and Stuff #14

House, Rabble, what?, kittens, herons

Thing 1: Moving, just keep moving

I moved house two days before Christmas. This was definitely better than moving two days after Christmas would have been, but quite stressful and weird all the same.

My house is awesome. It has stairs. And a fireplace. That you can put fire in. And working wifi, and doors, and a dishwasher which has changed my life pretty much beyond recognition, and a garden although not really plants yet, and a shed, and a table you can actually sit at, and nowhere near enough bookshelves. It's pretty wonderful.

Thing 2: The Rabble first draft is in!
It was hard work and there is a lot more hard work to come, but it is done and I have done it. I have been celebrating by finally tidying my living room and spending a lot more time on Twitter.

Oh, and showing off the beautiful cover. (C) Strange Chemistry 

And just doing this whenever I look at it or anyone mentions it or I remember that it exists (C) Disney

Thing 3: Wait, are we just pretending you haven't vanished from the blogosphere for like six months?

Sorry, did you say something? You'll have to speak up, I can't hear you over the sound of me pretending I didn't vanish from the blogosphere. 

Thing 4: KITTENS!

We adopted a very beautiful, very timid pair of kittens, Misty and Midnight, from the local RSPCA. They are getting bigger and less timid every day and it's a joy to watch.

Misty (top) and Midnight (bottom) being beautiful (C) me

I wrote most of Rabble sitting in their room and getting distracted by their wonderousness so if at any point the first draft suddenly says something like:

'But we have to get the Cluster stone because OMG Midnight you are the cutest look at you licking your sister,' I said, and spontaneously turned into a butterfly from sheer joy.

that will be why.

Thing 5: A siege (or 'sedge' but Rule of Cool means I'm going with 'siege') of graffiti herons
Spotted along my bus route to the station over the last couple of months. There are at least five of these, most of which I haven't got pictures of, because moving bus + photo tends to come out like this:

Yeah, no. There is a graffiti heron in this picture I promise. (C) me

But I did manage to grab a picture of this one:

Awesomeness (C) me/the graffiti artist

And my favourite:

EXTREME awesomeness (C) me/the graffiti artist

RABBLE: THE COVER REVEAL

Today is an auspicious day! I have delivered the first draft of Rabble, the sequel to Skulk, and I've also been given the go-ahead to show you something incredible...


First of all, here's the blurb:

Meg Banks is the metashifter, the only person in the world who can shapeshift into any one of the five creatures that guard London’s deepest magical secrets: fox, rat, spider, butterfly and raven. But with great power comes… well, you know the rest. To gain control of the five weard stones, the sorceress Victoria will stop at nothing, including using Meg’s own estranged mother against her.

Will Meg choose to use the stones’ power herself or keep them safely hidden? And can she work for peace, or must she destroy those who stand in her way?


And now... if you're ready...



Seriously, you might want to take a deep breath...



Maybe hold onto something...

Right? Right?

I can't get over this cover, it's so beautiful! My thanks again to the Strange Chemistry geniuses who came up with this! 

Rabble is out in September, and oh my god you can pre-order it already aaaaaaahhh.