Dark Goddess, almost finished!

This glorious cover comes courtesy of Puffin and as you can tell it will be very cool. We have Billi in her little red riding hood outfit about to get medieval on the rear of a werewolf.
I'm on the last-ish rewrite of Dark Goddess, which is more of a straightening out of the furniture. It's all there, just needs a bit of tweaking so it's all in exactly the right place.
The Puffin edition will be out next July, the Disney-Hyperion next October. I know its ages, but it'll be worth it, I promise!
So, in the meanwhile, I would like to offer you a selection of werewolf distractions, just to get you in a howling frame of mind. I may have mentioned some of these before, but what the hell. Great is great.
1. Angela Carter- The Company of Wolves. This book is actually a collection of wolf-related fairy tales. All dark, gruesome and macabre. Also check out the film Company of Wolves which is utterly amazing. It came out way way back and is the best werewolf movie ever.
2. Dog Soldiers. Oh, this may actually be the best werewolf movie ever too. A group of British soldiers fight it out against a pack of huge werewolves in a farmhouse in the middle of nowhere. It's a horror/action/comedy and has one of the funniest Matrix jokes. See if you can spot it. Werewolf versus frying pan. Who will win?
3. The Book of Lost Things by John Connolly. Well the big bad is a wolf and his minions. It still counts for so many reasons. If you haven't read it yet, DO SO NOW!
4. Women who run with Wolves by Clarrissa Pinkola Estes. She deals with a lot of female fairytales and looks at the mythic and Jungian archetypes these tales represent. If you're wanting to write fantasy, supernatural or anything inbetween, read this book. Also, for the position on the male psyche, read Iron John by Robert Bly.
5. The Prince Ivan series by Peter Morwood. They have wolves in them but are primarily a retelling of some Russian myths, but in a joined up way. Actually, I think I read these back in the early 90's and they were probably the seed from which Dark Goddess grew. I've just found the first two on Amazon and really looking forward to re-reading them. It's got Baba Yaga in them (and her daghter, too strange to explain), so that's a reason enough, don't you think?
Oh, an update on the next short story. Billi's Date is done but will be out in December. It's not that short so hopefully will make up for the delay. You'll meet the new squire, Mordred. He's pretty cool.

Building a better bad boy

We all love a bad boy. We either want to be one, or tame one. He's the fantasy feature of literature and he never, ever goes out of style. He is style.
So, how do we spot one? What are the key credentials in acquiring bad boy status? Let's have a look at a few examples and qualifications.
1. He's gorgeous. Well, that's a given. He's an alpha male who leads the pack or the lone wolf. Nothing shouts ego like turning up at a party alone, and still being centre of attention. Yes, I mean you, Mr.Darcy.
2. He plays by his own rules. He's an outsider, he's got a reputation and it's one of scandals galore. BUT (and this is a big but) he's in society. He's comfortable with the movers and shakers as well as the scum of the earth. He's always invited to the best parties because, well, he is the party. Dorian Gray, I salute you!
3. Oh, he's dangerous. He fights, he drinks, he gambles, he smokes and has female friends of ill repute. He picks his friends as they suit him. He is guaranteed to act inappropriately. If he hasn't ruined some innocent lady's reputation or been challenged to a duel by the end of a weekend, well, he's not a bad boy. Valmont, take a bow.
4. He knows he's good. That's bad. He's not shy. He's not timid or misunderstood. He is what he is. Take it or leave it. It'll end badly, but would you want it any other way? He doesn't give a damn. Thank you, Rhett Butler.
5. If you can tame him, he's not a bad boy. He will love you and leave you. It's part of his DNA. That's why all the stories end with the marraige. The rest is all downhill. Bad boys don't do domestic bliss. Suicide is the traditional way out for the female. Salve, Mark Antony!
6. He's no gentleman. He will shoot first. That'll be Han Solo, then.
7. You may think all he needs is the love of the right woman. Wrong. He needs the love of every woman. It's probably tied up with him being bottle-fed as a baby. Look no further than Mr. Casanova.
8. He'll age disgracefully. He won't care. No matter his age, even if he's drawing a pension, he's still that bad boy. It's as much attitude as looks. Check out Jack Nicholson clubbing at 70!?!
I'm sure there are more qualifications but those seem to be the most common. So, do take time to check out some of the characters listed above (especially Dorian and Rhett, still the gold standard of bad boy-ness).

The US tour, Part 1

This is a clip taken at Kingwood High School in Texas, one of the first stops of the tour. The trip out to Houston was pretty hard (no First Class travel for us debut authors) but the hotel rather impressive, with gym and swimming pool and room service. I know it's shallow but hey, it's not often I get room service. So, I used the room service, if not the gym, nor pool (wait until Chicago for that).
Anyway, there were school visits to St. John's and Kingwood and a bookstore talk and Murder by the Book.
First impressions? My God, it's full of cars. It dawns on you how huge the place is, Texas is the size of England (give or take) and you may live in (say) Birmingham, but your neighbour's in Leeds. So you need cars. Lots of cars.
The pupils muck in with great abandon and the first few days slowly put me in some sort of zone of semi-bewildered excitement. It's started well and no homeland security issues. I eat pecan pie. It is most delicious.

First love and other tales of horror

The horror. The horror. It was at a Halloween party many many years ago that I had my first 'Bella meets Edward' crush. The sort where you obsess about the target of your affection, you can't sleep, you feel sick and flustered and frankly can't do anything but act a total monkey on acid whenever they're near. You wonder how on earth they, who are Aphrodite/Apollo in the flesh will ever notice you, who feel like a Caliban, club-footed and whose face is hosting an acne convention of global proportions.

I know what you're saying to yourselves. You're saying, 'Hey, how can Sarwat, that most god-like of men, have even felt anything less than totally divine at all times and under all circumstances?"

(Okay, you may not have actually said it, but I'm sure you were thinking it very, very hard).

Nope, it's true. I too have suffered in the arena of luurve.

There's the old chestnut which is 'Just be yourself' which is fine if you're Robert Pattinson, not so fine if you're like, anyone else on the planet. But not being yourself means you end up acting like a pillock, which isn't very helpful either.

Be honest? Hmm. I'm not so sure how "I love you and want to have your babies," would have worked as a chat up line.

So, love and horror. It's kind of the same in my book. The same gut-churning, the same sweaty, broken nights, the same waking at 4am screaming in terror and shouting "Why, dear God, why?".

Well, it came to pass, or it didn't actually. She went out with someone else, who though much more handsome, and richer, and with better teeth and smoother skin and a nickname that threw up all sorts of very complimentary imagery (unless you were a bloke) I at least liked to believe was shallow and superficial, so I won on personality (yes, I know. Great. Like that made me feel so much better). Alas, I reacted the only way I knew how. By being petty and not a little bitter.

Something very similar happened when I met the person who eventually became my wife. The same anxieties, fears and doubts. I had matured (very slightly, maturity isn't one of my strong points) and I did use the 'I love you and want to have your babies' line if not immediately, still rather too early on in our relationship.

So, as you dress up as ghosts and ghouls tonight and head out, wherever you are, for a spot of trick or treating, remember real horror comes from the heart. And hormones.