No one ever comments. I wonder if anyone reads. It's a little like talking into the Mistral. Never mind.

Leaving Monday for New York again. ThrillerFest at the Grand Hyatt. My first visit to ThrilerFest. It's supposed to be fun AS WELL as publicizing my book. I hope so.

It's cold in Sydney but nothing like New York winter cold or London. In fact, more like a spring day in London. One of the reasons I left.

Electricity going up here by 15% and water the same. Yet we're told inflation is running at 4%. An avareage bottle of wine was $5 20 years ago. Now it's 20. I suppose that's fair. Yet books and actor's fees haven't risen much. I made more cash per hear with Hammer Films in 1972 that last year with The Children of the Silk Road. Oy!

It's been some time since my last blog. But I've been flat out in New York at the Book Expo America. It was truly something. Chatting with Steve Berry, Michael Connelly, David Morrell and a host of other huge stars was electrifying. And all, unlike film actors I have worked with in the past, were modest and charming. Says a lot for writers! I wonder which am I? Hmmmm. Sunday, when I had my signing, was a half day and supposed to be quiet. Indeed it was. But ten minutes to ten a queue began forming and low and behold I signed for an hour an a half! Amazing. The people who queued told me the word had gotten around about Worst Nightmares. I can tell yoiu it was a great feeling.

Cyber reviews from book clubs and blogs from people who read a LOT have been wunderbar. Have a look at my site in a few days as we're adding the reviews.

And another wunderbar review. I'm astounded by the quality of the literary criticism.

http://www.bookgasm.com/reviews/horror/worst-nightmares/

Thanks!!!

LOVED THIS review!  There are people out there who really 'dig' my book. That's really encouraging.

http://www.book-club-queen.com/good-book-reviews.html

Loved the review I'll post at the bottom of this blog. Intelligent and well written - a rare thing. So Book Expo America looms tomorrow. Never been to one this size. Should be fascinating.

Tramped the sidewalks yesterday checking out SoHo, Tribecca etc. Didn't spot de Niro. Maybe he's doing stuff? A movie? Cooking up a storm at the T Grill? 

LOVED this very intelligent review...  http://www.rampant-books.com/mgt_amazon_sales_rank.htm  Makes you feel you're being appreciated on the levels you wanted.

A great review in Book-Club-Queen. http://www.book-club-queen.com/good-book-reviews.html

An interesting thought de jour. Must one like the lead character? Well, I suppose one has to a bit otherwise you'll not wish to read on. Of course what I was doing with my character in WN was attempting to make the reader think. "Hey, what the hell did he do that for?" yet understand that they might very well have made the same mistake and feel sorry for the man. It's always satisfying when someone one gets to hate in a novel gets his just deserts. And I certainly give it to Dermot in spades. And it's great when the characters we get to like don't end up dead. I try to do that. Hmmmm.

Sold out at Borders Century City. They are re-ordering. Hey-ho! Can this be happening all over the U S of A? Let's hope.

AMAZED that one can buy a dozen eggs for 99 cents at the 99 Cent Store. That's breakfast for a family of six for a dollar!

It's off to the Big Apple soon to visit Book Expo America. Can't wait to eat junk food at all the various carts. And Zabar's.... And the Russian Tea Rooms.... and Tiffany's opposite the Plaza.... And the Plaza.....And the Jazz.... And the Tribecca Grill  (who knows, Bobby might just be there on the day...)

I feel like an executive of an ice cream company that's come up with a new flavor. 'Scary' flavor! Today there'll be tubs of it in every ice cream shop. People will be studying it's color, reaching for the sampling spoon and.... tasting.  Will they like it?  Will I still be the VP in charge of new flavors in a month from now? Scary.... I close my eyes and imagine fingers lifting copies of 'Worst Nightmares' from a display and reading the first chapter... Will it soon be under their arm and on the way to check-out? Hmmmmmm. My fave medium says......YES!

Still the same small but delightfully intelligent coterie of blog watchers. But how often do they read my...."stuff". Had a wonderful weekend in the Hunter Valley with my best friends. Now it's a week before I fly out to help sell my book. ALL my friends, new and old, have rallied round and been INCREDIBLY supportive. It's really so heart-warming to see the genuine altruism that exists in the world - not everyone is self-centred and jealous of other people's luck. I am supremely fortunate to have so many good mates.

How can one dream of things so vividly when one has never experienced what one is dreaming of? Last night I was with a party of communist Chinese being taken through the back of beyond near the Nepalese border. The people, the architecture, the roads and flora were spectacular. I got to know the rural Chinese so well and we both respected each others customs. Then, near dawn, we made out way through the snow to a very primitive hostel in the mountains and all of us collapsed on a huge bed and slept.

The joy of making an animal sublimely happy is worth quids, wouldn't you say? Freddy's full of great food and asleep on my lap. He is in a state of Nirvana. Making a child laugh (or feeding a hungry one) is the same. But hey, I'm getting all fuzzy...

Everyone's worst nightmares will be realized in....12 days. Whooooaaaahhhhhhh. Homeland Security is probably checking me out!

Now it's thew Swine flu? Amazing. My book's being published 12th May and the world's very possibly going to end a week before then? How unlucky can you get? Did I cause all this? well, no - my vanity doesn't reach to this level, but usually when I go skiing every other year the Aussie dollar plunges against the Euro, I lose a motzah, then it snaps up again the week after I return and I get less dollars when I change the Euros back. Happenchance? Of course. Last week I was actually looking through holiday brochures. Guess where? Yup, Mexico. I was going to take a two day trip down there after BEA. Now? I don't think so. It's Brighton Beach and a few Coors now.

I just sent a video to David Letterman. I thought it might amuse him. Hope so. Possibly it won't get past his producers - he must have a thousand to sift through videos from mad authors such as me. Worth a try, though. Maybe they'll think I'm bonkers and call me?

I'm having recurring nightmares myself now. Very karmic!!!  I dream my agent calls me. She says she was misinformed by her assistant - I didn't make # 2 on the NYT Best seller list. That was someone else. In my case the number 2 signified I was the second person she had to call that morning. I wake up and am sad. But I have this sneaky feeling things are going to work out.... don't ask me how I know. Off to the land of nod. Life is good nevertheless.

Waiting for copies of the book to arrive in Sydney from New York. For an author, to hold the finished copy is very exhilarating. After several years hard work (and  great deal of help from publishers and editors) I get to sniff the paper and hold the weight of the book. Then there's the BEA to look forward to. Book Expo America - the biggest book expo in the world (of course, it's in New York!) Vanguard will have a big presence (Publisher of the Year 2008!) and I will be there, Tiffany pen in hand (present from Wendy several years ago) hoping to sign copies for people who stop by. Then in the evening....jazz clubs, Broadway shows, dinners in Little Italy with gangsters, checking out the toilet systens out back and seeing how many guns are taped there, pastrami sandwiches at Zabar's, a trip down to the Tribecca Grill hoping that MABE de Niro will be there (in my top five actors of all time - Newman, Pacino, Brando, Katherine Hepburn, de Niro).....the list of things we plan to do in the Big Apple is endless. It's a wonderful time for me right now, being published by Vanguard.

I hope everyone who reads my blog visits my web site. www.worstnightmares.com. Ther's a link to all the short videos I made which give you an idea of what to expect in my very dark suspenseful book.

Beautiful day in Sydney! Spectacular. How could I live anywhere else? Antibes maybe. Or Paris. But the heating had better be good.

Not many people reading my blog but hey, it's early days. Off to the Surry Hills Fest today. Should be cool. Stalls, food, "stuff" then lunch with Kylie and dinner at Government House. Shaping up to be a big day. Might even buy a plasma screen - they have one for $900 that's 50 inches! Imagine. A bit too big but a smaller one costs another grand so it's a no-brainer!

Less than month to go before my book, Worst Nightmares, is released. Reaction's been great so far! Can't wait to get to America and touch base with my uber-agent (Curtis Brown, natch!) and publishers (Vanguard Press, it goes without saying) in New York. Always had that Sinatra song in the back of my mind..."if you can make it there...." So... can I? Hope so. I want to visit the coolest jazz clubs in NY. but right now I don't know where they are. If anyone knows the coolest places to hang out in the Big Apple, lemme know. AND cool restaurants - not the super expensive ones, but maybe the Italian joints in Little Italy where fat guys are 'packing heat' and sitting in a back room eating meat ball spaghetti; where you'll always find a handgun taped in the toilet. That's the real New York. Maybe I have to go to Brighton Beach for that kinda action?

My family are avoiding me right now 'cos they're worried that I am one dysfunctional SOB for having come up with a story like Worst Nightmares. "What the hell's going through your mind, Shane." They keep their backs to the wall when they see me coming. But really I'm a sweetheart... Ever seen 'Dexter'? That's a cool series.