Anne! Didn't you get my return email? I wrote one.

VERY good comments, and I agree with the need to colourise Marcus a bit. He gets much more interesting as the book goes along (or so I anticipate - he becomes the only other person hearing what RIngan's hearing, and is too freaked to say anything until he realises Ringan hears it too) but this was the first shot at writing him, and what you read was unedited.

Anne! Didn't you get my return email? I wrote one.

It hasn't appeared, darn it. I'm glad the comments helped.

Definitely weird. My email box shows the little arrow thingie, indicating that I sent the reply, but I don't keep my "sent" mails for more than I do, so I can't check. But it was basically what I said above.

Oh, and one other thing: you had a "Ha! Wrong! Am I right?" note in there, about Ringan thinking there was never a house on the site. Do you really want the answer to that? It may not be what you think....

Already posted the Morning Show news - see Press.

But also? Just heard back from my agent. Jenn loves what I sent her of "Cruel Sister", thinks we can send it on to pitch Ruth.

I'm having a very very very good day.

Hil! Your email finally arrived! Thank you for the New York advice.

Oh, and one other thing: you had a "Ha! Wrong! Am I right?" note in there, about Ringan thinking there was never a house on the site. Do you really want the answer to that? It may not be what you think....

Hmm. I think I'll wait to see how it plays out.

The new poetry chapbook, "Warhol Days," is done, and the cover is very, very pink. As shockingly pink as I could find. I'm very pleased.

Unfortunately, I can't take orders for the book until February, or even sell them here in New England, because I need them all for California. In fact, I'll probably have to make more partway through, because my first couple gigs are big.

Put the schedule for the four public readings up over in Sunnydale Press. Hope to see Californiaistas somewhere in the trip. NoCal will be a little madcap.

Very, very ready to be on the left coast for a spell.

Yay! Victor visit!

OK, help wanted.

I need some good modern Scots names for girls. Popular names for Scots girs in this day and age.

It can't be Margaret, or any form thereof. I already established in Weaver that Ringan's insaneo mum is called Maggie. I now need a name for his niece.

Suggestions?

edit: Ah. Never mind. Found the website. Most popular is Emma, but I think I may go with Rebecca, which is in the top ten. She'd be Becca.

Serial:

opinions, please?

Proposed summary for book 5 of the Murder, Music & Ghosts series:

Bruton Town: When Ringan Laine gets a call from his sister Roberta, he's pleased to learn that his niece Rebecca , a music prodigy, will be attending a private music school not far from his cottage in Somerset. Since Rebecca is only thirteen and her family is in Edinburgh, Roberta asks Ringan to be her local person in case of emergency.

The school, the Cordel Academy, is a beautifully restored 18th century manor house in Bruton, near Bath. Ringan, accompanied by his longtime companion Penny, makes himself known to the staff, and sees his niece settled in. Everything seems fine.

But when a distraight Rebecca rings him in the middle of the night, he realises that the school, dedicated to music, houses the spirit of an angry, grieving young woman, whose lover was murdered by her two brothers . Her story is told in the traditional song, Bruton Town. But something about the haunting doesn't fit the song. And unless he can find the truth behind the crime, Rebecca herself may be in jeopardy.

• * *

Proposed summary for book 6 of the Murder, Music & Ghosts series:

Geordie: It's Ringan Laine's fortieth birthday, and his family - mother Maggie, sister Roberta and brother Duncan - have come together to throw him a birthday bash, in Ringan's hometown of Edinburgh. Normally, Ringan would be dreading the idea, but it dovetails nicely with a restoration project he's been asked to help with: a wonderful 16th century pub called the Ladder and Maiden. Since the Ladder (as it's called locally) has a music room upstairs, Ringan, who's played many of Edinburgh's pubs but never this one, decides to play some solo shows as well.

The first show he plays goes without incident. But the second night, by request, he closes the show with a Scots traditional called Geordie, about a woman pleading for the life of her husband Geordie, who has been sentenced to death for stealing the King's deer. And the result is as unexpected as it is terrifying.