I did my final full edit of Ocean of Blood, the second of the four The Saga Of Larten Crepsley books, on Thursday and Friday. This was my last chance to make any substantial changes, but thankfully I didn't see the need to tinker with it much, apart from tweak a few words and lines here and there. The proofs from my publishers will be sent to me in a couple of months' time, I'll go through them to check that everything is in order, and then that will that -- time to move on to the final few edits of book 3!!!

On Friday night I went to see Brad Pitt Light Orchestra at Dolan's. A local Limerick band, they're a curious mix of styles, with some very good songs to boast of. Enjoyed their quirky set, then went to Smyths night club (Kenny's favourite haunt) for a few hours, finally getting to bed about 04.00 -- late, but I hadn't drunk TOO much, so I didn't feel overly rough the next morning!!

Today, of course, is September 11th, the ninth anniversary of the attacks on America. Like most everyone else who was around at the time, I remember the day well. I actually came to the drama late -- I was living with my parents at the time, was working hard, and hadn't checked the news that day. In the afternoon, my Mum arrived home from school and told me what had happened. I spent much of the evening and night glued to the TV with my jaw open wide. By an odd little coincidence, I happened to come across a very nice review of The Thin Executioner on the Write Away site today: CLICK HERE. That book was written largely in response to what happened on 9/11 and how the world changed and what came later. It's a book about not taking other cultures for granted, about how the strong shouldn't ride roughshod over the weak, about accepting the faiths of other people, about respecting everyone in this life, about the need to communicate and swap ideas and find common ground with our fellow human beings, about the dangers of bigotry and radicalism. The world has become a scarier, more dangerous place since 9/11. But I don't believe in living a life of fear, of letting our darker emotions define and shape us. I think that each one of us has the ability to help change the world slightly for the better, if we're brave enough to listen to our hearts and following our instincts instead of just going with the flow and accepting the world as it is handed to us. Our leaders will sometimes betray us and lie to us and lead us astray. But we can overcome any challenge if we keep the faith, keep talking, keep trying. It isn't alwasy easy, and it rarely happens overnight, but if we don't constantly struggle towards the light, we will forever be doomed to languish in the darkness. The Thin Executioner was my way of trying to remind readers of that fact -- and to remind myself of it too.