This month I've got some news for readers in the US and the UK, so if you're reading this from either of those places you can click onto your own special G'day at the end of this letter. As can anyone else who wants a squiz.

Sorry this G'day is a bit late. I've been flat out doing publicity with Paul Jennings for Deadly, our new six-part serial. The first part's in the shops this month, so we're on what is called in the trade The Book Tour. This means going to various cities and doing loads of radio, TV and newspaper interviews one after the other, trying to find something different to say each time. (But not too different. "I'm very proud of my new book Harry Potter And The Swiss Bank Account" would probably be a mistake.)

It's pretty weird, doing live radio and TV interviews as a twosome. When you do it on your own, you just have to concentrate on filling in the gaps between the interviewer's questions. Even if you need a couple of minutes to think of an answer, you have to start talking straight away because silence is the major no-no in live broadcasting and if there's more than a couple of seconds of it they think you've died and switch to a commercial.

With two of you, things are a bit more complicated. You can't both start talking at once because that would sound like Parliament, but you daren't hesitate too long in case the interviewer starts taking both your pulses. Paul and I have developed a series of eye signals which go something like this.

Do you want to answer this one?
No, I did the last one.
But you know more about the history of children's literature in Norway than I do.
Doesn't matter, if the listeners don't hear your voice soon they'll think I wrote this whole thing by myself and I'll have to keep all the royalties.
Oh alright.

Not easy in less than a second, but we're getting the hang of it. If you're reading this in Australia, you may already have heard us on air. We're the ones who spend most of the time explaining that we can't say much about our new story because we don't want to spoil any of the shocks, surprises and unexpected comic twists, and then sit there while the interviewer reads them out anyway.

By happy coincidence, even as truckloads of Deadly Book One rumble out across the land, (under strict instructions not to run over any cane toads), the other story Paul and I wrote together is appearing on telly. The 26-part animated TV series based on Wicked! starts going to air in the last few days of October on Optus TV in Australia. (Each episode will be screened several times as is the way on Pay TV.) No news yet about a free-to-air channel buying it, but I'm sure there will be once you start ringing up your favourite channel and pestering them.

That's all for this month, except for those location-specific G'days I mentioned at the start. So, if you're reading this in the US or you just don't like to be left out of anything, click here. And if you're reading this in the UK or you've just got 90 seconds to kill, click here.

Oo-roo and happy reading

16 October 2000