You might have heard me on the radio over the last couple of weeks, talking about Adults Only. I was the one using phrases like 'in all good bookshops now' and 'my best book since the last one' and 'really really funny except for the sad bits'.

It's a confusing business, book promotion. The hardest part is that when a book's published, the author's usually halfway through writing the next one. So you can be spending most of your waking hours with a bunch of Aussie cane toads on a visit to South America, and suddenly find yourself being asked about a boy on a remote island planning a daring rescue with a helicopter and some coat hangers. That's why you may have heard me pause before answering. I was reminding myself not to use phrases like 'warty skin' or 'eats snakes whole' when talking about Jake in Adults Only.

Toad Heaven is progressing well and I'm having a great time again with Limpy and the other cane toads. I'm taking Limpy and Goliath on an even bigger trip than they had in Toad Rage. Not just to South America, but Kakadu and a few other places a well. And this time Charm's travelling with them.

I'd better get back to them. When I last saw them they were in a pretty desperate predicament and if I don't get them out of it, Goliath's liable to strain a wart.

Until next time, oo-roo and happy reading.

6 July 2001