Boy Overboard is finally out there in the world, (well, the Australian and New Zealand bits) and I've had some really good talks on my recent travels with various quick readers who've finished it already.

Some people think it's different to anything I've done before, others reckon that while the setting is different, the heart of the story is about two kids and their parents who aren't that different underneath to many of the other kids and parents I've written about.

I tend to agree with that last view, though I'm also aware I've never written a story before that touches on such hot current issues (or has so much about soccer in it).

My hope is that readers will experience it as a story first, one that seeks to do what stories do best ­ remind us that people are people.

I'd love to hear your thoughts about Boy Overboard. You can email me from the Visitors Page on this site. I probably won't be able to answer you in person, but I will read your thoughts with great interest, and when I get back from all the school visits I'm doing this month, I'll put the most passionate and/or critical on a special Boy Overboard Comments Page.

For those of you with tired eyes or stiff fingers, Boy Overboard is also available on audio cassette and CD (read my me). If you want to sample my reading efforts, either with Boy Overboard or two other new audios, Adults Only and Toad Heaven, you can do so now on the Morris On Audio page.

Until next time, oo-roo and happy reading (and listening),

12 August 2002