When I write “saloon”, I wonder if I’ve got the correct number of ls, then I add it in to check and get “salloon”, then I realise that no, “saloon” was definitely the right spelling . . .

Er. Anyhow. This is your regularly scheduled last chance warning for several special offers. I don’t have much news besides that: still working on book five, still wrapping up warm as it gets colder.

The Lost Plot giveaway (US only) is still up on Goodreads, though only for another couple of days.

The Invisible Library, The Masked City, and The Burning Page are all still at 99p for Kindle/ebook on amazon (UK only) for another couple of days. They’re also all three at 99p on iBooks (UK again only, sorry), for those who prefer that format. However, I don’t think this is going to last past the end of October, so take your advantage while you can, if you’re after any of them.

(It always feels a bit inappropriate to be pushing special offers like this at people reading this blog – probably we’re just all too socialised when we’re young about not “showing off”. Still, I assume there are people out there who might like to know . . .)

My American publishers are wonderful people who are doing a giveaway for The Lost Plot at the moment. Check it out at:

https://www.goodreads.com/giveaway/show/258312-the-lost-plot

Dates are from Oct 10 – Oct 30, 2017, and sadly it’s only for the US, but if you want a chance at a copy . . .

I’m now back from Vienna – which was awesome. I met some very nice people there (hi, Birgit and Eva!) and I saw a lot of the city – though there was far more that I’d have liked to see. I saw the National Library, the Art History Museum, the Sisi Museum and the Royal Apartments and the Royal Treasury and the Spanish Riding School and the Josephinum and the Prater and . . . (fingers give out)

It was magnificent. And the food was awesome. And I saw Don Giovanni at the Opera House, and Tanz der Vampire at the Ronacher. (My first time seeing Tanz der Vampire, though I’ve listened to the music often enough – it’s probably a good thing that was my last day, or I’d have been trying to find a way to manage to go a second time . . .)

Anyhow. Back to work. Or rather, back to work next week, as I have the rest of this week off. (And will be using the time to catch up with work on book five.)

On a money-saving note, The Masked City is still available on Amazon.co.uk for Kindle at 99p, and I see that The Burning Page is now also available on Amazon.co.uk for Kindle at 99p. I have no idea how long this will last, so if you’re after one or both of them, this is a good moment to take advantage.

It seems to be a new month and a new offer. Well, it is a new month and it is a new offer.

The Masked City ebook is now reduced on Amazon (UK, sorry). I have no control over this sort of thing, but isn’t it convenient?

Off to Austria tomorrow. Trying not to panic as I go through my mental list of things to check. A pile of stuff is waiting to be stuffed into my suitcase, etcetera. Was calming down earlier by watching The Great British Bakeoff while knitting. (That really is a very good way of calming down. I strongly recommend it.)

Am also suffering slightly from fictional blowback – after rereading a number of the Miss Marple short stories (Agatha Christie), I find myself imagining trying to explain things to Miss Marple as if she was standing next to me. It’s easy enough to explain Great British Bakeoff, but rather more difficult to explain the Umineko manga. “Well, it’s about a murder mystery, which is then repeated in different variations, and there are demons and witches and Knox’s Ten Commandments and swordfights . . .”