Over the past couple of months, I've received some very nice e-mails from readers asking if there's another Hawkwood novel on the way and, if so, when is it likely to come out, or has Hawkwood been retired?

So to all of you who've logged on to the site, either on purpose or by accident, I thought it might be an idea to let you know the state of play.

In answer to the above, Hawkwood hasn't retired, he's only been on a sabbatical.

When The Reckoning came out, I decided to take a break to give both of us a bit of a breather. It was also to give me time to collect my thoughts, decide where I should send him next, and to try and come up with a halfway-decent plot!

Unfortunately, as many of you have noted (most notably in those pesky, though, on the whole, brilliant Amazon reviews..!), I'm not one of those writers who's able to produce a book every year, mainly because I don't want to end up regurgitating the same plot over and over again (unlike some authors who shall remain nameless..!).

Each of Hawkwood's adventures, so far at any rate, has been completely different in tone and scope from the ones that have gone before and it's always been my intention to continue in the same vein. The consequence of that, of course, is that it does take me a while to get going.

Oh, and I've also been working on a couple of other projects (one of which has a Hawkwood connection) and that's taken up a fair proportion of my time.

But, at long last, I do have an idea for a new story, which I've begun to jot down. The thing is, though, even if I do manage to come up with something approaching a finished manuscript, it'll still be down to my long-suffering publishers to decide if they'll run with it. If they do take the plunge again it will be some time before the finished item hits the shelves.

Hope that answers some of your questions. Any news that I do have will, of course, be posted on the site.

Most likely in between the occasional book and film review, my comments on life in general and things that have struck me as quirky and, of course, to have a go at the Monstrous Orange Loon currently creating mayhem on the other side of The Pond.

Yes, I know he's an easy target but sometimes I just can't help myself.

Any road, as for the proper job, all I can say, folks, is please bear with me!

Take care, and cheers for now, James