Another great Macmillan party.

Last night was a sad-happy night. It was the party in honour of Mike Barnard's retirement, Mike being the founding godfather of Macmillan New Writing. Mike ascended even higher in my estimation, when after giving a very warm and witty speech, he joined the live band, strung a guitar over his shoulder and took the lead vocals.

Is there anything that man can't do?

I'm too hungover, I'm afraid, to blog coherently about it, so I will direct you to Matt Curran's blog. Matt's a fellow MNW-er, the author in fact of The Secret War (a copy of which he was good enough to sign for me last night). Matt's said everything I wanted to say, only much better than I ever could.

Other news

I spotted actual copies of A Gentle Axe in Prospero's Books today, even though the official publication is not until next week. It was very unexpected - and exciting.