Karaoke kids.

It was my daughter Claire's ninth birthday today. We got her a PS2 karaoke set - Songstar Popworld or sommert. I'm sure there should be an (R) and a (TM) in there somewhere. Anyhow, it was a big hit and even made me want to have a go. Of course, the kids wouldn't let me. They've heard me sing without a mike.

The two songs I really wanted a go at were 'It's not unusual' and 'Should I stay or should I go?'

The amazing thing about the PS2 karaoke is that it tells you how you are doing - words like 'okay!', 'good!' and 'awful!' come up on the screen as you sing. Then it gives a score at the end. Maybe all karaokes do this? I have never sung karaoke in my life, I have to confess.

Anyhow, we are having the full karaoke party this weekend. 13 eight and nine year old girls pretending to be Beyonce Knowles and the Black Eyed Peas. Maybe I'll get to do my Tom Jones then.

Where have all the plugs gone?

James took me to task in a comment for not plugging anymore. So, well, I'll try to work one in. On the extremely tenuous connection of things that occurred on the 11th of Jan, I got news today of my first 'gig' as R.N.Morris, author of A Gentle Axe. I've been invited to take part in a historical crime event thingy (not sure exactly what it's going to be) at the Cambridge bookshop Heffers.

It's quite an informal gathering, apparently. I won't be required to do a reading or address an audience in any way - or so I'm told. Just turn up and hope that some punters do too. It's on February 22nd, so if you are a Cambridge person and you like historical crime fiction, it might be worth checking out.

I promise not to sing.

A Gentle Axe by R.N. Morris.

I've been a bit busy recently. Very distracted. And now it turns out I've completely forgotten to mention the fact that I've got another book coming out. It's called A Gentle Axe, written under the name R.N.Morris.

I got an email from Lucy, the press officer at Faber, today and she said: "Start shamelessly plugging A Gentle Axe on your website." That reads to me like an order, so here am. I'm nothing if not obedient.

It's a historical crime novel, which has Porfiry Petrovich, the detective from Crime and Punishment, as its hero in a sleuthing yarn. Yeah, I know. A mad idea. Cheeky isn't the word.

It comes out in the UK on February 1st 2007. You can pre-order it on amazon now. (The US edition, which will be published by The Penguin Press, comes out March 22.)

I really hope that Dostoevsky, wherever he is, has a sense of humour.