But very nice indeed, I must say, especially as I get my very first coverage on the BBC ever.  A fine day, though one in which I understandably haven't got much writing done.  I've said it before, I'll say it again:  Nifty.

Like the Independent making The Knife of Never Letting Go one of their 50 Best Winter Reads, along with people like Edith Wharton and Ian Rankin.  See what I mean?  Isn't that nice?

I also just got the first edition of my Spanish translation, El Cuchillo en la Mano, or "The Knife in the Hand", so all you Spanish speakers out there can see if the Independent is right.

Tangentially, I've started to seriously fund-raise for London Marathon, which I'm running in April, so why not sponsor me?  Lots of people have already started, it's for a good cause, and every little helps...

I've also been getting a lot of queries asking after Book Two of Chaos Walking (i.e., the sequel to The Knife of Never Letting Go).  It's called The Ask and the Answer, comes out in May in the UK (June in Australia, Sept in America), and is remarkably already available for pre-order from amazon, bless them.

In fact, we just finalised the cover for it this past week, and it's a corker.  If you liked the Knife cover, you're gonna love this.

It's a busy week with appearances (see the Events page for details) and the BookTrust Teenage Prize, which is announced at a ceremony on Tuesday.  Quality problems, I know, but I do have a third book to write...

After the niceness of the being one of Amazon.com's Best Books of 2008 and the additional pleasure of being on the Carnegie Medal longlist, you can now watch a video-taped interview of me on Borders Books television!

Yes, actual video footage!  Thrill as you listen to my tortured Greg Rusedski accent!  Swoon as you can see just exactly where I'm going to have a double chin in ten years!  Vividly imagine the lengthy interval when we were interrupted by a genial drunken Welshman!

Apparently, I really look like this.

Instead, I write with the lovely and surprising news (I didn't even know they did this) that the good people at Amazon.com (the US version, that is) have made The Knife of Never Letting Go one of its Best Books of 2008.  Which, I must say, is pretty nifty.

It's one of the top ten teen books of the year as well as being on their top 100 books overall.  Excellent stuff, very pleasing, I must say, all the more so for being unexpected.  But then, you can always trust a Seattle company...

It's not as if I'll be in the hinterlands and will still be electronically active (especially, like most of us, for certain election results), but before I go, I wanted to post some reminders of current things.  First, two events I'm doing in November:  17 November, the UCS Beyond Words Festival and 29 November, the Big Science Read, at Bury Central Library, near Manchester.  See the Events tab for more details.

Next, there's still time (if you're in the UK and between the ages of 5 and 16) to enter the competition they've asked me to set and judge in the Guardian. 

And finally, the paperback of The Knife of Never Letting Go is at last in stores.  I know, because I've seen it, despite what Amazon keeps claiming about it not being out until next week.

Otherwise, happy Halloween and Armistice.  I might write before then, but only if I feel like it.

I've provided the opening and closing lines, so the young people who enter have to connect the dots in the most interesting and thrilling way.  I get to judge the winner personally, so this ought to be fun.  Good luck!

(Again, though, note the age requirement and that it's for UK residents only (sorry, America and Australia, but I'm working on it...))

I'm sure they meant well, but I have to say, my biog page is sort of friendly and fun; the resulting translation to Wiki loses something and seems oddly accusatory, as if sometime, somewhere, I'd tried to deny these facts.  What are you gonna do?  I should probably start lying in interviews and official sources, see what sticks.  Have I mentioned I'm half Mauritanian?

I'm also on a bit of a roll at the minute with good theatre.  The Walworth Farce at the National is brilliant:  funny and ripely written and very menacing.  Go see it.

I've also made a rare update to the Events tab, so take a look.  I'm appearing at the UCS Beyond Words Festival on 17 November, and as part of the Big Science Read in Manchester (actually, Bury for my particular event) on 29 November, which is moderated by Katherine Beacon, one of my favourite people in the world.  How nice if I see you there (and more to come...)

First of all, it has a real book, rather than just the usual stitched-together nonsense (see Carousel).  Second, it's funny and smart and sentimental and paced exactly right.  And third - and best of all - it has the foulest mouth of any musical I've ever seen.  There's something utterly splendid of a chorus of cherub-faced wee girls singing, "O my darling, o my darling, o my darling Heseltine/You're a tosser, you're a wanker, and you're just a Tory swine".  And that's only what's publishable on a family blog.

Really, I have no idea how this is going to go down in New York (where it opens this month); the accent alone will be an obstacle (it's called Geordie, for all you US readers), the politics and references will be baffling, and I get the feeling that "family shows" have about 600 fewer uses of the f-word.  Who cares?  It's how musicals should be and rarely are:  good for your brain, actually about something, and shamelessly tugging at your heartstrings while cussing you out.  Brilliant.

On a tangential note further north, there's quite a nice review of Knife of Never Letting Go in the Scotsman today (and another in the Australian Courier-Mail, so not really north at all, that one) 

Nevertheless, tomorrow is my birthday.  I don't believe in even the tiniest portion of astrology, but if you've got to be a sign, everyone knows Libra is the best.

In other news, the paperback of The Knife of Never Letting Go will be in bookstores by the middle of next week.  It looks great.  I'll have a picture up soon...

Quand Vous Mourez Do Nos Amours by Rufus Wainwright (yes, used once before, but his best performance, with the McGarrigle Sisters on backing vocals)

Mein Teil by Rammstein (even the name Rammstein makes me laugh; of course it's the PSB remix, unlistenable otherwise; the title is a dirty pun and the song is about cannibalism: German heavy metal, what can you do?)

While the Earth Sleeps by Deep Forest  (good God, remember Deep Forest?  Peter Gabriel singing in extremely catchy Macedonian)

Der Kommissar by Falco  (Dreh dich nicht um (oh wha oh), schau, schau/der Kommissar geht um (oh oh oh!); prompting the classic Simpsons line:  "Thank you, Taco, for that lovely tribute to Falco")

Le Yeux de Ton Pere by Les Negresses Vertes  (The Eyes of Your Father, or as the lyrics go, "Your mother has made an omelette with the eyes of your father"; hell if I know, but it's awfully jaunty)

And a special mention to Fotzepolitic by Cocteau Twins, which isn't any language whatsoever.  See also anything by Sigur Ros.  Auf wiedersehen! 

I have of course heard of last year's winner, though.  In fact, I met Doris Lessing once at the HarperCollins Summer Party.  She was lovely and tiny and a wee bit hobbit-like and I was so afraid of saying something stupid, I didn't say anything at all.

Later (and this is true) I was talking to some other people I'd just met and they were asking me how I was enjoying my very first publishing party (which it was).  I, nervous and braying (as I often get when I'm nervous), said, "Well, I met Doris Lessing."  They said, "How as that?".  I then decided, in a moment of idiotic madness, to make the following, ahem, joke:  "She hit on me.  It was awkward for everyone."

After the unsurprising stony silence this received, I then brayed, "So, what do you do?"  And they answered, with impeccable timing, "We're Doris Lessing's agents."

A tumbleweed then rolled through the middle of us.  I cringe even thinking of it.

But acts of God (and TfL) weren't to blame for 1) mile markers that were apparently wild guesses (I did a split of 8:09 followed by an exact same pace split of 9:12, yes, okay), 2) less music on the course than even a marathon, 3) bag checks of almost Biblical disarray, and 4) a course that might actually have been too long.  Take a look at the Runner's World feedback.  Improvement needed.

Despite all of that, I was aiming for 2 hours and ran 1 hour, 54 minutes and 59 seconds (and boy did I bloody earn that last minute).  And that was in pouring, constant rain, so I'm extremely happy about that.  Now, you've seen my dedication, why not sponsor me for a whole marathon?  I keep asking and replying nicely to emails, so why not give to a good cause, eh?  Now, back to bed to rest my aching back.