Hey guys,

Just a quick note to thank everyone who came along to the twin signings at Brent Cross and Plaza over the weekend. A thoroughly enjoyable time was had, and it was great to see some familiar faces as well as some new ones. Mention must be made in dispatches of some folk who were particularly good to chat to:

Zoheb (who stood firm in the face of the hyper-sugared Stanley and his sixth finger, Bob. And, Stanley, when I get a few spare months, yes, I promise I’ll write the novel of the Second Great Crusade…), Paul and Andrew (who, knowing my weakness for sugary treats, brought me cookies and flapjacks…which were devoured at Gaming Night yesterday), Peter for our always excellently spirited discussions (get writing that damn Night Lords story…if you don’t, I will!), Stewart (for some great military terminology and explaining to me how a Javelin missile shoots), Sam from the Brent Cross store (for the most excellent piece of artwork depicting one of the Knights from Mechanicum), Mark and Allan (for making me very welcome in your stores). And of course, Nikki and Liam for travelling all the way from the northeast to get their books signed and hang out. Always a pleasure, guys. And to everyone else I spoke to, signed a book for or just said hello to…thanks. You make it totally worthwhile coming out to these events.

Anyway, after the signing I went for a couple of pints with Mark and Allan, before heading to St. Pancras to get the train home. The last few times I’ve come back from London, it’s always been on the train that leaves on the hour, so I got there on time for the 10pm train, only to find there wasn’t one. The only train going even vaguely my way was the one to Derby. I saw it stopped at Long Eaton, which isn’t too far from where I live, so I figured I’d just get that. On the way north, I asked the conductor about getting to Nottingham and he told me to get off at Leicester, whereupon I could get the bus from the station. Nil points, do not pass Go, do not collect £200.

Getting off at Leicester turned out be A Bad Idea. No buses from the station and the train I’d just left turned out to be the last one… So after asking a bemused-looking maintenance guy, I hotfooted it down to the bus station through the centre of Leicester at midnight. I quite liked the look of the place, but being sober in a town centre where everyone and their dog is totally wasted was…interesting… Anyway, I got to the bus station to find it locked up tight. Uh-oh. Was I going to have to shell out for a taxi all the way to Nottingham? I didn’t like the sound of that. Then I saw the shuttle bus that goes to East Midlands Airport and figured I’d get that and then take the Nottingham airport bus back home. As I was about to swallow that bitter pill, I saw a National Express bus pull up…and guess what, it was bound for Nottingham.

And in a moment of downright cheek, I waited until the driver was lugging folks suitcases etc out of the hold to nip on board and go to the back of the bus like a real bad boy and hunker down out of sight. Cue one free ride home and though the driver gave me an odd look when I got off, I marched quickly away before he said anything. And even though it was after 1am by the time I got home, I felt pretty pleased with my luck and blaggage, so all’s well that ended well. Apologies to National Express, but the bus was damn near empty and I only had £2.43 on me, which I didn’t think would get me too far...

So, that was the London signings. Great fun and a free bus ride. It doesn’t get much better than that. Oh, wait, I’m off to Australia tomorrow for three weeks. I guess it does!

Cheers and talk to you when I get back.

Graham.

PS – Sam, I have big plans for the sixth Ultramarines novel, but we’ll wait to see how the dust settles after it's done before deciding what's next for Uriel. But I think it’s safe to say we’ll see more of him after the sixth book. I think we can bet on that…