"Black Beauty meets Gladiator"

As a little break from more formal posts, I have two things to tell you.  The first is odd: I woke up this morning dreaming that the London Times leader was all about the NEXT BIG THING in children's publishing: a book called 'Willoughby and the Time Watch', and a comic strip book about Tony Blair and the Iraq war; presumably highly metaphorical since the illustration showed a large purple dragon chewing ivy off a ruined turret.  Make what you can of that. 

Unless anyone out there is actually writing 'Willoughby and the Time Watch'?  In which case - my friend, the omens are good!

The second thing I want to tell you is that the British fantasy writer Katherine Roberts is beginning a series of blog posts about the genesis and writing process of her (extremely good) book 'I Am The Great Horse' - the story of Alexander the Great seen through the eyes of his famous horse Bucephalus.  (She jotted the idea down in her notebook as 'Black Beauty meets Gladiator'!)  Katherine is not only an excellent writer and meticulous reseacher, but has a special affinity with horses as she used to exercise racing horses - professionally.  The series looks set to be a really intriguing behind-the-scenes peek at how a writer works.   Do go and visit her at Reclusive Muse