A new page...

In a bid to escape becoming involved in the ongoing 'Is there a God?' debate on the Scarrow Brothers Forum I've rushed out to the shed to start work on the next Eagles book. Which I finally have a title for: The Eagle of the Tenth. I rather like that, and hope that it duly honours one of my all time favourite authors. I've been deep into the research for a while now and feel confident that this is going to be a good one.

Unfortunately, the copy-edited script for The Generals is due any day and will delay the writing for a few days, and then next week I have a pretty intense few days starting with a workshop at the school where I am writer in residence (in Canterbury), then it's on to London to meet a film-maker followed by an evening dinner with some other authors. Wednesday has been cleared for my sons' music concert at school (absolutely unmissable as any parent will tell you). Thurday, it's back down to London for lunch with a friend from Jordan, followed by a meeting at the Syrian embassy and then an author's quiz in the evening. Then on Friday I'm off to a literary festival and hopefully a pint with my best friend, Murray. Busy, huh? Yikes.

...Meanwhile, I'm reworking a thriller I wrote a few years back - The Christmas Killings...

My email these days has become a bit of a torrent and I'm beginning to fear that there will be a time when I don't have enough time to answer it all. (I might just have to miss out on those penis enlargement offers, shame).

One thing that I love about this job is that there are so many people out there who share a love of history. And even now, it's still hard to believe I live on both sides of the process. Blimey, I'm an author. A real author. I still find that a little difficult to own up to as a job description. Which makes me all the more touched by those who treat me like some kind of a minor celebrity. I just hope I can keep writing material that entertains fellow history fans. It's great fun and I'm so grateful for all the chances it has brought to travel and meet people.

At the moment, my fingers are firmly crossed now that Alex and I have completed the screenplay for Blood Soldiers. It's a great story and if it ever reaches the big screen it will scare people witless.

Basket cases

This week I went to my youngest son's school assembly. We had a letter sent to us from the school saying that the assembly was about ancient Egypt, the history topic for this half-term. It's been a fun time at home with Nick explaining irrigation to me and demonstrating his model of a shedoof in the bath. So I was all set for a what I thought would be an enlightening assembly. After all, it's a fine school that scored excellents across the board in its recent inspection. Really, I admire the headteacher and his staff enormously. They've done wonders with both of my boys.

So it was something of a surprise when the assembly began with an interesting presentation of social hierarchy in Egypt, and then the other 80% of the assembly was devoted to the tale of Moses. My heart sank. Yet another fine educational opportunity hijacked by religion. Leaving aside the dubious veracity of the biblical story, the entire relgious heritage of the Egyptians was simply ignored, after weeks of hard work on this subject in the classroom. The assembly ended with a rousing rendition of 'Jesus is the water of life'. Excuse me, but the link to irrigation is pretty tenuous there.

I am getting quite sick of the religious elements bleating that religion is somehow being suppressed in society. No doubt, the same elements who inisist on burkas at school and who protest outside theatres showing Jerry Springer the Opera. How the hell would my local church feel if a bunch of atheists picketed outside and protested that this offended against their beliefs? Then again, perhaps that's exactly what the athesists should do. Just to ensure balance you understand...