So, after a wonderful time in Munich meeting lots of lovely Septimus readers and my fantastic German publishers, Hanser - and seeing snow too - it's back to winter writing. Lighting the fire, imagining strange and wonderful places and then, I hope, making them come alive. I've begun to explore a new place, part desert, part ocean and just a little bit ... odd. This will be two books, a little shorter than my last ones, but as ever, a lot will be going on.

Two of my projects are up in the air right now - which I should not be surprised about as this is obviously what happens when you write about creatures with wings.

Maximillian Fly is slowly wandering through various edits. He's a one-off novel, a little different from my usual, and I'm hoping he'll make his way into the world early next year. But nothing is definite quite yet.

And there are other winged creatures too, also due out next year, I think. But more of those soon, when I'm allowed to tell you about them...