Wanted to share the UK press release for The Kitty Killer Cult with you... it almost makes me start to believe the hype, always a dangerous thing for a writer. All the same, the book sounds like fun to me. I'd read it.

WELCOME TO A WORLD OF SERIAL SCRATCHERS
envisaged by Julius Kyle, the world’s first feline writer

"Tiger takes me new places. Admittedly grotty places with dead bodies and violent anti-social types, but it still spices up my life with a bit of variety." – Nick Smith, The Kitty Killer Cult

In the city of Nub, ageing private detective Tiger Straight is just trying to stick it out till retirement when the dame Connie Hant tracks him down and asks him to find her brothers’ killer. Thus begins a classic tale of crime, corruption, mystery, violence, and inhuman lowlife scum – although in this story, not only the villains are inhuman. Tiger and Connie, like their fellow Nubbians, are cats.

Nick Smith, author of the bestselling cat crime caper Milk Treading, has upped the ante yet again with The Kitty Killer Cult, his second novel, by writing in the guise of reporter Julius Kyle, the feline hero of Milk Treading. Thankfully Nick has lost none of his trademark inventiveness and humour as he once again satirises modern society in the vein of George Orwell’s Animal Farm.

"Smith writes with wit and energy, creating a memorable brood of characters, and skilfully building the sense of unease between sides as the action zeroes towards its bloodthirsty conclusion." – The List on Milk Treading

Early success for The Kitty Killer Cult: Selected for March 2005 USA-wide promotions at Barnes & Noble booksellers.

"Absolutely chockablock with surprises. A fantastic book... with a lot of humour in it. It’s got all the ingredients of a human-based thriller – politics, suspense, drama, a bit of a love affair… It’s for cats… cat lovers… mystery lovers… readers everywhere… destined to become a bestseller." Alan Hardwicke, BBC, on Milk Treading

Milk Treading reached amazon.com’s Top 100 in December 2002; was named one of the Top 10 books of 2002 by The Las Vegas Mercury, along with Alice Sebold’s The Lovely Bones and Ian McEwan’s Atonement; and was selected for Waterstone’s 2003 Summer Reads list.

The Kitty Killer Cult by Nick Smith (ISBN 1 84282 039 7, pbk £9.99) is published by Luath Press on March 21st 2005

A still from The Swordmaker, a shortie made by some of the students from our Scottish film school.

If you've ever wondered what I was doing seven years ago (and why should you?), here's your chance to find out. The original Fierce Films website gives a wee insight into my Scottish production company.

Back in 1998, I was unmarried and my son was no more than a twinkle in my lazy eye. My future wife and I worked so hard, setting up the company and trying to go it alone. We poured all our cash into Fierce Films and lived in a pokey Edinburgh flat, our kitchen cupboards filled with video tapes. We never went out (except to film stuff, or attend business meetings). We lived, ate and slept film and made ourselves available to our clients 24 hours a day. It was our dream come true; it was also a nightmare.

Our passion for movies saw us through. But after a brush with Hollywood in the 90s, I’m determined to go my own indie route these days. I hope that one day, some mogul will offer me enough cash to make me eat those words.

The Trainspotting gang, L to R: Ash, Andrea, Brett, Phil, Scott, Stella, Mike, Cat, JC & Hutch, Jamie, David & Spud. Photo nicked from the incredible H-Bomb Chronicles site.

Triennial is one of the most highly-esteemed art exhibits in South Carolina, but not many people know that. There's a kind of eltist attitiude in Columbia that preseumes that art shows and awards held there encompass the whole state. Many artists' exhibits aren't even promoted outside of Columbia.

A similar thing goes on in London - life is so busy there that anything occurring beyond city limits doesn't seem worth bothering about. This parochial attitude just annoys everyone who lives off the edge of that metropolitan world.

All the same, a lot of work has gone into Triennial, which has been running since November and will end on Feb. 27th. The art exhibit, which represents art created in the state from the past three years, showcases drawings, paintings, photography, installations and metal and ceramic sculptures from 29 of South Carolina’s finest artists.

This will be the SC State Museum’s fifth TRIENNIAL since the event was organized in 1992 and will feature alumni of past shows as well as emerging artists in the state. This year’s event has seen the highest number of applications in its history, and it's also the first year that artists could submit work on CD-ROM. About bloody time.

Only the brave and the bold have their blogs linked to the mighty Fold Drop. I recently joined the ranks of the chosen few thanks to Foldy, aka New York Magazine contributor Emma Garman.

Foldy’s taking a break for a wee while, but she makes the occasional crossover appearance when she’s not too busy chillin’.

Yay! Finally got a pic of my new book's cover. Whaddya think?

Feeling tired? Listless? Need a fresh perspective on your life and its inevitable insecurities? You need a pontificating diva to invigorate you with her thoughtful point of view.

For quotes, musings and a down-to-earth look at head-in-the-clouds pursuits, take Christie Cummings' Ramblings of a Drama Queen. Your doctor will thank you for it.

An Inland Revenue Recovery Officer (Lincolnshire branch).

Ouch! I'm usually very fond of my postie (that's "mailman" to y'all) but he left something nasty in my mailbox yesterday - a $5,000 tax bill from the UK. The Inland Revenue figured they'd paid me too much in tax credits, plus they'd charged me $2,000 because I hadn't filled out a form. Worse than any loan sharks!

I always thought the Boston Tea Party was a waste of good char, but I'm starting to agree with you guys... They can tax me, but they can never take my freedom!

Last year, a signing at Books-a-Million (yes, I know Books-a-Million are a bunch of box shovers, but there are no independent bookstores in Charleston) was scuppered by poor distribution. Copies of Milk Treading sat in Texas and didn't get to BAM in time. All the PR I'd done for the event was for naught.

Now a planned promotion with Barnes & Noble has been messed up too. Apparently, the first batch of copies of The Kitty Killer Cult arrived and was despatched to Borders - so most of their branches should now have copies. But the next batch was held upin US customs in NY, so the Barnes & Noble promotion has been rescheduled for March 9-22.

While I get a little kick out of being held up at customs - some mighty fine books have stayed there - no-one can buy the book from B&N yet. Copies should be available throughout US booktrade within next week or so, but the UK publication date will be early March (copies are now available throughout UK book trade).

The hold-up's actually worked in my favor this time - I had no notice for the first B&N promotion, and this gives me more time to let people know about it - but it's endemic of the distribution problems faced by the publishing industry. Those guys just can't seem to get their act together.

It all makes me want a wee whisky.

Book Banter, the newsletter from Luath Press, has undergone a surf-friendly site update (check out the "Feeling Feline" page) and its second issue is on the way.

Highlights in the upcoming issue will include an interview with John Cairney about Robby Burns an' all that, an interview with Stuart McHardy, a feature by David Ross on his favorite places in Scotland, a feature by John MacKay about islands, a review/feature on Luath's Jules Verne book, a front page article about the Rosslyn Chapel and Da Vinci Code stuff for their book, Quest for Celtic Key, an article on hillwalking, another on Picts... and hopefully pieces on Scots in Canada, John Galt, politics and history. Much better than filling the thing with a bunch of ads.

Bugs? Is that the best you can do?

Flesh eaters, indestructible monsters, skanky bacteria… these germs lurk in our hospitals and they’re spreading every day…

VRE - The Invincible Bug
Klebsiella - A Breedy Bug that adores hospital floors
MRSA - The Greedy Bug that loves antibiotics
Pseudemonous - The Skunk Bug
Group A beta-hemolytic streptococci - The Flesh Eater that causes Necrotising Fasciitis

It's the final show of Trainspotting tonight. Yesterday one of our cast members (Ashley Starkey) was in hospital while his wife had a baby, so our director took his role and had fun with it. We were reviewed by Jennifer Corley at the City Paper, who had this to say about the venue:

'A minor complaint, although it has nothing to do with the play: on Wednesday evening, Bar 145 had a cockroach problem throughout the performance. Most of the people in the room commented on them, dodged them, and swatted at them throughout the play. One woman even trapped one on the floor beneath a cup next to her seat. If there’s anything that can detract from an audience’s enjoyment of a play, it’s the constant worry that a cockroach will crawl up your leg.'

Yeah, but what about the show, sweetie?

We've kinda got used to the bugs during rehearsals - good catharsis for the roachaphobics in the cast/crew.

I'll miss these guys and the show's atmosphere. But the end of the run will finally enable me to get on with the next instalment of my little cat city saga, Isle of Dogs...

Yes, he really is this small.

Weird Cat News: Down-Sizing Hits the Cat World

Word has reached us of the world’s smallest cat. His fully grown size is 3 lbs and his name is Mr. Peebles.

The 2-year-old critter, who lives in Pekin, Illinois, recently had his weight verified by the Guinness World Records – fame indeed. The diminution has been chalked down to a genetic defect, but as we all know, cats will do anything to get fed (Mr. Peebles eats 4 times a day). The cuter they can be, the harder it is to refuse them, so maybe this is an evolution thing. Only time will tell.