Sneak Preview - of book and wife

Here it is, hot off the presses, "Safari", hitherto known in our house as 'Book 4'.

I received my advance copies yesterday and the lovely Mrs B and I had a little celebration last night which left us both feeling quite unwell today.

I also went to lunch yesterday with my very attractive, very intelligent, very stylish, very single female publisher yesterday, to our regular haunt, the Pier 26 Bar at Cockle Bay in Sydney, so all in all it was a good day.

(Enough compliments, C? Please let me know. I'm quite preared to over do it).

Anyway, it's a nice feeling when your new book arrives. I suppose it's a bit like childbirth, but without the pain and mess. Come to think of it, I suppose it's very much like childbirth in a traditional, 1950s father sort of way - lots of drinking and no recollection of any discomfort at all.
My other good news (it was a very good day all round yesterday) was that my well-read, fit (she's a superb tennis player), well-travelled, financially independent, single publisher, C, accepted my manuscript for Book 5. So, legion of fans, we're still in business, all four of us.

To celebrate this avalanche of good news I'm going to cave into the immense pressure I've had (I'm talling about you, now, Hann) to post a picture of Mrs B. Here she is, above, holding a copy of Book 4, Safari, available in all good book stores in Australia from July 24, rrp $32.95.