What a devastating time for those people affected by the tsunami. The only brightness to come from this disaster was the way in which the rest of the world rallied to help the victims and rebuild communities.

If you tuned in to ABC Radio Queensland on 1st February for the Book Club you would have been as puzzled as I was to hear cricket commentary. As a sports-minded nation we are very much aware that sport usually takes precedence over normal scheduled programs on both radio and television, so I wasn’t too surprised.

But you’ll now have to be more patient, because ABC Radio commentator Phil Smith, the driving force behind the Book Club, has a two-month assignment in the devastated Aceh province as part of the RAAF contingent helping out over there, and the Book Club will be on hold until his return.

The German edition of Deadly Tide (Im Meer der Furcht) will be available from Bastei Luebbe publishers on 19th April. If you want to have a look at the cover and details of this and my other German editions, go to www.luebbe.de/ and near the top of the page you’ll see the word Suche followed by a long box. Just type Sandy Curtis in that box and hit Enter and it will bring up the page with details of the three books and the second edition of Das Tal der Angst (Dance with the Devil) which will be released on 22nd March.

Only eight weeks until Dangerous Deception is released and I can’t help getting a little excited. It such a wonderful feeling to hold a new book in my hands, almost as though, by some kind of magic, all those months of creative flow and hard work have been transformed into the miracle of a book.

On 21st May, the Bundaberg Writers Club will be holding a One-Day WriteFest to enable writers from surrounding areas to get together and enhance their skills and meet with industry professionals. If you are interested in writing and would like to attend, you’ll be most welcome. I’ll post more details here as we finalise them. It promises to be a great day.