I have just completed the final draft of ‘The Spook’s Nightmare’ which will be published in June. Now I have to work with the copyeditor to remove any errors and inconsistencies. The jacket illustration is under development and I saw a preview yesterday. It is excellent and really scary, probably shaping up to be the very best of the new style of covers.

Once again I feel the need to warn readers that the Spook’s books are published in America by a different publisher under a different title. So apart from the illustrations and a few spelling changes, ‘The Last Apprentice: Revenge of the Witch’ is the same fiction as ‘The Spook’s Apprentice’. Some readers have recently bought the same book twice by mistake.

Last week I was in Australia and did talks and signings in Sydney and Melbourne. It was enjoyable with many enthusiastic audiences but for someone from chilly wind-swept Lancashire, the hot weather made talking difficult. I am in New Zealand for a few more weeks and then return to England early in March where I will continue to write Spook’s Eight (which is about half-completed) and the Alice book, which I have only just begun. I’ll also try to fit in a few events during March and April.

My own website has now been completed and the address is: www.spooksworld.co.uk.
From within the site you can send an email to me and receive a reply or even enter into the Spook’s fictional world by sending an email to one of my favourite witches - Grimalkin.

Below are a few pictures from New Zealand – including my feet standing on the geographical centre of New Zealand which is in Nelson, South Island.

Best wishes,

Joseph Delaney