I know I slightly overuse those three little letters, but this is definitely an OMG moment.

My book is coming out on Friday!

I had been vaguely thinking about contacting my darling agent to see when (or even if, I admit I am a terrible pessimist and publishing is a fast-moving, cut-throat and jolly picky world) the book was coming out.  I kept getting cold feet, as she is bound to, rightly, tell me off a bit about slow progress with Novel 2. Then this morning, I had a brainwave. I would check on the German version of Amazon.

Well, I did, and look what I found:

http://www.amazon.de/Schokoherz-Alice-Castle/dp/3547711533/ref=cm_cr_pr_pb_t

Even more exciting, I already had two reviews and 3 and a half stars!!!!!

Then I clicked on the reviews, translated them, and found this:

“Brilliant SF novel about the people in an extreme situation
The earth’s climate has changed completely. The ionosphere, which protects the earth from excessive solar radiation, no longer exists.
The polar caps have melted, the sea level has risen dramatically, Europe is a jungle, where a climate is like in the Cretaceous.”

Ahem. Sadly, my book is not a brilliant SF novel about an extreme situation, though I’m beginning to wish it was. It’s the humorous tale of how a mummy journalist crashes out of her career, then finds her true self by transforming herself into a chocolatier. I  love the title of the book reviewed, though – it’s Carnival of the Alligators. Shiver! I may just have to order it for myself. But you go right ahead and get your copy of Schokohertz – it’s only euro 14.95!

Incidentally, I have been put in a bundle offer with the wonderful JG Ballard, who wrote the autobiographical Empire of the Sun but whose novels were mainly dystopian SF. I’m thrilled, I think he’s fab. Maybe my next novel will have a SF element. Yes, I can see it all now ….Chocolatier mummy sets up her new shop ….then gets whisked away by aliens in a spaceship who give her out of this world chocolate recipes! Right, off I go, 2,000 words by lunchtime ….