Sunday, 15 December 2013

Shannon's Law: New Emma Calin Romance

Gurus differ about titles. Some say you should have one right from the start. Rival gurus think it should be designed as part of the cover. I can't recall the names of any books by gurus. My new novel is called "Shannon's Law". It was born at a healthy weight of 94,000 words and is so much alive it even has its own Facebook page for you to "like": https://www.facebook.com/ShannonsLaw

Now, during the long incubation period, I had to make a rather serious decision. A wonderful publisher actually wanted it. This is what I had looked for all my life. At last I could become a member of the Romantic Novelists Association. So, perversely, I turned them down. Professional acceptance will have to wait. The industry has changed so much and since I published "Knockout" I have learned a lot. I've even set up Gallo-Romano Media, my own publishing business that now handles third party books. With breathtaking arrogance I have decided to go it alone again. "Knockout" was always intended as the first in a series of hardcore modern police romance stories. The flavour is very much girl cop on top. They're tough but not rough. There's handbags, toe-rags, sandbags and glad rags. It's Passion Patrol.

A view with a room (or two)

If you check out the Facebook page you'll find a cool competition http://tinyurl.com/qy6rxvp to win a signed pre-release printed copy or tickets to the live launch event in the UK. Yes - a live stately home launch. I can't reveal the story but here is a full frontal view of our launch venue, complete with hard upright pillars at the entrance. Much of the action takes place here.

I am a woman with a plan. The countdown has begun. The Facebook page is up. The cover reveal will be on 6th January 2014. A Pinterest board has developed in parallel with the book, featuring nearly everything from venue to menu. Teaser silhouettes will proceed a Pinterest reveal International blog tour. The book will launch on February 28th with a virtual tea party. The live launch event will be on 2nd March 2014. Only Nostradamus can take us beyond that date.

Emma Thinx: Pillar talk -it's what architects do in bed.

Thursday, 12 December 2013

Getting Down and Dirty: Just how far do authors go to research their fiction?

Getting down to it... with the sheep?!

This question must be one of the most commonly posed by writers to their characters. In fiction they go further than the next girl in the office. That’s why they’re in a book. Of course in real life some characters do go further. These are the heroes, life sentence prisoners, saints, presidents and stars of the media galaxies. They have their own brand of fiction called biography. They don’t need novelists.

My biggest problem as a writer is how far I can physically go to follow where the character is going. This is why I don’t feature nuclear submarines, wing walkers or trapeze acts in my books. I have just completed a novel entitled Shannon’s Law which will be released or perhaps allowed to escape, next year. The book is in my own self-styled “Passion Patrol” genre. She’s a girl cop and she gets around. I’ve tried to keep up. I’m very lucky in that I’ve got a resident cop story editor, Oscar, to tell me what’s feasible. He is absolutely useless though, at telling me what’s of interest to girl cops. He’d dress them all in track suit bottoms and an old vest while brewing their own cider in a bucket. He also doubles as a stunt man. This is his true talent. To see how far my character could go I got Oscar to test a climb of a nine-feet wall using a bicycle. It was relatively easy to write. Suddenly the spectre of an Amazon one-star review troll crossed my mind. The whole book could be trashed if such a climb was not possible. Phew! It was. I told him straight that I’m rarely wrong and a gentleman’s true function is to prove a lady right….

Driving him up the wall... for the sake of veracity in my art.

The book is set among the English aristocracy and Royal Family. Access to classy residences is easy in England and so I set out. Here I must make a serious point. I do believe in research. In the attached photos are the very houses and places I describe in the narrative. I have traveled up and down the land (an afternoon drive to you Americans)in search of locations. When my characters take tea in the orangery I know exactly where they were - Avington Park near Winchester in Hampshire is the inspiration for much of the scenery in my new book, Shannon's Law.

Was this where Nell made King Charles feel fruity?

When they walk in the footsteps of King Charles II and his mistress Nell Gwynn, I have walked those floors. When they coalesce in physical harmony (you know…have good raunchy sex) in the bed of an Empress I’ve seen the bed and imagined the action. I have to go off location to test out the real thing. Few tour guides permit detailed research of this nature. They do permit the watching of a whole game of cricket. I think I understood more before I started. I tried to make notes but fell asleep after the first five hours. When I woke up rain had stopped play. The result was a draw but apparently that was the objective. Climbing walls was nothing compared to this although Oscar was fascinated and took along some home brewed cider.

Some of the action takes place in Venice. I’ve been there but the tax authorities just have no sense of integrity in Art. I love the place but no writing quite captures the ambiance of the drains on a hot summer day. Google maps et al are a wonderful resource. Shots of police vehicles and internet articles about riot batons make fascinating reading for the dedicated researcher. Features about forensic labs and DNA profiles completely distract me from actual writing. When the action moves to Las Vegas I had to spend hours watching Elvis...

Now, there’s no getting away from the physical aspect of Romance. Sometimes you just have to get down and dirty, even if it means rolling around with sheep to get that full mental picture. Would you go this far?

Luckily my leg is a lot better and I was able to research personally a passionate shower scene. There’s some places you can’t operate with a crutch, or a camera.

Finally, it’s all about getting into character. I just have to believe I’m in that woman’s head. There was nothing for it but to dress up. Here I am posing with my hand written exercise books that contain the story.

Taking Shannon's Law into my own hands. D o you think I look like a sassy street cop? I hope to arrest you in the name of love.

Little did I know that Oscar felt himself stirred by my new uniformed persona. Luckily several scenes required research in that very area. Sometimes you just can’t go far enough.

Originally posted on Venture Galleries Blog

Tuesday, 26 November 2013

Paris! Je t'aime!

Don't lose your head for heights.

I think the word ambiance is French. If it isn't I claim it by its Gallic sounding-ness. Nowhere has more ambiance than Paris. In fact there is so much ambiance in Paris that the very word conjures up an existentialist smoke filled café on any pavement near you wherever you are.

Just the other day I was there seeing one of my progeny who is spending a year there. Could I be envious? Perish the thought!

I pointed my camera at a couple of tourist traps and found myself even more trapped in the essence of the place. Tourism makes the tangential view the only possible escape from la carte postale. The featured pix are from around le Sacré Coeur area of Paris. Trouble not, I'm not about to bore you with my montage.

I love short stories and the whole art of keeping things concise. Readers of my verbiage may be groaning in disbelief to know this!
Here is a short and very clever documentary film made in Paris by some fabulous young film makers. The words are French but the truth is universal. All I can say is that my own diet will start again on Tuesday. Maybe next week. Enjoy les religieuses.

Emma thinx: If all the world's a stage, who wrote my bloody script?

Wednesday, 20 November 2013

Giving away #Love in a Hopeless Place for #Christmas and the #holidays

Pucker up.....I'm blowing my own ~~trumpet~~ trombone again (I can hear the groans!), my anthology of tough love stories is now out in paperback and available on Amazon for the bargain price of USA: $8.99 UK: £5.99 and in Europe: €6.99

Good news for anyone hoping to find a FREE gift book for the holidays - there are 3 copies up for grabs on Goodreads - click HERE to go in the hat for the draw on the 18th of December - just in time for Christmas.

Here's what some of the reviewers have said about the e-book version that came out in July:

Five Stars
"Emma Calin writes with perfection and is a master of the short story. You will want to keep this collection in your bookshelf forever." Adina Luca, October 2013

"I thoroughly enjoyed this collection of short stories, and have recommended it to male and female friends." Michael Todaro, September 2013

"All five titles explore social issues and these are cleverly interwoven into the narrative" T. Fly August 2013

If you'd prefer a digital version for your e-reader, the Kindle edition is available too, although not on a Goodreads giveaway I'm afraid, as they do not allow giveaways of e-books.

For those of you missing my brassy side or wondering about the length of my glissando .... here's a repeat performance... oh for those warm balmy days of summer!

Emma Thinx: Leaf through a real book in the Fall

Wednesday, 30 October 2013

In A Sewer A Soiled Hand Will Hold The Lamp

So Comrades the News of The World show trial has begun. The righteous prosecution alleges that journalists hacked into people's phones in order to get juicy stories. Oh No! Who could have dreamed such a thing could happen? Who would ever have believed that journalists would have befriended servants in those lovely Downton Abbey days in order to get juicy stories about important toffs. Wow!!!! The evil and deviousness of this world knows no end.

All I want to say is that this trial has cost £40 million pounds of tax payer's money in Metropolitan police investigation. Remember that when you next need a non existent cop. The legal fees are up to £450 million. You could feed a few starving people and build homes for the homeless with that lot! You could even invest in cancer research or develop new antibiotics. If we ignore the latter, kids will be dying of routine infections in thousands in a few years. Yes - they will and all the wailing phone-hacked dentally enhanced celebrities on Earth will not be able to save them.

The hypocrisy is particularly defined by the open secret revelations of Edward Snowden It appears most governments of sovereign states are hacked by all other governments. In turn their own good guys hack all those other bad foreign guys. This is called patriotism and defence of national security. Ah, there you have it then. Good job the vile Press are there to tell us eh? Fill the prisons with journalists and we'll all be safe at last.

Rebekah Brooks Does she look like a hacking monster?

If you are a fame-oid the Press is a capricious and wonderful lover. You accept the flattery and kisses and you take the punch in the face of rejection. Or you don't dress up and go out on the pull. Fame and celebrity has a down side. Please: all you thwarted hacks looking for a raunchy old tarty novelist to expose......here I am boys! Buy my books!!! Get my old face on TV. Interview me on chat shows. Fill my pockets with money. Sit me in a bath of ego and soap my back. Make my fans scream my name. Hack me hard and harder big boy.

Emma Thinks: Tyranny offends the rules of common indecency.

Tuesday, 24 September 2013

Tandemocracy - Vote With Your Feet

The following post appeared on the Loveahappyending Lifestyle Magazine on Friday 20th September 2013:

Once upon a time I had a male work-colleague who, in these enlightened times, would have been called a control freak sociopath with psychotic tendencies. In those days he was regarded as a leader of men, a tosser-testerone role-model and destined for ultimate command of the galaxy. I used to call him Alpha Moron. This gentleman had a deep seam of weakness which could be easily accessed through his trousers. A good female friend was mining his fossil fuel when he astounded the world and fell in love with her. Of course, I knew it was a mistake. Firstly he could not love anything outside of a mirror frame and secondly she was far too good for him. So, incidentally, was my cat and she had been squashed by a truck.

Your chance to give him the boot…

In any event, he declared his love and announced to his “friends” that he intended to marry her. She did not receive a ring but instead a pair of hiking boots and an anorak. I should point out that Alpha Moron was a health-food-Nazi, hiker and mountain scrambler. He declared that his bride-to-be would be tested. He arranged a weekend in Wales where she would have to climb two peaks in two days to prove her dedication. In her leisure time she would be allowed to massage his muscles and wash his socks. My dear demented friend had fallen so far under the spell of his rock-hard fossil that she agreed. Alpha Moron then invited my boyfriend and me to join them for the test and suggested that I too could be tested if my man (Colin the Beta Moron) felt it appropriate. He did not and to be honest his fossil had never hardened to the same extent.

Cader Idris, Wales

We set out for Wales. The peaks were Pen y Fan and Cader Idris. We slogged and scrambled. We slithered and slaved and that was just getting into the sheep-dung scented guest house. She surprised him by hiding her three kids in my car. Alpha Moron took one look and dumped them on me and Colin. We took them to Llandudno and ate burgers on the beach in the rain. He berated us as child abusers for feeding them non-organic junk. She climbed and survived. Although surprised by the children he married her and took total command. The kids ran away and she turned to drink.

Ladies – let me tell you there is another way!

Daisy Does Dieppe

You get a tandem bicycle. If you want to test him – this is the ultimate denouement. You need to know what sort of character he is. By tradition a tandem bike has the larger (male) “captain” on the front and the smaller (female) “stoker” on the back. This may sound daunting but it raises the potential for back-seat driving to ultimate heights. Men like to pedal faster which can set the female bouncing on her saddle. Too much of this behaviour can mean there’ll be no night of love to reward his pedalling. Let him know this early on!

He cannot tell how much effort you are putting in. If he is a world-conquering super-hero who wants to display his dominance and bionic uber-power – let him!

My Lycra-Clad Lad

Lycra is not necessarily flattering to the body. If he doesn’t like what he sees now, he’ll like it less in a few years. If you are wondering what he’s got – Lycra, Time and Shakespeare tell all truth. If you want to know if it’s in his kiss, simply kiss him and see if the elastic goes ecstatic.

If you want to check out his health, metabolism and social adjustment feed him a veggie curry, hold your breath and grip those rear handlebars.

Team understanding is essential. Gear changes are moments of great stress but also enlightenment. If you can’t sense your partner’s need for a gear change, your simultaneous harmonies may never sync up. Aaaaah……oh dear….another late change of pace! Most tandems have twenty-four up to thirty gears so don’t give up on him too soon. The older male needs more time, so a bit of feeble fiddling and dribbling on his own levers can give you the secret time to lube up your own cogs.

His choice of language is a real game changer. Long weary climbs are a metaphor for a whole marriage. Any hint of tetchy sarcasm rules him out. Anything like “I thought you’d gone home,” or “You’ve usually got enough breath talking to your mother,” you’ll be better off on your own.

Zinc & Castor Oil Bliss

My mother told me men only wanted one thing. The truth is they only want the one thing they haven’t yet got hold of. And, truth to tell, it’s probably not coated in antiseptic nappy-rash cream. When you watch the glamour and swirling fashion-logo-fest of Olympic cycling, you’re probably not thinking of saddle sores or intimate blisters. All those heroes and heroines are greased up like oven ready chickens. If your man can’t face a bit of intimate Sudocrem he’ll never wield a bog brush. Ditch him!

Test his emotional intelligence. If you tell him twice it would be nice to look at the view and he shouts back that the football/cricket/golf has already started on the TV just stop pedalling and bail out. It’s over.

However…

If you arrive at your destination, he kisses your fly-spattered gasping lips and tells you you were brilliant – it’s love. I’m a lucky woman – but……the test never ends. There’s always the return trip.

En-route to Hurstbourne Tarrant – 32 miles up the glorious Test Valley and still smiling.

I love our bike. It’s a true harmony and a team sport. If you are at two with your partner introduce them to the new politics. Tandemocracy – it’s a vote for the coalition of love or the dissolution of empire. Chant the slogan of equality –

“Forever on four legs, together as one”

Visit The Loveahappyending Lifestyle Magazine to read more of my articles.

Emma Thinx: Love on a bike has no reverse gear.

Tuesday, 17 September 2013

Persons From Porlock

The erudite literati out there will of course know the history of poor Coleridge's writing of Kubla Khan. The great poet was in full (opiate?) creative flow when a visitor from Porlock knocked on his door causing the most disastrous poeticus interruptus of all time. Even so, a wonderful poem was conceived and Porlock went on to host a famous literary festival. The only thing it had lacked in the past was the attendance of a full bodied Romantic Passionista such as modest little me.

Candy and Paul awaiting the person from Porlockl

Of course, I was supposed to go with Oscar - but he couldn't get the day off work. And guess who the folks actually wanted to see? It's not that I don't do poetry - I still do (ish) and did ( ooh - you could have taken your pick of my iambic at one time). No one did as it happens! That's why I'm not on BBC Radio Foreplay.

Buy my books. OK BUY MY BOOKS!!!

Happily I met up with a couple of fantastic poets, Candy Bright and Paul Tobin who starred in the "Freeze Frame" anthology. I had read their stuff and done the sound editing on the audio track. These guys are the real deal. As a young young writer I went to poetry readings and longed to be that kind of writer. Poets push off from the shore, not knowing where they're off to; prepared over and over again to drown in waves and cross currents. Their work is their cry above the storm or the landscape of the calm horizon where only ideas or desires cast shadows. Poetry is the true form and I still love it. I guess they don't look at their Amazon ratings or admire their limousines too much either.

I also met a fellow novelist - Jackie Gingell, author of "Ee Aye Addyeo" (The Farmer Wants a Wife). We had a comradely chat which left me smiling.

With driving rain and wind, the village hall was no Xanadu, so many thanks to the man from Porlock and partners, who fought the elements and treated themselves to some poetry.

And finally just to note that this is my three hundredth blog. I know there are tattooed old sweats out there who have done several thousands. My feeling is that the blogger sands have shifted since I started. At the outset it was absolutely de rigueur for writers to have one. There were gurus writing blogs telling other gurus how to blog up their guru power. A quick google has just confirmed my suspicion that many pets now write blogs. A look at the stats reveals that at least one spaniel has twice my readership. I dare not check out the cats cos they can be far wittier than me.

Hey ho - blog on.

Emma Thinx: Big ideas stand tall. Their shadows are the light.

Saturday, 31 August 2013

Saint Savinien Sur Charente - My Home.

A beauty of still water reflects a calm of timeless stone.

My problem in France is that I'm an Anglo-Saxon. I'm a pillager, not a villager. Every time I launch a raid on the Super U supermarché there's more and more plunder. Fruits of the sea lead on to Charentais melons, Boeuf Bourginon, sorbet-citron and cheese. Soft creamy morning light caresses while deep warm evening wines seduce. Oh if only I were a famous travel writer I could claim it was all research! As it is I'm a penniless recidivist hedonist bloggerist with no excuses.

Shine a light and I will follow

A couple of nights ago I trotted out with my camera to capture something of the mellow soft late summer joy of my town. Really, it's not a place - it's an emotion, a passion and the thrill of calm. I took some shots. Voila!

Soon my sense of guilt and over indulgence gave way to philosophical reflection. I have been working on a novel. My man

You rays me up..........

has been working on the leaking roof. Neighbours have stopped and shrugged at the unpredictability of roof tiles, love and fate. Toasts have been drunk to all of them. The air is feathered with swallows. The raised brow of autumn patiently indulges the unacknowledged end of youth. Still the noon is warm. I close my eyes and bask with the lizards.

God can be gaudy.

Emma Thinx: It takes a warm blooded creature to act in cold blood. (Click here to tweet this!)

Thursday, 15 August 2013

Turn, Turn, Turn.

Age in an ocean of youth

Writing has never been about the number of words. The song title “Turn, Turn,Turn.” is only three words but it was this addition that Pete Seeger applied to the biblical words of Ecclesiastes and made the song something of a philosophical icon of the last century

I can never see sunflowers without this song running through my head when I am here in France. The French word “tournesol” carries the notion of turning to the sun. We have fields of thousands of joyful shining faces that turn and turn and turn to their guiding sun. Of course, they have their season, and the season turns.

Close to my home there is a field of such flowers. In the middle is a rigid old tree, long dead. My pagan heart has been pondering this scene. The vibrant brash beauty forms a sea around this old rock. The picture at its most obvious level is of youth and death set in the context of time and season. Even so, the dead tree speaks as loudly as the clamouring crowd at its feet. Once it was a seed. Now it is an orator as the crowd turns its face to follow its message across the perfect blue sky each day closer to autumn and harvest.

In a similar mood I found myself in the 12^th Century Romanesque church of Saint Savinien a few nights ago. The occasion was a concert performed by the Mukachevo boys choir. This group of young men from Ukraine visited our little village in France as part of a programme operated by “Eurochestries”. Broadly the idea is to spread the culture and music of “Euro” peoples to each other and to give opportunity to young folk to express their talents and see foreign lands. And there in the middle of this ocean of youth was a fossilised Romantic novelist applauding my little heart out to these wonderful young guys. They opened with JS Bach (Jesu, Joy Of Man’s Desiring) and ended with ABBA (Thank-you For The Music).

Watch the videos and catch the re-writing of the lyric for the soloists in the ABBA song. They didn't have any “girls with golden hair” but they pulled through like super troupers.

And there it is - my wonderful life here in France. Turning tournesols reach for the sun. Young men stretch their voices upwards with the joy and talent of youth. And my eyes, ears, hands and life - here to see, hear, love and write.

The principal contents of this post were featured on my Venture Galleries Authors Collection blog

Emma Thinx: Youth is a box of chocolates. Age is fat, sugar and doctors. Wisdom is eating the pralines.

Sunday, 4 August 2013

Biting The Bulot

The torments of the juicy fishy flesh!

So, the party's over. The Bloggers Book Fair has ended. I hope all you guys out there enjoyed the breath of new air on these pages. My thanks to all the contributors.

While all that was going on I have been moving myself back to France. Oh - the endless torment of wine, 400 cheeses, moules marinieres and not forgetting kilos of bulots. These wonderful sea molluscs are sold as whelks in the UK and USA but you sure can't buy them in Walmart in England. Oooh - You just can't beat a nice bit of firm flesh and juice.

An amazingly non photo shopped pic de famille

As all you historians out there will know, the French dealt with their issues of class, wage differentials and royal deference by inventing the guillotine. Ever since then they have been inventing media to borrow everyone else's royals. Michelle and Barack count equally: (the dog buying story played well here). Everyone in France wants to know how excited I am by the birth of THE Royal babe. Every French magazine headlines royal baby stories. The UK press has reverted to sensational stories about Killer Heat Waves (three days without rain) and JK Rowling pen names. In my little village there are racks of royal baby mags with William and Kate souvenir oyster knives. The little soul's third name is Louis which might please them I guess, although we did fight wars with many French kings of that name. I know from an inside source that the Queen has read "Knockout!" and wanted him named after Joe Louis, the great American boxer but you'll never convince the French.

Smile though your legs are breaking. No photo shop here!

Nursing my wounded knee,I mounted the tandem yesterday and knocked out 51 kilometres (about 30 miles). It wasn't too bad. I think the old Sparrow is still smiling a bit but poets have to have gravitas he tells me!

And finally, the Love In A hopeless Place Collection launched. I'll be frank - even though I'm emma. These are literary stories and I had no hopes of sales or even interest. They are part of my own history and experience and I wanted to write them. Two reviewers have picked them up and been most generous. The reviews are here and I just want to say that readers make this quest so wonderful. Both these guys spotted what this was all about and took the trouble to reward me. Gentlemen you do most genuinely have my heart. I love you as fellow literati.

Emma Thinx: You'll never get up off your knees if you can't get down on them.

Thursday, 1 August 2013

#Romance novelist filmed performing BL%W JOB in the park to launch her new #book.

I am ashamed to admit, my embouchure was rather slack, having not had it out for nearly a year. My lips were swollen and buzzing by the end... my poor instrument is rusting away from lack of use. I would never have believed my glissando would get exposed to such a wide audience!

Well the 31st was the final stop on my world tour - blowing my own trumpet trombone to announce the launch of my new book –

The Love in a Hopeless Place Collection.

Last blast was at The Venture Galleries Authors Collection and this is an excerpt from that post:

Drum roll please ~~~ I give you~~~

The Romsey Community Wind Band – featuring Emma Calin on the slide trombone, recorded 2 weeks ago from the bandstand in the park...

Emma Calin's

'Blowing My Own Trombone' Finale Concert

In aid of

The Love in a Hopeless Place Collection

PROGRAM

Cabaret

An apt description of the life of a modern author. We do not shiver in isolation in our bare garrets writing away in anonymity. We are out there in the spotlight, baring it all and putting on a show. We perform a variety act for our readers – social media, blogs, interviews, appearances. As the song says, 'What good is sitting alone in your room? Come hear the music play?'
Edelweiss

A love song for all you romance writers and readers out there – pure love in the form of a small and perfect mountain bloom.

Rock-a-my-Sex (Sax/Soul)

Well – this is an adaptation of an old song – the title brought up to date for a modern romance writer. Eroticism has come of age as the effects of the “50 Shades...” permeate through the romance genre.
The Muppets

A nod to the madness of the circus. A jibe at the desperation of the modern day novelist. I am the worst - prone to jumping on every band-wagon. Trying to ride the latest wave; to identify and mimic the traits of the successful who have raised their books above the parapet and made a few sales.

… and sometimes you just need those two old guys on the balcony to put their heads up, blow a few raspberries of ridicule and point their fingers to bring you back down to earth.

At the end of the day it's all about putting your soul into your writing. This is what matters. One has to avoid becoming a Muppet jumping to the call of the puppeteers of the 'system' – whatever it may be!

Thank you for coming!

And the purpose of all this horn blowing? A fanfare for the arrival of my new book -

The Love in a Hopeless Place Collection.

My series of five short stories are now available under one cover. A bargain way for you to get your hands on my gritty tales-with-a-twist.

The five titles in the collection stand alone in their own right but are linked by a common theme: the universal quest for survival, love, passion and respect against the gritty backdrop of working class life.

Sub-Prime - a gritty short story

The Chosen - a short story with a twist

Escape To Love – a novelette, a suspense romance with a twist

Angela - a short story

Love in a Hopeless Place - a novelette, a romance.

During July and August 'ANGELA' a short story from the collection is FREE – so you can even try one before you buy the set!

The 'Blowing my own Trombone Book Launch Blog Tour' is now over - many thanks to these kind folk who have hosted my blasting over the last two weeks!

Tonight I am greasing up my old trusty instrument and packing it away until December's street carols... watch this space!