Australia and Jonathan Maberry.

Well, I have finally made it to Australia. After 24 hours of travelling what can I tell you? Thanks to my plane being late leaving Heathrow I had to literally run across Dubai airport in about 30 minutes, going from Arrivals to gate 228. And yes, there are over 300 departure gates. What little of Dubai airport I got to see was amazing, the airport was structurally very well thought out and completely modern. Having heard a few horror stories from people who have been through Dubai I encountered none of this and was very impressed. I wished I could have spent a little longer there but what can you do. As for Emirates, not wholly convinced by their "award winning food", but plenty of leg room and to top it all I got a spare seat next to me so I could spread out that little bit more.
Stupidly I only took one book in my hand luggage, which was "Rot and Ruin" by Jonathan Maberry that I received from the Simon and Schuster event a few weeks ago. If I'm honest I am a bit of a zombie/post apocalypse addict so when I saw this novel I nabbed it straight away. I read Maberry's "Patient Zero" when that first came out and got through it in about a day it was so gripping and personally I think "Rot and Ruin" topped "Patient Zero" by miles. Brilliantly written, in a zombie world, Maberry goes into the problems that can occur when the law that is left encourages the killing of zombies and turns a blind eye to the disappearances of humans, putting it down to being eaten. Narrated by the 15 year old Benny, his view of the world changes around him as those he views as the heroes of the new world rapidly degenerate into something else. This book was such a page turner I read it all on my first 6 hour leg of the journey and found myself itching for more. As a YA book it is exactly as Maberry says in his interview below, that it not what he expected it to be and it definitely won't be what you expect to read.

So now that I am here what's next? I have my enrollment tomorrow, where I will get my timetable, reading lists etc, and then we will get down to the nitty gritty of writing.

Note to self: trying to get over jet lag in one day is not a good idea.