Catching up with you and my reading

Speaking of reading I'm really enjoying a book by Philip Caveney at the moment called Eye of the Serpent featuring his boy hero Alec Devlin. Philip is from Manchester (hurrah another northern writer!) and stupidly I missed his talk to the North West branch of SCBWI recently.
The book is a mystery set in Egypt with some fantastic scenes (some are a bit scary!) involving hyenas and bats - of the possessed type! I don't like my animals coming to any harm in my books but when they're demonic I suppose it's ok! Ha! There's another sequel out soon which I can't wait for and I'm going to have to try his Sebastian Darke series next.
I love finding a new writer because it can be a wait between books. I'm also very excited to hear that the next Max Gordon book is out soon by David Gilman. I love the Dangerzone series and will be checking out WH Smith for the latest Blood Sun this month. I'm not actually supposed to be reading as you know having vowed to steer clear of my Eva Ibbotson book until I've finished my first draft but I'm failing miserably. It's not my fault that there's such good books out there though.
David Gilman has a nice website and blog too where you can follow his writing, he recently went to see some tall ships - like I have - and he very kindly replied to my comments.
Don't forget to let me know your favourite writers too.