Hey there Readers,

Well, it's been some time since I've done a "Thoughts" column and due to overwhelming demand, here it is!

I absolutely roared through this book, by the author of Liar's Poker and The New New Thing . Lewis writes about business, and in this book he applies business/share-trading principles to professional baseball, specifically, the Oakland Athletics.

You see, the Oakland A's have a $30 million budget, yet they regularly compete with the New York Yankees, who have a $120 million budget. Lewis asks why. And the answer is astonishing: most of baseball's accepted "statistics" are actually meaningless. Oakland have been finding great players at cheap, bargain-basement prices because baseball's Establishment is clinging to old, out-of-date (and sometimes just romantic) theories.

An awesome read for anyone who loves pro sport and business - which most certainly includes me!

THE YEAR OF THE HOVER CAR

Speaking of sports, a brand-new sport arrived this year: hover car racing. Yep, my Internet experiment has been going gangbusters, bringing an entire novel to readers FOR FREE at www.hovercarracer.com . So far well over 120,000 visitors have been to the site.

And yes, Walt Disney Pictures did indeed option the movie rights when they saw the book in manuscript form... in actual fact, they optioned Hover Car Racer having only read Parts 1-5 (it has 8 parts). This was because I didn't want to let anyone read the ending before it went online!

Oh, and since I'll be at the Melbourne Writers Festival this coming weekend - where I'll be talking about Hover Car Racer - I'm thinking of extending its Internet run by a week, just so MWF patrons can check it out, having heard me speak about it.

A (very cool) bound edition of Hover Car Racer will be released in Australia on October 1; and soon after in the UK. US release will be in early 2005 - where it will be released as two books!

FESTIVALS AND BOOK TOURS

Yep, I'm about to hit the road again. I've been invited to two writers' festivals in Australia : the Melbourne Writers Festival and the Brisbane Writers Festival . And I'll also be swinging through Singapore , Kuala Lumpur, and the UK in mid-September. Check out the Appearance Dates section of the site for details.

THE NEW BOOK!

And finally, I am well and truly into the writing of a new novel- and I'm having an absolute blast writing it! I'm about 270 pages in, and it's easily the biggest, most explosive thing I've ever done, bigger and faster than Scarecrow . It features a brand-new hero, in all new settings, and a lot of "ancient" stuff (I just came back from my honeymoon in Egypt - very inspiring). That's all I'll say about it now. But check this space for more in the future.

Anyway, better run. Writing to do. It's great to be back, and hopefully, I'll see some of you in Melbourne or Brisbane or Manchester in the coming months!

Very best wishes,