I had a good idea last night - a really good idea that would be really good for me as an author and pretty good fun to see through to the end. This morning it didn't seem like such a good idea and I put it to one side but then, when it got dark again, the idea resurfaced.

Is this normal?

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Stoner - the lost/rediscovered classic from John Edward Williams - is every bit as good as the press are saying it is. Book of the year? That's a tough call because there are many books that really did come out this year that deserve that accolade (Bellman & Black certainly being one of them if you're lost for some place to lay your hat) but it's certainly "book of the year from a different year" if anybody would like to make up a category that goes down that road.

But what's going on with that cover? It's not exactly drawing you in with... well, with anything at all. This one below however, is pressing all the right buttons for me. Sadly, Catalan is not a language I am overly familiar with. Maybe I'll try and hunt down a poster of it instead.

In this case, don't judge a book by its cover. I usually think it's a great indication of a damn good start, but in this case, that's not so.

To rewind a couple of minutes or so, here's the book trailer for Bellman & Black. I like a good book trailer... one day, somebody will come out swinging a hammer with one and change the face of book marketing forever.

Well that didn't take long for my head to empty - if you're stuck for Christmas presents, you could probably do worse than either or both of those.