Only the face has changed!

For more years than I care to remember, I've been using the same publicity photo for all my written work, wherever it appears.  However, there comes a time when you have to accept that you're in a 'reverse Dorian Gray' situation, whereby you are getting increasingly decrepit but your photo remains the same!

Don't get me wrong, I'm very fond of my publicity photo.  It was taken on or around the time of my 50th birthday.  We had some unused credit with a local photographer (don't ask!) and had planned to make use of it by having some photos taken of our then miniature dachshund, Briar.  However, as she was of a somewhat nervous disposition, we decided that this would be a bridge too far and decided against it.  I suppose we should really have told the photographer before we turned up, but we didn't, so she had a quantity of rubber toys at hand and a fluffy cushion to sit on.  That she managed to get some of the best photos of either of us out of the session was a testament to her professionalism

Anyway, nearly 20 years later, as much as I like my old photo, it really doesn't resemble a true picture of how I look now (more's the pity).  So, I've decided to bite the bullet and introduce a more recent photo, which hopefully won't frighten the horses.  This is getting its debut on the back cover of the new paperback version of 'A Dubious Undertaking and other stories', due to be published next week, and will also grace my ABCTales profile page.  I'm making a concerted effort to ensure that there will be paperback versions of all the Josiah and Archibald books available, prior to pubishing Kindle and paperback vesions of 'Bring Out Your Dead' later this year.

Apropos 'Bring Out Your Dead', you may, or may not, have noticed that the 54th and very final episode in this long-running series appeared last week - 'So The Story Goes' - I'm sorry to see the end of this story.  I was as interested as many of you to see what happened in the end!  I have some tentative ideas for what might happen to Josiah and Archibald next, but we'll have to wait and see.  Quite what I'm going to do with my time now, I really don't know.  I might take to drink!

My thanks to every one who has read the series and particularly to those who have been kind enough to take the time to comment.  You are very much appreciated