Good books and bold mammals

 Two new reviews came in yesterday on The Book Depository. Bookie Monster praises The Glass Harmonica: 'Kocks keeps an expert writerly hand on the drama . . .  intensifying it and moderating it perfectly' in a 'wonderful tale … reminiscent of Louis de Bernières'.

 And Rachel has some fine words for Slightly Peculiar Love Stories here.

Hooray and hooray!

 As you can see, the rat had a little trouble assembling his ironing board biplane, but a promise is a promise, and here he is aloft, with Lily the Pink.

Lily's wearing a green balaclava back to front. So far from her sandy, grassland tunnel, she fears over-stimulation of the senses, but love for Ratty will tempt her to take a peep as they come in to land . . .

Here she is . . . Lily the Pink

Lily is a fairy armadillo from the grasslands of Central Argentina.

She watches in wonder as Ratty checks his kitset biplane — assembled by candlelight — for loose bolts.

Until now, Lily has known little beyond the thornbushes, cacti and sandy tunnels of las pampas.

Rat on ice

I'm a happy rat.

To make your own ice rink, pop a bowl of soup in the freezer overnight. Take it out next morning and pull on your skates.

 Rosa Mira eBooks are half price for another three days. Following the next purchase, I'll introduce you to my girlfriend.
 

Rat ahoy

Thanks to a couple of keen e-readers this morning, the rat has fled his crumby, deflating Swiss ball and taken to the waves.

 

Originally, he hoped to be a pin-up for Draw, Don't Drown (the  comma is my own), a draw-a-postcard initiative to raise funds for those affected by the Thai floods (the site well worth a visit for the many heartfelt and intricate offerings). Alas, Ratty found that his dimensions were all wrong, so he's making his debut voyage here, instead.

How rats eat spaghettti

The rat's hanging in there on the Swiss ball, daring to imagine his next adventure. Rosa Mira ebooks are half price for another 6 days only . . .

Meanwhile, Sally Rae of the Otago Daily Times rang me yesterday and reported our conversation about Rosa Mira Books entirely accurately. The photographer did a nice job, too — with gentle lighting thanks to a sudden darkening of the sky.

Photo: Otago Daily Times online

Meanwhile, the pages of Road Markings: An Anthropologist in the Antipodes are being designed in Wakayama, and the cover in Edinburgh, with final amendments coming from author Michael Jackson in Cambridge, Massachussets.

Woohoo, even as I write, Ratty's reprieve has come. Stand by for his next exploit.

Keeping it rolling

This is harder than it looks. I've always wanted to try one of these Swiss balls but I was finally spurred on to it by the new super-stretch Coral underpants.

Where's the towel?

Another sale? Okay, I'm out. It was getting cold anyway.

Splashdown

Aaah, that's more like it. Thank you, dear buyer.

I'm going to stay here now until the sound of another ebook soaring off to meet its (e)reader drags me from this heavenly tureen.

The rat ascends

Rat in his birthday suit suspended above Earth by an inflatable onion.

Rattitude

That's what's needed. Someone has to start selling ebooks around here. Someone with verve, tenacity, a smooth tongue and a tricycle. Rats have no shame, no reputation to lose. Those went out with the Pied Piper and the original sinking ship. My only goal is to weasel my way into your pockets affections.

So, first things first. I've bound and gagged the publisher. I popped a straw in the corner of her mouth with a nice cup of lapsang souchong nearby. And I discounted the books — slash, slash. They're down to half price, for a fortnight only. Think of the pleasure to be gained for $5.50 from the lyrically erotic shenanigans of darling Chjara Vallée in The Glass Harmonica; imagine 20 perfectly curiously amorous couplings (and near-couplings and would-be couplings) for only $5 in Slightly Peculiar Love Stories.

I know, I'm just a rat but by all accounts these writers chew it up.

Look, you don't even have to buy an ebook. You might just feel sorry for the outfit called RMB with its high flying ideals, or for the kids in India still waiting for RMB to break even so they can benefit from a cut of the profits and learn to read . . .

Just go through the pay procedure, take an ebook or leave it — call it a donation if you want to.

Tell you what, every time I wake up and find a book sold or a donation made, I'll change my outfit, antic and vehicle. Watch me.

I am the rat.

Pssst . . . pass it on.

The Rat

  The rat wants to join the Rosa Mira Books sales department. He wants to be the Sales Department.

 

What do you reckon? Would you buy from a rat?

The suit would have to go for starters.