Marcus, book one of the Vampyre Legal Chronicles is taking the United States by storm tonight.

So thrilled to have a Bestseller #1 in three categories in Amazon USA tonight, and sales of JAMES, book two, are rocking. Thank you so much for the Scottish vampyre love.

I don’t normally share charts and numbers, but tonight has been truly amazing.

Thank you so much to everyone who’s reached out to me, joined the Vampyre mailing list and facebook page. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again - READER’S ROCK!!

#1 in Paranormal

#1 in Vampires and Angels

#1 Witches & Wizards

Buy HERE

Love and hugs,

Christine XXX

New Release - ADAM - Book four of The Vampyre Legal Chronicles is out today

iBOOKS NOOK AMAZON KOBO

Hi guys,

For all you paranormal romance lovers out there, I’m thrilled to announce that Book four of The Vampyre Legal Chronicles, ADAM, is out today.

 

Here’s the blurb:

“We must not be defeated…”

Each night her dreams of him keep the nightmares of her visions at bay. All she sees is his face. All she hears his voice. And she foretells of his death.

Tonight, in a world gone mad, foreseer Mhari MacDonald will behold the man who is both light and dark, redemption and seduction.

He is Adam Gillespie - Vampyre Prince.

And he is hers.

Tonight, Mhari will meet the man doomed to be her mate…

the man her love will destroy…

 

EXCERPT:

 

Mhari raced into the bedroom, and hauled open the closet door.

She pulled on thick black thermal leggings, a long-sleeved thermal beneath a warm sweater, thick socks, waterproof boots of soft rubber, all topped off by a thick duck down jacket the color of bleached bone. The jacket had a hood, but she crammed a beanie on her head and thrust thermal gloves into the pockets. She sped into the kitchen, grabbed a banana and a couple of apples, stuffed them inside her jacket. She didn’t need water. The Grampian Highlands in Scotland were covered in snow and had plenty of teeming burns.

Heart beating fast and her mind racing even faster, she sped across the sitting room to the open French doors to peer over the balcony to the ground three floors below.

She had no money, not even a credit card, but she didn’t care.

Far in the distance she recognized a couple of Munros, mountains over three thousand feet high. The trek home through deep snow might be tricky. But it wasn’t far, maybe fifteen miles, maybe less, and when she hit a main road she could do it. Once she was home, she’d never let Adam Gillespie anywhere near her.

Abruptly, the searing ache in her heart told her it didn’t want her to leave Adam.

And it was that single and incredibly foolish thought that hooked her leg over the balcony.

With her booted foot, she carefully shoved snow off the stone ledge.

Hanging onto the railing, she bounced a little to test her weight on the ledge. It didn’t budge, so she carefully shuffled to the left, and finally took a breath when her hands clutched metal.

The downpipe was sturdy.

The climb down had a couple of hairy moments that brought her heart into her mouth.

If she slipped the fall would surely kill her, or at the very least break a few bones.

The thought entered her mind that if Adam could see her, he’d go ballistic, but she didn’t want to think of him. Not now.

 

Her feet hit solid ground.

And she was off.

Her breath was sucking freezing particles of air into lungs that felt too tight. And all the while her ears strained to catch the first shout of alarm she fully expected to hear behind her. She ran. As she dug in to climb up, up, the steep hillside, it wasn’t long before her thigh muscles were burning.

Once, twice, three times, she tripped and fell flat on her face in the snow, hidden stems trapping her ankles and bruising her shins, her knees and elbows.

Scrambling to her feet again and again, Mhari literally threw herself into a thick forest of Scots pine trees.

Only once did she risk a look back, to catch her breath, to gaze at the castle far below.

Dear God, it looked stunningly beautiful, like something straight out of the Brothers Grimm, as it sat nestled in a glen on the edge of a wide loch, surrounded by mountains and hills. A dark winding tar macadam road going in the other direction had been cleared of snow. It was tempting to take the easy route home. But she knew Adam would have everyone looking for her, once he found her missing. She’d taken time to close the French doors behind her and now she was thankful for her quick thinking. He’d never consider she’d climbed out of the window, not until it was too late and she was long gone.

She hoped.

The thought of him and the way her mouth still throbbed, swollen, from his kiss had her tongue run over her bottom lip. Mhari could still taste him there. The scent of him, of man, seemed to cling to her skin. The ache in her chest, in the region of her heart, made her stiffen her resolve. Her heart still belonged to her. He might have stolen a part of it, but her heart wasn’t broken. And she was determined her heart was going to stay that way.

For a moment, she panicked, her clear footprints left in the snow would alert Adam and his Centuri to her escape route, but the thought had no more entered her head when thick flakes began to drift down from a leaden sky.

It seemed someone in the universe was looking after her.

She sent up a quick prayer of thanks.

Turning her back on the castle, and on the creature she felt sure had captured a tiny piece of her heart, Mhari’s ears listened to the stillness and the utter silence behind her, and heard nothing.

She was free.

 

End of Excerpt.

Please remember that all my books stand alone with no cliffhangers.

For exclusive content and more information about deliciously handsome vampyres and the women who bring them to their knees, you can sign-up for my Vampyre Legal Chronicles Newsletter HERE!

Next in the series will be book five, CONSTANTINE, due in February 2017.

Enjoy!

Much love,

Christine X

A NEW BOOK - OR IS IT?

Greetings everyone.

As many of you know I write a futuristic paranormal series, The Vampyre Legal Chronicles. Last year I had a lengthy discussion with my editors on the way forward and where the series was going and we realised that the two stories already published needed to be expanded to take into account the futuristic world I was building and scenes re-written. So we took the books down from all distributors.

I’ve spent the last nine months re-writing and expanding all the books and very soon will have three full length stories. Yay!!! The plan is to have nine books in this series and I’m taking all y’all on a roller-coaster ride from the present day into the future. And that’s all I’m saying! I’m so excited about this project.

Here’s the blurb and the cover reveal!

THE VAMPYRE LEGAL CHRONICLES

BOOK ONE - MARCUS

Get ready to enter the world of The Vampyre Legal Chronicles. A world that’s a wondrously realized magical reality, where dark heroes fight to protect the women they love, and us.
Get ready to take part in a battle without end.
Get ready to escape…

Take one broodingly hot vampyre. Add one gorgeous New Born. And this is just the beginning…

Anais Walker has one passion – Law.

And one goal – a glittering career with Gillespie, Pattullo & Hindmarch.

Success is so close she can taste it.

Until a lamentable slip of concentration jeopardises a billion dollar deal with the Chinese in Shanghai.

Is Anais about to lose it all?

Famously ruthless corporate lawyer Marcus Gillespie has two secrets.

He’s a Vampyre Prince.

And after two hundred and thirty years he’s found the woman for him.

She’s beautiful, smart and with a body to die for. After six months of mentoring Anais, the time has come to move her from the boardroom to the bedroom. And when Anais makes a costly mistake, Marcus has the gorgeous lawyer just where he wants her…

But although passions run hot in the bedroom, Anais refuses to give her heart or commit to a future not of her choosing. When an ancient enemy arrives in Shanghai with bad news, Marcus finds himself in a race against time not only to win her heart, but her life…

marcus1 copy

The release date is 28th March!

Christine X

IT’S A NEW DAWN, IT’S A NEW DAY, IT’S A NEW LIFE………

COVER REVEAL

COVER REVEAL

Hi guys,

As many of you know, my mom passed away very suddenly this year.
Which meant everything creatively went all to hell in a hand basket. The grand plan had been that Desert Orchid would be out by February, followed by The Fall of Jacob Del Garda. Well, the plan had to be re-jigged and put aside. But today I can give you the Desert Orchid cover reveal. The story is in final proofing. And when it goes live in the stores I will be sharing the links and sending out newsletters.

But before the worst happened, I’d been approached by a bunch of crazy romance authors to be a part of their Invitation To Eden continuity series. Who wouldn’t jump at the chance to work with Avery Aster, Lauren Hawkeye, Steena Holmes, Jennifer Probst, Suzanne Rock, Tawny Stokes. Julia Kent, Adriana Hunter, Ava Conway, Sharon Page, Kathryn Fox, Eliza Gayle, Daire St. Dennis, Carly Phillips, Erika Wilde, Mari Carr, Roni Loren, Opal Carew, Lauren Jameson, Vivi Anna, Joey W. Hill, Sarah Castille, R.G. Alexander, Jessica Clare, Eden Bradley, Delilah Devlin, Kimberley Kay Terry, Marian Tee.

My story DELICIOUS AND DEADLY is up in December, but I’m ‘hoping’ for it to go live on pre-order in September. The first Invitation To Eden story - Master Of The Island is free and the first three books are out now (links below). There will be three linked stories out each month until December. And just let me say that these girls know how to paaaaaarty!

Here are all the covers and don’t they look fabulous?

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Last year it was all about angst and sexual tension in romance novels, with both Hopeless by Colleen Hoover and Entwined with You by Sylvia Day topping the lists. But Spring calls for new books to load up your Kindle.

Culled from hundreds of titles I asked today’s bestselling authors what novels they’re not only personally reading but recommending to their inner circle of besties. These are the industries most anticipated MUST READ BOOKS for the Spring and Summer. Whether you want to laugh till you cry, find a new poolside page-turner or get turned on and ahem…’ya know, these delicious love stories deliver the goods in all the right places and just at the right time…when you need it most.

#MustRead #JustReleased #OneClick

One click via Amazon with each book that interests you by tapping on the cover. Go on! After you’ve stocked up ENTER THE RAFFLE at the bottom of this post to win cash, prizes and author swag.

FREE READ. Download it already!

“Jet off to Eden with me and my Manhattanites for new adult fun,” says Taddy Brill. 😉

If ‘ya need some extra lovin’!

Curvaceous gets her dark & mysterious…

Continue reading

Why taking risks makes you brilliant!!

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Hello my darlings,

We’ve only got one life, so we’re as well living it to the max. This isn’t going to be a deep post about the meaning of life, btw. So you can all reeeelax, after all this is me you’re dealing with.

Recently I’ve been talking to a couple of peeps who are a little itty bitty disappointed with what life is tossing them and they’re feeling blue as if all the energy they’ve used devoting themselves to a certain path has been a waste of time and they’re lying flat on their back on the the ground gazing up with hungry eyes at the sheer cliff face they have to climb and it all seems too much. And I get that, I really do. The thing I’ve been struggling with is how to help them and then I found this:

To laugh is to risk appearing a fool.

To weep is to risk appearing sentimental.

To reach our to another is to risk involvement.

To expose your feelings is to risk rejection.

To place your dreams before the crowd is to risk ridicule.

To love is to risk not being loved in return.

To go forward in the face of overwhelming odds is to risk failure.

But risks must be taken,

because the greatest risk of all is to risk nothing.

The person who risks nothing, does nothing,

has nothing and is nothing.

He may avoid suffering and sorrow,

but he cannot learn, he cannot feel,

he cannot change, he cannot grow

and he cannot love.

Chained by his certitudes, he is a slave.

Only the person who risks is truly free.

Beautiful isn’t it? I’ve no idea who wrote it. It’s by Anon. I found it in a precious little book called Poems and Readings for Christenings and Naming Ceremonies, Compiled by Susannah Steel

And the picture of the baby is my son when he was twenty-four hours old, after a twenty-six hour labour. He screamed into the world at a fighting weight of 10 pounds (I know, my eyes are crossing just thinking about it) and three weeks late. I’d taken a huge risk having him after losing his brother two years before, but someone was missing from my family. Thankfully H was right behind me. We took a risk and we’ve never regretted it.

Another risk, a professional risk for me, was to write in two genres. I can’t tell you the number of voices who said, ‘Don’t do it.’ Or, ‘Your readers will hate it.’ Or, ‘Write under a pen name.’ And, ‘You’ll stretch yourself too thin.’ They might be right about that, but nothing ventured, nothing gained. There are two books out in the series with another three ‘under construction’ and I’m way behind with book three due to events beyond my control. But you know what? Readers - awesome readers - are waiting for the rest. How amazing is that?

So just for them, here are the three newly minted covers of The Vampyre Legal Chronicles designed by the lovely Gabrielle Prendergast of Cover Your Dreams and I promise book three will be here as soon as possible.

vamp1final

vamp2final

vamp3final

What risks have you taken in your lives?

You know I love hearing from you guys, so share your stories with The World!!

Christine XX

Good News - it’s been a Witch of a day!

Big Trouble In China in Amazon's Best Seller Paranormal List

Big Trouble In China in Amazon’s Best Seller Paranormal List

Good morning, boys and girls!

Today’s been a good day in the hectic life of this author. I was alerted by a fan that Big Trouble In China, book 1 of the Vampyre Legal Chronicles has hit Amazon’s Best Seller Paranormal list for Witches and Wizards at #8 in the top 100!

 

It’s doing well on Barnes & Noble and iTunes too.
To update readers on book three of the series - I’m way behind - Gia’s Song will be out at the end of May.
At the moment I’m knee-deep in edits for The Trouble With Coco Monroe, book 4 of The Ludlow Hall series. I’ll keep you posted on when she goes live. Then I’m working on the re-write of Desert Orchid as well as working on Book 5 of The Ludlow Series, The Fall of Jacob Del Garda and book 4 of The Vampyre Legal Chronicles, which doesn’t have a title yet.
All of the above is why this blog has been neglected and for that I ask your forgiveness!
Do you get the feeling I’ve bitten off more than I can chew?? 🙂
If you visit iTunes, check out the review numbers for Reckless Nights In Rome, book one of The Ludlow Hall series - I’m thrilled that it’s now received 336(!) 4.7* reviews. Woot! And on Barnes & Noble Reckless has 103 4.6* reviews. And as you know it’s finalled in the Indie Romance Convention Readers Choice Awards for 2013. Voting is open until the end of April - the link is on the right hand side of the blog. So if your fingers are feeling twitchy, please feel free to vote and spread the word. I’m up against some big guns. But to be nominated at all has been the highlight of this amazing journey.
One of the things I’ll never, ever forget was the night almost a year ago to the day when we pressed the button on Amazon for the book to go live. I’ve never been so terrified; sweaty palms, palpitations, excitement, dread and that, ‘What the hell am I doing? It’s not good enough. It needs more work. Mwahahaha!’ feeling. It’s been a roller-coaster ride and it’s still going.
Talking sales numbers is something I avoid, but I can say that sales on Barnes & Noble over the past four months are in the five figures. Amazon I hit four figures last month alone as I did in the last quarter with iTunes. Downloads in Reckless Nights In Rome are in the hundreds of thousands across five distributors and cover something like fifty countries. Big Trouble In China is rocking too, as you can see.
I’d never in my wildest dreams believed it was possible for an independent author to do this. To reach hundreds of thousands of readers, to meet them live on-line, to have them email, FB message, Tweet me or for wonderful fans to set up a street team for me. I still can’t believe these wonderful women take time out of their busy lives to care so much about the books that they promote them far and wide. If you’d like to join The Ludlow Girls street team just click HERE or send me a message. It’s a closed Facebook group and we have a lot of laughs and fun, plus I give them out takes of the stories, character inspirations, cover reveals/choice, competitions and news. But I also want to say that every single person who’s emailed or messaged me will also receive alerts when the next book goes live.
But none of the above happened without a support team. First up is H, he does all the IT technical support including all formatting, dealing with the distributors, keeping an eye on trends, the financial side, spreadsheets, and he does the covers! I have a team of editors and beta readers who are amazing.
I’m a member of fabulous writer’s groups, WANA - We Are Not Alone - run by the awesome Kristen Lamb just click on the link if you want to learn more about the craft and social networking, Kristen is the hot mama to go to.
I’m also a member of DeeDee Scott’s amazing The Writer’s Guide to E-Publishing WG2E author group. WG2E also has an awesome Facebook Street team for authors. It is a closed group, so again if you want to join just message me.
However, the people who are at the front and centre of every single thing I do is you, the reader. Without you none of this would have happened. The way you’ve embraced my work has thrilled and humbled me.
I love you guys.
Christine xxx

READ AN EBOOK WEEK!

It’s read an ebook week on Smashwords.

And I’m thrilled to be taking part, thank you Mark Coker.

Today through the 8th of March, A Stormy Spring, Run Rosie Run and book two of my Vampyre series, Dirty Little Secrets is taking part and on sale at Smashwords with 50% OFF.

Have you ever downloaded books from Smashwords before? If not, you should. They have a vast library, and ALL their ebooks are ready to go in EVERY SINGLE EREADER FORMAT OUT THERE. It’s fabulous. And once you’ve purchased the book, you can download it in any format you like, as many times as you like. For instance, I have books both on my Kindle app on my computer, my iPadMini and also on my Nook. It’s fabulous. (Have I mentioned yet that it’s fabulous? Because it totally is.)

So don’t be afraid to buy from Smashwords just because it’s not Amazon or Barnes & Noble or iTunes (all of which, BTW, partner with Smashwords)! They’re a great resource for finding eBooks, and they are definitely a good friend to independent-published authors like myself.

Okay. Now that you’re totally sold on Smashwords, here’s how to take advantage:

Follow the links below to get to the Smashwords pages for A Stormy Spring, Run Rosie Run and Dirty Little Secrets. Take note of the coupon code listed there. The coupon code for all of my books is REW50. Click ‘Add to cart’. Enter coupon code. Click on ‘checkout’. Voila! You now own your book. Scroll down to see the different formats, and pick the one(s) that’s right for you.

A Stormy Spring https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/217331

Run Rosie Run https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/264289

Dirty Little Secrets https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/271820

What are you still doing here? Go get your copies.
And if you already own copies, this is a FANTASTIC time to give some away as gifts. Talk about easy gift-giving! Not that you need it, but you totally have my permission to gift to anybody and everybody you know.

I hope your Sunday is particularly fabulous.

Christine x

 

NAUGHTY

Well, well, well.

Is there something in the water? Something in the air?

Women, dear readers, are behaving badly.

Just look at that Darcey Bussell on Strictly Come Dancing.

Who’d have thought a Prima ballerina from The Royal Ballet who for years lived in a world of rigid discipline, devotion to her craft, with her hair pulled back in a vicious bun and tortured her feet would morph from this

into this!

a woman with a sexy growly purr, flirting and drooling over the, ‘Wonderful leg muscles, yah!’ of Lewis Smith.

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Yes, the man has amazing, er, leg muscles, Darcey.

Darcey recently confessed that the show had brought out ‘Her naughty side.’

And she’s not alone. There’s a global tsunami of women in their middle years discovering that age does not hold them back from being naughty. We’re a new breed - setting up businesses, self-publishing romance novels (shameless plug) taking up white water rafting, going on girlie weekends to the Bellagio in Vegas getting up to all sorts of naughty things (probably a tattoo - I’m looking at you, Mags, btw - good job your H doesn’t read this blog.) Check out your nearest Agent Provocateur store on a quiet afternoon if you don’t believe me; it’s filled to the brim with ladies of a certain age trying on corsets and talking about rampant rabbits and love eggs (you don’t want to know, guys, trust me.) We’re drooling over Joe Manganiello the werewolf in True Blood and enjoying our empty nests.

Most commenters are putting it down to THAT BOOK, which has become a bit of a clichè and seems to be responsible for everything from global warming to the trend of men in tight black leather trousers showing off their considerable, er … assets.

And look at that Hilary Boyd’s Thursday’s In The Park the tale of a sixty plus granny who encounters the man of her dreams in the park while she’s looking after her grandchildren. The runaway best seller of what The Times in London said, ‘Move over Mummy porn, it’s time for Granny lit.’ Isn’t it just fabulous? Go Hilary, I say!

But I don’t believe all this naughtyness begins in middle age. Nope. I believe it begins a lot earlier in life and just to prove it I give you one Naomi Wainwright in the Hamley’s toy store in London, messing about with Lego statues of the Royal Wedding. Naomi is a family friend and gave me full permission to use her photo in my blog - you’re infamous now, babe.

Look at that face and that hand! Can you just imagine what she’ll be like in her middle years?

God help us!

So, what have you done that’s naughty?

Please share your stories with us because we demand to know.

Hugs,

Christine xx

I’M IN MALTA!

Okay, so I’m not actually in Malta.

I’m a guest on the wonderful blog of writer Natalie G. Owens and she lives in Malta, so it’s the next best thing.

But before I chat about what I’m doing in Malta, I wanted to share with you guys something a lovely reader sent me on Christmas Eve.

by reader, Jane Aschtgen Bowen

by reader, Jane Aschtgen Bowen

Isn’t the pic fabulous?

About a month ago Natalie asked if she could interview me on my writing process for her blog and quite innocently I said yes.

What popped into my inbox was an interrogation interview the length of War & Peace.

When Natalie read it she decided to spread the interview over two days. So if you’re interested in how, why and where I write and how I come up with characters and story lines then get yourselves over to Natalie’s blog HERE.

The lovely Natalie is also offering a Rafflecopter on her site where (since it’s season for giving) ten lucky winners will win all three of The Ludlow Hall series and book one in my Vampyre Legal Chronicles series, Big Trouble in China.

Christine x

 

THE END IS NIGH?

Hello my darlings,

When my friend author Stacy Green came with the idea of a blog hop to highlight those of us who write apocalyptic fiction I jumped at the chance.

Well, it might not be the end of the world quite yet.

But those Mayans thought they knew a thing or two didn’t they?

I don’t think it’ll end in a big bang. Of course I could be wrong and a meteor with our name on it is even now winging it’s lethal way towards us. As long as it’s quick and painless I’m okay with that, she says.

But what if the end is not quick and is very far from painless?

What if there’s a virulent outbreak of a swine/avian flu strain?

What if the outbreak of that flu is not a mistake but a deliberate act upon humanity?

What if the earth’s polarity is switching from north to south? When that happens we experience increased seismic activity, birds drop from the sky, thousands of fish are washed upon the shore, mammals all over the world are beached, lost and die a slow agonising death. Even worse are the changes in our climate, biblical floods, drought, supercell hurricanes meeting supercell tornadoes. Sound familiar to you?

But what if all of the above is caused by Evil crossing through portals into our reality. Don’t believe in alternative realities of our world? Then check out the recent experiments by scientists at the Haldron Collider in Berne, Switzerland who have developed the knack for producing tangible evidence of theoretical particles. Read more about it here

So do I have your attention now? Thought so.

Against this background is set my paranormal Vampyre Legal Chronicles series. In this series I’m destroying the world - always a fun thing for an author to do - before I invite readers into ‘New Manhattan’ in 2049 in my Untouchable series, which is set in an urban future. In this future our hero is a scientist who owns a global pharmaceutical company and develops a vaccine just in the nick of time before mankind is wiped from the earth. He also just happens to be a Vampyre Precedential Elder. And that’s all I’m going to say about it because I’m launching the series late in 2013 and it’s going to be a doozy 🙂 You’ll love the heroine too. She has a thing for high heels and is that rare thing an Untouchable Witch who just happens to be a Commander in The World Health Protectorate. Can you see where I’m going with this?

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Anyway, back to the present and uncovering The Big Bad Guy! Big Trouble in China (available on Amazon and Smashwords) is book one of the Vampyre Legal Chronicles and is out now, book two, Dirty Little Secrets is out very soon and book three, Gia’s Song, is out in January. It’s going to take twelve episodes but these Vampyre lawyers need to join forces with their mortal enemy the Vampyre Witch, Ezekiel, to uncover a dastardly plot of conspiracy and revenge against them and humanity. The stories are pure paranormal romance with adventure, heartbreak, thrills and spills. And so far my readers are having a good time and some romance readers have crossed genres, which has been a big thrill!

Since it’s Chrimbo want a chance to win an iTunes gift card for $35.00?????

To enter use the Rafflecopter below:
a Rafflecopter giveaway


Some of my author friends from the WG2E Street Team have banded together for the Last Weekend on Earth to give you some great reads and a chance to win! Check out their blogs for more info on their books.

Anna Erishkigal’s Blog

Catie Rhodes’s Full-Tilt Backwoods Boogie (Catie’s post will be up on Saturday.)

Rhonda Hopkins Where Reality and Fiction Collide

Dale Amidei’s Vae Obscurum

PJ Sharon’s Extraordinary Stories of an Average Teenage Life

Stacy Green’s Turning The Page

What would you do if you had four days to go before THE END?

You know I love to hear from you and these should be good!

BIG HUG

Christine X

And I also just want to say please stay tuned for December the 21st because do I have an extra special Chrimbo gift for you which is going to BLOW you all away. Seriously. For those of you with brand spanking new Ereaders for your honey, then make a date in your diary to be here because you are not going to get this chance again. You’re gonna love me for this.