Greetings, one and all!

Welcome to Matt Cook's author spot. I, of course, am Matt, and I'll be your cruise director.

You'll have to forgive me if this gets off to a bit of a weak start... I'm a long-time blog reader but I have far less experience with actually creating these postings, so initially I'll be groping around for the best method of keeping this spot alive and the posts fresh and useful. If there's anything you want to know about the trials and tribulations of writing and/or publishing your first novel, don't be shy about asking.

Initially I plan to update this spot weekly, if not more so. It's an exciting time for me: my first novel, Blood Magic, was picked up by Juno Books back in November of 2006, and is hitting store shelves in September of 2007. As you can well imagine, I'm filled with equal parts excitement and dread. Excitement because... well, come on - it's my first published novel, something I've been working towards for years. Dread because as a first-timer, I want the book to do well for me and for Juno, if for no other reason than to show my most excellent editor, Paula Guran, that she was right to take a chance on an unknown new author.

If you're out there and have any suggestions on how I can help the success of Blood Magic, please feel free to drop me a line at "imagox@yahoo.com". Initially I'll be limiting the comment ability on my posts, but if things go well then I might lift that. In the meantime, thanks for visiting and check this space often for updates!