So, it's been a week since I got back and, as expected, it's been straight into relatively hard work. Plunged back into my taxes, vainly searching for some old bank statements until I worked out that I never got them and then had to organise dupes from the bank. *sigh* Three-quarters done, but can't do any more until I get them. So back to doing Impact articles and the ocassional Xbox 360 foray with new games. However already planning the next US trip in April...

In the meantime, my brother has run a 'sixteen little known facts about me' list on his own official site ( http://www.theleftroom.co.uk/ )and suggested others take up the challenge on their sites. So for better or for worse, here goes:

1) God has had a tendency to smite me. I hope it's nothing personal and I hope it's over. I nearly died in my first year of life. I was one of a group of babies in Leeds given a faulty measles vaccine of which apparently several died. I have recollections of a little blue pill that finally cured me after a year of seizures (I don’t remember the seizures though I have a couple of memories of being in hospital. Probably for the best). Then I was shot when I was eleven. I was out in some woods not far away from where I lived and was hit by a high-powered air-rifle. The pellet fired missed my kidneys and spine by an inch. Needless to say I survived, but if you’ve read Steve’s most recent best-selling novel A Cry for Help, those in the know may recognise some of the events and locations in the story, despite him killing me off.

2) I have to believe there's more to existence than this. However no-one has the guaranteed answers, no matter what they say...so forget about 'up/out there' and do your best 'down here' just because you can and let the rest take care of itself. If heaven eventually doesn't want me, I'm open to offers.

3) I’ve never done drugs. My life is surreal enough. Perhaps it was a moral stand back in the day, but nowadays I’m pretty ambivalent, others can do what they want and it’s just been a more pragmatic choice not an imperative. If I have a borderline obsession with Jaffa cakes, I’m of the opinion that I would be heroin/cocaine’s bitch for life. Best not to go there.

4) I think people’s opinions of me matter - except when they don’t. My general rule of thumb is that if someone ACTIVELY doesn’t like me, I just like to know why. That way I can choose to rectify a genuine misunderstanding, apologise for a genuine fault of my own or genuinely tell them to go to hell.

5) Though I have a well-honed ability to plan and think ahead, I also have a habit of expecting things to never work out the way I plan and that's usually the case. I can only hope that they will sometimes work out BETTER.

6) In my own home I’m a being of necessity and my mess is sorted to the level I need it. When I’m in someone else’s I can actually be a domestic god. Bow down before me and pass me the dustpan!!!

7) I believe every once in a while you need to do something impulsive: be it silly, dangerous, stimulating or out-of-character. Obviously you should plan this impulsiveness carefully.

8) November 1st/2nd was the scariest day of my life. I had a sub-arachnoid haemorrhage and had to wait twenty-fours for a firm diagnosis and to find out what would happen. Nothing, absolutely nothing, scares you to the core like imminent mortality. Thankfully, I’m now relatively back to normal. Your mileage may vary on that.

9) My brother and I don’t see much of each other, though we don’t live that far apart. An eight year age-gap is an annoyingly significant one in outlook, but he’s a great guy and I probably ‘get’ his humour and outlook more than some. However I’m immensely proud of him as a writer and person and I’m not just saying that because of the Christmas present. :)

10) If I work hard at something and do well, I expect either significantly good financial recompense or enthusiastic appreciation. You rarely get both, I am sadly less surprised nowadays by the fact you can get neither.

11) I’ve begun to feel more at home in America than I do in England. Maybe it’s the outlook of the average person, but coming back to the UK, I find the weather dismal and the people unhappy. The US has its own problems - one about to be voted out - but there’s a better sense of personal responsibility and positive outlook.

12) Highlander changed my life. The film/television franchise, for all its faults, brought me into the orbit of people - professionals and fans - who have changed my life for the better in surprisingly wonderful and unexpected ways. From interviews, to book opportunities, to travelling around the world formally for events and informally for enduring friendships and relationships, it has only shaped my life for the better.

13) I'm not superstitious. Much. But then again, I'm a Taurean, so that's understandable. And probably why this is 'Fact 13'.

14) Not that many would notice, but I can have mood swings - from quite excitable, flirtacious and silly to quite low and brooding. No real discernable reason, but I worked my way through it by creating distractions. It works for me.

15) There’s something about a redhead. There just is.

16) This space available for rent.

Okay, now your turn...