THE SCREAMING IRRITS by Jennifer Cook, Illustrations by Warren Crossett.

"Angus' little sister gave him the Screaming Irrits.
They poked him and pinched him and now he can’t get rid of them.
His mum didn't want them, she already had the Heebie Jeebies,
His dad didn't want them, he already had the Pip.
And his Gran didn't want them, she already had a bad case of the Crusty Creeps.
So Angus decided to deal with the problem himself."

In other news....

Jennifer Cook is currently undertaking a Masters in Creative Writing at Melbourne University. Her thesis is examining the theme of child sacrifice within the Medea myth.

Her short story and exegesis 'Blood Ghosts' has been published in the on-line literary journal, "Bukker Tillibul" and can be downloaded here.

She is currently working on her third novel, which is based upon the story of Medea, told from the daughter's point of view. Which, anyone who is familiar with Medea story will understand, presents its own set of challenges. Such as Medea didn't have a daughter. Or did she?

Jennifer also had an article published in Melbourne's Age newspaper on the Winter Solstice (Saturday, June 21st, 2008).

Jennifer also had the opportunity to be a guest host on Melbourne University's Up Close podcast. She interviewed Alzheimer's expert, Professor David Ames. You can listen to this interview.

When she isn't busy studying or writing or broadcasting Jennifer likes to spend as much time as she can singing with band 'Mutton'. You can check out their website. She'd like to make it very clear that she thought of the name and she hopes it is amusing, not apt. She is also writing original music with the band's talented guitarist, Lawrence Bianco and is having lots of fun trying to 'get it right'.

"Glorious Gods and Swaggering Heroes - Satiric Tales from Greek Myth"
by Professor David A Meyers.

David and I presented a session at the Byron Bay Writers' Festival on "Ancient History - Digging up the Past". I was asked to step in at the last minute which meant both David and I had to read each others work in one night - no pressure! But it seems we were a match made in Olympus - David brings a razor sharp humour to the world of mythology - describing Zeus (quite rightly) as a bully and a skirt chaser. Check out his book at www.outbackbooks.com.