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Hi, how’s it going? Uh-huh. Uh-huh. OK, enough small talk—I need a favour. But I promise I'll make it worth your while! Read on...

10 Minutes of Danger has just been published in Australia and New Zealand! Twenty new stories, ten minutes each. Asteroids! Volcanoes! Funnel web spiders! Out of control self-driving cars! A blocked waterslide! A secret Antarctic research station which vanishes into thin air! Plus much, much more. You (or the 10+ year old in your life) will love it. Support your local bookstore if you can, but it's also available online.

Better Reading is compiling their list of the 50 best kids’ books. If 10 Minutes of Danger gets onto that list, it will also get into at least 176 shops which don’t currently stock it. So if you’re in Australia and you love the Danger series, please take a second to vote! (You might even win something.)

I’d love to threaten you at this point—“support the series or I’ll stop writing it,” that kind of thing—but who would I be kidding? I’ve already written 300 Minutes of Mystery, which will be out next year.

People sometimes ask my wife what I’m working on, and she shrugs helplessly. It’s not because she’s not interested—it’s because there’s no possible way to keep up. Here’s just a small sample of what’s been happening:

Kill Your Brother was just shortlisted for a Ned Kelly award! That’s a dream come true for me—I’ve admired those awards from afar for a long, long time. It’s a real honour to make the cut. If you haven’t read it yet, and you’re not claustrophobic or otherwise squeamish, I can promise you’re in for a twisted treat.
I’ve written the first draft of a sequel—Kill Your Husband—which should also be out next year. No, I’m not kidding. It’s too soon to reveal much about it, other than it’ll have the same vibe—rural noir in which close relationships get turned inside out with violent and frightening results. (My wife does know about that one—she’s been making lots of suggestions. She’s worryingly good at coming up with ways to murder husbands.) More details soon.
Speaking of sequels, I’ve just finished the structural edit of Headcase, book 4 of the Hangman series. If you’ve been following the series closely, you’ll already know that Timothy Blake now works for the CIA, so that’s not much of a spoiler—but you might be surprised on page 1 when you find him imprisoned in a psychiatric hospital. (Probably for the best.) More details about that soon, too.
I’ve been travelling around the country talking about Villain Kid Fully Busted, and it’s been great to see so many kids having so much fun with it. I’ll be doing some more of that in August for Children’s Book Week. So don’t expect more emails in a hurry—but you might bump into me in person!
Or maybe not. Perhaps you’re a young writer who can’t get to any of my sessions. Never fear—I’m the guest blogger for Westwords all this month. So you can read my tips, tricks and musings about the writing life, right now, for free.
What else have I got? I’m writing some YA for the first time in years—a teen crime drama which will be out in 2023. Oh, and not one, but two more spy thrillers for kids. Don’t touch that dial! (You young people might have to ask your parents what that expression means.)

Remember how I got locked out of Facebook / Instagram / Messenger?

Well, I fixed it! So you can once again follow @jackheathwriter on all social media (but bear in mind that I'm hardly there, because I'm busy writing. Or at least, I'm TRYING to be barely there.)

Anyway, gotta go. Lots of projects. Thanks again for voting, and for staying subscribed. If you know someone else who likes good books, feel free to share this email with them. Bye!