Things have certainly been intresting since April when I said draft copies of The 4th Bomb would be circulated. The draft has only the first 4 chapters proofread and spell checked but it seems that the MOD have already begun probing.
I was cold-called by an persistant man asking to do a book review and interview. The first time I ended the call as I didn’t know how the caller had got my mobile number. Minutes later he rang again. I answered but it was quite clear that he was not ‘on my side’ as he claimed, in an attempt to reassure me.

Then I was approached at The London Book Fair by a young MI5careers.gov.uk chap, who proceeded to tell me all there was to know about printing and the Internet Advertising, without realising I’d worked in both industries since 1999 when I gained my Masters Degree from the University of The Arts. This pointed to a level of intelligence the M.O.D is acting upon. The young intelligence officer bounded up to my kiosk with a glint in his eye. He sat down, gave his name as Jacobs and offered me his card. I flipped through his sample books. ‘Good quality, printed in India, it keeps costs down you know’, he said. When I pointed out that one of the books was in Hindi he nodded eagerly. So you understand Hindi then? I asked. Yes, he replied. Right I said, turning to the first chapter. I pointed to the numeral at the foot of the page and asked him what number it was. He was totally stumped, the idiot did not have a clue. After an embarrassing silence he began scribbling on a piece of paper and calculating quantities and the various special discounts he could offer me.

Though he was a buffoon I needed to step things up. Instead of printing 30 draft copies I printed 300, this was largely for the M.O.D types that would no doubt be increasingly in attendence. The sale of the drafts funded the first edition proper (1000 copies plus marketing material).