Steven Mace

Update on writing: Copper Moon rewrite is going well, might even finish it in the next three months. Several other projects are in progression: another novel, two novellas and several short stories. I'd expect most of these to be finished by the end of January. I'm going to see 'Avatar' on Thursday at IMAX and I'm hoping that it lives up to the hype!

Robert Pattinson as Edward Cullen in 'Twilight' Whatever happened to Nosferatu with his sinister glide and oversized fangs? Or even Dracula, blood dripping from his gaping jaws as he infects another victim with vampiric poison... The vampires of today look like they've stepped out of a Levi jeans advert. Robert Pattinson flicks his tousled hair and gives his moodiest piercing glance to send shivers of a different kind down the spines of his female fans. I blame Buffy, a friend of mine blames Anne Rice. Whoever is to blame, there can be no doubt that the modern vampire has been de-fanged. No longer a figure to provoke revulsion and intense fear, the vampire is now pin-up material, a rock star, a teen idol. Popular culture has sunk to new lows. The shadow of Nosferatu

About three weeks ago, I accepted an invitation from a volunteer who helps me with Italian football research to join a website called 'A Small World'. ASW is a social networking website, very similar to Facebook with one major difference - it's invitation only. Once you join, you have access to all features of the site. However, despite gaining access you don't immediately have the means to send out invitations to others. ASW say that "Trusted and loyal ASW members who meet certain criteria have the privilege of inviting a limited number of their friends." As yet, I do not have the power to invite others to join. It's the highbrow Facebook, basically. Tiger Woods is a member, along with numerous other celebrities. However there are strict controls on who you can contact and what kind of things you can post in discussion forums and the 'events' areas of the website. ASW also has this to say about itself to potential advertisers: "An inte...