There's another book on the way. With the apparent demise of Burlesk (see below), Jeremy has been spending the past year researching and writing yet another novel. He isn't forthcoming about the details, but apparently it's a murder mystery set in the First World War trenches. But has he really abandoned Burlesk?

"No," he says, "not entirely. Burlesk is a very good novel; it just wasn't right in its final draft. I may return to it in the future and rework it." What was wrong with it? "The plot, essentially. It's an action thriller - or, rather, it's a Dronfieldesque action thriller. Anybody who's read Burning Blue will understand that that means it's way off to one side in relation to the mainstream. Which, in my view, makes it that much more interesting. But I was never really happy with the plot, and in some ways I'm glad it was never published. It contains some terrific characters and action set-pieces, and I'm hoping to rewrite it, pinning those elements to a new story."

And the new book? "I'm about half-way through it at the moment. Again it's a thriller."

And is it Dronfieldesque? "Frankly, no. For this one I've thrown out all the bells and whistles and gone for the straight thriller."

That's quite a departure. "Yes. When and if it's published, it will almost certainly appear under a pseudonym."

Can't you tell us a little about the plot? "No. It's a work in progress. I'm not giving anything away." Not even the title? "Nuh-huh."

So there you are. If it does come out under a pseudonym, we'll make sure LocustFarm visitors are pointed in the right direction.

Is The Alchemist's Apprentice Breeding? Another book has appeared with the same title. It's a children's novel by Kate Thompson (who she?). Apparently it's won a prize.

We have it on good authority that Jeremy has finished writing his new book. However, there are scary rumours going around. Will the new book ever see the light of day?

The most unsettling rumour is that there has been a deep and permanent rupture with Headline, publisher of his four previous novels. The cause of the rift, if there really is one, is unclear, but it is well known (to us, anyway) that he has never been happy with the publisher's handling of his books. "If it's not mainstream tripe or got a sleb on the cover, they can't deal with it. They have no idea how to package or market popular literary fiction or anything which is even slightly out of the ordinary." We had a look through their latest catalogue, and we have to admit he's got a point. There's a lot of tripe and celebrities in there.

But if this is the case, what will happen to the new novel? The book, entitled Burlesk and described as a "conspiracy action thriller" is believed to contain a startling, controversial theory about America's War On Terror. Could this have something to do with the alleged breakdown of relations between Dronfield and Headline? Jeremy himself wouldn't comment on this story at all, so we can't tell you.

On a brighter note, Jeremy has promised to let us have an extract from Burlesk, which should appear on LocustFarm.net in the near future. We'll have to wait and see what happens to the book itself. To those who allege that LocustFarm.net is itself Jeremy Dronfield's latest full-length work of fiction, we have no comment.

Iain Banks fans will be aware that the Waspmeister's novels are all being re-bound or re-cut or whatever it is that you do with old novels to give them a fresh new appearance. Well, one of them looks hauntingly familiar.

This jacket design for the re-tread of Walking On Glass (due for release in early 2003) has been sent in by a Dronfield fan who works in the book trade. (Update: These covers are now out and in the shops.)

Those of you who have only seen the paperback of The Alchemist's Apprentice won't recognise it, but owners of the hardback will.

Of course, neither Jeremy nor Headline Book Publishing own copyright in the image (that belongs to a company called Photonica), but we still think it's an intriguing choice, especially given the unpopularity of the design. Jeremy himself always hated it - it's described inside the book as "that piss-yellow maze" and he has referred to it as looking like "the cover of a careers advice pamphlet". Fan Jenny Colgan called it a "ghastly middle management textbook" cover. Nor are any of the current people at Headline fond of the design - one commented on the Banks cover, "Interesting, not quite so puce yellow as our version though".

"On the whole I'm pleased," said Jeremy. "Firstly, I'm a fan, so I like the connection. Secondly, it's good to see that bigger, more successful authors get horrible jacket designs dumped on their books too."