I've had an E-mail from Christopher Lloyd ...

So there I am, sat at the computer, and I decide to check my E-mail. A few messages from students, the usual collection of spam and phishing mails, and a message from Chris Lloyd. Chris Lloyd? Do I know anyone named Chris Lloyd? I trawl back through my memory but no-one springs to mind. Uh oh - is this more spam? I approach with caution .... and find a very chatty E-mail publicising a new book by Christopher Lloyd.

A book? Christopher Lloyd? Could it be ....? Now I'm not so daft as to start clicking on E-mail links unless I'm 100% sure where they've come from, so I copy the name of the book, toddle over to Amazon and paste it in. And sure enough ....

But wait a moment. Christopher Lloyd is dead - and anyway, this isn't a gardening book. Are we perhaps talking about the actor Christopher Lloyd - you know, the mad scientist from Back to the Future? Back to Google. But no. Cold trail there. Try googling the title. And ... bingo.

This Christopher Lloyd is a journalist and writer. But how did the E-mail get to me? I've never heard of the guy, and if he's stooping to Spam, then I'm not interested, however good the book is. But there's an end message with his address, the web address of the mail company who sent the message, and the usual message saying that I've received the mail because I've signed up for the service and can unsubscribe at any time. I have? I really can't remember when. Or where. So I check out the company on Google, and they seem bona fide - lots of assurances of their privacy policy etc. And I have to say it's the first time I've heard from them, and the product seems very clearly targeted. Sad though that we're all so harassed by spam that we're super suspicious even of publicity that turns out to be something we're happy to receive.

So Chris, (please excuse the familiarity, but that is how you signed yourself) I thought I'd make up for my nasty suspicions by giving you a plug. The E-mail does say to pass the message on, so this is how I'm doing it. The book looks fun, and if anyone would like it signed personally there was this offer in the message...

As a thank you, I am offering to write and send one (or more) personalised bookplate(s) free of charge to stick on the inside front cover of the book if it is to be a Christmas gift ...

You can get it by going to Chris' website, here . I noticed that the book is Amazon's 500th best seller though, so you may have to wait while he recovers from writer's cramp. Amazing what a mail shot can do.

So there you go. If, as the message says, you're looking for a Christmas gift for your 16-year old son / daughter, 45 year old mother/ father or 76 year old grandparents, this could just be it.