Bear with me while I take a little scamper into fantasyland – it is book-related. I've noticed some well-known authors and artists venturing into picture books, all as tempting for adults as for children. Gillian Mears, acclaimed for novels such as Foal's Bread, which won the 2012 Australian Literature Society and Prime Minister's fiction awards, has published The Cat with the Coloured Tail (Walker Books), a poignant book (with pencil drawings by Dinale Dabarera) about an ice-cream vendor and a cat who bring happiness to sad people. Matthew Martin, well-known as a cartoonist for the Herald and the New York Times, has illustrated two books – The Christmas Peg, written by Cameron Williams (Viking), and The Marvellous Funambulist of Middle Harbour and Other Sydney Firsts, a wacky history written by Hilary Bell (NewSouth, December) that ends with the short-lived rainbow pedestrian crossing at Taylor Square in 2013. American writer Dave Eggers and artist Tucker Nichols have produced This Bridge Will Not Be Gray (McSweeney's), using paper cut-outs to tell the story of why San Francisco's Golden Gate Bridge is orange. All of which got me thinking: when the Sydney Harbour Bridge turns 100 in 2032, why don't we repaint it for a year in rainbow colours, or a deep sea blue, or Emerald City silver or gold? We have 14 years to argue about it.

BOOK REVIEW SCAM

Here's a reminder of the value of professional book reviewers of the type who write for these pages. Amazon has sued 1114 people for selling fake book reviews. The alleged offenders advertised their services on Fiverr​, a website for freelance workers, and one was a US-based dealer who stole identities from British children and others on Facebook. Amazon sued several other websites this year and is using new technology to detect suspicious posts. The company may also sue authors and other sellers who bought the reviews. The scam was exposed by an undercover investigation by The Sunday Times, which published a ghostwritten e-book on Amazon and and paid fake reviewers to push it to the top of an Amazon bestseller list.

STRIKING A CHORD

As if she isn't successful enough, Pulitzer-winning Australian author Geraldine Brooks' novel The Secret Chord is on the autumn reading list of American crime writer David Baldacci. CBS News broadcast Baldacci on his top five books, including Avenue of Mysteries by John Irving, Showdown by Wil Haygood, Twain and Stanley Enter Paradise by the late Oscar Hijuelos and X by Sue Grafton. Of The Secret Chord he said: "Having had the pleasure of meeting Geraldine Brooks, I was thrilled to see that she had a new novel coming out about King David. There are few novelists who can handle historical fiction the way that Brooks can. (March was an incredible achievement.) Brooks shows all the masterful strokes that she had demonstrated in her past works, in this tale about a biblical figure of immense importance, and with all his very human flaws." Brooks will speak at the Seymour Centre for Sydney Writers' Festival on November 9.