Gardner Dozois has listed my short story 'Seaborne' in the Honourable Mention list in The Year's Best Science Fiction 2008. I am highly honoured: I write very few shorts and this is not something I expected. The story picks up on Thiercelin and Gracielis some time after Living with Ghosts, and appeared in the anthology Myth/Understandings, ed. Ian Whates (NewCon Press 2008)

Also, earlier this week, I attended a two-day colloquium on Physics and SF at Imperial College, London. Concentrating on astrophysics and astornomy, it was a fascinating series of talks about aspects of space science from leading academics (Prof. Andrew Jaffe, Dr Roberto Trotta, Dr Mark Thompson, Dr Catriona Jackman and Dr Dave Clements). It was organised by my friend Dave Clements, astronomer and writer. I learnt a lot and I can see some very interesting ideas and possibilities... I also had the pleasure of spending time with some very interesting people, both writers and researchers -- Jaine Fenn, Liz Williams, Geoff Ryman, Steven Baxter, Molly Brown, Alistair Reynolds, Paul McAuley, Farah Mendlesohn... A wonderful idea and a wonderful experience and I'm very grateful to Dave for orgainsing it and for including me.