I meant to mention: the sun’s almost gone and the cricket is down to the wire.  A courier arrived just before dinner. Copies of The Best Science Fiction and Fantasy of the Year: Volume 2. It looks swell, indeed, with a lovely John Berkey cover.  These will be a Swancon in a couple weeks.  Many, many thanks to Jer for arranging to get it delivered. A very fine thing indeed.

Sitting in the back yard, watching the sunset, and listening Australia see if they can snatch an unexpected victory in Brisbane.  Summer is ending here in Perth.  This is the first moment where that has seemed to be true. There is moisture in the air, a softness to the light that you don’t get when summer has the countryside in its grip.  There’ll be hot days still – a few close to the old century are forecast next week – but before long, maybe a month from now, we’ll be done and the days will be cool, clear-skyed and perfect before we move into what passes for winter here.  Two seasons really aren’t enough.

Work? I need to edit some columns, finish a new proposal, work through a couple hundred submissions, and do the interstitial material for Godlike Machines.  It’s in an interesting position.  A writer dropped out late in the day.  Another has risen to the challenge, and hopefully will get a story in only a couple weeks passed the original deadline.  I want to have most of the stories, though, before I write the introduction. Why? I’ve had a lot of talk about whether a book is what it’s advertised to be. The writers in Godlike Machines, a selection of novellas, have played with the theme quite a bit, which is great. I want to make sure, though, that it’s truth in advertising. Interesting job.