This was a fairly good summer writing and editing. I finished editing an entire draft of the Tibet book, so it is sneaking closer to being finished. I also first-drafted a novelette of my own, and I like the results enough that now I will start the research needed for subsequent drafts. Sometimes the research turns out to be very time-consuming. The last two novelettes I wrote were about Richard III (which required an entire year of research to get both the milieu and his personality correct) and traveling circuses (which was actually fun research). This story is based on the Tiananmen Square Massacre, so I need to research that incident the next few months.

I also got a lot of reading done, which is always gratifying. I read 7 books, all of which I really enjoyed. In case any of you plan to do any reading in the near-future, and would like some recommendations, the books I read are:

• Poul Anderson’s collection of Polesotechnic League stories The Earth Book of Stormgate, including the fine novel The Man Who Counts;
• Victor Hugo’s epic historical novel The Hunchback of Notre Dame;
• Robert Charles Wilson’s Hugo-winning near-future sf novel Spin;
• Jonathan Strahan’s annual collection of the best sf novellas of the past year (which is only available through the SF Book Club) Best Short Novels 2006;
• Alastair Reynold’s far-future trilogy packed full of extrapolative speculation and sense of wonder Revelation Space, Redemption Ark, Absolution Gap

Since I do not have time to read novels during school, I will spend the next few months catching up on short fiction, including finishing the 2005 volume of Gardner Dozois’ massive Year’s Best Science Fiction, and several fiction magazines such as Paradox (historical fiction and alternate history), Fantasy Magazine, and Postscripts (which runs the gamut of genre fiction).

Have a great school year, everybody!