The Spoons That Are My Ears!

I have finally finished my tribute story to Stanislaw Lem. It was one of the hardest stories I have ever written and took an inordinately long time, partly because it is constructed as a pseudo-review of a non-existent Lem book in the style of one of Lem's pseudo-reviews of a non-existent book. Those pseudo-reviews were collected as A Perfect Vacuum, which remains one of my favourite Lem volumes.

I believe I am about to travel to Spain. I only have £1000 to last me four months, so I guess there's going to be a lot of working on farms, sleeping under the stars and hitching to get around. I may go to Granada first, I don't know. Hopefully Hannah will come out to visit me at some point: she is definitely coming to Lisbon with me in October, and Madrid and Seville in November. I may also hook up with Lowri over there, as she is going to Spain tomorrow... My Hummdrumming editor also lives in Spain (near Valencia) so I may get to meet him too.

I don't tend to write much when I'm abroad, but I plan to complete a short novel this time. So far I have only the title -- Bedsteads Across Iberia -- and the idea that it will be mostly realistic but set in a fantastical framing device. That seems an unexpected thing to do.

I'm having a leaving drink at the Uplands Tavern on Saturday, 8:00 PM. Come along, all who so desire...