Portions of this book originally appeared in Asimov's SF Magazine as follows: 'Lobsters' (June 2001), 'Troubadour' (Oct/Nov 2001), 'Tourist' (Feb 2002), 'Halo' (June 2002), 'Router' (Sept 2002), 'Nightfall' (April 2003), 'Curator' (Dec 2003), 'Elector' (Oct/Nov 2004), 'Survivor' (Dec 2004). You did a great job of keeping me focused, even during the periods when the whole project was too daunting to contemplate. My agent Caitlin Blasdell had a hand in it too, and I'd like to thank my editors Ginjer Buchanan at Ace and Tim Holman at Orbit for their helpful comments and advice.įinally, I'd like to thank everyone who e-mailed me to ask when the book was coming, or who voted for the stories that were shortlisted for awards. I mentioned several friendly editors earlier: I relied on the talented midwifery of Gardner Dozois, who edited Asimov's Science Fiction Magazine at the time, and Sheila Williams, who quietly and diligently kept the wheels rolling. (If your name isn't on this list, blame my memory – my neural prostheses are off-line.)

Wilson, Stef Pearson, Gav Inglis, Andrew Ferguson, Jack Deighton, Jane McKie, Hannu Rajaniemi, Martin Page, Stephen Christian, Simon Bisson, Paul Fraser, Dave Clements, Ken MacLeod, Damien Broderick, Damon Sicore, Cory Doctorow, Emmet O'Brien, Andrew Ducker, Warren Ellis, and Peter Hollo. Among the many people who read and commented on the early drafts are: Andrew J. This book took me five years to write – a personal record – and would not exist without the support and encouragement of a host of friends, and several friendly editors. If you are in doubt about any proposed reuse, you should

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This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 2.5 License. Orbit Books, London, August 2005, ISBN 1841493902 License

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