Two people I have the time for

There’s plenty of people I don’t have time for but today I feel moved to mention two women of my acquaintance who live at the ‘gold star’ end of my mental filing system.

The first is my editor, Jo Fletcher. Or rather, my ex-editor, as today is her last day at Gollancz. I will always be grateful to her for giving me my big break, and I’ve learnt a helluva lot from her in the three and a half years we’ve worked together. Her leaving party was last week, in a West End drinking dive, and it at her colleagues presented her with what might just be the perfect gift for an SFF editor: the largest and most ornate sacrificial dagger I’ve ever seen.

The second person is Liz Williams. Or rather, the set of Liz Williams clones, because no one could lead as full a life as she does with only one instance of themselves. One of those instances is a fine writer of gothic SF and off-beat detective novels. Another clone mentors and tutors other writers. She does this in a number of ways, formal and informal, and I have in the past been a beneficiary of her knowledge and skill. So, though I don’t usually run ‘adverts’ here, I’d just like to recommend that anyone who wants to improve their writing should check out her creative writing tutoring service (now with added historical novelist!)

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