The very wonderful Karen Burnham has been asked to edit some Mind Meld columns for SF Signal and her first effort has just gone online. It is about non-SF&F books you would recommend to SF&F readers. I’m pleased to say that I’m in it, and that Karen has assembled a truly awesome bunch of contributors, headed by Gary K Wolfe.

On a quick read through I think Patrick O’Brien gets the most recommendations, but I’m astounded that I’m the only person to mention Dorothy Dunnett (though this may be because all of the other contributors are men).

Of some small comfort to Jacques, following the sail episode, may the the fact that I managed to mangle the spelling of Alexandre Dumas’s name, primarily because I’m so used to translating from British to American in my head. Of course no one noticed, so I decline to take all of the blame.