This means I must pay close attention to the writing, but equally so to the scientific background – which sometimes means doing fairly involved calculations.

There may be something to the suggestion about the pace of technological change intimidating writers, though – it’s been awfully hard to keep ahead of real developments.

When something hasn’t been around much for a while, and one example of it turns up and catches people’s eyes, they go looking for more like it – until they get tired of it again.

Ideally, I’d like every issue to include a diverse group of stories that meet the qualifications sketched above, but covering a wide range of specific matter and flavour.

Its limitations are those of the physical universe: it won’t let you play with some really wild ideas that aren’t possible, but are fun to speculate about.

It’s easy to imagine ways the future can be ugly and depressing. It’s harder, but more worthwhile, to imagine plausible ways we can make it better.

It’s most presumptuous to believe we already know all the answers and will never get any more big surprises.

Don’t mistake a good setup for a satisfying conclusion – many beginning writers end their stories when the real story is just ready to begin.

Don't mistake a good setup for a satisfying conclusion - many beginning writers end their stories when the real story is just ready to begin.

Resist the temptation to try to use dazzling style to conceal weakness of substance.