Doing well

A quick reminder that I'll be at the Village Well on Thursday night, chatting about our cyberpunk future present. I'll be be joined by Anne C Perry, who knows everything about everything, so it'll be a hoot.

If you can't make it, but still want an inscribed copy, please let the nice booksellers know at the link above.

For UK folks, the scheming has begun for the May launch, so please watch this space for updates. (And the obligatory shout-out for any interested reviewers, booksellers, etc.)

There’s also a lovely shout-out to The Big Book/s of Cyberpunk in The Bookseller this week, reminding us that it is - rather remarkably - the fortieth anniversary of Neuromancer.

Where is my jetpack and all that.

The Superbowl was last weekend, in case you missed it.

Due to airline shenanigans, our flight was rescheduled so that we were actually going to miss a portion of the game.

We landed early, and did a mad, rom-com style dash through the airport. Somehow we had no queue at immigration, and our bags were the first off. There was a taxi waiting for us, and zero traffic in Los Angeles.

We went from potentially missing the first half of the game to walking in the door just as the anthem played.

Sometimes there's just no other possible explanation.

I wore the jersey of course.

This season - and post-season - has been a ride. I've given up hope, regained it, imploded repeatedly, come to terms with loss, and been remarkably, miraculously surprised over and over. I've enjoyed the narratives around Taylor Swift and the Chiefs’ villainy, and the incredible conflation of politics and gender and advertising and celebrity culture and even a bit of football. It has been a year.

The amazing thing is about sport is that every team has its own narrative. There are no NPCs in sports fandom. The biggest media outlets concentrate on the biggest storylines, but for every fan, their own narrative ‘aboutness cluster' is about their own team. This is the Taylor Swift Superbowl, but it is also the Rodgers injury season, the Mr Irrelevant season, the Lions resurrection, the Fields decision season, all these things that, for those fans, are rightfully front and center. Sport is unequalled when it comes to immersive fandom, there are too many plotlines to follow, so we pick and choose the ones that are most personally resonant and relevant - as we should.

So to fans of all teams - even the Broncos - thanks for a great season. And here's to the next one.