A version of Chapter One was published at Amazon.com under the title "Tourism"; a few paragraphs of Chapter Ten appeared in Locus as part of an essay. I'm indebted to Luis Rodrigues, who made me think about saudade; Jukka Halme for the Finnish tango; Zali Krishna, not just a webmaster, but an eye across the manuscript; and Philippa McEwan, who loaned me her house to write in. The Phillips family proved as kind and supportive as ever.

M. John Harrison is the award-winning author of eight previous novels and four collections of short stories. Viriconium was short-listed for the Guardian Fiction Prize and Climbers won the Boardman Tasker Award. His most recent novel, Light, was awarded the James Tiptree Jr. Award and was shortlisted for the 2002 Arthur Clarke Award.