ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS, ETC.

The germ for this book lies in an idle comment made by Ian Watson back in 1989 at a discussion on future telecommunications that had strayed wide of the mark (as such discussions inevitably do) into the realms of nanotechnology. Earthing our high-flown speculations on matter-processing and nanomanufacturing, he said, ‘Forget all this, the first thing you get with nanotechnology is immortality.’ That seed has been enshrined in the fictional ‘Watson’s Postulate’: hope you don’t mind, Ian.

Thanks also to all those who have seen this beast through its many incarnations; for your encouragement: David Garnett, Faith Brooker, Adrian Beattie, Bess Cotton, but most of all, my wife Trish, without whom nothing is possible.