A few things

Back from holiday and birthday shenanigans. Will write up our trip to Malta soon, and also some notes I made on The Gift by Lewis Hyde, which m'colleague Ben was kind enough to supply me. Have some rewrites to do first.

At 13.15 on Thursday 1 July, I'll be giving a free talk at the National Portrait Gallery, “Portraits in Time and Space” on 10 people in the gallery's collection that Doctor Who has met on screen.

Also, I wrote the writing bits of Houses of History, a history of the Palace of Westminster and parliamentary democracy aimed at school kids, for the Parliament website. (See also the Cimex website for more on the project.) It works best if you view it full screen and have your sound on.

And here's a sterling defence of Hansard, what I also sometimes do bits of work for.

Sleep is for tortoises

Hello. Haven't died, at least not yet. But having been nail-bitingly desperate for work just a few weeks ago I'm now nail-bitingly busy.

Tomorrow, though, I'll be at Alt.Fiction in Derby with plenty of my writing chums. Do say hello if you're there.

And on Thursday I'm off to Malta for an actual proper holiday with the Dr, the first time we've been away where neither of us are working or seeing family since, er, September. That is very exciting and also the far side of some pressing deadlines. Yikes.

My Blake's 7 plays on iPlayer

My two Blake's 7 plays are now available for free on the BBC's iPlayer - The Dust Run (6 days left to listen) and The Trial (7 days left to listen).

The two episodes see space pilot Jenna Stannis (Carrie Dobro) growing up, falling for the wrong boy and getting in trouble with the Federation - just in time to meet Roj Blake. Benedict Cumberbatch plays Townsend and Stephen Lord plays Max.

The broadcast versions are slightly shorter than the version you can buy.