ALAN: Recently I came across Cryptic, a collection of short stories by Jack McDevitt. It was a bit of a surprise – I think of him more as a novelist rather than as a short story writer, and I’m not sure I’ve even seen any of his short stories before. He’s a friend of yours, isn’t he?

JANE: I’d like to think so.  We met Jack when he was GOH at Bubonicon back in, I think, 1999.  He had such a good time, he came back a year or so later.  Then we spent time together when I was GOH at Oasis in Florida back in 2005.  I think those may be the only time we’ve met in person, but we stay in touch.

But then, as you and I know, physical proximity is no longer a requirement for friendship!

ALAN: Oh, indeed. In my opinion, physical proximity is…