Sci-Fi author Paul McAuley talks about writing science fiction in the United Kingdom.

Here in the UK, there are now only three major imprints that regularly publish sf; a major reduction in the diversity of the genre’s ecological niche. And for the most part writers can no longer develop their careers in public, fostered by a sympathetic editor: they have to hit the ball out of the park with their first novel. It’s either two strikes and you’re out, or keep hitting home runs with the same rhythm and swing – if you do write a successful novel, the publisher wants more just like it, in other words. Which is why, I guess, there are more series around, now. So the market is much tougher than when I started out, but in general the ambition of writers is higher, too. I wouldn’t mind seeing some shorter novels, though. Or rather, seeing novels written to their natural length, instead of being pointlessly expanded by the equivalent of the fluff that bulks out padded envelopes.