Heaven is a Place on Earth (28 page)

His face fell. He looked genuinely worried. “You're not considering refusing the grant are you?”

“Just supposing?”

He swallowed. “It's a stipulation that if any of the nominated candidates turn down the grant, the whole of it is voided. This would be a huge boost to your career, Virginia. Massive exposure. The orchestra too. We'd...” He stopped, realising he was saying too much.

Ginny nodded. “I understand. In that case, count me in. When would you like to meet?”

They made the arrangement and hung up.

Ginny went straight to the tank and opened it. It smelled like a new car inside and its surfaces and displays gleamed like Christmas lights. She jumped in, connected her catheters and went to her studio worldlet. There she looked at her low-quality equipment and the low-quality view. Her first order of business was to upgrade everything to the best she could afford – and that probably meant the best there was. Then she'd go and see Della and try to put her mind at rest. She'd tell her about the ACO grant, of course, but nothing else.

The future wouldn't be so bad. She'd stop watching the news feeds, naturally. There wouldn't be much point. If it wasn't mandatory in Australia, she'd stop voting too, but her vote wouldn't matter. Otherwise things would be much the same as ever. She'd take the Rice Consortium commission and she'd do her uttermost to write something that was as good as she was capable of. Cal was right. An opportunity should be grasped with both hands, no matter where it came from. This was hers and she would give it everything she had. Then, whatever came after, good or bad, she would own it, with as much right as anyone ever had to the lucky breaks they got.

And so what if the world was run by crooks and arseholes? Cal was right about that too. It was all just a matter of degree. The more things change, the more they stay the same. She'd have to put that on a T-shirt. If Cal really was watching, he'd probably get a giggle out of it.

Graham Storrs is a science fiction writer living in Queensland, Australia. A former research scientist, IT consultant and award-winning software designer, he now lives and writes in a quiet corner of the Australian bush with his wife, Christine, an Airedale terrier called Bertie, and a Tonkinese cat called Minsky. His writing credits include three children's science books, and a great many magazine articles, academic papers and book chapters. Since turning his attention to writing fiction he has had short stories published in a wide range of magazines and anthologies.
Heaven is a Place on Earth
is his third novel.

Graham's début novel,
Timesplash
, a near-future, time travel thriller, was a Kindle best-seller (in both the science fiction and the techno-thriller categories). It is now published by Pan Macmillan (Momentum), as is the sequel,
True Path.

Graham is always happy to hear from readers, so don't be shy. And if you enjoyed this book, a review on Amazon, Goodreads, or your own blog would be greatly appreciated.

Follow
Graham Storrs on his blog:
http://grahamstorrs.cantalibre.com
and on Twitter:
http://twitter.com/graywave

For details of all Graham's novels and short stories, visit
http://www.grahamstorrs.com/