Do you ever have the urge to have Jane Austen make a cameo appearance in the Temeraire novels? On similar lines, I sometimes wonder what her books would look like in your universe (which I love with abandon). Do you think she would have written Captain Wentworth as being in the Aerial Corps or kept him in the Navy?

Naomi Novik Hey, Mary! You know, I've never thought about having Austen herself make a cameo (although now I think about it one of her naval brothers could certainly have gone to the Aerial Corps instead), but as it happens I *am* working on a short story called Dragons & Decorum, which is an excerpt from the adventures of Captain Elizabeth Bennet and her dragon Wollstonecraft!

Wentworth is an interesting question -- but if Anne's father outright refused his consent to her marrying an aviator (as I have to think he would), the story loses the aspect of her being persuaded to break the engagement, and his refusing to go back to her on the grounds of pride. An elopement would be unreasonable for him to expect (and feels out of character for Anne). He could become socially acceptable by being knighted, for instance, but there's less reason for his not going straight to Anne afterwards.

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