I've been poorly.
Thanks for the odd message (some really odd) of concern. Thanks also for good wishes in these troubled times. Not to make a song and dance about it, I'm up and about. I've found my desk (it was more or less where I left it), found my computer (the poor thing was panting for its updates), and started to unpeel a mound of yellowing A4, bearing text I hardly recognise. Progress.
News? Well, there is a little. The proof of "The War and Alex Vere" - that's surely worth noting. at well over 400 pages it is the longest sustained piece of fiction I have managed (I'll stick with "sustained" - it sounds fancy). Expect the published book in April, which is, I seem to recall, a cruel month. There may not be a Kindle version, at least not at first.
What else? The Arthur Ransome Society invited me to give a talk about a month ago. You can hear the audio by joining the Society. The video will be posted here (a live recording, warts and all) once rural France discovers high-speed broadband.