Many people have said to me that my name sounds like a fantasy writer’s name, asking me if it’s my actual name.  Garth Nix also often gets asked the same question.  In both mine and Garth's case, they are our real names, but it makes me wonder what it is that makes a name sound like it belongs to a fantasy writer?

Names are funny things.  I recently discovered that Eddie Perfect is the Australian performer/writer's real name.  I was absolutely convinced it was a stage name.  As he says, though: "If I was willing to change it, I'd have gone all the way to F..king–Brilliant.  Hyphenated."

So, what is it that makes a name sound like a fantasy writer's?  My guess is that the letters “J” and “R” have something to do with it: J R R Tolkien, J K Rowling, George  R R Martin. There aren't any initials in "Dirk Strasser", but there are three Rs.

I once had the venerable science fiction author and editor, Algis Budrys, comment in a rejection letter to me "Mmm, with a name like 'Dirk Strasser', I would have thought you'd be South African."  And I would have thought maybe someone with the name "Algis Budrys" shouldn't really be commenting on other writer's names.

Do people with fantasy writer-type names naturally  drift towards fantasy writing?  That would be a bit spooky.  Maybe there's a prophecy thing happening.

What if a John Smith wants to turn his hand at fantasy?  One solution is to add some initials: John R R Smith works.  But I think there's a better solution for turning an ordinary name into a fantasy writers' name – add an exotic sounding middle name.

John Tiberius Smith does the trick, as does Jane Aphrodite Smith.  It's just a matter of trawling through enough history and mythology to get the right  combination.

Not everyone has been fortunate to have been given fantasy writer names by their parents.  For those of you that haven't, well, you're just a google search away from your destiny.

There are two sorts of people in the universe. Those that will think Gravity is one of the best movies of all time, and those who will find it unbearable to watch.

I think I'm still recovering from seeing Gravity. Space movies based on current technology don't usually do much for me.  They tend to have a lot of silent static images, slow-moving people with faces hidden in spacesuit helmets, and staccato disembodied voices. They're often just dull. No aliens. No interstellar battles. No exotic planets. Just a dose of space reality.

Gravity has changed my mind about 'real space' movies. Big time. It's without a doubt the best movie I've seen this year and would have be in my all-time top ten. The tension is ramped up higher than in any other movie I can think of. It feels so real you literally struggle for oxygen.

Movement in zero gravity can be dance-like, calming, even poetic. In Gravity it reveals itself to be the most frightening thing in the universe. When Sandra Bullock is spinning and screaming and spinning and screaming, you desperately wish for some air resistance to act against the motion, anything to slow her down, anything to stop your head spiralling with her. Anything.

But you're in a vacuum. Newton's First Law is at work and if there is no other force stopping it, it goes on forever. (I know the Second Law of Thermodynamics means Sandra would eventually slow down, but she'd die waiting.) So she just keeps spinning and screaming and spinning and screaming.

There are some Cold Equations at work in this movie. The oxygen is going to run out. When it comes to orbits, what goes around really does come around. You can argue with the laws of physics, but you'll always lose.

And that turns out to be terrifying.

So how real is Gravity? It certainly feels breath-takingly hyper-real.

And don't just take my word for it. Buzz Aldrin, the second man to walk on the moon has given it high praise in his review in The Hollywood Reporter magazine. He says: 'I was so extravagantly impressed by the portrayal of the reality of zero gravity. Going through the space station was done just the way that I've seen people do it in reality.' He felt that the movie has come at a good time to stimulate people's interest in advancements in space.

Or totally freak them out!

I wonder how Richard Branson's Virgin Galactic space tourist plans are going now?