It feels like I’ve been in whirlwind since the plane touched down in Perth and the Toronto trip came to an end. There have been parties, celebrations, book projects to start, and book projects to finish. I’m working on the Locus Recommended Reading list while also trying to edit reviews, give the day job due diligence and spend some time with the family.

In amongst all of that, I’ve found some time to finish the table of contents for The Best Science Fiction and Fantasy of the Year: Volume Seven, which will be published by Night Shade Books in March 2013.   I still have the introduction to finish and the running order to finalise (this is simply an alphabetical listing), but I’m very happy with it.  As always, there were stories I would liked to have squeezed in, ones that permissions weren’t available for and so on, but that’s always the case.  I’m actually a bit stunned that this is my 36th anthology! Anyway, without further ado here is the table of contents!

1. “The Woman Who Fooled Death Five Times”, Eleanor Arnason
2. “Great Grandmother in the Cellar”, Peter S. Beagle
3. “Immersion”, Aliette de Bodard
4. “Troll Blood”, Peter Dickinson
5. “Close Encounters”, Andy Duncan
6. “Blood Drive”, Jeffrey Ford
7. “Adventure Story”, Neil Gaiman
8. “The Grinnell Method”, Molly Gloss
9. “Beautiful Boys”, Theodora Goss
10. “The Easthound”, Nalo Hopkinson
11. “Mantis Wives”, Kij Johnson
12. “Bricks”, Sticks”, Straw”, Gwyneth Jones
13. “Goggles c 1910”, Caitlin R. Kiernan
14. “The Education of a Witch”, Ellen Klages
15. “The Color Least Used by Nature”, Ted Kosmatka
16. “Significant Dust”, Margo Lanagan
17. “Two Houses”, Kelly Link
18. “Mono No Aware”, Ken Liu
19. “Macy Minnot’s Last Christmas on Dione”, Ring Racing”, Fiddler’s Green”, the Potter’s Garden”, Paul McAuley
20. “Swift”, Brutal Retaliation”, Megan McCarron
21. “About Fairies”, Pat Murphy
22. “Nahiku West”, Linda Nagata
23. “Let Maps to Others”, K.J. Parker
24. “Jack Shade in the Forest of Souls”, Rachel Pollack
25. “Katabasis”, Robert Reed
26. “What Did Tessimond Tell You?”, Adam Roberts
27. “The Contrary Gardener”, Christopher Rowe
28. “Joke in Four Panels”, Robert Shearman
29. “Domestic Magic”, Steve Rasnic Tem & Melanie Tem
30. “Reindeer Mountain”, Karin Tidbeck
31. “Fade to White”, Catherynne M. Valente
32. “A Bead of Jasper”, Four Small Stones”, Genevieve Valentine

My special thanks to Marianne Jablon who has worked heroically on this book to help me get it finished. If I make the deadline it will be thanks mostly to her hard work.