Novellas (Nebulas/Hugos)

• Martian Chronicles, Cory Doctorow (Life on Mars)

Novelettes (Nebulas/Hugos)

• Dying Young, Peter M Ball (Eclipse Four)
• Mercies, Gregory Benford (Engineering Infinity)
• Walls of Flesh, Bars of Bone, Damien Broderick & Barbara Lamar (Engineering Infinity)
• Creatures with Wings, Kathleen Ann Goonan (Engineering Infinity)
• The Ki-Anna, Gwyneth Jones (Engineering Infinity)
• The Vicar of Mars, Gwyneth Jones (Eclipse Four)
• Tourists, James Patrick Kelly (Eclipse Four)
• The Old Man and the Martian Sea, Alastair Reynolds (Life on Mars)
• Laika’s Ghost, Karl Schroeder (Engineering Infinity)
• A Taste of Promises, Rachel Swirsky (Life on Mars)
• Fields of Gold, Rachel Swirsky (Eclipse Four)
• Judgement Eve, John C. Wright (Engineering Infinity)

Short Stories (Nebulas/Hugos)

• Attlee and the Long Walk, Kage Baker (Life on Mars)
• Martian Heart, John Barnes (Life on Mars)
• The Birds and the Bees and the Gasoline Trees, John Barnes (Engineering Infinity)
• On Chryse Plain, Stephen Baxter (Life on Mars)
• The Invasion of Venus, Stephen Baxter (Engineering Infinity)
• The Beancounter’s Cat, Damien Broderick (Eclipse Four)
• Nine Muses, Emma Bull (Eclipse Four)
• Slow as a Bullet, Andy Duncan (Eclipse Four)
• The Double of My Double Is Not My Double, Jeffrey Ford (Eclipse Four)
• Thought Experiment, Eileen Gunn (Eclipse Four)
• Old Habits, Nalo Hopkinson (Eclipse Four)
• Story Kit, Kij Johnson (Eclipse Four)
• Tidal Forces, Caitlin R. Kiernan (Eclipse Four)
• Goodnight Moons, Ellen Klages (Life on Mars)
• First Principle, Nancy Kress (Life on Mars)
• Digging, Ian McDonald (Life on Mars)
• A Soldier of the City, David Moles (Engineering Infinity)
• Wahala, Nnedi Okorafor (Life on Mars)
• The Server and the Dragon, Hannu Rajaniemi (Engineering Infinity)
• Mantis, Robert Reed (Engineering Infinity)
• Larp on Mars, Chris Roberson (Life on Mars)
• Watching the Music Dance, Kristine Kathryn Rusch (Engineering Infinity)
• Bit Rot, Charles Stross (Engineering Infinity)
• The Man in Grey, Michael Swanwick (Eclipse Four)
• The Panda Coin, Jo Walton (Eclipse Four)
• Malak, Peter Watts (Engineering Infinity)

Editor, Short Form (Hugos)

• Jonathan Strahan
  Books (5): The Best Science Fiction & Fantasy of the Year: Volume Six; Eclipse Four; Engineering Infinity; Life on Mars; Dangerous Ways: Mystery Novels by Jack Vance)
  Magazines (12): Locus: The Newspaper of the Science Fiction and Fantasy Field, Reviews Editor, Jan-Dec 2011 issues)

Semiprozine (Hugos)

• Locus: The Newspaper of the Science Fiction and Fantasy Field  (Jan-Dec 2011 issues)

 Fanzine (Hugos)

• The Coode Street Podcast by Jonathan Strahan & Gary K. Wolfe (Episodes 32-82 published in 2011) (Episode list)

Fancast (Hugos)

•  The Coode Street Podcast by Jonathan Strahan & Gary K. Wolfe (Episodes 32-82 published in 2011) (Episode list)

I encourage everyone to look at these and all of the other very fine works that are eligible for awards in 2012 and nominate the works that you loved!  Your nomination and vote are important and the more people that are involved, the better the awards are!

Edited: Edited to remove Live and Sassy from Fancast/Fanzine to match eligibility criteria.

I am currently reading for the 2012 volume, which will cover stories first published between 1 January and 31 December 2012. I am looking for stories from all branches of science fiction and fantasy: space opera to cyberpunk, fairy tales to the slipstream, or anything else that might qualify. If in doubt, PLEASE send it. Please note: This is a reprint anthology.

I work on a tight deadline, and need to see work as early as possible.  With that in mind, the submission deadline for this year’s book is 1 October 2012. Anything sent after this deadline will reach me too late. If a magazine, anthology, or collection you are in or you edit is coming out before 31 December 2012 please send galleys or manuscripts so that I can consider the stories in time.

Where possible, I prefer to receive book-length submissions in print. Anything else can be sent to me via email. I prefer .rtf or .doc files. PDFs are acceptable, but are inconvenient. I strongly suggest that authors check with their publishers that they are sending review copies out to me, as I don’t have the resources to follow-up every publisher to get material.

When sending material please put “BEST SF/F of the Year” on the envelope.

Jonathan Strahan
PO Box 544
Mt Lawley WA 6929
Australia

Email submissions, recommendations, or information on publications can be sent to me via email at: jonathan.strahan (at) gmail (dot) com.

NOTE TO PUBLISHERS

I am eager to see and be able to consider the work you are publishing. If you are producing a magazine, a chapbook, a collection or anthology with any original stories in it please let me know. While I prefer not to accept email submissions for book length works as a rule, I am happy to talk to publishers about making exceptions where necessary. The important thing, for me, is to make sure that I get to consider the best science fiction and fantasy published during 2011.

* I do not need to receive manuscripts from authors of stories from venues that it’s likely I already receive regularly (I get Asimov’s, Analog, F&SF, Interzone, Postscripts etc, but not many of the smaller ‘zines and publications).

** If you are publishing online, please email me copies of your stories at (jonathan.strahan (at) gmail (dot) com). This is particularly important for stories published between October and December, which may otherwise be overlooked. I do not require print-outs of online publications (I regularly read Tor.com, IGMS, Strange Horizons, Clarkesworld, Fantasy, Apex etc online).

*** Please do not send an SASE. This is not a submission, and I’m unable to return manuscripts or respond directly to stories sent to me.

It is possible that the running order might shift, but the contents really shouldn’t. As always, there were stories I would liked to have squeezed in, ones that permissions weren’t available for and so on, but basically I’m very happy with the book and a little stunned that it’s volume six! Anyway, here without further ado is the table of contents for The Best Science Fiction and Fantasy of the Year: Volume Six:

Introduction, Jonathan Strahan
The Case of Death and Honey, Neil Gaiman, (A Study in Sherlock)
The Cartographer Wasps and the Anarchist Bees, E. Lily Yu, (Clarkesworld, 4/11)
Tidal Forces, Caitlín R Kiernan, (Eclipse Four)
Younger Women, Karen Joy Fowler, (Subterranean, Summer 2011)
White Lines on a Green Field , Catherynne M. Valente, (Subterranean, Fall 2011)
All That Touches The Air, An Owomoyela, (Lightspeed Magazine, 4/11)
What We Found, Geoff Ryman, (F&SF, 9-10/11)
The Server and the Dragon, Hannu Rajaniemi, (Engineering Infinity)
The Choice, Paul McAuley, (Asimov‘s, 1/11)
Malak, Peter Watts, (Engineering Infinity)
Old Habits, Nalo Hopkinson, (Eclipse Four)
A Small Price to Pay for Birdsong, K. J. Parker, (Subterranean, Winter 2011. )
Valley of the Girls, Kelly Link, (Subterranean, Spring 2011)
Brave Little Toaster, Cory Doctorow, (TRSF)
The Dala Horse, Michael Swanwick, (Tor.com, 7/11)
The Corpse Painter’s Masterpiece, M Rickert, (F&SF, 9-10/11)
The Paper Menagerie, Ken Liu, (F&SF, March/April 2011)
Steam Girl, Dylan Horrocks, (Steampunk!)
After the Apocalypse, Maureen F. McHugh, (After the Apocalypse)
Underbridge, Peter S. Beagle, (Naked City)
Relic, Jeffrey Ford, (The Thackery T. Lambshead Cabinet of Curiosities)
The Invasion of Venus, Stephen Baxter, (Engineering Infinity)
Woman Leaves Room, Robert Reed, (Lightspeed Magazine, 3/11)
Restoration, Robert Shearman, (Everyone’s Just So So Special)
The Onset of a Paranormal Romance, Bruce Sterling, (Flurb, Fall-Winter 2011)
Catastrophic Disruption of the Head, Margo Lanagan, (The Wilful Eye: Tales from the Tower Vol. 1)
The Last Ride of the Glory Girls, Libba Bray, (Steampunk!)
The Book of Phoenix (Excerpted from The Great Book) , Nnedi Okorafor, (Clarkesworld, 3/11)
Digging, Ian McDonald, (Life on Mars)
The Man Who Bridged the Mist, Kij Johnson, (Asimov’s, 10-11/11)
Goodnight Moons, Ellen Klages, (Life on Mars)

The book should be out in March. I’m yet to see a cover, but given the job they’ve done in the past, I can’t wait. It should be something special.

1. Introduction: Looking Under the Hat”, Jonathan Strahan
2. “Stray Magic”, Diana Peterfreund
3. “Payment Due”, Frances Hardinge
4. “A Handful of Ashes”, Garth Nix
5. “Little Gods”, Holly Black
6. “Barrio Girls”, Charles de Lint
7. “Felidis”, Tanith Lee
8. “Witch Work”, Neil Gaiman (poem)
9. “The Education of a Witch”, Ellen Klages
10. “The Threefold World”, Ellen Kushner
11. “The Witch in the Wood”, Delia Sherman
12. “Which Witch”, Patricia A. McKillip
13. “The Carved Forest”, Tim Pratt
14. “Burning Castles”, M. Rickert
15. “The Stone Witch”, Isobelle Carmody
16. “Andersen’s Witch”, Jane Yolen
17. “B Is for Bigfoot”, Jim Butcher
18. “Great-Grandmother in the Cellar”, Peter S. Beagle
19. “Crow and Caper, Caper and Crow”, Margo Lanagan

Under My Hat will be published by the completely marvelous Jim Thomas & co. at Random House Childrens’ in the US in October 2012 (just in time for Halloween!). I honestly feel this is probably the best book I’ve ever worked on, so I’m incredibly excited about this.

And routine, welcome and sometimes not, is settling in.  I find myself reading a chapter a night of Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone to Sophie (and occasionally Jessica), while pushing ineffectualy at the pile of work I’d hoped to get through this week. Focus has been in short supply, though I have managed to get copyedits out for one book and I am working slowly on another. The problem is I need to finish that book ASAP and get proposals out into the world. Why? Well, even allowing for the disjointed nature of World Fantasy this year, I feel weirdly optimistic about things. I think there are books to be made and sold, if I can just tweak things a little.

I have been reading and watching. I’ve gotten through the opening episodes of both “Once Upon a Time” and “Grimm”, and like them about equally, which is to say a bit, but not a lot. I’ve also been half-reading things. With 2012 well under way, I’ve now finished reading an anthology and an issue of a magazine, which does make it feel real.  Last Short Story is firing up in the background, and I have other work to do! Recommended reading. Gah. Not going to think about that today.

This is becoming very rambly, but before I sign off I do have a recommendation. I picked up a copy of Patrick Ness’s widely-recommended and award-nominated A Monster Walks today. Taken by its brevity, I read it between lunchtime and now and can only say this it powerful, honest and beautiful, and that I recommend it without hesitation.

Busy days!

… and some of us got wet.

And as the rain comes down I have to do all sorts of bits and pieces.  Work on the Best Science Fiction and Fantasy of the Year is progressing well. The first twenty-four writers have been approached about their stories, and a remaining seven or so should be, either later today or tomorrow. I have had to omit Peter Straub’s wonderful “The Ballad of Ballard and Sandrine”, from Conjunctions, which I’d hoped to include but wasn’t available for contractual reasons. You should read it, if you can. That means I should meet my goal of having chosen the stories, contacted everyone, and finalised the contents as much as possible before leaving for World Fantasy.  I’ll be able to manage a lot of the process while away, and then can assemble the manuscript on my return home in early November. Progress!

We’re also off to see Steely Dan tonight. They’re touring with Steve Winwood and, while the timing is awful, I’m looking forward to it.  The rest of the day is getting ready for that, trip prep and working! Busy. Or at least my mind is.

It does touch on a practical seasonal issue confronting us, though. Over the past three weeks we’ve submerged ourselves in the topic of the best of the year process. It was interesting, if occasionally troubling, and it’s fairly well covered. We need something else. And yet, it’s October. Mid-October. This is the time when the “end of the year” process begins for us. I’m busily finalizing the table of contents for The Best Science Fiction and Fantasy of the Year, and I just had the first contact from my editor at Locus about the recommended reading list. The next three months will be about nothing BUT the best of the year. I’m not sure how we’re going to stop that leaking through into the podcast. We shall see, though.

For me, I get the impression that there is buzz around someone or something when a number of unconnected positive mentions of a book come to my attention. This could be a good review on a website, a positive tweet or two, some anticipatory comments on a podcast.  It’s when the profile of something rises about the background noise or chatter that’s happening in media, social or otherwise, to the point where I become aware of it, and become aware of it in a positive sense.

An example of this is Christopher Priest’s The Islanders. Now, I know I said on the podcast that Priest generally doesn’t get much buzz, but this book is getting some. I’m pretty sure I discussed it with Paul Cornell and Al Reynolds at Worldcon. I noticed Ian McDonald tweet about it yesterday. Strange Horizons reviewed it and Adam Roberts commented (having previously reviewed it).  People are talking about it and it’s getting terrific reviews.

That’s buzz.  I don’t know if it’s the kind of buzz that adds up to sales, but it’s there.  I suspect it’s the kind of thing that drives marketing departments to distraction, primarily because it’s organic and difficult to control.

Oh, and a quick personal PS: I continue to struggle with a virus that has been kicking my ass since last week. I’m upright, but only just, so comms are slower than usual.

The first episode, recorded in a quietish courtyard of Nedland’s Elxir Coffee a month or two ago, is now online. We discuss ebooks, Borders and other publishing stuff. We should be recording a new episode shortly, but hope you enjoy this one!

The long trip to Reno for Renovation was well worth it, though mostly for the things that went on around the convention than for the convention itself. I got to spend some time in San Francisco with Ellen Klages, had a fantastic BBQ/ party up at Locus HQ, a fun road trip with Gary, Madeleine and Ellen to Reno, some great meals with friends, and all sorts of chats and discussions.

My hazy recollections of Reno are flashing lights, loud machines, people smoking indoors, a long boozy conversation with Ian McDonald in the dealer’s room bar (the one Reno innovation we could do with continuing); good conversations with Gary; recording podcasts with Ian McDonald, Al Reynolds, Stan Robinson, and Jo Walton; hanging out with local Perth-ite Andrew Bailey; lots of talking;  time with Bob and Karen;  a bet with Paul Cornell;  Lou winning the Hugo; hurriedly packing the Locus van to head back to Oakland; and the road trip back to Locus with Liza, Fran (who worked the Locus table incredibly) and Chloe.

I had a very pleasant day at Locus HQ chatting with Liza and the gang, where I actually packed one of the lamps I’d inherited from Charles to carry home (which I did successfully – I was very concerned about breaking it), before dinner with Amelia and then on to the merry-go-round that is modern plane travel to head home again.

It was, all in all, a good trip. I think it was worth it, though I possibly had an epiphany about WorldCon.  As much as I enjoyed the trip, I don’t think I actually enjoy WorldCon itself that much anymore.  The only events I attended across five days were panels I was on and the Hugos. So, although this is far from written in stone, I’m almost definitely going to skip ChiconV  (which is looking problematic from a distance) and LoneStarCon. Instead, I’ll be focussing on attending the Toronto and Brighton World Fantasy Conventions, which I do love.  I’ll likely be in London for WorldCon in 2014, but that’s more to do with the location than anything else.

So,  what now? I have to get the year’s best done by late October when the family and I fly BACK to the US again (whimper) for family events and World Fantasy. It should be a great time, though I’m a bit intimidated at the thought of more air travel.

And it was. We drove over to Oakland and spent Monday evening chatting and enjoying the company of old friends before Gary, Madeleine, Ellen and I headed back to SF, where conversation continued late into the night. Tuesday we were all up and packed early and headed out for breakfast at a small local place. Then we drove to Reno. The weather got perceptibly hotter as we approached Reno, but the conversation was fun and a good road trip was had by all. we got into town at about 6pm, registered, and then found a quietish bar in the enormous venue where we talked late into the night.

I expect to be tweeting while traveling, and possbily blogging.  There’s also some chance we’ll podcast, though don’t be surprised if there’s nothing next weekend.  Consider it a possible hiatus.  Anyhow, till the other side, g’bye!

Snuff by Terry Pratchett

As I write the big clock at RenovationSF says it’s five days and five hours till WorldCon.  What’s focussing my attention much more is that it’s about sixteen hours until I board a flight for Sydney. Tomorrow night I’ll dine with friends in Sydney, then on Sunday will fly on to San Francisco.  I’ll be tired and jetlagged, but  I’ll also be staying with a dear friend and preparing to see many more in the coming days.  It should be a wonderful week and a half.

Have I been preparing? Well….yes.  I have packed (looks over shoulder at suitcase on floor of office). I have also got the day job to at least the point where I can be away for a short while, most projects are fine, and the reading is only a dreadful tsunami now.  I have new business cards for Gary and I for the podcast, and I’ve also posted the last podcast before WorldCon.  All is in hand (I think).

I have also read Snuff, the new novel by Terry Pratchett. It’s a Sam Vimes novel where Vimes, Sibyll, Young Sam and Willikins retire to Sibyll’s country home for a holiday. It goes as well as Vimes in the countryside ever does and, even allowing for a slightly bumpy start, I loved it a lot. One of my favourite books of the year.  I hope to finish reading two other novels between now and WorldCon, but who knows? Till then!

For the most part, all of that sort of preparation is well in hand. I fly out of here at about 10.00am on Saturday, and all is looking good for that. I do need to do a little panel preparation, but I have some time for that.  Oh, my schedule, should you be interested, is:

Renovation – Programming

Makes for a busy Friday, and I am not going to be able to make the Locus party, which I’m very disappointed about, but all of those should be fun. For those interested, I’m doing a signing or a Kaffeeklatch but will be round the Locus table in the Dealer’s Room a bit (if anyone’s interested, let me know in comments and I’ll set a time when I’ll definitely be there).  Other than that, it’s all pretty much set, unless you’re free for dinner Friday.

Thanks to Jen (thanks!), I’m reading Pratchett’s Snuff and keeping focussed. I’m late getting a new project out the gate this week, but I hope I can do that. Other than that, onwarrds.  I will try to post more meaningfully every day on the way to Reno and hopefully from there too.

We’re going out for dinner on Friday, but Saturday will be all about getting clothes and papers sorted. I’ll start the physical packing come Monday or Tuesday. It’s my preference to leave a suitcase on the floor of my office and just toss things in there as they occur to me. This trip is going to be a real adventure. I need some downtime to de-stress, so I hope it will provide that, and it means seeing some dear friends in Sydney, San Francisco and Reno. Gary and I are going to podcast like maniacs, and I’m hoping we’ll have new t-shirts ready for that.

There’s a lot of other stuff. I’m reading a new novel I can’t really name, but am enjoying a great deal, and just got another in the email last night. Some cool stuff! More posting soon.

This has been an odd weekend for me.  Gary’s been in Florida and we’ve not recorded a podcast for the first time in more than a year. It’s become part of the rhythm of my weekends, and everything seems a bit different without it. I’d meant to use the time getting caught up on work, but I haven’t really. I tinkered with this and that and spent time with the family.

Alisa dropped the pretty Aurealis Award round (and it is pretty), we took my mother out for her birthday, and we spent some time driving in the hills. Other than that, not so much. So, there’s still an ocean to do (won’t bore you with the details). I do have to find the name for the secret project which I’m tinkering with at the moment. Just as soon as an agreement is reached and there are details I’ll make it non-secret, but there’s still a chance it could become a non-project so I shall wait.

I did read my favorite anthology of the year this week, though. In October Candlewick will publish Gavin Grant and Kelly Link’s Steampunk!: An Anthology of Fantastically Rich and Strange Stories (you can see the ToC here).  It features fourteen pieces (12 stories/2 comics) by some terrific writers. I’m still going back and forth over my favorites but I adored Libba Bray’s “The Last Ride of the Glory Girls”, a Western about an all-girl gang of temporally-enhanced trainrobbers, Dylan Horrock’s novelette “Steamgirl” about (sort of) a steampunk girl hero on Mars, and M.T Anderson’s “The Oracle Engine”. Those three alone are strong enough to make this a wonderful anthology, but new stories from Kelly Link, Holly Black and others really do make it a book I’d recommend.  The only thing I found, when I reluctantly reached the end, was that I don’t know if I understand steampunk any better than I had at the start. I’m hoping someone like Jeff VanderMeer (who edited Steampunk and The Steampunk Bible) who has a really strong grasp of the subject might review it. In the meantime, there’s a lot here to read and edit and be distracted by so back to that,

The usual rules apply: bold those that you’ve read and italicize those that you own but haven’t read.

1. The Monkey’s Wedding and Other Stories by Joan Aiken
2. Rashomon and Seventeen Other Stories by Ryunosuke Akutagawa
3. The Kite of Stars and Other Stories by Dean Francis Alfar
4. I, Robot by Isaac Asimov
5. Black Projects, White Knights by Kage Baker
6. The Best of J. G. Ballard by J.G. Ballard
7. Perpetuity Blues and Other Stories by Neal Barrett, Jr.
8. The Imago Sequence and Other Stories by Laird Barron
9. Occultation by Laird Barron
10. Mirror Kingdoms: The Best of Peter S. Beagle
11. The Collected Stories of Greg Bear by Greg Bear
12. The Chains That You Refuse by Elizabeth Bear
13. The Girl With The Flammable Skirt by Aimee Bender
14. Lord Stink & Other Stories by Judith Berman
15. Trysts: A Triskaidecollection of Queer and Weird Stories by Steve Berman
16. A Book of Endings by Deborah Biancotti
17. Blooded on Arachne by Michael Bishop
18. One Winter in Eden by Michael Bishop
19. The Poison Eaters & Other Stories by Holly Black
20. Labyrinths: Selected Stories and Other Writings by Jorge Luis Borges
21. From the Files of the Time Rangers by Richard Bowes
22. Streetcar Dreams by Richard Bowes
23. The Stories of Ray Bradbury by Ray Bradbury
24. Graveyard People: The Collected Cedar Hill Stories by Gary Braunbeck
25. Home before Dark: The Collected Cedar Hill Stories by Gary Braunbeck
26. Particle Theory by Edward Bryant
27. Tides from the New Worlds by Tobias S. Buckell
28. Bloodchild and Other Stories By Octavia E. Butler
29. Dirty Work: Stories by Pat Cadigan
30. The Night We Buried Road Dog by Jack Cady
31. The Panic Hand by Jonathan Carroll
32. Burning Your Boats: The Collected Short Stories by Angela Carter
33. Fireworks: Nine Stories in Various Disguises by Angela Carter
34. The Bloody Chamber: And Other Stories by Angela Carter
35.  Stories of Your Life and Others by Ted Chiang
36. The Collected Stories of Arthur C. Clarke by Arthur C. Clarke
37. The Ladies of Grace Adieu and Other Stories by Susanna Clarke
38. Novelties & Souvenirs, Collected Short Fiction by John Crowley
39. The Avram Davidson Treasury by Avram Davidson
40. The Enquiries of Dr. Eszterhazy by Avram Davidson
41. Driftglass: Ten Tales of Speculative Fiction by Samuel R. Delany
42. We Can Remember It for You Wholesale by Philip K. Dick
43. Strange Days: Fabulous Journeys with Gardner Dozois by Gardner Dozois
44. Beluthahatchie by Andy Duncan
45. What Will Come After by Scott Edelman
46. Axiomatic by Greg Egan
47. I Have No Mouth, and I Must Scream by Harlan Ellison
48. The Beast that Shouted Love at the Heart of the World by Harlan Ellison
49. Deathbird Stories by Harlan Ellison
50. The Collected Stories of Carol Emshwiller by Carol Emshwiller
51. Dangerous Space by Kelley Eskridge
52. Fugue State by Brian Evenson
53. Harsh Oases by Paul Di Filippo
54. The Fantasy Writer’s Assistant and Other Stories by Jeffrey Ford
55. The Empire of Ice Cream by Jeffrey Ford
56. The Drowned Life by Jeffrey Ford
57. Returning My Sister’s Face and Other Far Eastern Tales of Whimsy and Malice by Eugie Foster
58. Artificial Things by Karen Joy Fowler
59. What I Didn’t See and Other Stories by Karen Joy Fowler
60. Smoke and Mirrors by Neil Gaiman
61. Fragile Things by Neil Gaiman
62. Burning Chrome by William Gibson
63. In the Forest of Forgetting by Theodora Goss
64. Take No Prisoners by John Grant
65. A Separate War and Other Stories by Joe Haldeman
66. Last Summer at Mars Hill by Elizabeth Hand
67. Saffron & Brimstone: Strange Stories by Elizabeth Hand
68. Things That Never Happen by M. John Harrison
69. The Past Through Tomorrow by Robert Heinlein
70. 20th Century Ghosts by Joe Hill
71. Skin Folk by Nalo Hopkinson
72. The Coming of Conan the Cimmerian by Robert E. Howard
73. The Lottery and Other Stories by Shirley Jackson
74. Unexpected Magics: Collected Stories by Diana Wynne Jones
75. Minor Arcana by Diana Wynne Jones
76. Grazing the Long Acre by Gwyneth Jones
77. The Wreck of the Godspeed and Other Stories by James Patrick Kelly
78. The Baum Plan for Financial Independence and Other Stories by John Kessel
79. Night Shift by Stephen King
80. Different Seasons by Stephen King
81. Hearts in Atlantis by Stephen King
82. Portable Childhoods by Ellen Klages
83. Scenting the Dark and Other Stories by Mary Robinette Kowal
84. Nano Comes to Clifford Falls and Other Stories by Nancy Kress
85. Nine Hundred Grandmothers by R.A. Lafferty
86. Objects of Worship by Claude Lalumiere
87. Black Juice by Margo Lanagan
88. Red Spikes by Margo Lanagan
89. Yellowcake by Margo Lanagan
90. Mr. Gaunt and Other Uneasy Encounters by John Langan
91. The Best of Joe R. Lansdale by Joe R. Lansdale
92. The Wind’s Twelve Quarters by Ursula K. Le Guin
93. The Compass Rose by Ursula K. Le Guin
94. The Birthday of the World and Other Stories by Ursula K. Le Guin
95. Red as Blood, or Tales from the Sisters Grimmer by Tanith Lee
96. The First Book of Lankhmar by Fritz Leiber
97. The Second Book of Lankhmar by Fritz Leiber
98. The Nightmare Factory by Thomas Ligotti
99. Stranger Things Happen by Kelly Link
100. Magic for Beginners by Kelly Link
101. Engines of Desire: Tales of Love & Other Horrors by Livia Llewellyn
102. H. P. Lovecraft: Tales by H.P. Lovecraft
103. Breathmoss and other Exhalations by Ian R. MacLeod
104. You Might Sleep by Nick Mamatas
105. Dreamsongs: A RRetrospective by George R. R. Martin
106. Invisible Country by Paul McAuley
107. Harrowing the Dragon by Patricia McKillip
108. The Bone Key by Sarah Monette
109. The Best of Michael Moorcock by Michael Moorcock
110. Black God’s Kiss by C.L. Moore
111. The Cat’s Pajamas and Other Stories by James Morrow
112. Dreams of the Compass Rose by Vera Nazarian
113. Unforgivable Stories by Kim Newman
114. The Secret Files of the Diogenes Club by Kim Newman
115. The Original Dr. Shade and Other Stories by Kim Newman
116. Monstrous Affections by David Nickle
117. The Best of Larry Niven by Larry Niven
118. I Am No One You Know: Stories by Joyce Carol Oates
119. The Complete Stories by Flannery O’Connor
120. Zoo by Otsuichi
121. Lesser Demons by Norman Partridge
122. Mr. Fox and Other Feral Tales by Norman Partridge
123. Night Moves and Other Stories by Tim Powers
124. Little Gods by Tim Pratt
125. Map of Dreams by M. Rickert
126. Holiday by M. Rickert
127. The Best of Kim Stanley Robinson by Kim Stanley Robinson
128. The Ant King and Other Stories by Benjamin Rosenbaum
129. Unacceptable Behaviour by Penelope Rowe
130. The Adventures of Alyx by Joanna Russ
131. Long Walks, Last Flights, and Other Journeys by Ken Scholes
132. Filter House by Nisi Shawl
133. Love Songs for the Shy and Cynical by Rob Shearman
134. The Jaguar Hunter by Lucius Shepard
135. Trujillo and Other Stories by Lucius Shepard
136. Phases of the Moon: Stories from Six Decades by Robert Silverberg
137. Are You There and Other Stories by Jack Skillingstead
138. The Girl With No Hands and Other Tales by Angela Slatter
139. Crystal Express by Bruce Sterling
140. Ascendancies: The Best of Bruce Sterling
141. Houses Without Doors by Peter Straub
142. Magic Terror: 7 Tales by Peter Straub
143. Absolute Uncertainty by Lucy Sussex
144. The Best of Michael Swanwick by Michael Swanwick
145. Gravity’s Angels: 13 Stories by Michael Swanwick
146. Monterra’s Deliciosa & Other Tales & by Anna Tambour
147. The Ice Downstream by Melanie Tem
148. The Far Side of the Lake by Steve Rasnic Tem
149. Her Smoke Rose Up Forever by James Tiptree, Jr.
150. Ten Thousand Light-Years from Home by James Tiptree, Jr.
151. In the Mean Time by Paul Tremblay
152. My Pathology by Lisa Tuttle
153. Ventriloquism by Catherynne M. Valente
154. The Jack Vance Treasury by Jack Vance
155. City of Saints and Madmen by Jeff VanderMeer
156. The Third Bear by Jeff VanderMeer
157. Strange Things in Close-up; the Nearly Complete Howard Waldrop
158. Dead Sea Fruit by Kaaron Warren
159. Everland and Other Stories by Paul Witcover
160. The Island of Doctor Death and Other Stories and Other Stories by Gene Wolfe
161. The Very Best of Gene Wolfe by Gene Wolfe
162. Impossible Things by Connie Willis
163. Fire Watch by Connie Willis
164. The Doors of His Face, The Lamps of His Mouth and Other Stories by Roger Zelazny
165. Impossible Stories by Zoran Zivkovic
166. The Writer, The Book, The Reader by Zoran Zivkovic

We had a small group of friends over for champagne and gossip while we watched and waited for “our” category (Best Anthology) to roll around. Last year was a great one here in Western Australia and Alisa (for her excellent Sprawl), Marianne and I (for Wings of Fire) , and just me solo (for Godlike Machines) were all up for Best Anthology.  which I think in itself was one of the best things about the awards.  As it turned out Marianne and I were delighted to hear that Wings of Fire had been given the award. We worked hard on the book, and it was especially pleasing to win an award with Marianne.

Other friends won during the evening – Tansy, Helen, Margo, and Kirstyn among many. Congratulations to them all! More than one person pointed out how similar the results were to the recent Ditmar Awards, and how good it was to see a convergence of popular and critical opinion looking back at last year’s Australian SF/F scene.

And, since I’ve not seen it online elswhere, the full list of winners:

Kris Hembury Encouragement Award: Jodie Cleghorn
Peter McNamara Convenors’ Award: Helen Merrick
Best Science Fiction Novel: Transformation Space, Marianne de Pierres
Best Science Fiction Short Story: The Heart of a Mouse, K.J. Bishop
Best Fantasy Novel: Power and Majesty, Tansy Rayner Roberts
Best Fantasy Short Story: The February Dragon, LL Hannett & Angela Slatter (joint winners) Yowie, Thoraiya Dyer
Best Horror Novel: Madigan Mine, Kirstyn McDermott
Best Horror Short Story: The Fear, Richard Harland
Best Anthology: Wings of Fire, Edited by Jonathan Strahan and Marianne S. Jablon
Best Collection: The Girl With No Hands, Angela Slatter
Best Illustrated Book / Graphic Novel: Changing Ways: Book 1, Justin Randall
Best Young Adult Novel: Guardian of the Dead, Karen Healey
Best Young Adult Short Story: A Thousand Flowers, Margo Lanagan
Best Children’s Fiction(told primarily through pictures): The Boy and the Toy, Sonya Hartnett (writer) & Lucia Masciullo (illustrator)
Best Children’s Fiction (told primarily through words): The Keepers, Lian Tanner

The nice thing is that the weather in Perth is finally turning towards a convincing facsimile of autumn – cool mornings and cooler nights – which means I’m feeling more and more like reading. I’m beginning to get a little momentum on reading shorts and even reading a novel or two. While I’m making my way through the online stories at the moment, I’m also reading and enjoying James A. Corey’s Leviathan Wakes. It’s very much old school space opera, but it hits the spot right now.

There are a lot of things sitting in the background – proposals to write, taxes to do, oceans of home maintenance, and travel to plan (!) – but for this thirty minutes a little blogging and some Locus work is enough.

I have to say I’m delighted to get to continue working with Jason, Jeremy, Ross and the team at Night Shade. They’ve been fantastic collaborators on this project since we started work on the first volume back in mid-2006, and I look forward to continuing the series for many years to come.

When we realised the anniversary was coming up we planned to do all sorts of things, but as is pretty much our trademark, we haven’t quite gotten to it. We still might. But in the interim, should you be motivated please feel free to leave any questions or subjects you might like us to discuss, or just birthday wishes, in the comments thread to this post.

And, importantly, thank you to all of you who have listened, commented, or guested on the podcast.  We’re looking forward Coode St Year 2.0 already.

It started a few weeks ago when:

• they spoke to Kij Johnson about her writing;
• then they reviewed the book; and
• finally they interviewed me!

Coming up next time will be a discussion with Jim Kelly and Mike Swanwick about their stories from the book.

I’m really grateful to Gregory and Brad for doing this, even if I’ve been too much of a coward to listen to the review :)

Perhaps the most delightful thing, though, is that when I look down the ballot (you can see it here) is that if I stop to congratulate all of my friends on the ballot I’d have to pretty much reprint it, so congratulations to all!

That said, I’m especially delighted to see Al Reynolds’ “Troika” from Godlike Machines on the ballot. I’d been worried that given it only had limited availability it might be overlooked, so this was wonderful news.  I’m also thrilled to see Gary Wolfe nominated for Bearings and to see Locus up for semi-prozine. It seems particularly appropriate that a collection of Locus essays, Locus itself, and someone who he helped so much should all be up for awards at a convention where Charles Brown is the posthumous guest of honor.

There are also two other Australians on the ballot. Congratulations to my dear friend Shaun Tan and to Australian SF legend Sean McMullen for making the ballot.

Also to Ian, Ted, Liz, Rachel, Jim, Kij, Peter, Mike, Lou, Ginjer, Gordon, Sheilia, John, Ann, and, well, everyone, congratulations and good luck! I hope to be in Reno for the big night, so will see you all there!

The 2011 Ditmar Awards, for Australian SF:

Best Novel

• Power and Majesty, Tansy Rayner Roberts (Voyager) ***
• Death Most Definite, Trent Jamieson (Hachette)
• Madigan Mine, Kirstyn McDermott (Pan Macmillan)
• Stormlord Rising, Glenda Larke (Voyager)
• Walking the Tree, Kaaron Warren (Angry Robot)

Best Novella or Novelette

• “The Company Articles of Edward Teach”, Thoraiya Dyer (Twelfth Planet)***
• “Acception”, Tessa Kum (Eneit)
• “All the Clowns in Clowntown”, Andrew McKiernan (Brimstone)
• “Bleed”, Peter M. Ball (Twelfth Planet)
• “Her Gallant Needs”, Paul Haines (Twelfth Planet)

Best Short Story (tie)

• “All the Love in the World”, Cat Sparks (Sprawl) ***
• “She Said”, Kirstyn McDermott (Scenes From the Second Storey) ***
• “Bread and Circuses”, Felicity Dowker (Scary Kisses)
• “One Saturday Night With Angel”, Peter M. Ball (Sprawl)
• “The House of the Nameless”, Jason Fischer (Writers of the Future XXVI)
• “The February Dragon”, Angela Slatter & Lisa L. Hannett (Scary Kisses)

Best Collected Work

• Sprawl, Alisa Krasnostein, ed. (Twelfth Planet) ***
• Baggage, Gillian Polack, ed. (Eneit)
• Macabre: A Journey through Australia’s Darkest Fears, Angela Challis & Marty Young, eds. (Brimstone)
• Scenes from the Second Storey, Amanda Pillar & Pete Kempshall, eds. (Morrigan)
• Worlds Next Door, Tehani Wessely, ed. (FableCroft)

Best Artwork

• “The Lost Thing” short film (Passion Pictures) Andrew Ruhemann & Shaun Tan ***
• Cover art, The Angaelien Apocalypse/ The Company Articles of Edward Teach (Twelfth Planet) Dion Hamill
• Cover art, Australis Imaginarium (FabelCroft) Shaun Tan
• Cover art, Dead Sea Fruit (Ticonderoga) Olga Read
• Cover art, The Girl With No Hands (Ticonderoga) Lisa L. Hannett

Best Fan Writer

• Alexandra Pierce, for body of work including reviews at Australian Speculative Fiction in Focus***

• Robert Hood, for Undead Backbrain
• Chuck McKenzie, for work in Horrorscope
• Tehani Wessely, for body of work including reviews at Australian Speculative Fiction in Focus

Best Fan Artist

• Amanda Rainey, for Swancon 36 logo

• Rachel Holkner, for Continuum 6 props
• Dick Jenssen, for cover art of Interstellar Ramjet Scoop

Best Fan Publication in Any Medium

• Galactic Suburbia podcast, Alisa Krasnostein, Tansy Rayer Roberts, & Alex Pierce

• Australian Speculative Fiction in Focus, Alisa Krasnostein et al., eds.
• Bad Film Diaries podcast, Grant Watson
• Terra Incognita podcast, Keith Stevenson
• The Coode Street podcast, Gary K. Wolfe & Jonathan Strahan
• The Writer and the Critic podcast, Kirstyn McDermott & Ian Mond

Best Achievement

• Alisa Krasnostein, Kathryn Linge, Rachel Holkner, Alexandra Pierce, Tansy Rayner Roberts, & Tehani Wessely, Snapshot 2010

• Helen Merrick & Andrew Milner, Academic Stream for Aussiecon 4
• Amanda Rainey, cover design for Scary Kisses
• Kyla Ward, Horror Stream and The Nightmare Ball for Aussiecon 4
• Grant Watson, Media Stream for Aussiecon 4

Best New Talent

• Thoraiya Dyer

• Lisa L. Hannett
• Patty Jansen
• Kathleen Jennings
• Pete Kempshall

William Atheling Jr Award for Criticism or Review

• Tansy Rayner Roberts, for A Modern Woman’s Guide to Classic Who

• Leigh Blackmore, for Marvels and Horrors: Terry Dowling’s Clowns at Midnight
• Damien Broderick, for editing Skiffy and Mimesis: More Best of Australian Science Fiction Review
• Ross Murray, for The Australian Dream Becomes Nightmare

The Tin Duck Awards (Western Australia’s fan-voted awards) were also presented during Swancon 36/Natcon 50:

Written, Long Form

• Seer of Sevenwaters, Juliet Marillier (Roc)

Written, Short Form

• “Signature Walk”, Pete Kempshall

Professional Art

• Cover Design of Sprawl, Amanda Rainey

Professional Production

• Sprawl, Alisa Krasnostein, ed. (Twelfth Planet)

Fan Art

• tie: “Fallen Angel”, Christina Lorenz; Swancon Thirty Six Logo, Amanda Rainey

Fan Written

• Reviews at ASiF!, Tehani Wessely

Fan Production

• Galactic Surburbia, Alisa Krasnostein, Alex Pierce and Tansy Rayner Roberts

Also, almost forgot to mention. Sincere congratulations to my pal Lou Anders for Pyr Books’ publishing the PKD Award winner too!

I touched base to mention the happy Aurealis, Ditmar, Tin Duck, Chronos, BSFA and Shirley Jackson awards news (short version: *very* happy), but didn’t mention other bits and pieces.  I certainly didn’t mention a whole bunch of good reviews (I’d meant to) like this one from Jason Nahrung for Engineering Infinity, The main thing happening now, though, is Swancon. I’m happy (delighted!) to be an invited guest. I’ll be easier to find at Swancon than ever before, and am on more program items than I think I’ve ever been at a Swancon. So please come to the con, have fun, and if you’re interested come see me. Here’s my schedule:

Thursday 21 April
8.30pm: Panel -Writer/Editor/Reader Relationship (w/Ellen Datlow)

Friday 22 April
9.30am: Not if You Were the Last Short Story on Earth (panel)
3.00pm: Mega Podcast – Read/View or Die (recording live)

Saturday 23 April
8.30am: Breakfast with Editors (w/Ellen Datlow & breakfast!)
10.30am: Social media for Writers (panel)
11.30am: How to Judge a Book by its Cover (panel)

Sunday 24 April
10.30am: Casting Your Pod (panel)
2.00pm: Sean Williams (interview)
4.00pm: Remembering Eidolon (panel)

It was a mixed week. On Tuesday the finalists for the  Aurealis Awards were announced by the administrators. I was delighted that Godlike Machines and Wings of Fire were shortlisted for Best Anthology. It’s Marianne’s first major SF award nomination, so it’s really special. I was also delighted to see so many friends nominated – congratulations to them all.

Friday I went to lunch with some work colleagues and then was either overcome by a virus or food poisoning. I was quite ill for the rest of the day, and through a good part of Saturday. I did wake around 1am Saturday, though, and saw that the Ditmar Awards nominations were out. While none of my editing work made the ballot, I was very pleased to see The Coode Street Podcast nominated for Best Fan Publication in Any Medium.  Gary and I are having a lot of fun recording the podcast, and it’s wonderful to see it recognised like this.  I was also delighted to see so many friends and fellow podcasters make the ballot. Again, congratulations to one and all!

The Swancon awards administrators also posted the Tin Duck Awards nominations – these are the Western Australian SF awards – and both The Coode Street Podcast and the Boxing Day Super Mega Podcast – made the final ballot. Again a great pleasure to see the main podcast pick up its third awards nomination, and a pleasure to see so many find nominees.  Congratulations again to everyone!

I had hoped Saturday would be productive work-wise, and Sunday too – Marianne’s going away next weekend and I need to get things done – but illness and family support wiped out Saturday and Sunday is under threat.  Still, things are getting done! More soon.

I do seem to be flitting from thing to thing, though, seemingly unable to commit, which is frustrating. I have a stack of anthologies here, some edited by dear friends, that I’ve dipped into but haven’t read enough of yet to really comment upon. I think my album of the year so far is The Tallest Man on Earth’s The Wild Hunt (and my thanks to James to the recommendation), with the very REM-like new Decemberists album a runner-up. I’ve also watched a lot of Fringe, How I Met Your Mother, and Castle. So the year goes.

We started early on Friday afternoon getting the girls ready for the evening. Toula was coming over to hang out with the girls, which meant Marianne and I could head over to Kings Park to see Tim Minchin.  It was a fabulous night. The weather was perfect, and we got a decent spot on the lawn near the Pioneer Womens Memorial.  We sat and chatted – I swear we’ve almost forgotten how — then Minchin started and was hilarious, provocative, and interesting. There was an intermission, during which they played Shaun Tan’s The Lost Thing on the big screens, and before you know it we were being kicked out for the long walk back to the car to with “White Wine in the Sun” ringing in our ears. Just wonderful.

Saturday started slowly.  There was breakfast and shopping and stuff. I did paperwork while Sophie had a friend over on a play date.  Then mum came over to watch How to Train Your Dragon with the girls, and we set off for dinner at The George with Margo, Lev, Sophie and James. It really was a remarkably enjoyable evening, and if the restaurant never really exceeded adequate, it didn’t seem to affect the evening. We left late — jetlag finally wearing out our visitors — but were delighted we’d had the chance to see everyone.

Sunday was supposed to be my big work day. I’d recorded the podcast with Gary on Saturday, so lots of other stuff to focus on. However, a plan was hatched. We’d all go swimming (Jessica had a lesson, but free swims were on offer), then pick up Keira, grab dim sum, and then head off to the Hyde Park Community Festival. Swimming went well, we picked up Keira (a brief sojourn during which Sophie fell in love with KJs cat), and then headed out for lunch where disaster struck. A careless waiter set an open pot of fresh Chinese tea down on a chopstick, and it overbalanced, soaking Marianne and Sophie in boiling hot Chinese tea.  Both were in shock and both got quite nasty scalds, though not enough to see them headed to doctors. Copious cold water, aloe and other stuff seems to have seen them both right, but it did end the day abruptly.  We had a quiet family movie night together during which we watched a mediocre Barbie film, then bed.

Monday. Definitely work on Monday. That was the plan. I was up at 6.00am and plugged my way through email and a few other issues. The projects on hand are progressing well, though I wish a few other things were coming together a bit better. Post work session we headed off to Hyde Park for wandering, lunch and fun. A mostly decent time was had by all. Got home in time for a bit of r’n'r before Sophie’s drama class.  Tongight: either more Castle or Abercrombie’s The Heroes on Lev’s recommendation. Tomorrow? Back to the office.

Oh, and I continue to dip my toes into the idea of getting back into vinyl for music. Hmm,

I first saw Shaun’s art when he asked if we were looking for artists for Eidolon back in about 1992. He went on to be our art editor for most of the ’90s, and we stayed friends. I’d visit him in Farnley Street and see the work he was doing, and like everyone else, followed his books. I remember seeing the initial work done for The Lost Thing, uncolored and untextured tests he showed me in hotel rooms at different World Fantasy Conventions around the US and if, at any time since I first met him you’d said he would one day hold up an Oscar, I don’t think I’d have been surprised.  A lot of hard work, an enormous talent, and above all an incredible personal vision all lead to what happened in LA yesterday. It wasn’t really surprising at all. Wonderful, yes. Definitely.  And to think, he’s still only 37. I wonder what he’ll do in the next 10 or 15 years. I can’t wait to see. Congratulations, my friend! Well deserved.

Today will very much be a work day. If the timing’s right I’ll go swimming with the girls, but then I need to get on with taxes, editing and other stuff. I have a story ms. that popped through my mail to read, proposals to turn around, and general prep.  Busy, busy.  We did have a lovely visit from Robin and Toula last night, and that gave the weekend some shine. Much better than sitting around watching TV.

I should likely report in on what I’ve been reading, but that continues to be all over the place. I’m going back and forth between Garth Nix & Sean Williams’ Troubletwisters and Michael Swanwick’s Dancing with Bears, two very different novels that I’m enjoying for very different reasons, while alternately being engaged and annoyed by a bunch of anthologies. Busy times!

Introduction, Jonathan Strahan
“Slow as a Bullet”, Andy Duncan
“Tidal Forces”, Caitlin R. Kiernan
“The Beancounter’s Cat”, Damien Broderick
“Story Kit”, Kij Johnson
“The Man in Grey”, Michael Swanwick
“Old Habits”, Nalo Hopkinson
“The Vicar of Mars”, Gwyneth Jones
“Fields of Gold”, Rachel Swirsky
“Thought Experiment”, Eileen Gunn
“The Double of My Double Is Not My Double”, Jeffrey Ford
“Nine Muses”, Emma Bull
“Dying Young”, Peter M Ball
“The Panda Coin”, Jo Walton
“Tourists”, James Patrick Kelly

You can see the subtle but classy cover (and incidentally pre-order the book) over here. I should also add that I am already reading the first stories for Eclipse Five (heck, I’ve bought one!)

Gary and I started recording the podcast very much on the spur of the moment, and have kept it very simple and straightforward which in turn helps to keep it fun. And it is fun. Getting nominated for an award for it is a little like being nominated for going on holidays, really.

I’ve not had the chance to talk to Gary about the nomination, but no doubt we will do so this weekend. Until then, my thanks (and I’m very sure Gary’s too) to the BSFA and my congratulations to our fellow nominees, Paul, Abigail, Adam and Francis.  I wish I could be at Eastercon to buy you all a drink to celebrate!

I’d also mention The Coode Street Podcast for Best Fanzine. It is very much an unpaid labour of love by Gary Wolfe and I, and we think sits well in the fanzine tradition. You can hear all thirty episodes here.

BEST EDITOR, SHORT FORM

The Best Science Fiction and Fantasy of the Year: Volume 4 (Night Shade)
Mirror Kingdoms: The Best of Peter S. Beagle (Subterranean)
Fritz Leiber: Selected Stories (ed with Charles N. Brown) (Night Shade)
The Green Leopard Plague and Other Stories, Walter Jon Williams (Night Shade)
Subterranean Online, Spring Issue
Hard Luck Diggings: The Early Jack Vance (ed. with Terry Dowling) (Subterranean)
Legends of Australian Fantasy (ed. with Jack Dann) (HarperCollins)
Wings of Fire (ed. with Marianne S. Jablon) (Night Shade)
Swords and Dark Magic: The New Sword and Sorcery (ed. with Lou Anders) (Harper Eos)
The Best of Kim Stanley Robinson (Night Shade)
Godlike Machines (The Science Fiction Book Club)
The Best of Larry Niven (Subterranean Press)
Locus: The Magazine of the Science Fiction and Fantasy Field, Reviews Editor (Jan #588 – Dec #599)

BEST SEMIPROZINE

Locus: The Magazine of the Science Fiction and Fantasy Field,  Liza Groen Trombi (Jan #588 – Dec #599) (NB: I worked as Reviews Editor on these issues.)

BEST FANZINE

The Coode Street Podcast, Jonathan Strahan & Gary K. Wolfe

BEST NOVELLA

“Return to Titan”, Stephen Baxter (Godlike Machines)
“Return: An Innkeeper’s World Story”, Peter S. Beagle (Subterranean, Spring)
“The Enchanted: A Tale of Erith”, Cecelia Dart-Thornton, (Legends of Australian Fantasy)
“There’s a Great Big Beautiful Tomorrow/Now is the Best Time of Your Life”, Cory Doctorow (Godlike Machines)
“The Magic Word”, Jennifer Fallon, (Legends of Australian Fantasy)
“Tribute to Hell: A Tale of the Tainted Realm”, Ian Irvine, (Legends of Australian Fantasy)
“Twixt Twilight and Water: A Tale of Sevenwaters”, Juliet Marillier, (Legends of Australian Fantasy)
“Alone”, Robert Reed (Godlike Machines)
“Troika”, Alastair Reynolds (Godlike Machines)
“Crown of Rowan: A Tale of Thrysland”, Kim Wilkins, (Legends of Australian Fantasy)
“A Glimpse of the Marvellous Structure (And the Threat it Entails)”, Sean Williams (Godlike Machines)
“The Spark (A Romance in Four Acts): A Tale of the Change”, Sean Williams, (Legends of Australian Fantasy)

BEST NOVELETTE

“The Fool Jobs”, Joe Abercrombie, (Swords and Dark Magic)
“Under the Moons of Venus”, Damien Broderick (Subterranean, Spring)
“The Mad Apprentice: A Black Magician Story”, Trudi Canavan, (Legends of Australian Fantasy)
“The Dark Road: An Obernewtyn Story”, Isobelle Carmody, (Legends of Australian Fantasy)
“A Wizard of Wiscezan”, C.J. Cherryh, (Swords and Dark Magic)
“The Corsers’ Hinge: A Lamplighter Tale”, D.M. Cornish, (Legends of Australian Fantasy)
“Goats of Glory”, Steven Erikson, (Swords and Dark Magic)
“What We Take When We Take What We Need”, Daryl Gregory (Subterranean, Spring)
“Brownian Emotion”, Tom Holt (Subterranean, Spring)
“The Undefiled”, Greg Keyes, (Swords and Dark Magic)
“The Sea Troll’s Daughter”, Caitlin R Kiernan, (Swords and Dark Magic)
“The Deification of Dal Bamore”, Tim Lebbon, (Swords and Dark Magic)
“Two Lions, A Witch, and the War-Robe”, Tanith Lee, (Swords and Dark Magic)
“In the Stacks”, Scott Lynch, (Swords and Dark Magic)
“The Naturalist”, Maureen McHugh (Subterranean, Spring)
“Red Pearls: An Elric Story”, Michael Moorcock, (Swords and Dark Magic)
“To Hold the Bridge, Garth Nix”, Garth Nix, (Legends of Australian Fantasy)
“A Rich Full Week”, K. J. Parker, (Swords and Dark Magic)
“The Bodhisattvas”, Gord Sellar (Subterranean, Spring)
“Dapple Hew the Tint Master”, Michael Shea, (Swords and Dark Magic)
“Dark Times at the Midnight Market”, Robert Silverberg, (Swords and Dark Magic)

BEST SHORT STORY

“Sobek”, Holly Black (Wings of Fire)
“Tides Elba: A Tale of the Black Company”, Glen Cook, (Swords and Dark Magic)
“The Singing Spear”, James Enge, (Swords and Dark Magic)
“The Miracle Aquilina”, Margo Lanagan (Wings of Fire)
“A Suitable Present for a Sorcerous Puppet”, Garth Nix, (Swords and Dark Magic)
“Elegy for a Young Elk”, Hannu Rajaniemi (Subterranean, Spring)
“The Timpanist of the Berlin Philharmonic, 1942″, Kim Stanley Robinson (The Best of Kim Stanley Robinson)
“Thieves of Daring”, Bill Willingham, (Swords and Dark Magic)
“Bloodsport”, Gene Wolfe, (Swords and Dark Magic)

Renovation, this year’s WorldCon, has put the 2011 Hugo Nominating Ballot online. You are eligible to nominate if you were a member of Aussiecon or are a member of Renovation. No matter what you’ve read, or what you choose to nominate, please do nominate. The awards are only as good as the nominations received so your views are important!

6 Jan: Edited to correct error on title of Garth Nix’s novelette.

New Year’s Eve was busy. Woke at 1.30am, and didn’t get back to sleep. We were up and out early buying all of the party stuff and getting ready. Run, run, run all morning, and then a frankly not fun time out at Mirrabooka staying out of the house for a bit before getting home for a pre-party nap. The NYE party was lots of fun with good friends, good chat, and more than one drink. Made it to bed at 2.30am.

New Year’s Day was sloooow. Didn’t wake till 10am, and then was, um, somewhat hung over.  Sophie had a friend over, and Jess visited her nan. I read the digital edition of Locus, and was generally unproductive. Watched more Fringe in the evening.

And then there’s today, the 2nd. I turn 47 today. I woke at 5.00am, got up and made myself a coffee. Jessica was already up playing with Barbies. I surfed the net, did some stuff, was delighted to see the Hugo noms are open, and Jess sort of clicked, realised the day and wished me Happy Birthday.  Today there’s a family lunch and we’re going to the movies in the early evening. No work today, I think. Maybe.

How did Christmas go, you ask? Well, it was ok. Christmas Eve was mostly spent quietly at home.  My dear friend and once-Eidolon compatriot Jeremy G. was in town visiting family, so he dropped by for a lovely chat over a few drinks. It happens far too rarely, so I’m looking forward to him coming back in April for Swancon.

The young ‘uns were abed by the time he left, so Marianne and I watched dumb lifestyle TV while wrapping presents.  Things drifted far too late, as there were iPods to be configured and other details to be managed.  Having been up too late, we were then dug out of bed by a very excited Jessica, who found incontrovertible proof of the existence of Santa in the almost finished glass of milk and plate of cookie crumbs on the kitchen table. Sophie wasn’t quite as convinced, but so it goes.

Presents were opened and were mostly very well received. I got season 2 of Fringe,  season 3 of Big Bang Theory, a James Taylor cd,  vols 2 & 3 of the Bloom County collected set,  a new wallet, and a wii golf game which was good. Esp. happy about Fringe, which Marianne and I just started watching.

After presents I got breakfast made,  we Skyped my sister and her partner in Melbourne for a bit, then kids dressed and we headed off to the Hilton for a family Christmas lunch with my mother and sister.  It was nicely set up and despite the girls being in a somewhat subdued mood, we seemed to have a good time. The magician put on by the hotel was fairly well received, but the Santa was a hit.  Presents were again exchanged and this time I made my big score, the Springsteen Darkness box, which is probably what I wanted the most. We then headed home for a detoxing after too much food and drink, with a brief stop at mums.

I confess, dear readers, I napped for a bit, but woke to chaos so a light dinner was made before packing the girls off to bed. Marianne and I then started into season 2 of Fringe, which already (we’re four eps in) is better than season 1.  We had originally planned to take the kids to the movies on Boxing Day, but my mother is a traditionalist and despite our having had a Christmas feast the day before, planned her own for Sunday, so we were headed there for the day. First though I grabbed breakfast, recorded the Super Mega Boxing Day Podcast (which was lots of fun to do), and helped get the girls martialled for the day. It was lovely, as it always is. My brother was there, as was my Aunt, who we see to rarely. The girls swam in the small paddling pool outside while we ate, drank and made merry. It was a little hot, but it was all in all, a lot of good fun, and probably better than Xmas Day.

Once we were home, the girls were off to bed after dinner so Marianne and I could watch the Dr Who Christmas Special. Frankly, while I don’t know if they would have enjoyed it, there’s no reason they couldn’t have watched it. It was delightful in parts (I loved the flying fish), but overall was oddly disappointing. Matt Smith’s Doctor has become a pointless fop, while Amy Pond, who now gives the series so much of its energy, was reduced to playing a pair of legs in a fetish outfit in the special, which was hugely disappointing. The play on a Christmas Carol was fun, but there was a lot of misogyny too, which also was disappointing. I think I’ve fallen out of love with Matt Smith, remain a Pond fan, and hope Season 6 will offset a sort of disappointing Special.

After that, we watched Fringe, which was much better.  And for today – well, it’s 7am and the sun is literally burning my shoulders at the moment, so I’m heading inside in a minute. I think we may take the girls to the movies, though I’m not sure. There are also some post-Christmas sales, but I have an ocean of editing work to do and not much time to do it before I head back to work next week. I think it’s back to work time now.

What did I do? Well, there’s so much that it’s a blur. I almost don’t remember which books I worked on during the year. The vagaries of publishing are such that there are often long delays before a book appears, so for example, while I write this on Christmas Eve a number of the books I’ll have out in 2011 are already finished and put to bed. Still, this year eleven books and one magazine  issue that I edited were published.   This was what came out:

1. The Best Science Fiction and Fantasy of the Year: Volume 4 (Night Shade Books, March)
2. Mirror Kingdoms: The Best of Peter S. Beagle (Subterranean Press, March)
3. Fritz Leiber: Selected Stories (ed with Charles N. Brown) (Night Shade Books, April)
4. The Green Leopard Plague and Other Stories, Walter Jon Williams (Night Shade Books, April)
5. Subterranean Online, Spring Issue (April)
6. Hard Luck Diggings: The Early Jack Vance (ed. with Terry Dowling) (Subterranean Press, June)
7. Legends of Australian Fantasy (ed. with Jack Dann) (HarperCollins Publishers Australia, July)
8. Wings of Fire (ed. with Marianne S. Jablon) (Night Shade Books, May)
9. Swords and Dark Magic: The New Sword and Sorcery (ed. with Lou Anders) (Harper Eos, July)
10. The Best of Kim Stanley Robinson (Night Shade Books, August)
11. Godlike Machines (The Science Fiction Book Club, September)
12. The Best of Larry Niven (Subterranean Press, December)

I don’t think I’ll ever have that many books out in a single year again, but I’m proud of each and every one of them in different ways, and would like to thank everyone at Eos, Voyager, Subterranean and Night Shade for being wonderful to work with, patient, and making the books themselves look so wonderful.

I also worked as reviews editor for Locus, working on my hundredth issue, and completing my thirteenth year with the magazine. The Locus team – Liza, Kirsten, Amelia, Fran, Tim, and Carolyn – are a fantastic group and it’s always great to work with them. One special thing in 2010 is that I got to share a little of my World Fantasy Award with them. It was presented ‘for editing anthologies and magazines’. Locus is the only magazine I did editorial work for during 2009, so the award is in part for them, which pleases me greatly.

The year wasn’t all about editing, though. I was busy at the day job, too, and owe Patrick, Drew and Garth my thanks there as well.  The family and I travelled to Dunsborough and Melbourne, and I had a surprisingly good time in Columbus. I made new friends, saw old ones, and it all spun dizzyingly past. Gary and I recorded thirty-one podcasts!! Oh, and there were awards. The Aurealis, Locus and World Fantasy Awards all came home this year, as did a number of awards nominations (Hugo, Ditmar etc). My thanks to everyone involved with those too.

I hope to say more about 2010 in coming days, but for now I just want to wish everyone I’ve worked with, met, seen, or talked to during the year a wonderful holiday season and a safe and successful new year!

I want to give major props to Locus editor-in-chief Liza Groen Trombi.  This was something that has been on our plate for years, and which Charles I know struggled to work out a solution to. It’s been Liza’s baby over the past year, and getting it to this point is a major, major achievement. The future is coming!  You can find out more about Locus Digital Editions here.

As I’ve detailed here before, I continue to battle an ear/sinus infection which has rather laid me low. I’m now taking antibiotics in pills big enough to choke a horse.  Marianne too has been completely wiped out by a virus of some kind that’s caused all sorts of bronchial issues. Having slept most of Wednesday and Thursday, she then spent Friday and Saturday coughing so much she can’t sleep, so she’s tired, sick, utterly miserable, and unable to do much of anything. This has meant the cooking, the cleaning, and everything else has fallen to me, which is understandable but doesn’t make things easier.   And then there’s Jessica. She’s mostly been well, but having had no seizures in  almost a year she suddenly had one three weeks ago, then two (one in the evening and one in the morning) on Tuesday, the first time she’d had two seizures so closely together.  That is a much more serious concern, and we’re off to see her neurologist on Monday to discuss options to help her.

Along with that I received copyedits of The Best Science Fiction and Fantasy of the Year: Volume Five, which are progressing well, and yesterday the monitor on my main work computer died. I had to temporarily swipe the one from the kids’ computer just to test the machine itself was ok.  I had hoped to get some work done yesterday on other editing, but with the need to drive children places and with the dead monitor, I ended up seeing a few friends in the afternoon while Marianne rested.

Today is Sunday here in Perth. I should record a podcast, edit, and dig around for the receipt on the monitor. Instead, the girls have a drama performance at 11.00am so I need to sort their costumes, get them through breakfast, dressed and ready, and over to the hall for 10.00am, then meet up with family for the show. Then home and maybe a hurried podcast recording, possibly doing the tree, and then getting dinner ready.

*Spelling error corrected as per P.Hollo

Neither of which is the serious one.  As some of you know if you’ve been reading this blog for a while my eldest has occasional seizures, and she’s just been through several. Having not had a seizure for a year, she had one three weeks ago and then two in the past 24hrs. It’s all a bit scary, truthfully, but likely not an enormous deal. She’s been exhausted as a result, and will see her neurologist on Monday. In the meantime we’re keeping a close watch on her and hoping all will be well.

Most of the other things happening are fairly trivial by comparison. Having delivered the year’s best three weeks ago, I’m waiting on the copyedits. Having turned it in so early I’m confident we’ll have a couple weeks to go over them, but you never know. The copyedits are almost certain to overlap finishing up Eclipse Four, which frankly has been the most difficult in the series to work on so far. I think the final book will be a good one, but it has called into question the viability of the whole enterprise again (even though I do love it).

Once Eclipse Four is laid to rest I can focus on The Best of Joe Haldeman, Cyberpunk, and Under My Hat. Busy busy. There are also the proposals I mentioned earlier, which will go out in the New Year. Oh, and I’ve been working behind the scenes to compile the short fiction section of the Locus recommended reading list, which comes out in February. Lest you think I simply put it together myself randomly, it actually involves collating votes and opinions from about ten people and is a little tedious to do, but worthwhile once done.

Have there been highlights? Yes there have! I finally got a copy of Godlike Machines – I bought it from abebooks.com and happily recommend them as a possible source – and I’m very pleased with it. I think it’s probably the best book I had published this year, though I’m a notoriously poor judge of these things. I greatly enjoyed recording the podcast with Gary, John and Cheryl that went up earlier this week. Lots of fun. I’m now reading Jo Walton’s fabulous Among Others, and am thinking it might be a good discussion basis for the next podcast. It’s very good, and Gary’s already read it. Hmmm.

January 2011

* de Bodard, Aliette • Harbinger of the Storm • (Angry Robot, tpb)
* Parker, K. J. • The Hammer • (Orbit, tpb)
* Robson, Justina • Down to the Bone • (Gollancz, hc/tpb)
* Walton, Jo • Among Others • (Tor, hc)
* Wolfe, Gene • Home Fires • (Tor, hc)

February 2011

* Courtenay Grimwood, Jon • The Fallen Blade • (Orbit, tpb)
* MacLeod, Ian R. • Wake Up and Dream • (PS Publishing, hc)

March 2011

* Barnes, John • Daybreak Zero • (Ace, hc)
* Hardinge, Frances • Twilight Robbery • (Macmillan Children’s Books UK, nvl-ya, hc)

April 2011

* Black, Holly • Red Glove • (McElderry, nvl-ya, hc)
* McIntosh, Will • Soft Apocalypse • (Night Shade Books, tpb)
* Okorafor, Nnedi • The Akata Witch • (Viking, nvl-ya, hc)

May 2011

* Miéville, China • Embassytown • (Ballantine Del Rey, hc)
* Nix, Garth, & Sean Williams • Troubletwisters • (Scholastic Press, nvl-ya, tpb)
* Scalzi, John • Fuzzy Nation • (Tor, hc)
* Swanwick, Michael • Dancing With Bears • (Night Shade Books, hc)

June 2011

* Reynolds, Alastair • Blue Remembered Earth • (Gollancz, hc)

July 2011

* Goonan, Kathleen Ann • This Shared Dream Called Earth • (Tor, hc)
* Gregory, Daryl • Raising Stony Mayhall • (Ballantine Del Rey, tpb)
* Stross, Charles • Rule 34 • (Orbit, tpb)

August 2011

* Harrison, M. John • Pearlant • (Gollancz, hc/tpb)

January 2011

• Adams, John Joseph, ed. • Brave New Worlds, (Night Shade Books, anth, tpb)
• Strahan, Jonathan, ed., Engineering Infinity, (Solaris US, anth)

February 2011

• Lansdale, Joe R., ed., Crucified Dreams, (Tachyon Publications, anth, tpb)
• Saberhagen, Joan, ed., Golden Reflections, (Baen, anth, hc)
• Weber, David, ed., Worlds of Honor #5: In Fire Forged, (Baen, anth, hc)

March 2011

• Guran, Paula, ed., Vampires: The Recent Undead, (Prime Books, anth, tpb)
• Gustainis, Justin, ed., Those Who Fight Monsters, (Hades/EDGE Science Fiction and Fantasy, anth, tpb)
• Rambo, Cat, Paul Tremblay & Sean Wallace, eds., Worlds of Fantasy: The Best of Fantasy Magazine, (Prime Books, anth, tpb)
• Strahan, Jonathan, ed., The Best Science Fiction and Fantasy of the Year Volume Five, (Night Shade Books, anth, tpb)

April 2011

• Datlow, Ellen, & Terri Windling, eds., Teeth: Vampire Tales, (Harper, anth, hc)
• Farr, Russell ed., Dead Red Heart (Ticonderoga, anth, tp)
• Grzyb, Liz ed., More Scary Kisses (Ticonderoga, anth, tp)
• Sedia, Ekaterina, ed., Bewere the Night, (Prime Books, anth, tpb)
• Strahan, Jonathan, ed., Life on Mars: Tales of the New Frontier, (Viking, anth, hc)

May 2011

• Anderson, Kevin J., ed., Nebula Awards Showcase 2011, (Tor, anth, tpb)
• Strahan, Jonathan, ed., Eclipse Four, (Night Shade Books, anth, tpb)
• Wentworth, K. D., ed., L. Ron Hubbard Presents Writers of the Future Volume XXVII, (Galaxy, anth)

June 2011

• Datlow, Ellen, ed., Best Horror of the Year: Volume Three, (Night Shade Books, anth, tpb)
• Datlow, Ellen, ed., Supernatural Noir, (Dark Horse, anth, tpb)
• Hartwell, David G., & Kathryn Cramer, eds., Year’s Best SF 16, (Harper Voyager, anth)
• Horton, Rich, ed., The Year’s Best Science Fiction & Fantasy: 2011 Edition, (Prime Books, anth, tpb)
• Kushner, Ellen, & Holly Black, eds., Welcome to Bordertown • (Random House, anth, hc)
• Martin, George R. R., ed., Wild Cards: Fort Freak, (Tor, anth, hc)

July 2011

• Datlow, Ellen, ed., Naked City: Tales of Urban Fantasy, (St. Martin’s, anth, hc)`
• Dozois, Gardner, ed., The Year’s Best Science Fiction: Twenty-eight Annual Collection, (St. Martin’s Griffin, anth, tpb)
• VanderMeer, Jeff, & Ann VanderMeer, eds., The Thackery T. Lambshead Cabinet of Curiosities, (Harper Voyager, anth, hc)
• Watson, Howard, ed., The Charmed Pot, (PS Publishing, anth, hc)
• Wilbur, Rick, ed., Future Media, (Tachyon Publications, anth, tpb)

August 2011

• Beagle, Peter S., & Joe R. Lansdale, eds., Urban Fantasy, (Tachyon Publications, anth, tpb)
• Guran, Paula, ed., The Year’s Best Dark Fantasy & Horror: 2011 Edition, (Prime Books, anth, tpb)
• Harris, Charlaine, & Toni L. P. Kelner, eds., Home Improvement: Undead Edition, (Ace, anth, hc)

September 2011

• Ciriello, Dario, ed., Panverse Three  (anth, tp) 
• Datlow, Ellen, ed., Blood and Other Cravings, (Tor, anth, hc)

No date

• Dozois, Gardner & George R. R. Martin, Down These Strange Streets (Viking, antho, hc) 

I am currently reading for the 2011 volume, which will cover stories first published between 1 January and 31 December 2011. I am looking for stories from all branches of science fiction and fantasy: space opera to cyberpunk, fairy tales to the slipstream, or anything else that might qualify. If in doubt, PLEASE send it. Please note: This is a reprint anthology.

I work on a tight deadline, and need to see work as early as possible.  With that in mind, the submission deadline for this year’s book is 1 October 2011. Anything sent after this deadline will reach me too late. If a magazine, anthology, or collection you are in or you edit is coming out before 31 December 2011 please send galleys or manuscripts so that I can consider the stories in time.

Where possible, I prefer to receive book-length submissions in print. Anything else can be sent to me via email. I prefer .rtf or .doc files. PDFs are acceptable, but remain highly inconvenient. I strongly suggest that authors check with their publishers that they are sending review copies out to me, as I don’t have the resources to follow-up every publisher to get material.

When sending material please put “BEST SF/F of the Year” on the envelope.

Jonathan Strahan
PO Box 544
Mt Lawley WA 6929
Australia

Email submissions, recommendations, or information on publications can be sent to me via email at: jonathan.strahan (at) gmail (dot) com.

NOTE TO PUBLISHERS

I am eager to see and be able to consider the work you are publishing. If you are producing a magazine, a chapbook, a collection or anthology with any original stories in it please let me know. While I prefer not to accept email submissions for book length works as a rule, I am happy to talk to publishers about making exceptions where necessary. The important thing, for me, is to make sure that I get to consider the best science fiction and fantasy published during 2011.

* I do not need to receive manuscripts from authors of stories from venues that it’s likely I already receive regularly (I get Asimov’s, Analog, F&SF, Interzone, Realms of Fantasy, Postscripts etc, but not many of the smaller ‘zines and publications).

** If you are publishing online, please email me copies of your stories at (jonathan.strahan (at) gmail (dot) com). This is particularly important for stories published between October and December, which may otherwise be overlooked. I do not require print-outs of online publications (I regularly read Tor.com, IGMS, Strange Horizons, Clarkesworld, Fantasy, Apex etc online).

*** Please do not send an SASE. This is not a submission per se, and I’m not able to return manuscripts or respond directly to stories sent to me.

Everything is all pretty much finalised, though I’m waiting on some bits and pieces and the copyedits, but here is the table of contents for the new best of the year. It’s due out in March and you can pre-order it here.

Introduction, Jonathan Strahan
“Elegy for a Young Elk,” Hannu Rajaniemi
“The Truth is a Cave in the Black Mountains,” Neil Gaiman
“Seven Sexy Cowboy Robots,” Sandra McDonald
“The Spy Who Never Grew Up,” Sarah Rees Brennan
“The Aarne-Thompson Classification Revue,” Holly Black
“Under the Moons of Venus,” Damien Broderick
“The Fool Jobs,” Joe Abercrombie
“Alone,” Robert Reed
“Names for Water,” Kij Johnson
“Fair Ladies,” Theodora Goss
“Plus or Minus,” James P. Kelly
“The Man With the Knives,” Ellen Kushner
“The Jammie Dodgers and the Adventure of the Leicester Square Screening,” Cory Doctorow
“The Maiden Flight of McAuley’s Bellerophon,” Elizabeth Hand
“The Miracle Aquilina,” Margo Lanagan
“The Taste of Night,” Pat Cadigan
“The Exterminator’s Want-Ad,” Bruce Sterling
“Map of Seventeen,” Christopher Barzak
“The Naturalist,” Maureen McHugh
“Sins of the Father,” Sara Genge
“The Sultan of the Clouds,” Geoffrey A. Landis
“Iteration,” John Kessel
“The Care and Feeding of Your Baby Killer Unicorn,” Diana Peterfreund
“The Night Train,” Lavie Tidhar
“Still Life (A Sexagesimal Fairy Tale),” Ian Tregillis
“Amor Vincit Omnia,” K.J. Parker
“The Things,” Peter Watts
“The Zeppelin Conductors’ Society Annual Gentlemen’s Ball,” Genevieve Valentine
“The Lady Who Plucked Red Flowers Beneath the Queen’s Window,” Rachel Swirsky

Saturday was another hot, sunny day. We’re well into barbecue season, but I know summer is here because cricket is dominating the airwaves. I woke early and watched my first session of the Ashes. Hussey and Haddin worked solidly, while the English bowlers toiled well, but with no success.

For reasons I don’t recall, dear sweet eldest daughter was in a fairly foul mood. This meant she stomped around and was difficult, and ultimately made it impossible for me to record the usual podcast with Gary. There is a recording of sorts, but it’s mostly unusable, due to interruptions and poor sound quality. We may try again later today.

I made lunch and then we took youngest to her sibling group, which sounds like it was a lot of fun. She went up to The Maze, apparently, and had all of the sort of fun she doesn’t have when we go places as a family (which is the point). We tried to take Jessica out to do some Xmas shopping, but she was uncooperative so, after some grocery shopping, we staggered in the front door of the house, hot, weary, and annoyed.

After a break we drove Marianne to her band gig. We’d been to the most recent one and were skipping this one for timing reasons, though it turned out we should have been there. Jessica’s mood seemed to lift as we sang along in the car to songs from Wicked – a musical she loves but is resolute that she does not wish to see – as we drove out to collect Sophie.  She had had a ball.

From there it was home, dinner, family movie night (the movie was  Steve Martin’s Cheaper by the Dozen, which was mostly inoffensive), and then girls to bed. I collapsed in front of TV with a glass of wine and the laptop to pass some time, waiting for Marianne to get home.

It turned out she’d had a good gig, and got an award. A surprise one out of the blue.  I’m very proud of her. She works hard with/for the band and loves it very much.

I was browsing the Night Shade site this morning and stumbled over this.  It seems to be the cover for The Best Science Fiction and Fantasy of the Year: Volume Five, though I’ve not confirmed that. You can pre-order the book, though.

Saturday was an annoying day. We’re going through assorted variations on rebelliousness and difficulties with young ladies of a certain age, so what could have been a simple, enjoyable day became much more stressful than it needed to be. Such, is a parenthood.

I podcasted with Gary early, before heading out for lunch at an old haunt of Marianne’s and mine, That Food Co in Bayswater.  The weather was warm and humid, making it less than ideal, and the cafe was warmer and stickier. We had a frankly ordinary meal, before heading out to the Margaret River Chocolate Co. This should have proven more successful than it did. After that we picked up some groceries and a movie for Family Movie Night.

I had intended to spend time reading, if I could. Instead I bounced around, not really reading anything. This seems to be the mode I’m in right now. I did spend a little time skyping with my sister in Melbourne, which was good. We then had dinner, watched a fairly awful Eddie Murphy comedy, and the day came to a close.

Today is Sophie’s school fair. It should be fun. I need to do some work before heading out around noon, but if the power stays on that should be fine.

• In 2009, I posted my first and only blog post at Tor.com;
• In 2008, I delivered The Best Science Fiction and Fantasy of the Year: Vol. 3 to Night Shade;
• In 2007, I was working on the Locus recommended reading list and my mother was in hospital with heart trouble. I also was expressing my doubts about the 1st release of the Kindle. Hm. I might have been wrong about that (looks at own Kindle);
• In 2006, I was asking why the heck Microsoft called it the Zune, and expressed optimism about new books from Greg Egan and William Gibson;
• In 2005, I was reading reviews of the now sadly defunct Best Short Novels series, working on the 2006 volume, and pondering Bruce Holland Rogers email subscription service for his short stories; and
• In 2004, I was bothered about how anthologies should or shouldn’t be structured and being dismayed at the then new Australian government’s social policies.

Two things struck me re-reading those blog posts: I always seemed busy and I rarely seemed happy. I wonder if that’s telling.

There is, of course, a lot still to be done. There’s copyedits to get through, a cover, and we’re still nailing down permissions (we have emailed agreements, but I won’t really rest easy till we have the signed permissions themselves), so respite but no rest for a few weeks.

I will, once all of the permissions are nailed down, post the table of contents for the book here. I’m really quite happy with it.

Jason pointed out that prior to 2009 the deadline had been November 5, with me typically delivering in late October so I could go to World Fantasy without work hanging over my head. The date had changed to December 5 in 2009, and was drifting a little again for 2010. Jason made it clear that I had to make the December 5 deadline, and if I could get the book in earlier then that would make things much easier.

I stopped, I looked and I panicked. I’d read a lot, I had lists and notes and stuff, but I didn’t have a table of contents, and I didn’t have much else either. I had, in short, quietly let myself become complacent because I had, oh, six weeks to get things done in.  I revised my target delivery date. It seemed to me if I could get the book done by Monday November 15 I’d only be ten days past the old deadline, and would beat the new one by more than four weeks.

To meet this I would need to finalise the table of contents, get writers to agree to their stories being reprinted, get permissions sorted, write an introduction and story notes, and prepare the manuscript for the publisher.

I panicked.

I calmed down.

As I write it is nearly 4pm on the afternoon of Wednesday, November 10. I have selected the final table of contents (well, I’m quibbling over one story), notified all of the authors and received emailed confirmations from all but two of them, arranged for contracts for 23 of the 29 stories to go out, and assembled 22 of the 29 story manuscripts. I have also engaged Marianne to standardise / cleanup the story files and assemble the story notes that I already have written for previous books.

From here, to meet my own self-imposed deadline, I need to write a 1,500 wd introduction on Saturday (while also podcasting with Gary and having family movie night with the kids), and write/review 29 story notes on Sunday. If, by 5pm Sunday I have that done then all I have to do is suck the whole lot into Scrivener,  work out the running order (I’m thinking on that now), add the introductory materials and recommended reading, and then spit out a manuscript. Once that’s done, a quick spell check and it heads out the door to the publisher.

Can I make it? I think I can. If I don’t, I can take the following weekend to get things finalised, but I’m hoping the Nov 15/Nov 16 will be it. Wish me luck.

HOLY CR@P. I WON A WORLD FANTASY AWARD!!!

There literally is almost no way I can communicate to you how strange, startling and wonderful that is.  I want to thank everyone — from the judges and WFC organisers to all of the people who contributed to the books that led me to being eligible.

I’d especially like to thank all of the contributors to Eclipse Three (which I suspect is the main reason for the award), my friends and publishers Jason Williams,  Jeremy Lassen, Ross Lockhart etc at Night Shade Books (I’d not only not be doing this without them, but would never have had the chance without Jason’s support), and my mentors and friends through the years: Eric Harding, Peter McNamara, Jack Dann, Charles N. Brown, Robert Silverberg and Karen Haber, and many others.  And of course Marianne, Jessica and Sophie. It’s really their award. I could not do any of my editing work without their love and support.

I’d also like to congratulate Karen Joy Fowler, whose story “The Pelican Bar” was a highlight of Eclipse Three, which won the WFA for Best Short Story. I was possibly more delighted by that, than by my own win.

Having got that out of my system, I’ve got to say I had a grand trip and that principally comes down to the kind hosts I stayed with and the friends I saw. My especial thanks for Nick and Adrian, Ellen,  Liza & the gang, and Gary, who were fine hosts and made my stay in their respective parts of the world a real joy.  I won’t go through all of the friends I saw on the trip – they know who they were – but it was magical seeing them.

And now I’m back. Friday was jetlag day. Saturday I moved to being 95% complete on the table of contents for Year’s Best 5, recorded a podcast, and followed up on Eclipse Four. This morning I checked in with everyone on Under My Hat, edited the December columns for Locus, edited the podcast because of a dumb error on my behalf, and did some more reading.

What next? Well, I have several proposals to write, a short story comp to judge, next month’s columns to think on, recommended reading to launch, and lots more.  Things are going to be very busy here between now and year’s end. This if, of course, not new.  I’m lucky.

The afternoon wandered into early evening and I headed to the bar. It was buzzing, and I spent some time with Gary, Peter, the newly arrived Farah, Holly, Delia and many other lovely people. Alisa and I then grabbed dinner at a nearby brew pub before heading back to the bar and more chatting, chatting, chatting (Sophie would not have liked it). I was meaning to be in bed at a reasonable hour, but I wasn’t. Jeff Ford waylaid me as I headed to bed, then it was 1.15am. Today there’s a board meeting, lunch and so on. Should be fun/interesting.

Wednesday started early. I was up at about 4.45am so I could be ready to leave at 5.30 for the airport. Kirsten was kind enough to drive us, so Liza and I got there on time. I’d purchased an extra seat on the flight which necessitated some messing around on check-in, but the flights were comfortable and as easy as any I’ve had. Liza and I talked work and other stuff, even doing some work, as we flew from Oakland to Chicago. Tailwinds were sufficient to get us in a half hour early but they were also sufficient to keep our connecting aircraft in Minneapolis. Three hours drifted by in an airport bar, where more chatting and work went on.

We did, eventually, get into Columbus though, where we quickly met up with Alisa then Cecelia, Gary, Ellen and a bunch of the World Fantasy crowd. Some pink drinks were had, then dinner too. I left the bar at midnight so I’d be sure I’d be up for my 8.30 breakfast with David today. After that, who knows? Dealer’s room, podcasting and such. I’ll try to report back as the day goes on, but a good start to Columbus already!

Still, once she picked me up at the airport everything looked up. We headed over to a brew pub for dinner with Eileen Gunn and John Berry, who were heading home to Seattle immediately after dinner. It as lovely seeing them, and I’m looking forward to spending more time with Eileen in Ohio. We then headed back to Ellen’s house where we sat and talked for another couple hours, and then I crashed.

Monday started slowly. I pottered around downstairs at Casa del Klages before we headed out to a lovely seafood restaurant for lunch. I need to get the name of it from E. The views were stunning, looking out over the Bay and Alcatraz, and the food superb (I had Steelhead Salmon cook in lemon butter -yum). We then pottered around Fisherman’s Wharf, before doing a little shopping then heading back to Ellen’s to meet up with Amelia.

Readers of this blog should have no problems remembering Amelia, who has been a dear friend for a long time (Jessica once, I recall, wanted to marry her). We chatted and caught up, walked over to very nice Peruvian restaurant for a relaxed dinner, then Amelia and I drove up to Charles’s house where I’m staying till we leave for Ohio.

We stayed up a bit longer, chatted and reminisced, and then she headed home and me to bed. I’ve been up for an hour and am going to go sit out on the back deck and think about Charles for a bit. Later today, the Locus people (!) and Bob & Karen (!). Tomorrow, Ohio.

This is always an interesting time. You’re poised, like a diver on a precipice, waiting to start things. You know roughly what to expect, how it will likely play out, but have no idea what will actually happen. It seems like that the thirteen days between my sitting here drinking coffee and my coming through the arrival gate over my right shoulder at noon on Thursday will be a long time. It will go by in a flash. There will be dinners, bars, talking, some uncomfortable flights, good bits, bad bits, but when I get off that final plane on the way home it will have seemed to have taken no time at all. Hopefully it will have been fun, though.

What do I think will be highlights? Hmm. Dinner tonight with Nick, Adrian, Rob, Cat and Terry. Staying with EllenK. Seeing Amelia. The Locus folk. Bob and Karen(!). Gary. Alisa. The people. The World Fantasy Award banquet. I’m a freaking nominee!! How cool is that? I shall sit in the room, having eaten plastic banquet chicken, surrounded by friends, and enjoy the moment of being a nominee. No idea how it will turn out, and happy about that. I think others will win, but it’ll be great to just be there and enjoy it. I also hope to do some podcasting. It might be kept on file rather than posted immediately, but there should be WFC podcasts. And lots more.

I’m sure there will be other stuff, and I’ll blog bits of it. Miss lots of it, and see you on the other side.

What else?

I am, however, all packed. I could leave in 30 minutes if I had to (which I happily don’t). I’ll have an early lunch with Marianne then spend some time with the family, before hopefully getting an early night. In the interim I’m piecing together some WFC social plans and getting into the swing of that. It should be a great time, though this is the first time I’ll be at a WFC without either the Aussie contingent or Charles. It’ll be interesting to see how it goes.

Now, I could tell you all of the people I cannot wait to see, but I’d leave someone out and that would be bad. I can’t wait to see everyone, especially if we’ve already made plans.  It should be a lot of fun.

Hmmm. We need a new webcam and some other stuff. Back in a bit.

Saturday 1 pm Panel A13: Year’s Best Fantasy and Horror 2010. Kathryn Cramer, Ellen
Datlow, Jonathan Strahan (m), Paula Guran, Gardner Dozois

There is a general AUTOGRAPH RECEPTION at Friday: 8-11:30PM in the Regency Ballroom. Although I’ve been to many World Fantasy Conventions, I’ve never actually gone to one of these. However, right now I have no dinner plans for Friday night. If I remain free, I shall be there too.

I can tell I’m almost at that point. Alisa Krasnostein flew out for World Fantasy last night. Part of my attention went with her. Emails are coming in about plans, or not, and I’m thinking about what goes into my suitcase. I leave in 50 hours, but part of me has already left.

There’s much I’m looking forward to. I believe there’s Mexican food waiting for me in Sydney with Nick, Adrian, Cat, Rob, Deb, Chris and Terry on Saturday. Sunday is the big hop across the Pacific (can it really be my 32nd?) and then I’m staying with Ellen for a night before heading over to Oakland late Monday. I’ll be seeing Amelia for dinner with E, then sleeping at the place formerly known as Charles’s.

Tuesday will be Locus folk and Locus work during the day, and a very, very welcome dinner with Bob and Karen that night. Wednesday Liza and I fly to Ohio together, and then there’s dinner with Alisa (yay!), Gary (yay yay!) and everyone else and the convention.

I will, of course, intend to stay in touch during this part of the trip and the follow on week or so, but I most likely won’t. I’ll try though.

At the same time I am busy Really Trying Quite Hard to read a lot. I’ve been making my way through piles of anthologies, collections, and such, discovering some wonderful stories while still looking rather desperately for ‘Awesome Science Fiction’ which seems a little thin on the ground this year.

I am also developing a new Sekrit Projekt, which is actually proceeding quite well, while working on Eclipse Four, Under My Hat, Cyberpunk, two single author collections, and the best of the year. Busy times, and only likely going to  get busier given that I’m heading to the US in a touch over two weeks for World Fantasy.  

I fly out on Saturday 23 October and spend some time catching up with dear friends in Sydney, then a couple days in the Bay Area where I’ll stay with Ellen K and the Locus crew (a night at the house will be interesting) and grab dinner with Bob & Karen, then on to Columbus for the convention, before spending a night with Gary in Chicago. Should be quite the trip, delivering me home on November 4 with a month to finish the year’s best and other stuff  before Christmas!

And amongst all of that I’m reading Howl’s Moving Castle for the first time when I really should just be reading short stories…

Given that, I thought I’d grab a question raised by the estimable Fabrice D. about Eclipse Four.  Many moons ago, on their Original Anthologies – 2010 thread, he asked:

What will be the flavour of Eclipse 4? [The first three being three very different books, my favourites in the "3" being, on the SF side: "It takes Two" (that will probably end on my Hugo nomination ballot ), "Useless Things" and "Galapagos". On the fantasy side: "Sleight of hand", "The Pretender's Tourney" and of course (being a Frenchman and an admirer of Rousseau's paintings), "The Visited Man"].

A good question, indeed. When Jason Williams and I first conceived of the Eclipse series the idea was to produce a very broad series of books that simply gathered together ‘good stuff’.

The first volume was very much that sort of thing, I think, but it lacked a consistent feel or focus.  The second volume was pushed very much towards SF, as I’ve discussed here before. The third volume was different again. Responding to the criticism the series had received, I cast my net wider and ultimately I think produced a better book. It’s less centre-of-genre in many ways, but has a consistent feel to it and an overall high quality of stories that helped make it the most successful volume, critically and commercially, so far.

Given that it’s also the one I’m happiest with overall, my intention is to very much continue the series as a follow-on from Eclipse Three.  The volume I’m working on now, Eclipse Four, is intended to be a direct follow-on from that book. It will feature some of the same writers, and hopefully will feel similar to Three.  I’ve already bought stories for it from Andy Duncan, Emma Bull, Gwyneth Jones, Peter M. Ball, and others, and am waiting on a stack of submissions so I can wind it up by Christmas, and get it ready for May 2011.  When it’s done I’ll definitely get a ToC up here.  Hope that answers the question.

With that in mind, I have decided I am now engaged in the “Really Trying Quite Hard” Reading Catch Up.  It encompasses the essence of the effort without going overboard.  Now, back to reading.

Engineering Infinity

I’ve spent a reasonable part of 2010 working on anthologies that will see print during 2011. The first of these, and one of my favorites, is Engineering Infinity, a hard SF anthology that I’ve edited for Jonathan Oliver at Solaris Books.

I’ll be honest and say that one or two of the stories in the book stretched my definitions of hard SF somewhat (though it’s all ‘pure quill SF’ Gardner). I’m very happy with the end result. It’s my first book to be published in the UK and will be out in January (close to simulataneously in the US, UK and Australia), just in time for my 47th birthday.  Here’s the ToC:

1. Introduction
2. Malak, Peter Watts
3. Watching the Music Dance, Kristine Kathryn Rusch
4. Laika’s Ghost, Karl Schroeder
5. The Invasion of Venus, Stephen Baxter
6. The Server and the Dragon, Hannu Rajaniemi
7. Bit Rot, Charles Stross
8. Creatures with Wings, Kathleen Ann Goonan
9. Walls of Flesh, Bars of Bone, Damien Broderick & Barbara Lamar
10. Mantis, Robert Reed
11. Judgement Eve, John C. Wright
12. A Soldier of the City, David Moles
13. Mercies, Gregory Benford
14. The Ki-anna, Gwyneth Jones
15. The Birds and the Bees and the Gasoline Trees, John Barnes

Well, most urgently, I have to deliver The Best Science Fiction and Fantasy of the Year: Volume 5 in early December (heck, I expect to get asked about names for the cover shortly and I’m nowhere near ready to hand over that information!).  That means reading a LOT of anthologies, collections, and magazines and FAST. Also chasing down those end-of-year stories I might otherwise miss.

All of this reading  will also directly inform the work I will be doing on compiling the Locus Short Fiction Recommended Reading list, which I expect to start work on in early November when I get home from Ohio. There is also a chance that I may end up doing a panel on the ‘Year in Review’ at World Fantasy. Having been admonished by Sophie, aged 8, that it wouldn’t hurt if I prepared for my panels, I’m eager to be as well-read as I can be when that time comes round.

All of this means I need to read, read, read! And I am.  There’s oceans still to read, and I’m still actively seeking recommendations. Feel free to email me if you’ve seen a story you liked and let me know. I’m reading reviews, checking blogs and Twitter feeds for story recs, but I’d love yours.  Really. I have thousands of stories to read and I’m not going get through them all, so your recommendation would help.

As to how I’m getting through everything? Well, first I’m reading a LOT. Fast (which is not how I read usually). I’ve also been in touch with my colleagues at Not if You Were the Last Short Story on Earth, and it seems we’re working out some deadlines and incentives so we can all get as much covered as possible (that means four or five more sets of eyes looking at things). I’m also considering getting an intern to help. Hmm. An intern. Anyone interested?  I believe we may be tweeting some of our story reading progress, but that’s still up in the air.

In the meantime, could you pass me that book…

I met someone else – well, two someone elses – and they’ve kept me away from you longer than I’d ever intended. One listens to my short idle thoughts, the other listens to me natter for ages with my pal Gary. But I’ve not forgotten you, even through these months of neglect.

I’ve been in Melbourne. Went there for WorldCon. Conventions fall into two groups: those that energise you and those that drain you. Having been home for almost a week I think I can classify Aussiecon 4 as a convention that drained me.  Not because it was a bad con, or because I had no fun, but because it was busy and demanding. There are some things I’ll treasure as I look back on it, though: the evening at Alex’s house with Tansy, Alisa, Tehani and everyone; long, unexpected and delightful breakfasts with Stan; dinner and lunch and more with Bob and Karen; the Melbourne Aquarium with Barbara, mum, Marianne and the girls; the room service party with Garth, Anna, Shaun, Chris, Chris, Deb, Marianne, and Liza; some real time to talk with Liza; a last minute coffee with Steve; a terrific Voyager party, and an unexpected meeting. All of those were awesome.

And then there were the Hugos. What an honor and delight! As you know, dear blog, I’ve loved the Hugos forever and never once imagined I’d be nominated. The past three years have been a giddy time indeed, in Denver, Montreal and now here.  It was close this year. I know just how close, and that’s even more pleasing. The Hugo voters, my community, rewarded my work more than I ever could have expected.  I was pleased to see Ellen win after another terrific year (even if I hope you can forgive me a tiny twinge of disappointment at not quite making it), and look forward to the years to come. I never take the Hugo voters for granted and assume nothing, but I’m far from done editing yet.

And that’s about it, dear blog. I hear Godlike Machines is printed, the Engineering Infinity copyedits are in my inbox, The Best of Larry Niven is around the corner, there’s a teetering tower of reading for the year’s best and cyberpunk books, people to follow up for Eclipse 4 and Under My Hat, and proposals to write. Busy, busy, busy.

Oh, and Columbus! There’s Columbus. In just seven weeks! Eek.

I especially want to say something about the Hugos, but not right now. For the moment, it was an honor and a delight to be nominated, a surprising joy to have come so close to winning, and I take my hat off to the winner (congrats Ellen!).  The fan community has been exceptionally kind and supportive to me, and I can only be grateful and happy.

While I may podcast today, the other big thing is to decide if I go to World Fantasy or not. Today is the crunch day. I have bookings being held. I suspect if I lose them, any chance of finding acceptable flights go with them. I have no idea as to the right decision. Every permutation makes me anxious, so it may come down to the toss of a coin (I kid you not).

Meanwhile, Aussiecon departure in 48hrs.  Yay!

Well, it’s complicated. A portion of it has to do with being a ‘person of size’ to use the South West vernacular. I’m tall and overweight. This means leg room and seat width, especially on long flights, are critical. I’ve spent more than one hideously uncomfortable 14hr trans-Pacific with the edge of a metal entertainment unit digging into my shin and, frankly, I’m never going to do that again.  So I spend too much time obsessing about that.

I also have friends who I see to rarely, and a trip to World Fantasy provides a chance to stop and visit. There’s the Locus crew (Liza, Kirsten, Amelia, Carolyn, Fran, etc), Bob & Karen, EllenK, and others in Oakland/SF, and there’s Gary in Chicago. Visiting either city is very attractive to me, and choosing one over the other is always hard.

And then there’s the airlines, with costs, routes, and other things. I could bore you witless on aspects of luggage, seating preference, etc etc.  They all add up to a lot of decisions, and all of them contribute directly to either making you more comfortable, your trip easier, or make your trip impact on others less.  You get all of that into ny head, and it goes round and round and round. After a while, staying home can seem like the best (easiest) option.

Oh, and I come from a family of worriers. :)

I’d be landing at SFO to be met by Charles and whomever drove him over that day (Jenny, Amelia, Liza, someone). Most likely he’d meet me holding a copy of the pages of the latest issue of Locus, which he’d thrust into my hands so I could get a sneak peek. Although the *only* thing I could possibly want would be a shower, Charles would nonetheless have lunch planned and shopping and whatever else (dr’s appts, buying gas, anything), as we drove around the Bay.

Eventually I’d end up clomping down the stairs to the dreaded murphy bed and a weekend or so of sitting around and talking and drinking and laughing and reading, of a little shopping, some restaurants, and such. I think that time – the days before WorldCon – are my “happy place”. I have such fond, fond memories of them. The parties we’d have, the things we’d do, which were at least as much the attraction of going to the US as any convention we might have gone to.

Those days are gone. I have friends in the Bay Area who I love to see, and the house is still there too, but that all ended in July 2008. The conventions are emptier now, the trips to the US a little less exciting, and I get angry that it didn’t have to have happened so soon. I wish I were on that plane….

The 2009 World Fantasy Awards ballot for 2010 has been announced and I am stunned to be on the ballot. My sincere thanks to all. Also my roaring congratulations to all of my fellow nominees:

Novel
Blood of Ambrose, James Enge (Pyr)
The Red Tree, Caitlín R. Kiernan (Roc)
The City & The City, China Miéville (Macmillan UK/ Del Rey)
Finch, Jeff VanderMeer (Underland)
In Great Waters, Kit Whitfield (Jonathan Cape UK/Del Rey)

Novella
The Women of Nell Gwynne’s, Kage Baker (Subterranean)
“The Lion’s Den”, Steven Duffy (Nemonymous Nine: Cern Zoo)
The Night Cache, Andy Duncan (PS)
“Sea-Hearts”, Margo Lanagan (X6 )
“Everland”, Paul Witcover (Everland and Other Stories)

Short Story
“I Needs Must Part, the Policeman Said”, Richard Bowes (F&SF 12/09)
“The Pelican Bar”, Karen Joy Fowler (Eclipse Three)
“A Journal of Certain Events of Scientific Interest from the First Survey Voyage of the Southern Waters by HMS Ocelot, As Observed by Professor Thaddeus Boswell, DPhil, MSc, or, A Lullaby”, Helen Keeble (Strange Horizons 6/09)
“Singing on a Star”, Ellen Klages (Firebirds Soaring)
“The Persistence of Memory, or This Space for Sale”, Paul Park (Postscripts 20/21: Edison’s Frankenstein )
“In Waiting”, R.B. Russell (Putting the Pieces in Place)
“Light on the Water”, Genevieve Valentine (Fantasy 10/09)

Anthology
Poe,  Ellen Datlow, ed. (Solaris)
Songs of The Dying Earth: Stories in Honor of Jack Vance, George R.R. Martin & Gardner Dozois, eds. (Subterranean/Voyager)
Exotic Gothic 3: Strange Visitations, Danel Olson, ed. (Ash-Tree)
Eclipse Three, Jonathan Strahan, ed. (Night Shade)
American Fantastic Tales: Terror and the Uncanny: From Poe to the Pulps/From the 1940s to Now, Peter Straub, ed. (Library of America)
The Very Best of Fantasy & Science Fiction: Sixtieth Anniversary Anthology, Gordon Van Gelder, ed. (Tachyon)

Collection
We Never Talk About My Brother, Peter S. Beagle (Tachyon)
Fugue State, Brian Evenson (Coffee House)
There Once Lived a Woman Who Tried To Kill Her Neighbor’s Baby: Scary Fairy Tales, Ludmilla Petrushevskaya (Penguin)
Northwest Passages, Barbara Roden (Prime)
Everland and Other Stories, Paul Witcover (PS)
The Very Best of Gene Wolfe/The Best of Gene Wolfe, Gene Wolfe (PS /Tor)

Artist
John Jude Palencar
John Picacio
Charles Vess
Jason Zerrillo
Sam Weber

Special Award – Professional
Peter & Nicky Crowther for PS Publishing
Ellen Datlow for editing anthologies
Hayao Miyazaki for Ponyo
Barbara & Christopher Roden for Ash-Tree Press
Jonathan Strahan for editing anthologies
Jacob & Rina Weisman for Tachyon Publications

Special Award – Non-Professional
John Berlyne for Powers: Secret Histories
Neil Clarke, Cheryl Morgan begin_of_the_skype_highlighting     end_of_the_skype_highlighting, & Sean Wallace for Clarkesworld
Susan Marie Groppi for Strange Horizons
John Klima for Electric Velocipede
Bob Colby, B. Diane Martin, David Shaw and Eric M. Van for Readercon
Ray Russell & Rosalie Parker for Tartarus Press

From my cursory inspection, ten Australians have been nominated for the World Fantasy Award in six categories for a total of seventeen nominations and seven wins. The first Australian work to be nominated for the World Fantasy Award was Peter Carey for his novel Illywhacker in 1986. The first Australians to win were Jack Dann and Janeen Webb, who won for Best Anthology in 1996 for Dreaming Down Under.  The other recipients of the Award are Margo Lanagan (Best Collection for Black Juice, Best Short Story for “Singing My Sister Down”, and Best Novel for Tender Morsels) and Shaun Tan (Best Artist three times).

The full list of Australian World Fantasy Award nominees is below:

1986: Novel: Peter Carey, Illywhacker
1996: Anthology: She’s Fantastical, Lucy Sussex & Judith Raphael Buckrich, eds.
1996: Short Story: “Angel Thing”, Petrina Smith
1999: Anthology: Dreaming Down-Under, Jack Dann & Janeen Webb eds. **
2001: Collection: Blackwater Days, Terry Dowling
2001: Short Story: “The Saltimbanques”, Terry Dowling
2001: Artist: Shaun Tan **
2002: Collection: The Essential Ellison, Harlan Ellison, Terry Dowling with Richard Delap & Gil Lamont, eds.
2004: Anthology: Gathering the Bones, Jack Dann, Ramsey Campbell & Dennis Etchison, eds.
2004: Novel: The Etched City, K.J. Bishop
2005: Short Story: “Singing My Sister Down”, Margo Lanagan **
2005: Collection: Black Juice, Margo Lanagan **
2007: Collection: Red Spikes, Margo Lanagan
2007: Artist: Shaun Tan **
2009: Collection: Tales from Outer Suburbia, Shaun Tan
2009: Artist: Shaun Tan **
2009: Novel: Tender Morsels, Margo Lanagan**
** denotes winner

• Fri 1200pm: In conversation: Ellen Datlow and Jonathan Strahan;
• Fri 3.00pm: Kaffeeklatsche;
• Sat 10am: How much science should be in YA science fiction?
• Sat 1.00pm: Did the future just arrive?: The e-book and the publishing industry
• Sun 10.00am: Predicting the Hugos: 2011
• Sun 1100am: Signing;
• Sun 12noon:  Jack Vance and the Dying Earth
• Mon 10.00am: How we edit
• Mon 11.00 am: The future of short fiction
• Mon 1.00pm: A house made from stories: Building the anthology

I’m sad that it seems unlikely I’ll be able to make so many of these events, and have my fingers crossed that at least one or two of the Monday events can be resolved.

Usually I’d be aiming to fly to Oakland some time in the week before the convention so I could have a chunk of time with Charles, before heading to the convention. The last time I did, or will, do that was for Denvention in late July 2008 (see earlier post). We had enormous fun, and I sold three books to Jeremy Lassen over beer on Charles’ back deck.  This time is so different.

Everything seems calm. There are five of us going to WorldCon – Marianne, Jessica, Sophie, my mother (!!), and me. It should be fun, even if a completely different kind of fun.  We’ll do stuff, see friends, and try to balance our social schedules for the five days we’re there. It’s likely to be a bit crazy, but also excellent. I can barely believe, though, that it’s only fourteen days.

Once we get back from Aussiecon I’ll make my final, final decision about Columbus and World Fantasy. Right now I’d say I’m at 10% for going/90% for skipping this year, but anything could happen.  If I don’t go this year, I’ll definitely attend the Reno WorldCon (Charles did ask me to go), and the San Diego World Fantasy next year, so it would be a win of sorts.

Other than that, my apologies for the delays with the podcast. It normally comes out Sunday, but we’ve been delayed by some issues, but hope to have something up shortly.

• 2009 Recommended Reading
• 2008 Recommended Reading
• 2007 Recommended Reading
• 2006 Recommended Reading
• 2005 Recommended Reading
• 2004 Recommended Reading
• 2003 Recommended Reading
• 2002 Recommended Reading
• 2001 Recommended Reading
• 2000 Recommended Reading

You can look at is a Locus Recommends the 1st Decade of the 21st Century.

In other news, had a nice day yesterday. Got out and socialised a bit, which I needed. Saw Alisa for lunch, then the dinner gang evening. Today is podcasting, column edits, and proposal sort of stuff. I’m behind, but still swinging.

I’m sitting out here, drinking beer and goofing off on the internet while Jessica (aged 10) sits beside me and doesn’t write in her diary. I think she wants to write in it, but she struggles with her writing and with getting her ideas down.  She still loves the idea of it, though.  Marianne and Sophie (aged almost-9) are both off on a walk with some of Sophie’s friends, so it’s quiet here.

I’m drinking beer because all of the preparations for Aussiecon 4 are weighing on me a little.  While I usually do these things solo, this time I’m taking a whole caravanserai of family to the big event.  This is a good thing, but I’m sufficiently immature that I feel responsible for everyone’s good time.  What are we going to do? How far from everything is the venue? And so on and so on.

I’m also, I confess, in something of a down-cycle confidence-wise. Today has for me been driven by self-doubt, worry that the publishing cycle may finally be ready to pass me by and so on.  The evidence for this, the driving motivators are sleight, and I’m sure the people around me would be surprised that I see it that way. I think everyone else thinks I think I’m more successful than I think I am, which is probably way too circuitous a construction. Still, I’ve always tried to let the work speak for itself (perhaps not the most 21st C sort of thought).

Where are things at and how do I feel about them? Well, Life on Mars, Engineering Infinity and Godlike Machines are all in and done (for variations of ‘done’). I think they’re all good books. Strong stories from good writers.  I’m not sure which the world will love the most, but they all have strengths.  I’m currently tussling with Under My Hat and Eclipse Four, and on the cusp with both the year’s best and a couple other things.  I’m probably most confident about ‘Hat’ and most worried about the year’s best, but they’ll all come out in the end.

So why the crisis of confidence? No real reason. I think I need to spin some ideas, see some people and just move through the conversation that is the field in flux. Maybe, for all of it’s accompanying issues, I really need the upcoming con. Flush the cylinders a bit, get back on track. We’ll see.

I’ve also, again, been pondering World Fantasy. If anything I feel less like going than ever. I still won’t decide until WorldCon, but the cost balanced against the number of stopovers etc really doesn’t inspire me to do it. I would normally have spent some time in Oakland with Charles but, while I know I’m welcome and have friends there, it’s just not the same. I used to arrive and just collapse. Charles and I would sit around and talk for days and not do much else.  That’s not an option any longer so I do need to ponder. Anyhow, podcasting next….

I also stopped at the post office this afternoon and there were packages from bookdepository.co.uk. Since I stopped reviewing in 2002 the number of ARCs etc I receive has dropped and dropped to the point where, even for the year’s best, I pretty much have to buy a book if I want to read it (which is understandable I guess, if a bit disappointing). Still, today brought my copies of Gwyneth Jones’ essay collection, Imagination/Space, and Eleanor Arnason’s Mammoths of the Great Plains. Jones has become one of my very favorite critics in the field, and picking up this book from Aqueduct seemed a great way to both get some wonderful reading and support a terrific press. Arnason, on the other hand, is one of the genuinely undervalued writers in our field, so I’m eager to catch up on this novella (which Gardner just said great things about).  So, post office for the win too!

What else? Well, this morning I listened to my first episode of Grant Watson’s Bad Film Diaries podcast. I’d meant to listen to it before, but then I’d always meant to get to the convention panels he was doing and somehow never had because I was in the bar drinking with friends, so it really was time I stopped and listened. It was a terrific decision. In the podcast I downloaded  Grant discusses Alien 3 and is just incredibly interesting and informed. I’m hooked and am not exaggerating when I say that if the rest of the series matches up to this he’s got my vote for the Hugo next year, definitely. One of the best genre podcasts going.

The weekend itself was a mixed bag, to be honest. I was to meet a friend who does some work for The West Australian newspaper so he could interview me about the Hugos, but we missed one another and had to reschedule.   When we did meet up it was fun, though the day was a bit thrown off-balance by it all. We then watched Nanny McPhee: The Big Bang for family movie night, which went down well.  Sunday was very quiet. Both girls have bugs of some kind, so we kept things low key, heading out to see Toy Story 3 in the afternoon (which was loved, in different ways, by one and all).

I did spent a lot of time talking to Gary over the weekend, too. We chatted in a non-podcasty way on Saturday, the recorded podcast #11 on Sunday.  I’ve been really enjoying doing these and appreciate all of the kind comments we’ve been receiving. It’s an interesting experience. A friend, Tansy, made a very perceptive comment about the podcast that I’m grateful for – she pointed out the importance of Charles to the podcast and how it’s like this part of Gary and my grieving process, as we try to figure out SF in a post-Charles world.  I think she’s right.  Hopefully it’s not always on the surface of the podcast, but it’s there.  Interesting…

I’m reading, which is cool. Jeff VanderMeer’s The Third Bear arrived from bookdepository.co.uk yesterday and has an original story in it, so there’s some extra reading coming. I actually loved the title story and am happy to see his story from Eidolon 1 reprinted, so I’m looking forward to this one. I’m also in the early pages of Hannu Rajaniemi’s The Quantum Thief which I’m quite excited about. Of course, I just heard that ARCs are out in the world (somewhere, not here) for Terry Pratchett’s I Shall Wear Midnight so I’m seriously jonesing about that.

Other than that, I’m toying with ideas for anthologies (nothing concrete yet – all I can see are the ideas that won’t work), avoiding writing reviews, playing with podcasts and keeping busy.  WorldCon is coming up like a freight train.  For the first time in several years I don’t think it looks like I’ll be on programming, though I did volunteer. I’m actually reasonably cool with that – having the family at the convention will keep me pretty busy, so it might be a good thing. I also feel like I’m coming down to the pointy end of having to make a decision about World Fantasy.  It’s not until October, but I should talk to Liza and see what she thinks about it. I’m still torn. Too far to go this year? Maybe.

Look what showed up when I got home today. Yes, the advance reader’s copies of Life on Mars! I’m delighted with them. Many, many thanks to the fabulous Sharyn November, and to Stephan again for that cover!

• Lou Ander’s anthology Masked;
• Amelia Beamer’s debut novel The Loving Dead;
• Ted Chiang’s novella The Lifecycle of Software Objects;
• Terry Dowling’s new story collection Amberjack: Tales of Fear and Wonder;
• Ken Macleod’s latest novel The Restoration Game;
• Ian McDonald’s The Dervish House; and
• Charles Stross’s The Fuller Memorandum.

I meant to read when I got home, but we were in late and it took a while to get the girls into bed, so I goofed around on the web a little, then slept, if a little fitfully. It’s a rainy morning here now and I’m sitting in my front room and listening to a little more of the Neko Case. I have some things to do and some things I’d like to do today, so I’m not sure what will get done. Sophie’s got a playdate at 1pm, which sort of sits bang in the middle of  lunch and such, but I’d like to get down to Mt Lawley if I can, maybe stop in to Planet or something like that, grab a coffee – who knows?

There is a podcast to do, and I’m waiting to hear from Gary on that. There might be a special guest – Gary’s at Readercon and I told him to surprise me – so we’ll see how that goes.  That’s the only solid commitment. Still the day awaits. I’m going to approach it slowly.

This evening we’re off to my mum’s house for a farewell party for my sister and her partner. They’re moving to Melbourne for three years, which means apart from Aussiecon, we won’t be seeing them much, which is an enormous thing because we’re a very small but very close family. Christmas is going to be a small affair, but I’m happy for them. It should be a great experience.

I think that I’ve let myself fall into a dangerous rut.  I love editing and while I don’t love my day job, I certainly don’t hate it. Still, my typical weekday starts at 5.00am. I get up, have breakfast, leave the house for work at about 6.15am, have coffee and a catch up with my mum till 7.00am, work through till 3.00pm, then head home where usually I help with domestic stuff through till around 8.00pm.  Then I read or watch TV till a 9.30pm/10.00pm bedtime.

That’s become very rigid over the past seven or eight years, and opportunities for catching up with friends have become limited. There are weekends, but those are typically given over to either editing  or to family stuff.   Now, all of this has been a direct result of my own choices – I could not have had a family, I could give up or reduce my editing commitments, I could do something completely different – but it means that unless I make a real effort I don’t get to movies more than four or five times a year, to dinner with friends more than half a dozen or so times, and even simple catch-ups like coffee (which used to be a major social outlet) are strictly limited (or feel that way).

These days my major social outlets outside my immediate family are conversations at work, podcasts with Gary, and gmail chat sessions and occasional phone calls with friends.  This strikes me as really unhealthy, and it explains a lot about how some things affect me more than they should.  Yesterday a person I know casually in science fiction queried a newsgroup post that I made.  The post was fairly innocuous and the email wasn’t especially condemnatory, but it had the potential to get me really depressed.  It didn’t. But I could see how it could have done.

I also find I am particularly sensitive to some interactions online – either to changes in contact frequency or to tone etc – and while I force myself to be very careful about how I react/feel about them because I know online communication is low bandwidth, nonetheless it’s a large part of my social interactions, so I find myself needing to be very, very careful how I let myself react because I’m all to well aware that it’s a distorted mirror (that is, a simple comment or lack of comment by someone three thousand miles away was just that, and not some big deal).

This has no doubt been exacerbated by things like serial deadlines, issues dealing with various publishers which have seemed likely to scuttle or derail projects etc etc, and also by things like minor persistent non-serious health issues which have been making days less pleasant (a good example is my right ear, which is steadily improving and seemed fully completely normal for a while yesterday, but is still slightly bothersome).   There are also the usual stresses that we all suffer from, but they are for the most part, what we deal with.

I think a lot of this is just middle-age kicking in, to be honest. I need to be a lot more active, a lot more healthy, and really need push myself to re-organise my social life so I have one. I also probably need to push for a lot more diversity in my social life. A few active social relationships is not the way to go really.  It’s just that there’s a lot of pushing against inertia and such, and those deadlines do keep rolling in (happily).  However, if I’m going to maintain perspective and not become really negative, I need to.

I should also say, there are positives.  I’m a little more organised business-wise, I’m meeting these crazy deadlines, and I’m starting to listen to new music. This is really my personal barometer for my mental state. If I’m really down and depressed I either don’t listen to music or I listen to old favourites over and over. These days I’m listening to a lot of different things, and enjoying doing so. Yes, a lot of the music is older, but it’s mostly new to me, so that counts.  I’m also, despite struggling with multifocals a bit, enjoying reading. I’ve encountered a lot of good books and seem to be finding more. This year is a lot better than last year for me.  I am struggling to read published short fiction right now, which is a huge issue, but that’s something I need to confront a bit. The ‘year’s best’ is a bit of a grind, but I’m confident that’ll turn around.

So, given that in this year that I’ve been accused of making “dad” jokes, have had hearing and visual problems etc etc, how do I need to turn things around? Well, it’s a new financial year, so let’s say that’s an excuse for some New Financial Year resolutions.  They’d be:

• get fitter and healthier. I need to eat better, exercise more, and actually go to doctors when I have issues. This is a continuing problem that all of my friends know about, and that I always mention but usually do little or nothing about,
• get more organised when it comes to business and work stuff,
• actually do things at home that we say we want to, rather than just mention them and let inertia take over,
• socialise more, and more diversely.

I think those things would make me a lot happier and would make me more fun to be around.  Lord knows, I don’t want to become some grumpy old guy no-one wants to socialise with lamenting how things were better way back when – they weren’t, and I know that.

Cover art for Life on Mars by Stephan Martiniere

As promised, here’s the gorgeous Stephan Martiniere cover art for Life on Mars, which is coming out next April. I love it, and think it makes a beautiful companion for The Starry Rift. I’m sincerely grateful to Stefan, Sharyn November and the team at Viking for the wonderful job they’ve done on this.

1. “Attlee and the Long Walk”, Kage Baker
2. “The Old Man and the Martian Sea”, Alastair Reynolds
3. “Wahala”, Nnedi Okorafor
4. “On Chryse Plain”, Stephen Baxter
5. “First Principle”, Nancy Kress
6. “Martian Chronicles”, Cory Doctorow (novella)
7. “Goodnight Moons”, Ellen Klages
8. “The Taste of Promises”, Rachel Swirsky
9. “Digging”, Ian McDonald
10. “LARP on Mars”, Chris Roberson
11. “Martian Heart”, John Barnes
12. “Discovering Life”, Kim Stanley Robinson


“Fantasy is going through an explosion of creativity.  Two new anthologies showcase the best of it: Stories: All-New Tales, edited by Neil Gaiman and Al Sarrantonio, and Swords & Dark Magic, edited by Jonathan Strahan and Lou Anders.”

As I write I’m sitting in my front room listening to Richard and Linda Thompson’s I Want to See the Bright Lights for the first time and am pondering what I need to do this coming weekend. Finishing up copyedits/proofs for Life on Mars and Godlike Machines is a big part of it. I also need to write the intro for Engineering Infinity, and get some general paperwork done. If I can do that I’ll be keeping up, which is good.

I’m also going to be recording the next podcast with Gary. It’s been put to me that we might be recording too often, so we need to ponder that. I think we’ll discuss John Clute’s recent Doctorow/Heinlein review and Robert Sawyer’s blog post about making a living as a writer. There’ll no doubt be other stuff. If you have anything you’d like us to cover pop it into comments and I’ll bring it up with Gary tomorrow.

What else? I’ll try to get my solo “Books I’m Looking Forward to” podcast up shortly. That one’s kind of fun to do, but I’m delaying because I want to add links etc.  I’ve also been pondering the joys of unnecessary bonus tracks on cds, editing non-core books, and other things.  Will post shortly, I think.

In almost equally happy news I also woke – at 3.45am! – to find that the girls had gone through all of the hot water last night, so a cool not-even-lukewarm shower was all that was on offer on what is quite a cold, wintry morning.  To say that my mood this morning is neither sunny nor overly optimistic as a result of the dizziness and cold shower is a reasonable summation of things.

Still, all is not glum. I had a nice hot breakfast, realised it was Swords and Dark Magic on-sale date in the US, read a pretty solid Rich Horton review of Wings of Fire (this was esp welcome as Rich hasn’t seemed overimpressed with my anthos of late), and pondered a few book projects.  Were it not for the dizziness and being up and awake nearly an hour and a half early this would be an ok morning.

Oh, and the awesome Katie may have found a reason to go to Columbus. Who would have thought that was possible? (I know, other than hanging with Ellen K, which is worth it in itself).

Thank you. I’m delighted and honoured to hear that The New Space Opera
2 has won the Locus Award. I’d like to thank all of the voters,
everyone at Locus, Diana Gill and the wonderful team at HarperCollins,
the contributors to the book and, most importantly my friend and
colleague Gardner Dozois, who really did all of the hard stuff on this
book.

The New Space Opera 2 winning this award may be, I think, the most
important moment in the 20 years I’ve spent editing science fiction.
It is a pure quill science fiction book aimed straight at the very
heart of our field and, considering that we stand at point where the
centre has not held and science fiction is shattering irrevocably into
a thousand fascinating and individually worthwhile pieces, it is
heartening to know that such a book still has value and still has a
purpose.

It’s my sincerest wish that Gardner and I get to do more of these
books, but whether we do or not, this book and its Locus Award winning
predecessor stand, for me, as a statement about how the past of our
field can still connect to its future.

More news as it transpires, but this book is coming out this year, and honestly there was a time when I wasn’t sure it was going to happen at all – I’m excited and very pleased.

• Fiction: The Naturalist by Maureen McHugh
• Fiction: Under the Moons of Venus by Damien Broderick
• Fiction: Brownian Emotion by Tom Holt
• Fiction: Elegy for a Young Elk by Hannu Rajaniemi
• Fiction: Return: An Innkeeper’s World Story by Peter S. Beagle
• Fiction: The Bodhisattvas by Gord Sellar
• Fiction: What We Take When We Take What We Need by Daryl Gregory

Oh, and many thanks to Shaun Tan for letting us use his gorgeous cover art from the Australian edition of Margo Lanagan’s Tender Morsels. It’s a wonderful image and suits the issue well.

It is on my list of things to do to call a couple of my editing colleagues to discuss projects. Jack and I have wound up Legends to our great mutual satisfaction, so we need to see what might be next. Lou and I have been kicking an idea around too. Much too early to say more about that, though I think it has promise, and Gardner and I still need to come to a conclusion on something.  In amongst those all, there’s another project or two around.  None of these, of course, are really at the solid proposal stage so work, work, work is needed.

How does this overlap with the books I’m actually doing? Well, as I say Engineering Infinity is almost done. Copyedits for Godlike Machines should be through soon, and also last page passes on Life on Mars. From there I move on to working on the cyberpunk book with Marianne, the year’s best, Eclipse Four, and The Best of Joe Haldeman.  I also need to do the first round of follow-ups on Under My Hat. I know that sounds like enough to be getting on with, but by April of next year (not that far away) all of these books will be delivered and moving in to various states of production, so we’ll see.

I did notice, when reading Fred Pohl’s blog, that Gateways is due out next month. This is a tribute volume where various writers influenced by Pohl contribute new stories. I admit to being vaguely aware of this book coming together – just as there are a couple others out there happening at the moment – but for some reason this one really crept up on me. An SF anthology with new original stories by Vinge, Bear, Benford, Doctorow, Gaiman, Niven, Wolfe and others?!?  How did I let this slip past? It’s out in July and I’ve seen no galleys, heard no whispers. It has every chance of being THE SF antho of the year. I need this.

While emails have gone off to New York about Gateways, I continue apace through the early stages of The Dervish House.  Gary and I discussed it briefly yesterday. McDonald can write like an angel when he wants to.  Someone should do a new collection of his.  I mean, really. Anyway, on to morning emails and so on…

• Daniel Abraham, Leviathan Wept and Other Stories
• Eleanor Arnason, Tomb of the Fathers
• Greg Egan, Zendegi
• Shirley Jackson, Shirley Jackson: Novels and Stories
• Nnedi Okorafor, Who Fears Death

Apologies again for a little sibilance in the recording. I’ll try to keep that under control. Also, a shout out to Alex, Alisa, and Tansy over at Galactic Suburbia. They not only graciously had me over as a guest, but they directly inspired my series of podcasts. So, make sure you check them out. They’re awesome.

Regardless, this week I read Charles Stross’s The Fuller Memorandum and found it to be GOOD. There was a point in January when I really wondered if 2010 was going to be one of those quiet years for great SF, but increasingly I think that’s not going to be the case. Books like Kraken and The Fuller Memorandum make it a good year already, and there are new novels from a lot of my personal favorites coming up.  So, lots of reading to come.

I do want to ask you faithful readers a question. A while ago I did a short series of posts on books I’m looking forward to this month. I was thinking of turning that into a solo podcast thing – simply because podcasting seems so much easier right now. Does that seem a good idea? Let me know.

Anyhow, I’ll be back with more on stuff soon!

I have, as you know, been podcasting. I’m enjoying it. It’s fun and it seems to involve the least amount of preparation of any of the things I’m doing right now, so more of that. There are also a bunch of books I want to read, though I can’t seem to summon up the concentration for that lately. Hmm. Maybe I do need to go and get my prescription looked at.

1. Intro
2. Subterranean Magazine [00.45 secs]
3. Making a living as a freelance anthologist [03:00 mins]

I make particular mention of fine new stories by Maureen F. McHugh, Tom Holt and Gord Sellar at Subterranean Magazine, a publication and publisher well worth your support.

ETA: Download link fixed.

• audio blog entry the first

The good folk at Subterranean Press have started publishing my special guest-edited issue of Subterranean Magazine (Spring 2010). First up is “The Naturalist” by Maureen F. McHugh, and there’s a lot more to come.  I loved working on the issue, and am delighted to see it getting out into the world. Keep an eye out on the Subterranean site.

I’ll be honest: with an aching back and shoulders I couldn’t face it, so I suggested we ignore for now the seven or eight cartons of hardcovers that needed to be sorted which were sitting in my office and that we not integrate the front room books with the office books.  What this means is that we now have A-Z hardcovers up to about 2000 in our lounge room and A-Z hardcovers from 2001 to the present in my office, with all of the paperbacks fully sorted, along with some boxes that still need dealing with some time soon-ish. This is not ideal, but it is a lot better.  There is neatness and order on the shelves, and my office is coming out of its eighteen-month long state of chaos that started when we emptied our front room and turned it into a lounge.  True: not all of the books are out, and they’re not all integrated. Next time for that.

The hurriedly announced sale of books happened yesterday and some friends came over and relieved of us a small number of books (thank you Alisa, Nick and Amanda) and a large number of galleys (thank you Russ and Liz!). Today we will hopefully see a few more go. After that I need to find boxes for probably two bookcases full of books until our preferred second-hand dealer comes back from holidays in mid-June to relieve of us of them. We might even be able to get them into a family member’s garage for a while. Anything to keep them out of my office.

And  now? Well, having lived with this for three days I now look forward to editing work increasing significantly this week before a return to work next Monday.

A sensible couple would, after three years of living together, have merged their possessions and culled the excess. We did not. Things were boxed; they went into what is now the lovely lounge in our front room. And during all this time, from 1999 to 2002 I was book reviewing. Free books rained down upon me in a way they no longer do.  From 2002 till now the arrival of review copies has slowly tapered off, offset somewhat by Marianne and I continuing to buy books.  Those books have gone into cupboards, on top of shelves, anywhere they could. They have not, since probably mid-2002 been integrated and Marianne’s books have never been fully integrated with mine. Now, we did do something of a cull of the books last year, around June. These all went to a friend who was starting up a second-hand book business, but we didn’t attempt organisation or anything like it, and there were still fifteen cartons of books stacked in the corner of my office (I will post photos later).

Well, yesterday at around 9am, filled with fear, Marianne and I commenced culling the book collection and organising it. We went through the six large book cases in the front lounge room, the four large book cases in the family room (two are full of kids’ stuff), the seven large book cases in my office, the two small ones in our bedroom, and the fifteen boxes in my office too.  My brother came over to join us at around 7pm last night. By the time he left we had located all of the ‘A’ format mass market paperbacks, sorted them into alphabetical order, re-culled them, and then shelved them. We need to get some more shelving this morning, but that part is done. Today we’ll head over to IKEA for the  additional shelves, then we need to integrate the hardcovers, re-cull them, and re-shelve them. This is made both easier and harder because about half of the hardcovers (mostly my old collection) are all alphabetised and shelved.  We need to get all the others together, sort and alphabetise them, cull them, then integrate and shelve them.  Yay.

To say this has been painful is an understatement.  Just a day after the house was cleaned and we had the ‘appearance’ of order, we have relative chaos.  We’re going to have chaos for at least another day or so.  By Monday, though, we should have all of the books sorted, ordered and culled.  We have friends coming over Sunday afternoon who might want to buy some of the books. After that they get boxed and stored until our second-hand bookshop friend has another look (that won’t be till June, though).

Oh, and the copy-edited manuscript of an anthology arrived in my email needing checking just this morning, I have a batch of Locus editing to do, and there’s taxes too. I guess holidays are over.

2010 – Anthologies etc.

1. The Best Science Fiction and Fantasy of the Year: Volume 4, Night Shade Books, March 2010, tpb
2. Special issue of Subterranean Online, Subterranean Press, April 2010
3. Swords and Dark Magic: The New Sword and Sorcery, (with Lou Anders), HarperCollins Publishers, New York July 2010, tpb; Subterranean Press, July 2010, Ltd ed. hc
4. Legends of Australian Fantasy, (with Jack Dann), HarperCollins Publishers Australia, Sydney, July 2010, tpb
5. Wings of Fire, (with Marianne S. Jablon), Night Shade Books, July 2010
6. Godlike Machines, The Science Fiction Book Club, New York, August 2010, hc
7. Phantasmagoria and Madness: Tales from the Steampunk Century, (with Bill Shafer), Subterranean Press, 2010
8. Eclipse Four, Night Shade Books, October 2010

2010 – Author collections edited.

1. Mirror Kingdoms: The Best of Peter S. Beagle, Subterranean Press, March 2010, hc
2. The Best of Fritz Leiber, (with Charles N. Brown), Night Shade Books, April 2010, hc
3. The Green Leopard Plague and Other Stories, Walter Jon Williams, Night Shade Books, April 2010, hc
4. Hard Luck Diggings: The Early Jack Vance, (with Terry Dowling), Subterranean Press, June 2010, hc
5. The Best of Kim Stanley Robinson, Kim Stanley Robinson, Night Shade Books, August 2010, hc
6. The Best of Larry Niven, Subterranean Press, 2010, hc
7. The Best of Joe Haldeman, Subterranean Press, December 2010, hc

And we did.  The accommodation was exactly right – kudos to Marianne for that – so we really only needed to relax and enjoy. We ate takeaway, went down a cave, up a lighthouse, swam in a freezingly cold swimming pool frequented by the local duck population, wandered up to the local bakery some mornings for almond croissants, down to the beach to watch winter take hold on some staggeringly beautiful mornings and evenings (Geographe Bay is stunning), and reconnected as a family away from the dominating influence of the online world.

Did I get away from work? No! Of course not. It’s too soon for that.  Wednesday afternoon I ducked onto the internet for 10 minutes, which allowed me to resolve an unknown editing crisis, Thursday I spent 10 minutes going over a book contract, and even went in search of a payphone so I could buy us plane tickets for Melbourne and WorldCon (we’re booked!).  But I didn’t do much. I did less.  And I felt refreshed for it.  I even read a novel (for fun!).

It was ridiculous that it took me days to unwind to the point where I could. The first two days I picked books up and put them down, fiddled, and I even listed to a third of Terry Pratchett’s Wintersmith as an audiobook, but by Friday I was relaxed enough to pick up Guy Gavriel Kay’s staggeringly good UNDER HEAVEN – a historical fantasy set in 8th Century China – and when I did I adored it.  Kay is a wonderful, wonderful writer and this is his best book.  For three days I simply drank it down, and was sad to get to the end of it.  I was given a proof by my dear friend Theresa at HarperCollins, but will be making a point of buying a final copy because it’s so awesome.

We got home on Tuesday afternoon to a beautifully clean house (thanks mum!) and have spent the last couple days spinning our wheels, playing with friends and not quite getting ready for back to school (and work). The girls are back at school next Tuesday and I’m off till the end of the month. I’ll pick up the editing in earnest next week, but for now I’m happy to putter.  There’s taxes to finish, two books to work on, but also some gardening to do and we might even take on the ‘book problem’.

One odd thing is that I’ve been toying with the idea of podcasting. There’s no doubt in my mind this has to do with my close encounters with both Tony C. Smith and with the Galactic Suburbia triumvirate, but it could be fun. I’m not up to date with the mechanics of it, and I’m not sure I really want to host something, but if I could get some Locus chums to chat about SF, with maybe a few guests, it could be swell. Yes?

Fritz Leiber: Selected Stories Edited by Charles N. Brown and Jonathan Strahan. Night Shade (Diamond, dist.), $24.95 (364p) ISBN 978-1-59780-180-5

The versatility of SFWA Grand Master Leiber (1910–1992) is ably demonstrated by these 17 superb stories, each of which has “wonder blazing at its core.” “Smoke Ghost” places a classic ghost story in a modern urban setting, while the dread in “Coming Attraction” reflects the uneasiness of the cold war. The powerful “Gonna Roll the Bones” explores man’s compulsion toward self-destruction, while a different archetype is revealed in “The Girl with the Hungry Eyes,” which reveals the vampiric seduction of modern consumerism. There are three tales of adventurous rogues Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser, including the Nebula Award–winning “Ill Met in Lankhmar,” in which youthful derring-do leads to heart-wrenching tragedy. Longtime fans and new readers alike will treasure this accessible and wide-ranging collection. (June)

We took the girls to the US to visit relatives in 2002 and again in 2006, and spent a week with visiting inlaws in Dunsborough about two years ago. But other than that, we’ve not taken a simple, no hassles holidays since the girls were born, and I’ve not had a break without some kind of editorial work to do since 1999. Eleven years. That’s too long.

So, for the next week I’ll be gone, incommunicado, offline and unavailable. I’m not taking the laptop with me, and I don’t plan to check email. If you need anything to do with my editing please contact either my agent, Howard Morhaim, or the people at Locus .  I’ll be back in a while, refreshed and ready to go, but for just a little while I’m kicking back and taking it easy. See you soon!

Note: This doesn’t mean the house will be unattended. We have a housesitter and my mother will be here all the time overseeing maintenance etc.

I am also over the moon that Tony C Smith’s Starship Sofa is up for Best Fanzine. I love the podcast and dug myself out of bed at 4.30am this morning to appear on their Hugo Special. Go check it out. We had enormous fun and Tony is a very deserving nominee (the first ever podcast!).  Oh, and congratulations to Fred Pohl and Jack Vance for making the ballot again! It’s really exciting. So much fine work, so many wonderful nominees, and so many friends involved (apologies to any I didn’t mention, but congratulations!!!)

As promised, here’s the table of contents for Wings of Fire, the mammoth reprint anthology of dragon stories that Marianne and I delivered to Night Shade Books recently. There’s a lot of feverish work going on in the background so this book can make it’s late-April print date and June pub date, but we’re very happy with the final book. You can pre-order it now, should you be so-inclined. [Please note: the cover at right is not final.  The image is - and it's awesome - but author names and editor credits etc need to be updated.]

Wings of Fire
Jonathan Strahan and Marianne S. Jablon eds.

Introduction, Jonathan Strahan and Marianne S. Jablon

1. Stable of Dragons [poem], Peter S. Beagle
2. The Rule of Names, Ursula Le Guin
3. The Ice Dragon, George RR Martin
4. Sobek [original to the book], Holly Black
5. King Dragon, Michael Swanwick
6. The Laily Worm, Nina Kiriki Hoffman
7. The Harrowing of the Dragon of Hoarsbreath , Patricia A McKillip
8. The Bully and the Beast, Orson Scott Card
9. Concerto Accademico, Barry Malzberg
10. The Dragon’s Boy, Jane Yolen
11. The Miracle Aquilina [original to the book], Margo Lanagan
12. Orm the Beautiful, Elizabeth Bear
13. Weyr Search, Anne McCaffrey
14. Paper Dragons, James P Blaylock
15. Dragon’s Gate, Pat Murphy
16. In Autumn, A White Dragon Looks Over The Wide River, Naomi Novik
17. St Dragon and the George, Gordon R. Dickson
18. The Silver Dragon, Elizabeth A. Lynn
19. The Dragons of Summer Gulch, Robert Reed
20. Berlin, Charles de Lint
21. Draco, Draco, Tanith Lee
22. The Dragon on the Bookshelf, Harlan Ellison & Robert Silverberg
23. Gwydion and the Dragon, C.J. Cherryh
24. The George Business, Roger Zelazny
25. Dragon’s Fin Soup, S.P Somtow
26. The Man Who Painted the Dragon Griaule, Lucius Shepard

Gregory Bridges for the forthcoming anthology, Legends of Australian Fantasy, edited with Jack Dann.

I’ve not posted about this book much of late (well, I’ve not posted that much of late), but Jack Dann and I have, along with the good folk at HarperSydney been putting the finishing touches on LEGENDS OF AUSTRALIAN FANTASY.  We’ve just got the final cover in from Greg Bridges, and it’s a peach. The book features some terrific stories by some of Australia’s best known fantasy writers and will be out in June 2010.  The table of contents for the book is:

Introduction: Homegrown Legends, Jonathan Strahan and Jack Dann

1. To Hold the Bridge: An Old Kingdom Story, Garth Nix
2. The Mad Apprentice: A Black Magician Story, Trudi Canavan
3. ’Twixt Firelight and Water: A Tale of Sevenwaters, Juliet Marillier
4. The Dark Road: An Obernewtyn Story, Isobelle Carmody
5. Crown of Rowan: A Tale of Thrysland, Kim Wilkins
6. The Spark (A Romance in Four Acts): A Tale of the Change, Sean Williams
7. The Corsers’ Hinge: A Lamplighter Tale, D M Cornish
8. Tribute to Hell: A Tale of the Tainted Realm, Ian Irvine
9. A Captain of the Gate, John Birmingham
10. The Magic Word, Jennifer Fallon
11. The Enchanted: A Tale of Erith, Cecilia Dart-Thornton

About the Editors

Why am I telling you this? Partly because I’d like to apologise for any delays in correspondence anyone dealing with me may be experiencing, partly because this is my blog and I’m allowed to whine if I want to (I checked, it’s in the blogging terms and conditions). I do know there are people out there with a lot of serious medical problems, and I’m not equating my position to theirs: I’m just not really very well right now.

I was cooking dinner, and waiting for Marianne and Sophie to get home safely, which they did, when I thought I’d better call my mother. It was planned she’d babysit for the evening because we were going out.  Well. Things weren’t going as well for her.  The rain had dropped where she was too, was pouring down her driveway and into her garage, and was threatening to flood her entire house. I could tell from the edge of panic in her voice that she simply wasn’t coping with what was happening, so I jumped in the car and drove over (after trying to contact my sister, who lives on the same street).

By the time I arrived a neighbour had popped over to see if mum was ok, had found the street gutters blocked and cleared them, had found the garage gutters blocked and cleared them, and the water was subsiding.  The house was safe, but the garage (which was full of stuff) was water damaged.  It had also shaken mum pretty badly.  Mum’s always been the pragmatic, practical one who could triage a situation and get things fixed quickly.  She’s now older, and I think needs more help because things like this tend to flummox her.  We ended up spending a bit of time cleaning up and draining the water away, before I headed home.  We’d decided after a quick confab that the girls would visit Nan’s, my sister and her partner would come over, and we’d go to see Lyle Lovett.

The girls were excited by this. We dropped them round at about 6.30pm to find everything stabilised, and headed to the Concert Hall.  Traffic was at a terrible standstill on the way out of the city, but our journey there and back was uneventful.  Support act Kasey Chambers was fine, if a bit raucous, while Lovett and his Large Band were spectacularly good. It’d been a while since we’d listened to his stuff, so we mostly didn’t know the two and a half hours of music they played, but it was mordant, melancholy, sometimes funny, and sometimes rowdy: A fine evening and a concert well worth the trouble of attending.

We picked up the girls at around 11.30pm and had them in bed, sleepy, not long after. I then opted to sleep in and grab a cab to get to work. The longest commute I’ve yet had, and the most expensive cab ride. Traffic lights were out, trees destroyed and goodness knows what property damage.

I’m now flying solo at work and everyone’s keeping an eye on the weather.  Whew!

Oh, and Marianne put up some zoo trip photos which are nice.

I then sat down to read for a bit, looking for something to follow the novel-that-can’t-be-named. I’m in the mood for some SF and haven’t been able to settle on anything since. In the end I found myself re-reading an old favorite, C.J. Cherryh’s Downbelow Station.  It has the tough-edged space opera feel that I’m in the mood for, annd seemed to hit the spot. I may abandon it if pressures to read other things grow, but for now it’s just the right thing. 

The evening was whiled away with Cherryh, the new cds, and some cricket from India.  Saturday, though, was different. Last weekend I’d promised Sophie that if we skipped going to the park then we could go to the zoo this weekend.  Well, promises are made to be kept.  We opted not to tell Jessica, who is afraid of animals, our destination, and that proved a wise choice.  She wasn’t thrilled when we got there, but in the end had a good time she wouldn’t otherwise have let herself have. The weather was perfect, and we wandered idly around seeing ghost bats, lions, lemurs, kangaroos, and penguins(!).  Sophie rode the Carousel, we had lunch, and walked a lot. It was fine day.

We got home late, collapsed for a while, then grabbed pizza before Family Movie Night. The film was typically execrable, but didn’t change what had been a good day.  Sunday was Tax Day.  In amongst meals, I basically spent six hours sorting papers so that I’m now ready to start the 2008/2009 taxes.  We’re going out tonight to see Lyle Lovett, so I’ll probably do them in dribs and drabs over Wednesday and Thursday evening. Yay.  The main thing, though, is that April Holidays Approacheth, so I want taxes done and everything else up to date by then. 

And just to repeat: come April 2 I’m on holidays for a month.  For the first time ever this means I’m not just on holidays from the day job, I’m on holidays from EVERYTHING. I shan’t be editing, reviewing or anything.  Emails shall go unanswered (unchecked!), and the days shall be spent relaxing and not worrying about such things.  I’ll check in again on around April 20, but between the beginning of the month and then I shall be absent.  We’re spending a week away on a family holiday (while my mum’s at our house), then time back in Perth with the kids, and then I even get a week or so when the kids are back at school and  I’m just whiling away time.  It should be glorious.

The only thing, apart from taxes, that is harshing my mellow right now is my right ear. It’s been blocked for nearly three weeks. I saw a doctor last Wednesday, after I spent some time throwing up, but things haven’t improved much.  I have tinnitus and can’t hear well. It feels blocked, though there’s no wax there. It’s almost certainly an inner ear infection. Gack.  I want to get it cleared up as soon as I can, so if it doesn’t improve tomorrow, then back to the doctors.

In the meantime I turned my attention to WorldCon and flight/hotel bookings.  Some friends of ours are staying in an apartment hotel, and we may well stay there. We are also considering the Hilton, which has some very nice apartments too.  Dollars are a big consideration, though. I was annoyed to discover that room rates went up while we pondered, so we’ll push to get this, and airfares I suppse, dealt with soon. This means nudging a few people out there to pay some bills so we can, but this is the life of everyone so I while I’m complaining, I’m not complaining (if you know what I mean).

Now the Wings of Fire is done Marianne is about to get started on cyberpunk research, while I get taxes done. Once taxes are done, then it’s our April holiday (yay!!!), most of the rest of the year will be occupied with Engineering Infinity (June), Eclipse Four (July), The Best of Joe Haldeman, and The Best Science Fiction and Fantasy of the Year: Volume 5 (November). That should see us through till December, when I think I might close the editing doors for a little while for Christmas (that’s assuming we’re on schedule!). Then it’ll be Locus end of year stuff and Under My Hat.  A busy year, but quieter than last.

With all that in mind, I actually read a book this week. I can’t tell you what it was, but I really enjoyed it.  I also picked up a few cds, and tried to watch some cricket.  Taxes, however, are most on my mind now.  How I don’t love them.

Initially I just asked Marianne to help with paperwork, but as time passed and we got deeper and deeper into the project I realised that she was co-editing the book in all but name, so I thought that should be corrected. It’s our first co-edited project, and I doubt it’ll be our last.  She has great taste and is diligent at times when I might be asleep at the wheel, so Wings of Fire is going to be a lot stronger because of her involvement.

Where are we otherwise? Well, the stories are contracted, the story notes and introduction are written, and the various bits of interstitial material have been created.  We’re currently juggling the running order of the book, but once that’s finalised (and we’ll go right down to the wire), we’ll be done. The book is due at Night Shade on Monday, and we’re definitely going to make that deadline.

I’ve no doubt some of you would love to see the table of contents for the book, and I’d love to oblige, but we’re not quite ready. Give us till early next week, when we’ve delivered the final manuscript, and we’ll post it here. I think you’re going to be impressed. I know I’m very happy with how the book has developed.

The third instalment of Lois’s reviews just went up (they’re appearing three times each month*) and she looks at:

• Asimov’s, April/May 2010
• Analog, May 2010
• Clarkesworld, March 2010
• Apex Magazine, March 2010
• Electric Velocipede, Fall 2009

 You can also see her first two columns here and here.

* ETA: I originally thought Lois’s reviews were going up weekly. It’s since been confirmed they go up three times per month.

And over the years it became clear that not only was she sweet and kind and generous, she was tough and smart and talented, so when I heard she was writing an novel for my buddies over at Night Shade I was delighted.  The book, The Loving Dead, is only a few months away now.  It’s a zombie romance and I’m going to read just as soon as I can, but you can read it now (or at least start to) over at ameliabeamer.com. It’s a first novel, Connie Willis called it “a rollercoaster ride of a read” and it does have girls, zombies and zeppelins, along with a whole lot of other goodness.  What are you waiting for!?

I should also mention John Joseph Adams and David Barr Kirtley’s The Geeks Guide to the Galaxy which is often interesting and is also worth listening too.

However, something did occur to me yesterday when I was doing a bit of business for Wings of Fire, and it was this. Manage your digital assets. It does not matter whether you are just starting your career, whether you’re in the middle of your career, or whether you feel your career is reaching a conclusion – there is ALWAYS value in having clean, digital copies of your work.

What prompted this was that I briefly was considering asking for permission to reprint Jack Vance’s fine novelette, “The Dragon Masters”, in my book. Time is short, the manuscript is due with the publisher in a couple weeks but I knew, because of the fine efforts of the Vance Integral Edition people, that Vance has clean digital copy of all of his works. If I wanted to include the story and he agreed to it, then it would be a simple matter to do so.

Contrast this to many, many writers who have no digital copies of their work whatsoever. I have contacted writer after writer for many projects, and the number of times that I’ve been amazed to find out that they have no digital copies of their work, despite it only having appeared quite recently, is shocking.

Now, you might say that from a writer’s perspective this is a publisher’s problem. And it is, but it’s not. You see every time someone reprints your work you get paid. It is literally, like the old song says, money for nothing and chicks for free. Someone asks to reprint your story; you say yes, you get paid. However, if your story is unavailable digitally that can be a real disincentive. There’s a cost in scanning, proofing and checking text. Sometimes, when digital copy is unavailable, it’s simply more economical to go elsewhere.

Beyond the financial incentive, making your work easy to reprint can increase the likelihood of it being reprinted. Go check some day how much more of Jack Vance’s work is available, and in clean nice copies, now that the VIE has done its job than was formerly in print. It also means less work for you in the long run. Should your work BE reprinted, there’ll be less checking of proofs and such because your text will be clean.   So, is it a pain to keep digital copies of your fiction, tracking changes through editions and so on, and then keeping it in an accessible format – yes!! Is it in your best interests? Definitely!

Cyberpunk. In the early 1980s Interzone called for a “new science fiction” and a small group of writers in North America responded, starting a Movement that focussed on high tech and low life that used information technology and cybernetics, but took them out of the lab and onto the street where anyone could pick them up, recycle and reuse them.

The fiction was gritty, typically dark and dystopic, and in the mid-1980s, utterly thrilling. Writers like William Gibson, Bruce Sterling, Pat Cadigan, John Shirley, Lewis Shiner and others pushed the envelope and cyberpunk evolved into only the second true literary movement in the history of science fiction (after the New Wave).

In 1986 Bruce Sterling edited Mirrorshades, the definitive anthology of cyberpunk fiction. It featured just a dozen stories, all of which sketched out in one way or another, what cyberpunk was and what it meant. In some cases the authors weren’t cyberpunks per se, but the work in question very much was.

I’ve just accepted the challenge from Jeremy Lassen at Night Shade Books to, a quarter century later, follow in Bruce’s footsteps and edit a new anthology that will cast its net wider and deeper, and give a fuller picture of what the cyberpunk movement was and what it meant to the field. The anthology, which is still untitled (though I’m referring to it as Cyberpunk at the moment), is due out in 2012.

What I am doing now, though, is asking you to recommend your favourite cyberpunk story using my Cyberpunk Fiction Database. I am looking for recommendations for short stories, novels, and anthologies, and am considering any cyberpunk story, no matter when it was published.  I am especially interested in / looking for recommendations for work by women, people of colour and others.  Cyberpunk was mostly a white male phenomenon, but I’m eager to present as full a picture of this important movement as possible.  Anyone recommending a story will be acknowledged in the final book. I’ve put some recommendations in myself, just to get things started.  You can see what’s already in the database here.

The reason that I’m so confident about this is because moving my Outlook email from one machine was, once again, a drama. At a time when I needed to be working on various projects I suddenly had to deal with not having computers accessible and then trying to manage 31,748 emails that weren’t quite where they should be. (sigh)

Still, that is done now.  I now need to look into (a) network storage and (b) the wireless network.  This last set of problems has made it clear that since “Jonathan and Marianne’s Editing Inc” depends on our computer network then it needs to be better managed and regularly backed-up in a safe manner.  I’m looking into that (Netgear’s Stora seems a possibility).  Marianne also continues to experience wireless network connectivity issues, so it looks like that’s going to have to be dealt with too. So, more dollars.

I think what makes this so much fun is that  it’s happening at the same time I need to finish up on Wings of Fire (lots to do and its due 18 March), write copy for the Niven collection, and get ready for taxes.  And all of that has to be done by 2 April, cos we are going on holiday, people, and I will be offline for the whole time. Busy business indeed!

I also noted that Tor.com have persuaded my pal and colleage Lou Anders to get his geek on and talk about Michael Moorcock as part of their celebrations of all things Moorcockian.

And finally, the latest issue of Clarkesworld is online.  The March issue features fiction by Gord Sellar and Matthew Kressel, along with a conversation with Kij Johnson and a piece on neuroscience fiction and neuroscience fantasy.  Clarkesworld has developed into a terrific magazine and I’ve become a real fan of Gord Sellar’s fiction. Check it out!

The March 2010 issue is Issue # 590. I don’t know why I was motivated to look, but I checked out the back issue information, and the first issue I wrote reviews for was the August 1997 issue (#439).  So that’s something like 151 issues of the magazine I’ve been involved with over a close to 13 year period.  It’s probably a little closer to 156 because I started as ‘Visiting Editor’ in about April.

It’s been a long and interesting ride working for Locus. I’ve gone through pretty much every emotion with it, and I’m still pleased to see a new issue hit the stands.  I’ve made life-long friends, traveled, and had wonderful experiences simply because I’ve been involved with it. And, of course, I met my wife at their 1993 WorldCon table.

Of course, it’s a hungry beast, Locus.  I’m doing edits on the April columns now, assigning books for May and June, and have thoughts for the September issue.  I’m even taking notes for next February’s ‘year in review’.  It’s a heck of thing.

Now, what I’m guessing has happened is that when I created a final backup of my main email files (these are .pst files in Outlook) the central file was corrupted. When we tried to import it into Outlook on the new build of the new computer Outlook would not recognise the file. It insisted it was invalid.

After a little research I ran a repair tool over the mailbox and this morning Outlook opened it. All of the folder structure is lost. Now if this were any other email record that would be annoying but not appalling, but losing all folder structure on a little over 29,000 email messages covering a ten year period is a little like someone walking into an organised office and unleashing a whirlwind.

I’m not entirely sure how I’m going to proceed from here. I have quite a number of book projects on the go, and my taxes need to be confronted shortly (as always, I’m late with this – these are my 2008/2009 taxes). I’m tempted to simply take all of the emails out of the ‘recovered folders’, put them in a single folder called ‘old email’ and move on. If I do that, though, I’m going to need to seriously consider how I want to move forward on email organisation.

In the meantime, my apologies for any delays in responding to things or delays in getting things organised. I’m sorting out my information as fast as I can. I should add this mostly affects accessing old record. I may have to ask some people for new copies of recent attached files, but that’s about all.

Instead I was tripped at the outset by the death of Windows 7 RC1 on our home network. This was somewhat foolishly installed when we built the new home network last year, with the notion that upgrading fro RC1 to the final version would be simple. Oh foolishness!  Two of the three machines need stripped back to the basic hard drive and built back from scratch.  Oh joy!  The ever-faithful Gordon is supervising this process, but it’s taken time, a bit more grief than expected, and we’re still awaiting reports on possible data loss. I also continue to fight against upgrading to the new version of MS Office which is a horrible videogame pretending to be a piece of Mac software in drag.   A priority before June will be the acquisition of external backup capability.

We also continued to be somewhat sapped by the heatwave which has continuing to grip Perth. I believe summer is technically over.  This effectively means that, even though the daily maximum temperatures continue at over 38C (100F) we shall call it Autumn (or Fall, dear Usians) and simply run the airconditioning a bit cooler. I find myself watching weather forecasts for other cities and entertaining daydreams of moving.

I don’t know whether it was the heat or something else, but I slept extremely poorly on Friday and Saturday nights, which meant that by Sunday I was something of a zombie too.  Still, last night was much better. I’m a bit tired, but much, much more functional, which is promising for a productive day today. I’m hoping to get the home network running today, get copy written for a Larry Niven book and some other things.

Now, you must be thinking: poor Jonathan, no ‘awesome’ in his weekend. Well, that is not the case. There definitely was some awesome. I continue to read the ‘no-I-can’t-tell-you-what-it-is-but-it’s-terrific’ novel and find myself struggling to pull away from it. I also headed out on Saturday evening to a delightful dinner with Garth Nix, who was visiting Perth. Marianne, Robin, Toula, Stef, Janet, Nick and Amanda met up with Garth at a Vietnamese place and talked about all sorts of things till late.  I then met up with Garth on Sunday for lunch to talk life, publishing, writing and so on. It was a very enjoyable time.  I gave him an ARC of Swords and Dark Magic, which he was pleased to get (though the cover got another mixed reaction).  He and I don’t see enough of each other, so it was a great time.

I was feeling seedy last night though, so I sat quietly in the front room with the new big speakers (which I have not mentioned here but which are BIG and SPEAKERS and AWESOME) and listened to a little Vangelis before grabbing an early night.  Up at 5.30am this morning and enjoying some quiet now before the day starts.  Onward!

It’s 6.20am here. I’ve been awake since about 3.30am, though for no especially good reason. I woke up, my mind started nagging at some potential issues and that was it. I tossed, I turned, I got up, I went back to bed.  I did everything except sleep. I even did some data backup from my current PC to get ready for the Windows upgrade, which for no logical reason has been going round and round in my mind.

More soon…

It wasn’t an especially smooth transition, to be honest.  We decided to add Windows 7 to the new machines and, since it was available, used the official Release Candidate 1 (RC1) for this purpose.  We tried the new version of Office, but rolled back to the 2003 version almost immediately because the new version of Office is a horrible amalgamation of Mac-esque features with a Windows product and, frankly, just pissed me off. When I use MS Word I want MS Word. It’s like being a blacksmith and wanting a hammer.  I need to hit things – in this case words – and I know what I want to hit them with, and it doesn’t come with effing ribbons.

Anyhows, we brought in the new machines, we implemented Windows 7. I learnt to live with the annoyance of the new desktop not talking to the old MacBook and things slowly settled down. Till now.  RC1, for those who don’t know, expires in March. You have to buy an official copy of Windows 7 and you’ll be right.  Fine. I don’t begrudge MS their $$s for their product. It’s expensive developing software and since I have the product I’ll pay for it.

BUT.  But it turns out that to upgrade from Windows 7 Release Candidate 1 to Windows 7 you have to reinstall the operating system. Not put in a license key (like any sane effing product), not run a disk in the disk drive to add a few extra files, but backup all your data, reformat the hard drive, reinstall the OS, put your data back on your machine, and then go through all of the damn customisations you spent the last few months getting just right again because these people have taken such a ridiculous attitude.

To say I am pissed off at Microsoft is an understatement.  I’ll do the re-install etc (well, Gordon will) this weekend and we’ll see how it goes, but if it’s a horrorshow I’ve bought my last Windows based product. I’ve had three years running a MacBook and I’m pretty comfortable with Apple, so it’s not a major cost to move on.  What a clusterfuck.

Kraken by China Mieville

I attended every Swancon for the next twenty years, and then became an occasional attendee as work and family life demanded more of my time. However, despite that I’ve usually wanted to attend each year and have enjoyed the times when I’ve been able to.

I was greatly disturbed, therefore, to hear increasing reports that Swancon was not a safe place: not safe for women, not safe for children, and often not even a place where people could express their thoughts without fear of censure or judgement.   It seemed to me, as I discussed this with a friend, that here was a problem that people like me needed to own, to do something about.  And the way to do something is not to point to other people, to name convention committees as people who should do things, or whatever (though those things may have a place).  It’s for people like me (and you, if you attend conventions) to stand up and speak out against unacceptable behaviours, to be present and to make convention environments as safe a space as they reasonably can be.

I mention this now because I was appalled to read a little while ago about the case reported on Crankynick’s blog about a woman who had been raped at a Swancon by someone she’d met at a Swancon. Apparently the perpetrator has admitted that he has done this and is unrepentant.  I don’t know enough of the details to know what happened, and in this instance, I’m not sure I need to know more than I do.  An attendee at a convention has been grievously treated and the person who did this has admitted it.  That, it seems to me, is completely unacceptable in modern society (or damned well should be).

Crankynick suggests on  this blog that we need to say this in public and private:

This man is not welcome at SwanCon.  If he attends he’s going to have a shit time. We will shun and ignore him for the most part, and humiliate him in public if that’s what it takes. If he attends alone he will stay that way, and if he attends with friends they too will be shunned and ignored while they continue to publicly support a man who has sexually assaulted a member of our community. The victim of this assault is not to blame, shouldn’t have to deal with this on her own, and shouldn’t even have to goddam ask for our support.

I join Nick in this.  This story is appalling (details are here). The man who has done this is not welcome.  The behaviour he has engaged in must not be tolerated. To the extent that I am involved in conventions I agree: this man is not ‘one of my people’, he is not someone I want near me, my family or anyone else. I reject him and call on you to do this same.

I would also apologise to Logansrogue, who I don’t think I’ve ever met, for how badly we have failed her and others like her.  If Swancons — if any science fiction conventions — are to continue it must be on the basis that it is understood that this will NOT be tolerated.

As to what I mean when I say say ‘safe space’ – I mean somewhere any person can go and not feel like they will be physically or emotionally harmed.  Plainly Swancon has not been that kind of place.

ETA: It was pointed out to me that the events related did not occur at a Swancon, though the people in question did meet at a Swancon. While it’s important to be factually correct, this does not change the point at all.

In amongst the beer, laughter and doing an online interview for Conflux’s Minicon, I agreed to do three books for Night Shade. One was a reprint anthology of dragon stories, Wings of Fire, and one was a ‘best of’ volume of stories by the late, great Fritz Leiber. I remember sitting there and looking across the table and realising that Charles had to be involved with the Leiber book. He’d known Fritz well, and knew his work intimately. I also wanted a chance to work on something with him again, just as thing for friends to be doing.

Jeremy was enthusiastic about the idea, and Charles was too. The very next day he arranged for us to have dinner with Fritz’s agent and, before we’d got to dessert, we were set. Charles and I would select the stories, and Charles would ask Neil Gaiman if he’d do the introduction. The paperwork took a little while, as it always, does, but Charles and I began back and forthing on the length of the book, possible contents etc etc.

As I recall, we’d got to an almost final list of stories when I got the phone call from Liza that Charles had died. It threw the project into something of a loop for me for a while, but when things had settled I looked over the list we had and made, I think, one change. I also did some shuffling in running order, which was revised again following a helpful note from Marty Halpern.

 And now, a year and a half after that first conversation Fritz Leiber: Selected Stories is complete. Night Shade has just released the cover, which I love, and the book itself should be out in April. I’m very, very proud of the book, and am happy to have it stand as something of an end note to a long friendship that a valued very highly.  And should anyone ever wonder, it was very much a collaboration, right to the end. I wish Charles had lived to see the book done, but I’m glad it exists and that we did it together. I’m also grateful to Jeremy and the Shade for their work on it, and to Liza and the Locus gang who helped with the book at the end.

Vance, who lives in Oakland, California, is now ninety-three years old and writes very little. However, in 2009 he made an enormous exception to a writer’s life that has seen him consistently reluctant to comment on his work or on his life.  That exception was the wonderful short autobiography This is Me, Jack Vance! (Or, More Properly, This Is “I”).  The book is revelatory without being confessional, and tells of a long and interesting life, without ever giving away too much about what drives Vance as a writer. I think it seriously deserves your consideration for the Hugo Award in the Best Related Work category.

Full disclosure. I met Jack Vance once, when I visited his home for coffee and conversation.  He was a charming host.  I have also co-edited four volumes of his work for Subterranean Press, who also published the autobiography.

Regardless of that, I think Vance deserves at least a Hugo nod for his important book, and can’t help feeling that a win would be appropriate after all these years.

In truth, I don’t have a strong opinion on this and I certainly don’t want to advocate for the inclusion or exclusion of anything from any category.  Instead I’d simply direct people to the Hugo rules, which are contained in the WSFS Constitution and to this comment on recent changes to those rules by Hugo Administrator Vince Docherty in File 770.

My own feeling is that if the laws of the WSFS suggest that a podcast can be considered as a fanzine then I’m very happy to nominate StarShip Sofa.  I’m also very happy to leave decisions on such matters to the Hugo Administrator, and to suggest that if  people feel strongly that the rules are amiss that they should become involved in the WSFS process and work to change the rules.

I’m perhaps happiest that everyone seems to agree that StarShip Sofa is a worthy potential Hugo nominee, even if they can’t quite agree into what round hole its square peg should fit into.

Just the month before last the indefatigable scribes at The Word reviewed former Go-Betweens frontman Robert Forster’s book of essays, The Ten Rules of Rock and Roll and I was sufficiently interested that I picked up a copy at the greatest independent bookstore in Australia, Planet.  The book was smart and witty and perceptive, so I decided to keep an eye out for more from Forster. 

It turns out that he reviews for The Monthly, where Australian SF writer John Birmingham also appears fairly regularly.  Being a 21st Century kind of magazine, The Monthly makes all of its content available online for free a month or so after the print issue has been and gone. While I’ve now started buying The Monthly, I was delighted to get a chance to read Forster’s review/essay, “From Mop Tops To Moustaches“,  on the recently remastered Beatles catalogue.  An excellent essay and the sort of thing I’d love to see done really well in the science fiction field.

Reading Forster’s book led me directly to former Hunters & Collectors singer Mark Seymour’s book, Thirteen Tonne Theory (also obtained from Planet) which was one of the best books about life in the rock business that I’ve come across. It’s strongly recommended, even if you’ve never heard of the band.  Smart, funny, and he cut out all the dull bits. And, between these two books, I may just have had enough time off reading SF that I’m feeling like diving into some new work again, which would be terrific.

The podcast was bright and smart and funny.  I was delighted when Tony invited me to appear on it, and very disappointed when he decided to stop producing it before I could.  Now, I hear he also has a very fine audio podcast where he publishes audio versions of terrific stories, but the Sofa podcast was my favorite and I do miss it.

Now I hear that podcasts are eligible for the Hugo Award, which makes perfect sense to me, and it seems like StarShip Sofa is eligible for Best Fanzine. Produced by one man with a microphone, a Skype account, an awesome accent, and a love of SF, it should be eligible and I, for one, will be nominating Tony and the Sofa this year.

I’ll add, I don’t usually campaign for awards, but this is a little different.  A podcast up for a fanzine Hugo is a new thing, and I think we need to embrace such things, making sure the award remains relevant to what is happening in the field today.

With that in mind, I shall try to lighten up a little. Looking back at old posts I find it wasn’t at all hard just to say ‘go read’ this or ‘did you see that’, and so I shall.

Still, I’ve been lax in my reportage here.  Older projects like Eclipse Three have been receiving wonderful write-ups from the likes of Jeff VanderMeer, for which I’m hugely grateful, while new projects that were completed a while ago are starting to appear.  The Best Science Fiction and Fantasy of the Year: Volume Four is just shipping as a write, and other projects are lining up behind it.  Mirror Kingdoms: The Best of Peter S. Beagle will be out soon, and it should be followed by Fritz Leiber: Essential Stories and Walter Jon Williams’ The Green Leopard Plague and Other Stories.  Immediately after those have all hit this shelves, my special issue of Subterranean should be online, and then Swords and Dark Magic should be out.  They’ll be followed by Legends of Australian Fantasy and The Best of Kim Stanley Robinson for WorldCon in Melbourne, and then Eclipse Four for World Fantasy. I suspect The Best of Larry Niven should be out around then too.  All of which shows I’ve been busy.

I’m also tinkering with travel plans for later in the year.  I’m heading to Melbourne for WorldCon with the family (yay!)  and may be going to World Fantasy in Columbus. I just bought a membership for the latter, but am very much undecided as to whether I’ll actually make it.  We shall see.   There’s a lot more to mentin here – I hope to get it online over the next while.  As always, my apologies for the silence.

http://random-alex.livejournal.com/
http://girliejones.livejournal.com/
http://kathrynlinge.livejournal.com/
http://www.mechanicalcat.net/rachel
http://tansyrr.com/
http://editormum.livejournal.com/

I did have a good recent family birthday – sister’s partner – and have been garderning (which is weird). Still reading about Hunters & Collectors, and not about SF, but that’s almost ready to change. Always more. Oh, we had mixed health news about Jessica. More tests to follow.

I think that’s the very potted synopsis. More later.

The February issue of Locus is out now. It includes the annual recommended reading coverage, the Recommended Reading list etc etc. Some of it should be online shortly, but it’s a reasonably comprehensive coverage of science fiction and fantasy in 2009.

And yes, I do work for them. I wish there was an iPhone app for it.

ETA: The Recommended Reading list is now online.

Deborah Biancotti's Book of Endings

The winner and shortlist for the Crawford Award has been announced by the awards administator, Gary K. Wolfe.   I am delighted that my dear friend Deb Biancotti’s The Book of Endings made the shortlist. I was in Melbourne last year for the book launch and I think it’s a fine debut, and a terrific piece of book production from Twelfth Planet Press.  There was a winner of course – congratulations to Jedediah Berry for The Manual of Detection taking the gong – but this really, really pleased me.  Deb’s a fine writer and I can’t wait to see what she’s going to do next. In the meantime, all of you should go get a copy and check it out yourselves.

Why? Well, it started slowly. I got to sleep in a little (i.e. not get up at 4.30am) and then had a bit of time to shake off sleep and noodle on the laptop.  The family then arose from its distractions and I whipped up a batch of cheese omelettes for the whole tribe.  Once they’d breakfasted we retreated to various activities.  I read a little, popped out a did a tiny bit of grocery shopping, watered the flourishing new plants, arranged lunch and so on.

After a relaxed day we hit the Aurealis Awards grand-tweetage.  I really would have loved to have been in Brisbane for the Awards, showing off the tux, drinking champagne and so on, but I’d be lying if I said I didn’t have a grand time tweeting and chatting with Tansy and others as the results came out.  I was really delighted to see  Eclipse Three pick up the Best Anthology award. It’s a book that about two dozen people worked really hard on.  The writers were kind and generous, the publisher put everything they had into it, and it was in some ways just important for me.  So I was delighted.

I was also thrilled to see friends like Cat, Justin and Scott pick up awards.  Of course, every awards ceremony is bittersweet.  I had some very good friends nominated for awards (hi Alisa, Sean, Tansy, and Tehani) who were up for some excellent work (Alisa’s 12th Planet had a grand 2009 and was justifiably all over the ballot, Sean had two strong novels under consideration, and Tansy had two very good stories up as well) and I would LOVE to have had the chance to cheer them on.  I fully expect to see them and others dominating the Ditmars and featuring in the Hugos later this year, and again featuring prominently in the AAs next year.

Once the awards were done Marianne and I headed out for our 11th Anniversary dinner. Marianne had picked out the restaurant – a terrific modern Japanese place called Nine Fine Foods. We dined happily in murky candlelight and got the chance to catch up with one another in just the way that you don’t when you’re surrounded by kid chaos.  It was a lovely night.

And now? Well, it’s Sunday morning. We’re planning some kid activities, then maybe some cricket and editing for me.  It’s a long weekend and, for the first time since Christmas, I can feel my batteries recharging.

I wish I could be there with you all on what I am sure is a glittering
and glamorous BrisVegas night, but I am called upon to be on the other
side of the country celebrating a wedding anniversary, so I hope
you’ll understand.

I am genuinely delighted that Eclipse has won the Aurealis Award for
Best Anthology and would like to thank the judges, Awards’
administrator Ron Serdiuk, all of the writers, and my publisher Night
Shade Books for all of their efforts on behalf of the book, especially
Jason Williams at Night Shade who gave the series the green light and
continues to support it.

I would also like to acknowledge the advice and support I received
from my dear friend, Charles Brown, who died this past July and was
always a tireless supporter, and thank my wife Marianne and daughters
Jessica and Sophie: every moment spent working on this book was stolen
from them and I am grateful for their patience.

And a final thank you to Sean for accepting the award on my behalf.
It’s never a fun task, but it’s appreciated.  Now, please, pop some
corks on my behalf. I’ll be drinking champagne all night!

And, finally, congratulations to all of my final nominees.  I wish everyone well, and hope the night is never less than sparkling for all.

I can’t even say I’m reading. Started a few thins, but they all lie abandoned, and year’s best reading is anathema of the deepest sort. Maybe I am, at last, all gatekeepered out? Who knows. April will tell.

Till then, though, Robert Forster’s wit and thought make me wonder again, as I often do, at the sheer plod that is science fiction book reviewing. sigh.

The mighty John Berkey rocks the house with this awesome cover for the fourth in my series of year’s best anthologies for Night Shade Books. It is many, many different types of awesomeness!  You can pre-order the book, which I’m very happy with, here.  A big shout out to NS editor Jeremy Lassen, who’s overseen this rocking cover. I am delighted.

I’m sure there will be questions about the table of contents. Just as soon as my editor has accepted the manuscript for publication I will post more information here. The book should be out in 2011, I think.

As to SFnal work: progress made on Mars, which is good. No progress on end-of-year essay, which is always like pulling teeth, until it isn’t. Weird.

Almost time for Colbert Report. After that, rock show and bed. Sneurgh. That was Thursday. Considered posting on Realms of Mantasy, but it’s already been said.

As to the rest of the year: I’m hoping to change things. This is the rear of re-casting my experience into something that leaves me happier and healthier overall on 31 December than I was on 1 January. We shall see.

1. Write main volume intro for Life on Mars. Complete line edits. Prepare submission manuscript. Follow up, contract remaining stories. Deliver within two weeks!! (Evenings this week, and Sunday)
2. Write Locus year in review essay (Saturday)
3. Copyedits for The Best SF/F of the Year 4. (Tomorrow!!!)
4. Copedits for Legends of Australian Fantasy
5. Copyedits for special issue of Subterranean. Send out invoices for this.
6. Send out invoices for Hard Luck Diggings.
7. Follow up introduction for Best of Larry Niven.
8. Follow up introduction for Best of Fritz Leiber. Be sure publisher is doing scanning etc. Who is dealing with copyedits?
9. Finalise stories for dragons anthology. Contract remaining stories. Write introduction.
10. Decide about Robinson afterword.
11. Follow up stories for Eclipse 4.
12. Follow up stories for Engineering Infinity.

I also need to organise my office, get  at least thirty minutes excrcise per day, have some family time and so on. Also take deep breaths.