Having returned from my lengthy travels, it occurs to me that I may not have officially released the full table of contents for my young adult fantasy anthology, Under My Hat: Tales from the Cauldron, and given that I’m fully occupied with copyedits and other things for the book, now seems like a good time.   So, here it is!

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.

The plane touched down at 3.55pm on Saturday, but I feel like I may only be finally getting home now.  Jetlag has been wearing me down less and less each day, and the sore neck I picked up at Universal Studios is slowly, slowly taking care of itself.

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.

I was struck down by a virus on Thursday, but time and aircraft wait for no-one, so this morning the family and I flew to Sydney. It’s the first leg of the long trip to New York and mostly went smoothly. There was confusion over seating, but this happens, and Sophie interrupted my movie a lot, but everyone seems to have had a good time so far. I think we’ll likely eat here in the hotel tonight, then be on our way again after a fairly simple stopover. I’ll consider it a win if I can leave this virus behind. It is odd to be here and not see any of my Sydney pals, but I suspect I shall see most of them in San Diego. Onwards!

I’m barely awake on a rainy October Tuesday morning. My office is a chaotic mess and Tracey Thorn is singing about the mess of life while my temporary tinnitus plays along. There’s a suitcase on the floor, a pile of laundry for ironing in a basket and I’m drinking coffee to get my brain going for the recording of this morning’s podcast with Gary and our special guest.  We’re going to discuss Margaret Atwood’s new collection of essays, In Other Worlds: SF and the Human Imagination, a book that provides a personal and not especially interesting view of science fiction. It’s not a bad book at all, but it felt like reading cotton wool. It left me feeling cloth-headed, and I’m not entirely sure why she wrote it, or why we’re interested in it. Perhaps the podcast will answer those questions.  If the recording works – we’re combining phone and Skype for the first time and the audio quality might be variable – it should be interesting.

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.