This is a dumb rant. I am a happy camper, but sometimes the world does exasperate just a little. I love slipstream stuff. Honest, I do. But keeping up with the publishing side of things is driving me nuts. I mean, there was a time when you could feel like you were keeping up when you only had to look out for great stories in the genre majors, some collections and anthos, and such. But now, stories are everywhere. Conjunctions always has stuff (I think they’re even doing a YA issue this year), and I just saw that there are two issues of McSweeney’s out already. And I haven’t seen them, and they don’t send out comp. copies, which means you have to buy them. Which is ok, except editing year’s bests is a fairly frugal enterprise. Arg.

I should have added this to be post below. You can find Ayelet Waldeman’s column, Living out loud over at Salon.com.

another night with too little sleep. was woken at 2.15 this morning by one of the offshoots, and just could not get back to sleep. second night running on five or less hours of sleep. grin.

this is an odd time of the year. despite appearances, like many folk i’m not always overflowing with confidence, and we’ve hit one of those annual blank spots where i’m waiting on feedback from others before continuing with projects. hopefully over the next two weeks i’ll get confirmation about the year’s best annuals, and come to terms with the annual taxes (urg), and maybe get a chance to get some household stuff sorted. who knows? it’s just an odd time of the year.

oh, one thing i meant to mention. i’m once again reconsidering this whole blog thing. it’s good, it’s fun, it’s self-indulgent, and i’m not sure if it’s a good idea. ayelet waldeman has just started a column on blogging over at salon.com where she asks just that question, so i thought i’d throw it over to you, dear reader? is this a good thing, do you want more, would you like to see other things discussed. feel free to comment, or not.

also noted: joining the party, alex irvine has now got a blog.

Charles is a good person. He’s just a good person who likes to gloat. I call him once a week, pretty much every week, so we can catch up, I can tell him how the family’s doing, he can tell me which pieces have either dropped off or just stopped working, and so on. Somewhere in there we touch on things science fictional, and yesterday he took a moment for the gloating thing. He’s in the midst of reading Kelly Link’s Magic for Beginners. But I’m happy for him. No. Really.

Via Locus Online, Lou Anders has a blog and James Patrick Kelly is getting set for the digital Hugos.

Patrick Nielsen Hayden has posted the table of contents for his new anthology, The Year’s Best Science Fiction and Fantasy for Teens, over on his website. As far as I know, it’s the first book of its kind specifically aimed at a teen audience, so I’ve been very eager to see what he and co-editor Jane Yolen have selected for their book.

Looking at the list, I have several immediate reactions. First, I think it looks like a good, strong selection of stories. The Bradley Denton and Kelly Link stories alone, make the book more than worth the price of admission. I also loved Delia Sherman’s “CATNYP” and Theodora Goss’s “The Wings of Meister Wilhelm”, and it’s an interesting idea to include a century-old piece in the book too. Second, I’ve held the belief for a while now that we needed a year’s best that blends science fiction and fantasy in a single volume. I think Jane and Patrick have done a very creditable job, especially given the length of their book. It’s very tightly edited.

Probably the only caveat I have about the book is a personal one. I read pretty much everything published in the adult market, so I’ve already read every story in the book. I had been hoping that Jane and Patrick might have been able to highlight stuff published in sources I haven’t seen, stuff from young adult collections, anthologies, magazines and so on. I know they exist, but I’ve only see a handfull of them. That said, it’s a very personal caveat. The intended audience, I suspect, won’t have seen many of these stories, and they should love them. Definitely something to buy for a teen near you, or for someone who perhaps doesn’t read enough short fiction. Oh, and the cover (by Donata, I think) is terrific.