before you ever sell a book, before you ever really get involved in that side of things, you don’t realise how connected everything is, how well everyone knows one another, and how much it can affect things. now that i’ve been editing and publishing for a little while i’ve come to appreciate how a conversation here leads to a connection there, and before you know it you’re doing a book. it’s not some kind of club, it’s just a bush telegraph kind of thing.

with that in mind, those of us here at coode street would like to offically thank tobias s. buckell, writer extraordinaire and all-round good guy, without whom i’d probably not be doing the year’s best non-fiction book. he was the connection, he suggested talking to chris at monkeybrain, so a drink is definitely owed to him next time we’re in the same place. madison, maybe.

i think this past twelve months or so have been, on a personal level, about as difficult as any i can remember. hmmm. this weekend i have to get my 2003/2004 taxes in shape. i’m way behind, and i always get in a state about doing them, though they usually work out fine. i’ll owe money, but i should have it. i looked at the tax account yesterday and was going ‘oh f***k’, when i remembered i’d been making quarterly payments for the pay five quarters, so things are actually not too bad.

other than that, i have to finish work on the introduction to terry dowling’s new collection, basic black. it’s due out this year from the good folk over at cemetery dance, and should be very cool. i was writing the intro last night and realised that i’ve been reading his stuff for fifteen years, have been first reader on a handful of it, and a commissioning editor for some great work from him. nice. i think it’s time for him to write a new story suite, though: a science fiction one, based around his passion for mars. he should do it.

i’m also going to get my office in shape, if i can. i need to assemble one of those ikea bookcases (i was given one back in january that’s still in the box), and do some shuffling and changing. i also need to get the new computers bought and in the house. i’m determined to get it all finalised this financial year, and jeremy’s said he’ll help, which is good.

today i buy my ticket to melbourne for continuum. it’s in july, and should be good fun. it looks like i’ll be flying over with robin, which is neat.

what else? i’m enjoying jay lake’s rocket science very much, but struggling to find time to read it, like the new teenage fanclub cd a lot, and want an ipod. bumped into a guy in the lift coming up to the office who had a 60gb ipod photo. mmm. nice. maybe this year.

there aren’t many things i dislike about the freelance editing thing. the brainstorming is great, the proposal stage is all good, the getting the stories is the best part, and even getting the final book is a huge kick. the one thing i don’t like is waiting for contracts and such. right now i’m waiting for the go-ahead on a set of projects and its stressful and not happy making. i’m eager to get on with things, but don’t feel like i can start without the publisher’s go ahead. sigh. this is not made better by being woken at 3am and not getting back to sleep.

I’m very happy to announce that Gary Wolfe and I will be co-editing an anthology of the year’s best non-fiction writing about science fiction, fantasy and horror for Chris Roberson at Monkeybrain Books. Tentatively titled Best New SF Writings: 2005, it’s a book I’m really excited to be doing. I love the idea, and I really like the books Chris has been publishing. If you have anything you’ve read that you’d like to recommend, we’d love to hear from you.

…brand new spanking blog. after two years of musing, she’s now blogging. so, check it out. blogging in lowercase, justine has posted the cover for magic lessons. we here at the coode go “oooh”. i loved the first book, so did marianne. can’t wait to read the new one. on blogging lowercase: i like it, but doesn’t writing “i” lowercase look odd to you?