Back in the autumn of 1999 I made a suggestion to some friends. The World Science Fiction Convention was coming to town. It’d be held in Melbourne in September, and perhaps we should do something? What I suggested to Jeremy Byrne, Russell Farr, Bill Congreve, and the late Peter McNamara was that Eidolon, Ticonderoga, Mirrordanse, and Aphelion should come together to publish a collection of Terry Dowling’s best short fiction. The plan was that we’d co-edit and co-publish the book (as mp books), all five of us selecting the stories, that we’d get an introduction and a cover, and that it would only ever be available at the 1999 WorldCon.  In the end, Jack Dann agreed to write an introduction, and Nick Stathopolous did a wonderful cover, and the book Antique Futures: The Best of Terry Dowling appeared to not inconsiderable acclaim.

I wouldn’t swear to it, but if memory serves we printed and sold 100 copies of the book at the WorldCon. We may have done a small second printing, I don’t recall, but I’m pretty certain no more than 200 copies were ever published.  For that reason, I’m both surprised and pleased to see a review of the book appear just recently. It makes me wonder if we should reprint the book, expand it to cover up to 2007. Who knows?  We might. Or maybe one of those nice big American publishers could. It’s a good book, and there should be more copies in existence.

Michael Walsh at Old Earth Books has just published Things Will Never Be The Same, the selected short fiction of Howard Waldrop. It’s an incredibly wonderful book, filled with many strange, different, oddball, but always terrific stories. You can order it from Old Earth Books, and if you do so before 1 Apri, the shipping’s free. See? Already you’re wondering why you haven’t bought it, aren’t you. Go on then, you do it here.

Oh, and if you don’t believe me, go see what Pulitzer winner Michael Dirda had to say about the book over at The Washington Post.

I’ve not been posting much, so a quick update on life, the universe and what I’m reading at the moment. First, the submissions have started to come in for Eclipse: New Science Fiction and Fantasy, which is very exciting. At the same time, Marianne is working in her office on the proofing/copyedits for the Australian edition of The New Space Opera. It’s a small world. I’ve also started to move ahead again on The Starry Rift, which should be heading into galleys and such before too long. I’m also waiting for the proofs for Best Short Novels: 2007 to who up. And, in the meantime, I’ve got taxes to do this weekend. Yay.

There are, however, some seriously cool upsides to this gig. First, last week a copy of this made it’s way into my hands. No. I can’t let you see it. And yes, it’s the book I’ve been most excited about reading all year. I also got a copy of Ken Macleod’s The Execution Channel, which looks terrific.  The book I’m reading now, though, is Gene Wolfe’s Pirate Freedom. Thanks to the kind offices of one David Hartwell, it showed up on Monday morning here in Perth. I was half way through something else at the time, but started it last night with gusto. I think Wolfe has the reputation as being admirable, kind of ‘good for you’, the SFnal equivalent of bran in your diet. I’m not sure why, but I think he is. His work is also seen as difficult and maybe somehow clever. I think this is mostly based around not actually reading his stuff. I’ve also seen things in his short fiction that suggest to me that he could have been one of the best pulp adventure writers who ever lived, had he chosen too. Anyhow, this story of a young priest mysteriously transported back through time to captain a pirate ship during the Golden Age of Piracy looks to be the bomb! More on it, as I progress through.

What else? Sophie came into my office yesterday morning at about 6am, all tousled and sleepy-eyed, and asked if the fairy she’d seen out the front window of our house was real or a dream? Apparently she’d dreamed waking up, walking to the front of the house, and seeing Stardrip the Fairy in our front garden.  I told her all dreams are just a little bit real. She seemed pretty happy with that.

There’s an article about my two pals Jer and Jason in PW. It’s very cool, and so are they. Check it out.

Greg Egan has sold a new science fiction novel, Incandescence, to Gollancz. The book will be published in May 2008. No US edition seems to have been announced yet. You can read related story “Riding the Crocodile” to get a taste for the book.