As I write details are yet to be finalised for a fourth volume in my Best Science Fiction and Fantasy of the Year anthology series, but Jeremy at Night Shade has said they want the book and so I believe it will happen.

With that in mind, along with the crew at Not if You Were the Last Short Story on Earth, today I’m starting reading 2009 short fiction.  I have Ellen Datlow’s Poe anthology and Sharyn November’s Firebirds Soaring as the first things on my to read list, and will be actively hunting new short fiction out. If all goes to plan, I’ll be reading new short fiction till 1 November 2009, at which point I start working on the manuscript for volume five in time for a 1 December delivery date.  It’ll be tight, but doable.

Now, although it’s not been announced the LSSOE gang are mixing up what they’re doing and I’m planning on doing the same.  First, there should be more blogging about what I like and don’t.  I’m not sure where yet, but it’ll happen. Second, there’ll be more outreach. If you see, hear, or publish short fiction please let me know. I want to see everything I can.  Please don’t be shy about getting in touch. I read anything under novel length and anything that could be considered science fiction or fantasy (I do read on the peripheries of horror, but the book I’m doing is only peripherally horror).  Thirdly, I hope to have a year’s best announcement here soon that I’m pretty excited about.  The minute it’s confirmed, I’ll let you know.

Well, that’s it for the moment.  More soon!

The good folks over at Night Shade have posted the table of contents for The Best Science Fiction and Fantasy of the Year: Volume 3.  You can check it out over there.  It’ll be out in March and I’m pretty happy with it.  I hope you all like it too.

Two weeks late, but I’ve delivered The Best Science Fiction and Fantasy of the Year: Volume 3 to Night Shade!  I’m pretty sure we’re on for next year, but next up is copyedits. I’m just delighted to get it in.

A thought: over the past year I’ve come to realise how little I understand the art of editing anthologies, how much I’ve learned about doing it, and how much there is still to learn.  The whole management of the editing process is a delicate thing, and I continue to puzzle over it.  There’s editing stories, sequencing books and so on.  My current obsession has become truth in advertising. I’ve frankly made mistakes — honestly, but still mistakes — when it comes to the presentation of books: matching titles to covers to contents to themes to introductions and so on.  I’ve been forming some very strong views on how ‘truth in advertising’ impacts on these things, on how you should deal fairly with readers, and so on.  It’s an interesting process.

Over at Tor.com John Klima has raised some discussion of World Fantasy Convention.  He refers to the estimable Chris Roberson’s comment that “World Fantasy is the hub around which my year turns.”   John talks about developing projects, making contacts and so on, and there’s no doubt that’s part of the event (and I’ve certainly done all of those things). But, it made me wonder why World Fantasy is my absolute no-fooling hands-down favorite convention in the world.  I attended my first World Fantasy in Washington DC in 2003, then Madison in 2005, Saratoga in 2007, and now Calgary in 2008.  I loved them all, and will definitely be in San Jose next year and in Columbus too, if I can.  Why?

It’s tricky.  I know people who prefer fan-oriented conventions prefer WorldCon  (Jo Walton says as much on Tor.com and it was said to me in Calgary by a couple people).  I can certainly respect that.  I find WorldCon too big.  I can’t find people when I want to and spend time rattling around at loose ends.  I find I can’t travel to the other side of the world to rattle around – I’d rather go to Swancon or Conflux for the fan experience.  At World Fantasy I can get the pro experience.  Not networking, which I’ve lost interest in.  Not working on projects.  Not making sales.  I see my agent for an hour maybe (we’re on opposite sides of the world so an annual catch up is worthwhile), but otherwise just see friends for dinner, hit the bar, and hang out.  The pro experience I crave, and that makes World Fantasy so wonderful for me is that there’s a conversation I can have there that I can’t have anywhere else in the world.  At each WFC I’ve attended I’ve had, for example, occasions to sit down and talk with various people who do exactly what I do; to share experiences and learn from people who know more.  Now that I edit anthologies, having the chance to talk about them with Gardner Dozois, Ellen Datlow, David Hartwell or whomever as colleagues is wonderful, enormously valuable.  All the rest of it is fun, and I’d go to WFC just for that, but that kind of thing is something I can’t get anywhere else.  So, WFC is always on my agenda.