And we’re back!

So it’s been six days since I last posted. My apologies for that. What’s happened?  Well, as per my last post, I went to see a doctor on Monday because I had flu symptoms. I’d been in a swine flu area and other people there had had H1N1, so I wanted to be sure I wouldn’t be contagious.  The doctor checked me out and basically quarantined me for a week. This involved feeling sick, wearing a face mask, and staying indoors.

Normally this would have driven me nuts, but it proved to be something of a blessing. When I got back from San Jose I was deeply panicked about how I possibly was going to get through all of the editing I needed to do if I was going to make deadline. I have a book due November 27, another due December 5, and am late or near late on some others.  So, panic.

I spent the week reading and getting things done. A long delayed book proposal is out with editors. (Yay!).  I have a year’s best table of contents. The Locus Recommended Reading short fiction list is well progressed. I’ve also got some work done on some other book projects and its possible I might make it (whew!).

So, apart from a return to the day job what do I need to do by November 30? Let’s see. Write the introduction and story notes for The Best Science Fiction & Fantasy of the Year: Volume 4. Write the introduction and notes for Legends of Australian Fantasy. Edit the stories and get the intro, notes etc done for my young adult SF anthology, Life on Mars. Do the copy-edits for Swords and Dark Magic. Follow up the introduction for The Best of Larry Niven. Complete the story invites for Eclipse Four. Get the manuscript together for The Best of Fritz Leiber, and do the running order for The Best of Kim Stanley Robinson. Enough to keep anyone busy!

Oh, and I will release the table of contents for The Best Science Fiction & Fantasy of the Year: Volume 4 in a while. I need to arrange permissions and see if I can get the stories I want.  It’s possible one or two stories may be problematic. However, once things are all legal I’ll post here.

Home from San Jose [edited]

I got back from San Jose last Wednesday, having had an awesome time with Cat, Deb, Garth, Sean and everyone else. It was wonderful seeing old friends, hanging out with the Locus gang, and making all kinds of new friends.

So, you ask, why haven’t you updated us on your exploits before? Well, as the photo might hint, I came home (having felt wonderful during the whole trip) and immediately fell ill. Today it was diagnosed as H1N1, so I am wearing a mask, trying not to infect the family, and basically attempting to get over it. Correspondence will be somewhat intermittent.

ETA: Since this is getting picked up around the place, I should clarify for accuracy: while my GP diagnosed it as H1N1 and is treating it as such, no clinical tests were done. It’s likely it’s H1N1, but there’s no actual clinical tests were done.