I need to blog about other stuff, if only to start to sort my head out.  Did we talk about What Remains? It’s an awesome three story chapbook that Aqueduct Press published for Wiscon, and it features two new stories by Geoff Ryman and one by Ellen Klages.  I read it a couple months back.  Ellen’s story, “Echoes of Aurora” is one of my favorite stories of the year.  She had a peach of a story in Firebirds Soaring and has contributed a delightful story for Eclipse Three, but I think “Echoes’ is my favorite for this year.  There were only 150 copies of the chapbook done for Wiscon, but I think some might still be available.

What else? I loved Kij Johnson’s “The Cat Who Walked a Thousand Miles”, which was published on Tor.com a while back.  You can read it online.   I think Kij is going through a real golden patch at the moment, which is why I’ve asked her to write for Eclipse Four.  Surely someone will do a collection of her stories sometime soon.

I also just read John C. Wright’s fantasy, “One Bright Star to Guide Them”.  John’s got a bunch of interesting stories out this year, most notably I think in The New Space Opera 2, but this novelette was really impressive.  When I was reading it I ended up wanting to research Carbonel, which I think is just a name he’s re-using.  Oh, and I think Robert Charles Wilson’s story from Other Earths, “This Peaceable Land or the Unbearable Vision of Harriet Beecher Stowe”, is one of the year’s highlights.

What else?  Hmnmm.  Go find some Peter Watts to read.  I remain disappointed that we couldn’t find a way to get his excellent novellete “The Things” into Eclipse Three.  His “The Island” from The New Space Opera 2 is great, but I think this was possibly even better. The only reason you won’t be reading it later this year is because we were unsure about copyright conflicts with The Thing screenplay and “Who Goes There?”, but if those can ever be resolved you’re in for a treat.

More soon. I’m reading! As fast as I can.  Oh, and I ask Nalo Hopkinson to write for Eclipse Four. Don’t know if she will – her schedule’s dominated by novel commitments, but I hope so.

So my good pal Nick Stathopoulos is working away on paintings for a new exhibition. The theme is supertoys, or something close to that. I saw a couple of the paintings when I was staying at his house last month and they were awesome.  This is one of them.  Beats the heck out of the official Astroboy movie posters.  I’ll post details of the exhibition when I know them, but these are something to covet.

There’s an interesting interview with Eclipse Two author David Moles over at SF Signal. I adored his story, “Down and Out in the Magic Kingdom”, and think he remains one of the writers out there who could really do something remarkable in the field. His novelette “Finisterra” is terrific, and I can’t wait for his new PS Publishing novella.

Yesterday was the first day back at the office, and it looks like I’m going to be (appropriately) be kept busy there. For some reason my boss actually thinks it’s a good idea that I work for my salary, which is both perfectly reasonable and possibly ill-advised. Who knows…

Anyhow, I’m trying to work out a path forward so that I hit as many of my deadlines as possible in coming months. Marianne is proving indispensable, but I have a LOT of stuff due before Christmas. I think TV and casual reading just took a dive till the New Year. From here on out it has to be focussed. I have a year’s best due in December (thank goodness I’ve already picked some stories for it) and a bunch of anthologies and bests ofs. You might not notice it, but 2010 will be my busiest year yet.

Oh, and I have to get invites for Eclipse 4 out. None have gone yet because I need to ponder the details of the book a little, though I did invite two people at Montreal who I hope will come through next year.

Well, I’ve returned home, stunned by jetlag, and basically been buffetted from pillar to post for the rest of the week. Tomorrow I head back to full-time employment and, presumably, some kind of normality. I think I’m only just beginning to adjust, but commitments are dragging me forward, so no doubt I’ll be right in time to head back to the US for World Fantasy.

I’d love to tell you about the highlights – the bar at the Intercontinental, dinner with friends, memorials for Charles and so on – but time is drawing a veil over such things. Work beckons. Eclipse 3 is in the hands of the publisher. Most of the special issue of Subterrean is too. Swords and Dark Magic (aka Conquering Swords) is due on the 30th, and Legends of Australian Fantasy too. I also need to be read, read, reading for the Leiber, Robinson, Haldeman and year’s best volumes. There’s more, but it can wait. Busy as always!