So this is what happened: on Thursday November 4 I flew home from World Fantasy sure that I was due for a nice relaxed return to Perth; on Friday I received a phone call from Jason Williams, a good friend of mine and one of my publishers, who made it clear that the revised deadline for my best of the year anthology, December 12, really was not going to work out.

Jason pointed out that prior to 2009 the deadline had been November 5, with me typically delivering in late October so I could go to World Fantasy without work hanging over my head. The date had changed to December 5 in 2009, and was drifting a little again for 2010. Jason made it clear that I had to make the December 5 deadline, and if I could get the book in earlier then that would make things much easier.

I stopped, I looked and I panicked. I’d read a lot, I had lists and notes and stuff, but I didn’t have a table of contents, and I didn’t have much else either. I had, in short, quietly let myself become complacent because I had, oh, six weeks to get things done in.  I revised my target delivery date. It seemed to me if I could get the book done by Monday November 15 I’d only be ten days past the old deadline, and would beat the new one by more than four weeks.

To meet this I would need to finalise the table of contents, get writers to agree to their stories being reprinted, get permissions sorted, write an introduction and story notes, and prepare the manuscript for the publisher.

I panicked.

I calmed down.

As I write it is nearly 4pm on the afternoon of Wednesday, November 10. I have selected the final table of contents (well, I’m quibbling over one story), notified all of the authors and received emailed confirmations from all but two of them, arranged for contracts for 23 of the 29 stories to go out, and assembled 22 of the 29 story manuscripts. I have also engaged Marianne to standardise / cleanup the story files and assemble the story notes that I already have written for previous books.

From here, to meet my own self-imposed deadline, I need to write a 1,500 wd introduction on Saturday (while also podcasting with Gary and having family movie night with the kids), and write/review 29 story notes on Sunday. If, by 5pm Sunday I have that done then all I have to do is suck the whole lot into Scrivener,  work out the running order (I’m thinking on that now), add the introductory materials and recommended reading, and then spit out a manuscript. Once that’s done, a quick spell check and it heads out the door to the publisher.

Can I make it? I think I can. If I don’t, I can take the following weekend to get things finalised, but I’m hoping the Nov 15/Nov 16 will be it. Wish me luck.

I landed in Perth at noon on Thursday. I’d been traveling for thirty two hours and, even though the flights were fairly gentle and the whole experience was cushioned by the comforts of the Qantas Lounge, I was nonetheless more than a little fatigued by the whole experience. I think that’s why it has taken me so long to get around to saying:

HOLY CR@P. I WON A WORLD FANTASY AWARD!!!

There literally is almost no way I can communicate to you how strange, startling and wonderful that is.  I want to thank everyone — from the judges and WFC organisers to all of the people who contributed to the books that led me to being eligible.

I’d especially like to thank all of the contributors to Eclipse Three (which I suspect is the main reason for the award), my friends and publishers Jason Williams,  Jeremy Lassen, Ross Lockhart etc at Night Shade Books (I’d not only not be doing this without them, but would never have had the chance without Jason’s support), and my mentors and friends through the years: Eric Harding, Peter McNamara, Jack Dann, Charles N. Brown, Robert Silverberg and Karen Haber, and many others.  And of course Marianne, Jessica and Sophie. It’s really their award. I could not do any of my editing work without their love and support.

I’d also like to congratulate Karen Joy Fowler, whose story “The Pelican Bar” was a highlight of Eclipse Three, which won the WFA for Best Short Story. I was possibly more delighted by that, than by my own win.

Having got that out of my system, I’ve got to say I had a grand trip and that principally comes down to the kind hosts I stayed with and the friends I saw. My especial thanks for Nick and Adrian, Ellen,  Liza & the gang, and Gary, who were fine hosts and made my stay in their respective parts of the world a real joy.  I won’t go through all of the friends I saw on the trip – they know who they were – but it was magical seeing them.

And now I’m back. Friday was jetlag day. Saturday I moved to being 95% complete on the table of contents for Year’s Best 5, recorded a podcast, and followed up on Eclipse Four. This morning I checked in with everyone on Under My Hat, edited the December columns for Locus, edited the podcast because of a dumb error on my behalf, and did some more reading.

What next? Well, I have several proposals to write, a short story comp to judge, next month’s columns to think on, recommended reading to launch, and lots more.  Things are going to be very busy here between now and year’s end. This if, of course, not new.  I’m lucky.

I’ve made it this far. The flight from Chicago was easy. HPL and I are fine. Chicago itself was lovely. Had a fine time with Gary, Cecelia and Prozac. Next is the long trip to Sydney. Maybe more from there.

I seem to have won a World Fantasy Award. I was thrilled, delighted and gobsmacked. I was also less articulate than I could have been. Thank you to everyone.