I’m very pleased to announce that I have been asked to be an invited guest at Swancon 36, the 50th National Australian Science Fiction Convention, which will be held in Perth, Western Australia 21-25 April 2011.  It should be an enormous amount of fun, with friends coming from all over the place to catch up and discuss things SFnal.  I’m not sure what I’ll be doing there, other than sitting in the bar (best convention passtime EVAH), but I look forward to seeing you all over that weekend. It should be totally mintox! (Hmm, wonder if the Hyatt bar staff know how to make seabreezes…)

Sixteen days till Christmas here, and the weather’s turning warmer after a cool-ish turn. I’ve been working from home today, and likely will tomorrow as we’ve been somewhat struck down by illness here at Merton Way.  The ear problem that I’ve been struggling with off and on all year is back, and this time I’m going to see a specialist who hopefully will be able to finally get on top of it. Marianne has been knocked out by some kind of bug too – the flu or something, so she’s pretty much wiped out.

Neither of which is the serious one.  As some of you know if you’ve been reading this blog for a while my eldest has occasional seizures, and she’s just been through several. Having not had a seizure for a year, she had one three weeks ago and then two in the past 24hrs. It’s all a bit scary, truthfully, but likely not an enormous deal. She’s been exhausted as a result, and will see her neurologist on Monday. In the meantime we’re keeping a close watch on her and hoping all will be well.

Most of the other things happening are fairly trivial by comparison. Having delivered the year’s best three weeks ago, I’m waiting on the copyedits. Having turned it in so early I’m confident we’ll have a couple weeks to go over them, but you never know. The copyedits are almost certain to overlap finishing up Eclipse Four, which frankly has been the most difficult in the series to work on so far. I think the final book will be a good one, but it has called into question the viability of the whole enterprise again (even though I do love it).

Once Eclipse Four is laid to rest I can focus on The Best of Joe Haldeman, Cyberpunk, and Under My Hat. Busy busy. There are also the proposals I mentioned earlier, which will go out in the New Year. Oh, and I’ve been working behind the scenes to compile the short fiction section of the Locus recommended reading list, which comes out in February. Lest you think I simply put it together myself randomly, it actually involves collating votes and opinions from about ten people and is a little tedious to do, but worthwhile once done.

Have there been highlights? Yes there have! I finally got a copy of Godlike Machines – I bought it from abebooks.com and happily recommend them as a possible source – and I’m very pleased with it. I think it’s probably the best book I had published this year, though I’m a notoriously poor judge of these things. I greatly enjoyed recording the podcast with Gary, John and Cheryl that went up earlier this week. Lots of fun. I’m now reading Jo Walton’s fabulous Among Others, and am thinking it might be a good discussion basis for the next podcast. It’s very good, and Gary’s already read it. Hmmm.

And, using the same methodology…I don’t get a lot of time each year to read novels, but when I do get the time, these are some of the ones from the Locus list that caught my eye.

January 2011

* de Bodard, Aliette • Harbinger of the Storm • (Angry Robot, tpb)
* Parker, K. J. • The Hammer • (Orbit, tpb)
* Robson, Justina • Down to the Bone • (Gollancz, hc/tpb)
* Walton, Jo • Among Others • (Tor, hc)
* Wolfe, Gene • Home Fires • (Tor, hc)

February 2011

* Courtenay Grimwood, Jon • The Fallen Blade • (Orbit, tpb)
* MacLeod, Ian R. • Wake Up and Dream • (PS Publishing, hc)

March 2011

* Barnes, John • Daybreak Zero • (Ace, hc)
* Hardinge, Frances • Twilight Robbery • (Macmillan Children’s Books UK, nvl-ya, hc)

April 2011

* Black, Holly • Red Glove • (McElderry, nvl-ya, hc)
* McIntosh, Will • Soft Apocalypse • (Night Shade Books, tpb)
* Okorafor, Nnedi • The Akata Witch • (Viking, nvl-ya, hc)

May 2011

* Miéville, China • Embassytown • (Ballantine Del Rey, hc)
* Nix, Garth, & Sean Williams • Troubletwisters • (Scholastic Press, nvl-ya, tpb)
* Scalzi, John • Fuzzy Nation • (Tor, hc)
* Swanwick, Michael • Dancing With Bears • (Night Shade Books, hc)

June 2011

* Reynolds, Alastair • Blue Remembered Earth • (Gollancz, hc)

July 2011

* Goonan, Kathleen Ann • This Shared Dream Called Earth • (Tor, hc)
* Gregory, Daryl • Raising Stony Mayhall • (Ballantine Del Rey, tpb)
* Stross, Charles • Rule 34 • (Orbit, tpb)

August 2011

* Harrison, M. John • Pearlant • (Gollancz, hc/tpb)

Mark R. Kelly at Locus Online has published some highlights from the Locus ‘Forthcoming Books’ list, which appears in full in the December 2010 issue of the magazine. I need to pour over the whole thing but, since I’m interested for various reasons, I thought I’d excerpt the anthologies listed on the ‘selected highlights’. This list is by no means complete, of course, and it only goes up till September, but it looks like a busy year ahead. If you have an anthology coming out, or know of one, let me know in comments and I’ll happily add it here. I will also try to find the time to add links to the titles as I can.

January 2011

• Adams, John Joseph, ed. • Brave New Worlds, (Night Shade Books, anth, tpb)
• Strahan, Jonathan, ed., Engineering Infinity, (Solaris US, anth)

February 2011

• Lansdale, Joe R., ed., Crucified Dreams, (Tachyon Publications, anth, tpb)
• Saberhagen, Joan, ed., Golden Reflections, (Baen, anth, hc)
• Weber, David, ed., Worlds of Honor #5: In Fire Forged, (Baen, anth, hc)

March 2011

• Guran, Paula, ed., Vampires: The Recent Undead, (Prime Books, anth, tpb)
• Gustainis, Justin, ed., Those Who Fight Monsters, (Hades/EDGE Science Fiction and Fantasy, anth, tpb)
• Rambo, Cat, Paul Tremblay & Sean Wallace, eds., Worlds of Fantasy: The Best of Fantasy Magazine, (Prime Books, anth, tpb)
• Strahan, Jonathan, ed., The Best Science Fiction and Fantasy of the Year Volume Five, (Night Shade Books, anth, tpb)

April 2011

• Datlow, Ellen, & Terri Windling, eds., Teeth: Vampire Tales, (Harper, anth, hc)
• Farr, Russell ed., Dead Red Heart (Ticonderoga, anth, tp)
• Grzyb, Liz ed., More Scary Kisses (Ticonderoga, anth, tp)
• Sedia, Ekaterina, ed., Bewere the Night, (Prime Books, anth, tpb)
• Strahan, Jonathan, ed., Life on Mars: Tales of the New Frontier, (Viking, anth, hc)

May 2011

• Anderson, Kevin J., ed., Nebula Awards Showcase 2011, (Tor, anth, tpb)
• Strahan, Jonathan, ed., Eclipse Four, (Night Shade Books, anth, tpb)
• Wentworth, K. D., ed., L. Ron Hubbard Presents Writers of the Future Volume XXVII, (Galaxy, anth)

June 2011

• Datlow, Ellen, ed., Best Horror of the Year: Volume Three, (Night Shade Books, anth, tpb)
• Datlow, Ellen, ed., Supernatural Noir, (Dark Horse, anth, tpb)
• Hartwell, David G., & Kathryn Cramer, eds., Year’s Best SF 16, (Harper Voyager, anth)
• Horton, Rich, ed., The Year’s Best Science Fiction & Fantasy: 2011 Edition, (Prime Books, anth, tpb)
• Kushner, Ellen, & Holly Black, eds., Welcome to Bordertown • (Random House, anth, hc)
• Martin, George R. R., ed., Wild Cards: Fort Freak, (Tor, anth, hc)

July 2011

• Datlow, Ellen, ed., Naked City: Tales of Urban Fantasy, (St. Martin’s, anth, hc)`
• Dozois, Gardner, ed., The Year’s Best Science Fiction: Twenty-eight Annual Collection, (St. Martin’s Griffin, anth, tpb)
• VanderMeer, Jeff, & Ann VanderMeer, eds., The Thackery T. Lambshead Cabinet of Curiosities, (Harper Voyager, anth, hc)
• Watson, Howard, ed., The Charmed Pot, (PS Publishing, anth, hc)
• Wilbur, Rick, ed., Future Media, (Tachyon Publications, anth, tpb)

August 2011

• Beagle, Peter S., & Joe R. Lansdale, eds., Urban Fantasy, (Tachyon Publications, anth, tpb)
• Guran, Paula, ed., The Year’s Best Dark Fantasy & Horror: 2011 Edition, (Prime Books, anth, tpb)
• Harris, Charlaine, & Toni L. P. Kelner, eds., Home Improvement: Undead Edition, (Ace, anth, hc)

September 2011

• Ciriello, Dario, ed., Panverse Three  (anth, tp) 
• Datlow, Ellen, ed., Blood and Other Cravings, (Tor, anth, hc)

No date

• Dozois, Gardner & George R. R. Martin, Down These Strange Streets (Viking, antho, hc)