Goddamn.  Up far too early for a public holiday Monday. It’s just after 6am and really I could do with another hour or two’s sleep. Still, circumstance has me up and awake, and so be it. With yesterday’s podcast safely recorded (it’s been reasonably mentioned I should annotate them which I guess I will, though it means working out some reasonable way to do so without listening to a whole hour’s worth of podcast), today will be all about Engineering Infinity and reading. Things are definitely moving towards a conclusion on the book, so now’s the time.

It is on my list of things to do to call a couple of my editing colleagues to discuss projects. Jack and I have wound up Legends to our great mutual satisfaction, so we need to see what might be next. Lou and I have been kicking an idea around too. Much too early to say more about that, though I think it has promise, and Gardner and I still need to come to a conclusion on something.  In amongst those all, there’s another project or two around.  None of these, of course, are really at the solid proposal stage so work, work, work is needed.

How does this overlap with the books I’m actually doing? Well, as I say Engineering Infinity is almost done. Copyedits for Godlike Machines should be through soon, and also last page passes on Life on Mars. From there I move on to working on the cyberpunk book with Marianne, the year’s best, Eclipse Four, and The Best of Joe Haldeman.  I also need to do the first round of follow-ups on Under My Hat. I know that sounds like enough to be getting on with, but by April of next year (not that far away) all of these books will be delivered and moving in to various states of production, so we’ll see.

I did notice, when reading Fred Pohl’s blog, that Gateways is due out next month. This is a tribute volume where various writers influenced by Pohl contribute new stories. I admit to being vaguely aware of this book coming together – just as there are a couple others out there happening at the moment – but for some reason this one really crept up on me. An SF anthology with new original stories by Vinge, Bear, Benford, Doctorow, Gaiman, Niven, Wolfe and others?!?  How did I let this slip past? It’s out in July and I’ve seen no galleys, heard no whispers. It has every chance of being THE SF antho of the year. I need this.

While emails have gone off to New York about Gateways, I continue apace through the early stages of The Dervish House.  Gary and I discussed it briefly yesterday. McDonald can write like an angel when he wants to.  Someone should do a new collection of his.  I mean, really. Anyway, on to morning emails and so on…

This month I resurrect my “Books I’m Looking Forward to” series of blogposts as a hopefully ongoing part of the podcast revolution.  I look at June and discuss:

• Daniel Abraham, Leviathan Wept and Other Stories
• Eleanor Arnason, Tomb of the Fathers
• Greg Egan, Zendegi
• Shirley Jackson, Shirley Jackson: Novels and Stories
• Nnedi Okorafor, Who Fears Death

Apologies again for a little sibilance in the recording. I’ll try to keep that under control. Also, a shout out to Alex, Alisa, and Tansy over at Galactic Suburbia. They not only graciously had me over as a guest, but they directly inspired my series of podcasts. So, make sure you check them out. They’re awesome.

As so often happens, I’ve let time slip away here in blogland. There are all sorts of reasons. I’m a lot busier at my day job, which is good. and I’ve been in a funk, which sort of kills my productivity. Still, the funk seems to be lifting and I really need to get on with things. With a little luck there’ll be a new podcast with Gary this coming weekend, possibly with a special guest. There’ll also be some updates on books. I’ve had contributors copies of some awesome books come through lately, so really I’ve been very happy (though I continue to wait on one that seems destined never to arrive).

Regardless, this week I read Charles Stross’s The Fuller Memorandum and found it to be GOOD. There was a point in January when I really wondered if 2010 was going to be one of those quiet years for great SF, but increasingly I think that’s not going to be the case. Books like Kraken and The Fuller Memorandum make it a good year already, and there are new novels from a lot of my personal favorites coming up.  So, lots of reading to come.

I do want to ask you faithful readers a question. A while ago I did a short series of posts on books I’m looking forward to this month. I was thinking of turning that into a solo podcast thing – simply because podcasting seems so much easier right now. Does that seem a good idea? Let me know.

Anyhow, I’ll be back with more on stuff soon!