I feel like I’ve been working on either Under My Hat or the Best of the Year since I stepped off the plane from Sydney two weeks ago. Happily, both books are progressing well. All other things being equal, I should have both books delivered before the end of this week. I have, I believe, all of the permissions lined up for the Best of the Year (or at least close enough that I’m happy announcing the ToC), and I’ve drafted all of the remaining material for the book.  All that remains to do is to assemble the manuscript, read it over and send it in to Night Shade.

It is possible that the running order might shift, but the contents really shouldn’t. As always, there were stories I would liked to have squeezed in, ones that permissions weren’t available for and so on, but basically I’m very happy with the book and a little stunned that it’s volume six! Anyway, here without further ado is the table of contents for The Best Science Fiction and Fantasy of the Year: Volume Six:

Introduction, Jonathan Strahan
The Case of Death and Honey, Neil Gaiman, (A Study in Sherlock)
The Cartographer Wasps and the Anarchist Bees, E. Lily Yu, (Clarkesworld, 4/11)
Tidal Forces, Caitlín R Kiernan, (Eclipse Four)
Younger Women, Karen Joy Fowler, (Subterranean, Summer 2011)
White Lines on a Green Field , Catherynne M. Valente, (Subterranean, Fall 2011)
All That Touches The Air, An Owomoyela, (Lightspeed Magazine, 4/11)
What We Found, Geoff Ryman, (F&SF, 9-10/11)
The Server and the Dragon, Hannu Rajaniemi, (Engineering Infinity)
The Choice, Paul McAuley, (Asimov‘s, 1/11)
Malak, Peter Watts, (Engineering Infinity)
Old Habits, Nalo Hopkinson, (Eclipse Four)
A Small Price to Pay for Birdsong, K. J. Parker, (Subterranean, Winter 2011. )
Valley of the Girls, Kelly Link, (Subterranean, Spring 2011)
Brave Little Toaster, Cory Doctorow, (TRSF)
The Dala Horse, Michael Swanwick, (Tor.com, 7/11)
The Corpse Painter’s Masterpiece, M Rickert, (F&SF, 9-10/11)
The Paper Menagerie, Ken Liu, (F&SF, March/April 2011)
Steam Girl, Dylan Horrocks, (Steampunk!)
After the Apocalypse, Maureen F. McHugh, (After the Apocalypse)
Underbridge, Peter S. Beagle, (Naked City)
Relic, Jeffrey Ford, (The Thackery T. Lambshead Cabinet of Curiosities)
The Invasion of Venus, Stephen Baxter, (Engineering Infinity)
Woman Leaves Room, Robert Reed, (Lightspeed Magazine, 3/11)
Restoration, Robert Shearman, (Everyone’s Just So So Special)
The Onset of a Paranormal Romance, Bruce Sterling, (Flurb, Fall-Winter 2011)
Catastrophic Disruption of the Head, Margo Lanagan, (The Wilful Eye: Tales from the Tower Vol. 1)
The Last Ride of the Glory Girls, Libba Bray, (Steampunk!)
The Book of Phoenix (Excerpted from The Great Book) , Nnedi Okorafor, (Clarkesworld, 3/11)
Digging, Ian McDonald, (Life on Mars)
The Man Who Bridged the Mist, Kij Johnson, (Asimov’s, 10-11/11)
Goodnight Moons, Ellen Klages, (Life on Mars)

The book should be out in March. I’m yet to see a cover, but given the job they’ve done in the past, I can’t wait. It should be something special.

Having returned from my lengthy travels, it occurs to me that I may not have officially released the full table of contents for my young adult fantasy anthology, Under My Hat: Tales from the Cauldron, and given that I’m fully occupied with copyedits and other things for the book, now seems like a good time.   So, here it is!

1. Introduction: Looking Under the Hat”, Jonathan Strahan
2. “Stray Magic”, Diana Peterfreund
3. “Payment Due”, Frances Hardinge
4. “A Handful of Ashes”, Garth Nix
5. “Little Gods”, Holly Black
6. “Barrio Girls”, Charles de Lint
7. “Felidis”, Tanith Lee
8. “Witch Work”, Neil Gaiman (poem)
9. “The Education of a Witch”, Ellen Klages
10. “The Threefold World”, Ellen Kushner
11. “The Witch in the Wood”, Delia Sherman
12. “Which Witch”, Patricia A. McKillip
13. “The Carved Forest”, Tim Pratt
14. “Burning Castles”, M. Rickert
15. “The Stone Witch”, Isobelle Carmody
16. “Andersen’s Witch”, Jane Yolen
17. “B Is for Bigfoot”, Jim Butcher
18. “Great-Grandmother in the Cellar”, Peter S. Beagle
19. “Crow and Caper, Caper and Crow”, Margo Lanagan

Under My Hat will be published by the completely marvelous Jim Thomas & co. at Random House Childrens’ in the US in October 2012 (just in time for Halloween!). I honestly feel this is probably the best book I’ve ever worked on, so I’m incredibly excited about this.

The plane touched down at 3.55pm on Saturday, but I feel like I may only be finally getting home now.  Jetlag has been wearing me down less and less each day, and the sore neck I picked up at Universal Studios is slowly, slowly taking care of itself.

And routine, welcome and sometimes not, is settling in.  I find myself reading a chapter a night of Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone to Sophie (and occasionally Jessica), while pushing ineffectualy at the pile of work I’d hoped to get through this week. Focus has been in short supply, though I have managed to get copyedits out for one book and I am working slowly on another. The problem is I need to finish that book ASAP and get proposals out into the world. Why? Well, even allowing for the disjointed nature of World Fantasy this year, I feel weirdly optimistic about things. I think there are books to be made and sold, if I can just tweak things a little.

I have been reading and watching. I’ve gotten through the opening episodes of both “Once Upon a Time” and “Grimm”, and like them about equally, which is to say a bit, but not a lot. I’ve also been half-reading things. With 2012 well under way, I’ve now finished reading an anthology and an issue of a magazine, which does make it feel real.  Last Short Story is firing up in the background, and I have other work to do! Recommended reading. Gah. Not going to think about that today.

This is becoming very rambly, but before I sign off I do have a recommendation. I picked up a copy of Patrick Ness’s widely-recommended and award-nominated A Monster Walks today. Taken by its brevity, I read it between lunchtime and now and can only say this it powerful, honest and beautiful, and that I recommend it without hesitation.

Busy days!