I seem to be attracted to series TV at the moment. I finished watching The West Wing over the holiday break, and picked up Damages based on some recommendations. After three episodes, it’s starting to look very good. Of course, there are only thirteen episodes all up, so that’s not going to last long. I also checked out the first two episodes of The Wire, which I’ve heard widely lauded but not seen. Based on those two eps, it looks very promising. I’ll need to check it out some more over the next week before I decide to commit to all five seasons, though.

In the meantime, I’m getting ready to run through what books I’ll be working on this year, as opposed to those that’ll be published this year. I know I’ll be working on two books for the indefatigable Night Shade this year: The Best Science Fiction and Fantasy of the Year: Volume 3 and Eclipse Two. I’m reading for the year’s best, along with the LSSOE folk. It’s due at the end of October, so I’ve got a bit of time there. I’ve bought the first story for Eclipse Two and am waiting on the deadline for the rest of the stories to come in. It’s due in June, so again all’s well there. I’m also working on Godlike Machines for the SFBC. The deadline is still several months away, but I’ve bought terrific novellas from Greg Egan and Cory Doctorow for that. I’ll also probably start reading for both The New Space Opera 2 and a new project sometime this year. Hmm. There are also a few other things to follow up on. Busy, busy.

I’m at home today. Jessica was scheduled for an EEG, so I was set to work from home and keep an eye on Sophie, but someone was sick at the hospital, things got re-prioritised, and we’re back on the wait list for Jessica’s test. If it wasn’t a precautionary thing, if it were in any way urgent, it would be a real problem, but it’s not, so we’re going to see if it can all be rescheduled before school starts up.

Given that I was going to be home anyway, I decided to get on with my recommended reading essay for the February issue of Locus. I’m late with it, as usual, but have a pile of notes so I thought I’d get started. Because it’s school holidays here, Marianne decided to take the girls out to SciTech for a bit of a day trip and give me a bit of quiet to work. They’ve been gone for about four hours, and so far I’ve paid some bills, had useful discussions with Gary and Jack, had three visits from the kids next door looking for playmates, and spent some time analysing the recommended reading lists and drafting paragraphs for the final essay. If it goes like it tends to, at some point soon I’ll line these all up in row, set the list of my own recommendations down along side it, and just write over the top until it at least reads smoothly. The main thing I’m struggling with now is how to treat material that is on the list which I happened to work on. I worked on several things that I’m very proud of and will mention, but it feels like there’s a conflict of interest in doing so. sigh.

Other than that, I’m actually listening to music played on a stereo system with real speakers. Don’t let anyone tell you that iPods and such sound the same. They don’t. Not even close.

Very nice review of Eclipse One over at Stainless Steel Droppings. It’s always really nice when someone like a book you’ve worked on.

Well, they made it!  The good good folk over at Not if You Were the Last Short Story on Earth have completed their journey through pretty much every story published during 2007, and issued their recommended reading list, and it’s very interesting. I was delighted to see three short stories from The New Space Opera make the list, and to see overlap with my year’s best for the year too. I also look forward to their further discussion of the list.  Often it’s far more interesting than the list itself.

The official part first. I am reading for The Best Science Fiction and Fantasy of the Year: Volume 3. It will be published in March 2009 by Night Shade Books and cover science fiction and fantasy short fiction published during the 2008 calendar year. I have to deliver the book to the publisher in the first week of November, so I need to have received any materials (PDFs, galleys, final books or magazines) no later than 1 October 2008, and earlier if possible. I will be sending out a general notice shortly, but if you write or publish short fiction I’d love to hear from you. I generally don’t like email submissions or reading on screen, but if it’s going to be unreasonably expensive to send me something, or if the deadline’s close, please drop me a line and we’ll work something out.

And now the fun part. I am a terribly ill-disciplined person. When faced with deadlines, or mounds and mounds of reading, I tend to develop a fascination with some awfully long television series that ran for 20-something seasons, and is only just now out on DVD. While there’s nothing wrong with that, it does mean that I sometimes struggle to stay focussed when reading for the year’s best. To overcome that I’ve teamed up with the good folk at Not if You Were the Last Short Story on Earth. If you’re not familiar with the project, last year four intrepid readers (Alex, Alisa, Ben, and Tansy) attempted to read every short story published in the genre and to comment on those that they thought had merit. It was a crazy project, and one that I think changed their views on the field quite a bit. Anyway, they’ve decided to do it again, and this year will also act as readers for The Best Science Fiction and Fantasy of the Year: Volume 3. What does this actually mean? Well, the LSOE Gang will read away as they did this year, and kindly have offered to let me have access to their behind-the-scenes comments and recommendations, which should help point me towards more stuff that I might miss. We’ll also discuss what we’re reading from time-to-time through the year, which means I’m going to have to stay focussed and up to date, or I’m going to look a right twit. Kind of like having a study partner at Uni. It should be fun, and I’m very grateful to Alex, Alisa, Ben, and Tansy for offering to be involved.

Oh, and we’re hoping to put together a ‘year’s best’ / LSSOE kind of panel for Swancon, which we’re all attending. More on that closer to the time.