I normally would have done this earlier, but I’ve only just had the final okay, so here’s the table of contents for my next Best of the Year. I’m away from home so I don’t have all of the usual info to hand, but I promise to add sources etc over the next day or so.  While there are one or two stories that got away, and while if I had a smidgeon more room I might have opted for a novella in one spot, I’m basically very happy with this list.

Table of Contents (in alpha order)

1. “Tough Times All Over”, Joe Abercrombie
2. “The Scrivener”, Eleanor Arnason
3. “Moriabe’s Children”, Paolo Bacigalupi
4. “Covenant”, Elizabeth Bear
5. “Slipping”, Lauren Beukes
6. “Ten Rules for Being an Intergalactic Smuggler (The Successful Kind)”, Holly Black
7. “Shadow Flock”, Greg Egan
8. “The Truth About Owls”, Amal El-Mohtar
9. “Cimmeria: From the Journal of Imaginary Anthropology”, Theodora Goss
10. “Cold Wind”, Nicola Griffith
11. “Someday”, James Patrick Kelly
12. “Interstate Love Song (Murder Ballad No.8)”, Caitlin R Kiernan
13. “Mothers, Lock Up Your Daughters Because They are Terrifying”, Alice Sola Kim
14. “Amicae Aeternum”, Ellen Klages
15. “Calligo Lane”, Ellen Klages
16. “The Lady and the Fox”, Kelly Link
17. “The Long Haul From the ANNALS OF TRANSPORTATION”, The Pacific Monthly, May 2009”, Ken Liu
18. “The Vaporization Enthalpy of a Peculiar Pakistani Family”, Usman T Mailk
19. “Four Days of Christmas”, Tim Maughan
20. “The Fifth Dragon”, Ian McDonald
21. “Shay Corsham Worsted”, Garth Nix
22. “I Met a Man Who Wasn’t There”, K. J. Parker
23. “Kheldyu”, Karl Schroeder
24. “Tawny Petticoats”, Michael Swanwick
25. “Grand Jeté (The Great Leap)”, Rachel Swirsky
26. “The Insects of Love”, Genevieve Valentine
27. “Collateral”, Peter Watts
28. “The Devil in America”, Kai Ashante Wilson

There are all sorts of things I have not been doing, and all sorts of things that I have not been enjoying, that I normally do. I’ve been on vacation for a week, enjoying cooler climes and more relaxed environs, but I’ve had to devote time to writing year-in-review essays, and to working on compiling my Best of the Year anthology (final ToC announced any day now) which has gotten in the way of really relaxing.

That’s not what’s stopped me, though. The sorts of things I’ve not been doing too much of are watching TV and movies, sitting around chatting a lot, and even reading as much as I want. The reason for it is that, once again, my ears are acting up. I was very fortunate when I was overseas in France, the UK and the US this year that my ears not only didn’t trouble me; they functioned pretty well (for me). I felt relaxed, confident and that things might be slowly improving.

Since I got back from the US in November, though, things have slowly deteriorated. My right ear particularly is problematic right now. It feels blocked and the hearing out of it is very poor and muffled. If you sit on my right side you’ll notice me turning around a lot because it helps me make out what you’re saying. If you’re directly opposite me we should be fine, but it depends on how noisy the place is. And if you’re more than 15-20 feet away the probability is I just can’t make out what you’re saying.

I’ll go see the doctor again this week. I don’t know if it’s simple external blockage (i.e. wax), which is unlikely but possible, or if there’s been a Meniere’s-related issue. It’s sometimes hard to know. In fact, one of the hardest things to explain about my experience with Meniere’s is that it means my hearing can be very variable depending on time of day, whether it’s acting up or not, weather etc. etc. Right now I’m trying to be optimistic and hope it settles back to France levels. If it does, I’ll arrange hearing aids to offset the moderate permanent hearing loss I do have, and I should be fine. If it doesn’t, it’ll be worse than that.

Communicating and enjoying film and music aside, the real problem with my Meniere’s is that the experience is so variable, with ears feeling blocked or not, or hearing being good or not, that I am aware of it every day. It never quite settles to the point, or seldom settles, to where I can just forget it and get on with the day to day. It distracts me, even beyond the mechanical issues of watching or listening to things.

That said, in some ways I’ve been lucky of late. Thanks to various medications, I’ve not been having Meniere’s attacks. Every year for the past three I’ve been struck down over Christmas and in April. If it weren’t for my right ear being blocked, I’d barely have noticed it. I’ve had a moment or two of light-headedness, but nothing like an attack or even the precursors to an attack.

Given that I need to relax, become creative and get my 2015/16 schedule settled pretty much immediately I hope things improve. Back to the day job on Monday, too, which will be fun! I love working with my team, but the work occasionally can be trying.

Home tomorrow!

I edit The Best Science Fiction and Fantasy of the Year anthology series for Solaris Books. The ninth volume in the series will be published in May 2015, and the tenth will appear in May 2016.

I am currently reading for the 2015 volume, and am looking for stories from all branches of science fiction and fantasy: space opera to cyberpunk, fairy tales to the slipstream, or anything else that might qualify. If in doubt, please send it.

Eligibility

This is a reprint anthology. Stories must have been published between 1 January and 31 December 2015 to be considered.

Deadline

The submission deadline for this year’s book is:

 1 October 2015

Anything sent after this deadline will reach me too late. If a magazine, anthology, or collection you are in or you edit is coming out before 31 December 2014 please send galleys or manuscripts so that I can consider the stories in time.

Publication date

The tenth volume of the series is tentatively scheduled for publication in May 2016.

Format

Where possible, I prefer to receive book-length works in print., but this is optional.  Books, stories etc can be sent to me via email. I prefer ePub, .mobi, .rtf or .doc files. PDFs are acceptable but inconvenient. I strongly suggest that authors check with their publishers that they are sending review copies out to me, as I don’t have the resources to follow-up every publisher to get material.

Postal address

When sending material please put “Best SF/F of the Year” on the envelope.

Jonathan Strahan
PO Box 544
Mt Lawley WA 6929
Australia

Email submissions, recommendations, or information on publications can be sent to me via email at:

jonathan.strahan (at) gmail (dot) com

For publishers

• I am eager to consider work you are publishing. If you produce a magazine, chapbook, collection or anthology with any original stories in it please let me know. I am happy to accept email submissions. The most important thing is to make sure that I get to consider the best science fiction and fantasy published during 2015.
• If you are publishing online please email copies of stories to jonathan.strahan (at) gmail (dot) com as early as possible. This is particularly important for stories published between October and December which may otherwise be overlooked.

For writers

• I do not need to receive manuscripts from authors of stories from venues that it’s likely I already receive regularly (I get , Analog, F&SF, Interzone, Black Static, Postscripts etc, but not many of the smaller ‘zines and publications).
• Please do not send an SASE. This is not a submission, and I’m unable to return manuscripts or respond directly to stories sent to me.
• If I am considering your story for inclusion in  The Best Science Fiction and Fantasy of the Year, I will be acquiring non-exclusive World anthology rights in English and foreign languages in print, audio and ebook.

Note: Edited to correct some stupid date errors on my behalf caused by my repurposing last year’s post.  The new book is for stories published during 2015 and is due out in 2016. Apologies for muddleheadedness.