I had a busy year over at Tor.com. Below are the twelve stories I acquired and edited for the site. My thanks to all of the authors and to everyone at Tor.com for letting me be involved in such a very special year!

“The Counterworld” by James Bradley

Illustrated by Mary Haasdyk
Published February 1, 2023

A grieving mother wakes up to find all traces of her lost son have been erased as if he had never existed. Only in the hallway mirror is she able to see a glimpse of the reality she remembers having lived—the reality she wants back.

“The River and the World Remade” by E. Lily Yu

Illustrated by Changyu Zou
Published March 29, 2023

When the waters rose, the people who stayed on the River learned they weathered the storms best together, but what happens when one of their own becomes curious about the Land?

“Salt Water” by Eugenia Triantafyllou

Illustrated by J Yang
Published April 12, 2023

While all her friends’ fish are changing into mermaids, is 12-year-old Anissa’s fish becoming something else?

“Counting Casualties” by Yoon Ha Lee

Illustrated by Julie Dillon
Published April 26, 2023

Commander Niaja vrau Erezeng is up against an enemy that doesn’t just destroy all the beings, ships, and planets in its path, but also consumes their greatest arts, somehow scratching them from existence everywhere…

“The Star-Bear” by Michael Swanwick

Illustrated by Bill Mayer
Published June 7, 2023

A Russian émigré poet living in Paris is visited by a mysterious bear with an agenda…

“What It Means To Be A Car” by James Patrick Kelly

Illustrated by Scott Bakal
Published July 26, 2023

An AI car is caught between its ruthless employer and the people she hurt…

“The Three O’Clock Dragon” by John Wiswell

Illustrated by J Yang
Published August 23, 2023

Prosperity City’s corrupt mayor never guessed his greatest opponent would be a fire-breathing dragon and her unconventional platform…

“The Job at the End of the World” by Ray Nayler

Illustrated by Keith Negley
Published August 30, 2023

A weary resilience worker should know better than anyone: no one is safe when the world is always ending…

“Detonation Boulevard” by Alastair Reynolds

Illustrated by Ben Zweifel
Published July 12, 2023

In a cosmic rally race winding 12,000 kilometers across Io’s treacherous surface in just 60 hours, all while dodging the competition, fatigue, and violent lava geysers—there’s only one way Cat knows how to win: Just. Drive.

“The Passing of the Dragon” by Ken Liu

Illustrated by Mary Haasdyk
Published September 13, 2023

A woman who fears she’s failing as a painter and as an artist seeks inspiration from one of her favorite poets and finds something even more wondrous, but also more impossible to capture on canvas…

“FORM 8774-D” by Alex Irvine

Illustrated by Zoe van Dijk
Published September 27, 2023

It’s just business as usual at the Bureau of Metahuman, Mutant, and Occult Affairs until an employee for the government agency begins to wonder if work is following her home…

“The Locked Coffin: A Judge Dee Mystery” by Lavie Tidhar

Illustrated by Red Nose Studio
Published October 25, 2023

A new Judge Dee mystery!

While visiting the mysterious castle of Maidstone for an investigation, Judge Dee and Jonathan discover the only thing more menacing than a vampire child is twin vampire children…

2023 was a year when I edited two original anthologies, two Tordocom novellas, eleven of Tor.com’s short stories, and acted as reviews editor for Locus for the 21st consecutive year. As a podcaster, I co-hosted and produced a total of 19 episodes.

Fiction edited in 2023

Anthologies

• The Book of Witches, Harper Voyager
• Communications Breakdown: Twelve Tomorrows 2023, MIT Press

Novellas

• The Crane Husband, Kelly Barnhill, Tordotcom Publishing
• Untethered Sky,  Fonda Lee, Tordotcom Publishing, 2023

Novelette

• Here Instead of There, Elizabeth Bear (Communications Breakdown)
• The Counterworld, James Bradley (Tor.com)
• What I Remember of Oresha Moon Dragon Devshrata, P. Djèlí Clark (The Book of Witches)
• John Hollowback and the Witch, Amal El Mohtar (The Book of Witches)
• FORM 8774-D, Alex Irvine (Tor.com)
• The Witch Is Not the Monster, Alaya Dawn Johnson (The Book of Witches)
• What It Means to Be a Car, James Patrick Kelly (Tor.com)
• Less Than, Lavanya Lakshminarayan (Communications Breakdown)
• The Passing of the Dragon, Ken Liu (Tor.com)
• Cuttlefish, Anil Menon (Communications Breakdown)
• At Every Door a Ghost, Mohamed (Communications Breakdown)
• Company Man, Shiv Ramdas (Communications Breakdown)
• Detonation Boulevard, Alastair Reynolds (Tor.com)
• The Luck Thief, Tade Thompson (The Book of Witches)
• The Locked Coffin: A Judge Dee Mystery, Lavie Tidhar (Tor.com)

Short story

• What Dreams May Come, C.L. Clark (The Book of Witches)
• As Wayward Sisters, Hand in Hand, Indrapramit Das (The Book of Witches)
• Noise Cancellation, S B Divya (Communications Breakdown)
• Moral Hazard, Cory Doctorow (Communications Breakdown)
• Orphanage of the Last Breath, Saad Hossain (The Book of Witches)
• Catechism for Those Who Would Find Witches, Kathleen Jennings (The Book of Witches)
• Met Swallow, Cassandra Khaw (The Book of Witches)
• Nameless Here for Evermore, Fonda Lee (The Book of Witches)
• The Liar, Darcie Little Badger (The Book of Witches)
  Good Spells, Ken Liu (The Book of Witches)
• The Excommunicates, Ken Macleod (Communications Breakdown)
• Night Riding, Usman T. Malik (The Book of Witches)
• My City is Not A Problem, Tim Maughan (Communications Breakdown)
• Sigh No More, Ian McDonald (Communications Breakdown)
• Just a Nudge, Maureen McHugh (The Book of Witches)
• So Spake the Mirrorwitch, Premee Mohammed (The Book of Witches)
• The Job at the End of the World, Ray Nayler (Tor.com)
• The Unexpected Excursion of the Murder Mystery Writing Witches, Garth Nix (The Book of Witches)
• The Nine Jars of Nukulu, Tobi Ogundiran (The Book of Witches)
• Déjà Vue, Tochi Onyebuchi (The Book of Witches)
• The Academy of Oracular Magic, Miyuki Jane Pinckard (The Book of Witches)
• In a Cabin, In a Wood, Kelly Robson (The Book of Witches)
• Through The Woods, Due West, Angela Slatter (The Book of Witches)
• Her Ravenous Waters, Andrea Stewart (The Book of Witches)
• The Star-Bear, Michael Swanwick (Tor.com)
• The Cost of Doing Business, Emily Teng (The Book of Witches)
• Mask of the Nautilus, Sheree Renee Thomas (The Book of Witches)
• Salt Water, Eugenia Triantafyllou (Tor.com)
• The Three O’Clock Dragon, John Wiswell (Tor.com)
• Witchfires, E. Lily Yu (The Book of Witches)
• The River and the World Remade, E. Lily Yu (Tor.com)

Editor, Short-Form (Hugos)/Professional Achievement (WFA)

• Jonathan Strahan (The Book of Witches ; two Tordotcom novellas;  11 Tor.com stories;  Locus [reviews editor]

Best Fancast/Podcast

• The Coode Street Podcast [19 episodes] [co-hosted with Gary K. Wolfe.]

I hope you’ll consider supporting the talented people that I’ve worked with during the year.

2022 was a year when I edited two original anthologies, five novellas published by Tordocom, eight of Tor.com’s short stories, and acted as reviews editor for Locus for the 20th consecutive year.

As a podcaster, we managed a total of 50 episodes, including the Coode Street Advent Calendar, which was fun.

Fiction edited in 2022

Anthologies

• Someone in Time: Tales of Time-Crossed Romance, Solaris
• Tomorrow’s Parties: Life in the Anthropocene, MIT Press

Novellas

• A Mirror Mended, Alix E. Harrow, Tordotcom
• Kundo Wakes Up, Saad Z. Hossein, Tordotcom
• Pulling the Wings Off Angels, K J Parker, Tordotcom
• These Prisoning Hills, Christopher Rowe, Tordotcom
• January Fifteenth, Rachel Swirsky, Tordotcom

Novelette

• After the Storm, James Bradley (Tomorrow’s Parties)
• Of All the New Yorks in All the Worlds, Indrapramit Das (Tor.com)
• Victory Citrus Is Sweet, Thoraiya Dyer (Tor.com)
• When the Tide Rises, Sarah Gailey (Tomorrow’s Parties)
• Once Upon a Future in the West, Daryl Gregory (Tomorrow’s Parties)
• The Place of all the Souls, Margo Lanagan (Someone in Time)
• The Chronologist, Ian R. MacLeod (Tor.com)
• Burning Books for Pleasure and Profit, K.J. Parker (Tor.com)
• Do You Hear the Fungi Sing?, Chen Quifan (Tomorrow’s Parties)
• I Give You the Moon, Justina Robson (Tomorrow’s Parties)
• Seven Vampires: A Judge Dee Mystery, Lavie Tidhar (Tor.com)
• Judge Dee and the Mystery of the Missing Manuscript, Lavie Tidhar (Tor.com)
• The Difference Between Love and Time, Catherynne M. Valente (Someone in Time)

Short story

• D.I.Y, John Wiswell (Tor.com)
• The Lichens, Nina Allan (Someone in Time)
• The Past Life Reconstruction Service, Zen Cho (Tomorrow’s Parties)
• Romance Historical, Rowan Coleman (Someone in Time)
• Crisis Actors, Greg Egan (Someone in Time)
• Drone Pirates of Silicon Valley, Meg Ellison (Tomorrow’s Parties)
• The Golden Hour, Jeffrey Ford (Tomorrow’s Parties)
• I Remember Satellites, Sarah Gailey (Someone in Time)
• A Letter to Merlin, Theodora Goss (Someone in Time)
• Roadside Attraction, Alix E. Harrow (Someone in Time)
• The Ferryman, Saad Z. Hossain (Someone in Time)
• Bergamot and Vetiver, Lavanya Lakshminarayan (Tomorrow’s Parties)
• First Aid, Seanan McGuire (Someone in Time)
• Unbashed, or: Jackson, Whose Cowardice Tore a Hole in the Chronoverse, Sam Miller (Someone in Time)
• Choke, Suyi Davies Okungbowa (Someone in Time)
• Legion, Malka Older (Tor.com)
• Timed Obsolescence, Sameem Sadiqui (Tomorrow’s Parties)
• Down and Out in Exile Park, Tade Thompson (Someone in Time)
• Dead Poets, Carrie Vaughn Carrie Vaughn (Someone in Time)

Editor, Short-Form (Hugos)/Professional Achievement (WFA)

• Jonathan Strahan (Someone in Time: Tales of Time-Crossed Romance; five Tordotcom novellas;  eight Tor.com stories;  Locus [reviews editor]

Best Fancast/Podcast

• The Coode Street Podcast [28 episodes] [co-hosted with Gary K. Wolfe.]

I hope you’ll consider supporting the talented people that I’ve worked with during the year.

The future is not evenly distributed. I’m no longer surprised that when Gary Wolfe and I try to talk to people for the podcast they simply don’t have the internet connectivity to record as we usually do.

Landline recording is always a bit fiddly, and just became fiddlier because the Skype add-on (Call Recorder) I used for many years to record the podcast is not compatible with Macs using Apple silicon. Which means it’s lucky I haven’t re-homed the old MacBook yet, but this next episode (to a distant Welsh valley, I believe) will likely be one of the last to a landline.

Garth Nix’s 2021 novel The Left-Handed Booksellers of London was a delight in a challenging year, a compelling tale of mythic Britain filled with terrible danger and the intriguing magic of the eponymous  booksellers. Although it was far more than that, it felt like comfort food right when you needed it most.

This coming May Susan Arkshaw, Merlin, and the booksellers return in The Sinister Booksellers of Bath, this time for an adventure set in Bath that sees Susan (again) in great peril faced by mysterious machinations of the Ancient Sovereigns, and the growing pull of her own heritage. There’s magic, intrigue, lemon drizzle cake, and, just perhaps, hints of the next big change in Susan’s life.

I don’t know if there’ll be a next book in the series, but I hope so.