…if I go to the US all by myself for like two weeks, with a check book and everything, and Steve Jobs has just done this, and I come home with one. You can NOT blame me. I’m just saying.

It was Father’s Day here in Australia on Sunday, and Jessica, Sophie and Marianne went all out to make it special and wonderful. This photo comes from a card that Sophie made for me at her school. It’s supercute. Many thanks to her teachers for their work with Sophie and for taking the fun photo. Note: Interested relatives can click on the image to see larger versions.

Reading, reading, and mostly out of any kind of order that would be comprehensible to anyone. I’ve seen a couple of very good Holly Black stories this year, one in Realms of Fantasy and one in Steve Berman’s So Fey (the most thought provoking anthology I’ve read this year). Some nice, sensible person should do a collection of Black’s short fiction, and soon. I’ve also been dipping into Ellen Datlow’s issue of Subterranean, which features two of the most disturbing stories I’ve read all year. Terry Bisson’s “Pirates of the Somali Coast” haunts me from my first reading, and last night I read Mary Rickert’s “Holiday”. Damn that story gave me the creeps. I don’t think I’ll tell you why, but buy the issue now and check it out. Both of these stories belong in a year’s best, but I don’t know if I can. We’ll see.

I also read John Barnes’ novelette, “An Ocean is a Snowflake, Four Billion Miles Away” over at Baen’s Universe, which I liked quite a bit. I’ve read a couple reviews that described the story as sort of dry and not involving, but I didn’t see it. I mean, you’ve got a trek across a Martian desert while the planet is being bombarded by an ice comet, and a flashback to the story of a boy who rode his bicycle around a comet. What more could you want? If the story has a flaw for me, it might be a bit overlong, which is something I notice more and more these days. Stories could be tighter, more intense, and usually lose about 30% of their length. Barnes is better than that, but still… The story did make me think about science fiction and the ‘sense of wonder’. Too many of the stories I’ve been reading treat their sfnal elements in a knowing or somewhat arch manner, allowing that this or that is a metaphor for something else. It’s nice to just read SF for a change.

I’ve also been finishing up the September Asimov’s.  There’s a good Nancy Kress story, “By Fools Like Me”, which is a great example of how excellent writing and strong storytelling can make a reasonably predictable idea work very well. Kress has had a bunch of very good stories out this year, and this another. I also very much liked Ted Kosmatka’s “The Prophet of Flores”.

Hmm. More soon.

I am panicking now. Please don’t be concerned. This is normal for this phase of the process. We are eight weeks from delivery, so (1) I believe that I’ll never get everything read, and (2) my ability to recognise a good story has completely deserted me. Both of these are true, of course, but I’ve developed strategies to cope. Please free to ignore any irrational burblings here on the blog between now and October 24. Anything after October 24 will be genuine panic, and can be treated with judicious applications of single malt scotch.

Well, reading for The Best Science Fiction and Fantasy of the Year: Vol 2 stops on 1 October.  That gives me 28 days to nail the contents for the book. I’m very, very happy with the fantasy that I’ve read, and I’ve even read some great horror, but I’m reading SF eagerly looking for great stories to round out that part of the book. If you have any suggestions, drop me an email. I know it’ll come together, and overall I think it’s been an excellent year, but this is where I need to focus. Of course, it’s crazy time at the zoo here, with more things going on that you can shake a stick it, but that’s how it goes. I’m mostly trying not to think about it.  Basically, the work schedule from here is read for three weeks (except for the mildly terrifying notion of a pile of proofreading dropping through the front door), go to Conflux, come back and assemble the final manuscript for the book. That gives me from October 2 to October 21 to write the story notes and main intro, before I get on the plane for the US. If I can do that, I can read over the interstitial stuff in San Francisco, and leave it with the Night Shade guys when I head for Manhattan. The key here is that there’s no wiggle room. The book must be finished by the day after World Fantasy. No wiggle room at all. Yay. I’m feeling very relaxed .