I edit THE BEST SCIENCE FICTION AND FANTASY OF THE YEAR anthology series for Solaris Books. The seventh volume in the series was published in March 2013, and the eight will appear in April 2014.

I am currently reading for the 2013 volume, which will cover stories first published between 1 January and 31 December 2013. I 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. Please note: This is a reprint anthology.

I work on a tight deadline, and need to see work as early as possible.  With that in mind, the submission deadline for this year’s book is 15 October 2013. 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 2013 please send galleys or manuscripts so that I can consider the stories in time.

Where possible, I prefer to receive book-length submissions in print. Anything else can be sent to me via email. I prefer ePub, .mobi, .rtf or .doc files. PDFs are acceptable, but are 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.

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.

NOTE TO PUBLISHERS

I am eager to see and be able to consider the work you are publishing. If you are producing a magazine, a chapbook, a collection or anthology with any original stories in it please let me know. While I prefer not to accept email submissions for book length works as a rule, I am happy to talk to publishers about making exceptions where necessary. The important thing, for me, is to make sure that I get to consider the best science fiction and fantasy published during 2013.

• I do not need to receive manuscripts from authors of stories from venues that it’s likely I already receive regularly (I get Asimov’s, Analog, F&SF, Interzone, Postscripts etc, but not many of the smaller ‘zines and publications).
• If you are publishing online, please email me copies of your stories at (jonathan.strahan (at) gmail (dot) com). This is particularly important for stories published between October and December, which may otherwise be overlooked. I do not require print-outs of online publications (I regularly read Tor.com, IGMS, Strange Horizons, Clarkesworld, Fantasy, Apex etc online).
• 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.

NOTE TO WRITERS

If I am considering your story for inclusion in THE BEST SCIENCE FICTION AND AND FANTASY OF THE YEAR, I will be acquiring non-exclusive World anthology rights in English and foreign languages.

I am delighted to announce that, starting from March 2014, Solaris Books will be publishing The Best Science Fiction and Fantasy of the Year series throughout the world in the English language.

As announced this week, my agent Howard Morhaim and I have recently sold The Best Science Fiction and Fantasy of the Year: Volume 8 and The Best Science Fiction and Fantasy of the Year: Volume 9 to Jonathan Oliver at Solaris. Jon has been my editor on the award-winning “Infinity” series of anthologies, and on the recent Fearsome Journeys. Working with Jon and the Solaris team is a pleasure, and I know they’ll help me take the Best of the Year to the international audience it needs and deserves. I cannot imagine a better team to partner with on this series of books.

I am, of course, sad the series is leaving Night Shade Books after seven years. I have been incredibly fortunate to work with Jason Williams, Jeremy Lassen, Ross Lockhart, and the Night Shade Books team on these books and an online magazine over an eight year period. I have very fond memories of those times, and am incredibly proud of those books. When Night Shade changed hands I knew it was time for a fresh start with the Best of the Year, but I hope a chance will arise to work together again in the future. Until then, though, I have a lot of reading to do!

A few quick notes from the world, noticed over the weekend:

• Winners of the Shirley Jackson Awards announced at Readercon over the weekend. Special congratulations to Kaaron Warren and Jeff Ford!
• The New Yorker discusses the enduring appeal of Frank Herbert’s Dune.
• The brilliant Subterranean Press to publish a new Robert Silverberg collection.

Over the weekend it was announced that J.K. Rowling, the almost ridiculously well-known author of the Harry Potter series of children’s fantasy novels and one adult mainstream novel, earlier this year published a crime novel under a male pseudonym.

In the period between the publication of her fantasy series and her mainstream novel, Rowling had mentioned she’d been working on a crime novel. That novel, The Cuckoo’s Calling, published as by Robert Galbraith, was published in April of this year to strong reviews and, if the reports I saw online are accurate, modest sales.

On hearing the news I said on Twitter that “So J.K. Rowling put out new crime novel under pseudonym. Sells poorly, but great reviews. Says lots about publishing, little about the book”. This fairly innocuous note was retweeted quite a bit, and led to a lot of comment.

While comment is always welcome, I thought I’d clarify what I meant. Rowling is famous. She wanted to see how a book of hers would be received if it didn’t come out as by her. She got positive affirmation that she can write terrifically well, but as often happens in the world, sometimes good books don’t sell.

It’s terrifically hard to get a book to market, to connect it to an audience, and to do all of the things that make it sell in large numbers (this is why authors want a good publisher). Writing a good book is a great thing, but in and of itself it doesn’t guarantee sales. That’s what I meant.

And yes, while I am pretty confident this was not a marketing ploy, the novel is now #1 on Amazon and likely to be a world-wide bestseller.