It’s a podcasting Sunday morning.  I’ve been awake for a little while, and shortly I’ll do the breakfast thing before firing up Skype and connecting with Gary and today’s special guest.  I think we’ll be talking about the state of book publishing/book selling, entry books for science fiction readers, and some other cool things, but I don’t really know. Gary and I determinedly keep it casual, so mostly we’ll likely just chat.

Today will very much be a work day. If the timing’s right I’ll go swimming with the girls, but then I need to get on with taxes, editing and other stuff. I have a story ms. that popped through my mail to read, proposals to turn around, and general prep.  Busy, busy.  We did have a lovely visit from Robin and Toula last night, and that gave the weekend some shine. Much better than sitting around watching TV.

I should likely report in on what I’ve been reading, but that continues to be all over the place. I’m going back and forth between Garth Nix & Sean Williams’ Troubletwisters and Michael Swanwick’s Dancing with Bears, two very different novels that I’m enjoying for very different reasons, while alternately being engaged and annoyed by a bunch of anthologies. Busy times!

Well, since I’m working on the copyedits with the authors, it must be okay to release the table of contents for Eclipse Four. There were all sorts of dramas, but I’m very pleased with the end result. The final ToC is:

Introduction, Jonathan Strahan
“Slow as a Bullet”, Andy Duncan
“Tidal Forces”, Caitlin R. Kiernan
“The Beancounter’s Cat”, Damien Broderick
“Story Kit”, Kij Johnson
“The Man in Grey”, Michael Swanwick
“Old Habits”, Nalo Hopkinson
“The Vicar of Mars”, Gwyneth Jones
“Fields of Gold”, Rachel Swirsky
“Thought Experiment”, Eileen Gunn
“The Double of My Double Is Not My Double”, Jeffrey Ford
“Nine Muses”, Emma Bull
“Dying Young”, Peter M Ball
“The Panda Coin”, Jo Walton
“Tourists”, James Patrick Kelly

You can see the subtle but classy cover (and incidentally pre-order the book) over here. I should also add that I am already reading the first stories for Eclipse Five (heck, I’ve bought one!)

To say that I’m both gobsmacked and delighted to report that The Coode Street Podcast has been nominated for the BSFA Award for Best Non-Fiction (full shortlist here) hardly begins to touch on my reaction.

Gary and I started recording the podcast very much on the spur of the moment, and have kept it very simple and straightforward which in turn helps to keep it fun. And it is fun. Getting nominated for an award for it is a little like being nominated for going on holidays, really.

I’ve not had the chance to talk to Gary about the nomination, but no doubt we will do so this weekend. Until then, my thanks (and I’m very sure Gary’s too) to the BSFA and my congratulations to our fellow nominees, Paul, Abigail, Adam and Francis.  I wish I could be at Eastercon to buy you all a drink to celebrate!

It has been suggested to me that I should provide a detailed listing of the things I worked on that were published during 2010 for the purposes of Hugo eligibility (esp. for individual short stories). With that in mind, the list below details my own eligibility for Best Editor, Short Form and the breakdown for all of the original short fiction I edited during 2010 that is eligible for the awards.

I’d also mention The Coode Street Podcast for Best Fanzine. It is very much an unpaid labour of love by Gary Wolfe and I, and we think sits well in the fanzine tradition. You can hear all thirty episodes here.

BEST EDITOR, SHORT FORM

The Best Science Fiction and Fantasy of the Year: Volume 4 (Night Shade)
Mirror Kingdoms: The Best of Peter S. Beagle (Subterranean)
Fritz Leiber: Selected Stories (ed with Charles N. Brown) (Night Shade)
The Green Leopard Plague and Other Stories, Walter Jon Williams (Night Shade)
Subterranean Online, Spring Issue
Hard Luck Diggings: The Early Jack Vance (ed. with Terry Dowling) (Subterranean)
Legends of Australian Fantasy (ed. with Jack Dann) (HarperCollins)
Wings of Fire (ed. with Marianne S. Jablon) (Night Shade)
Swords and Dark Magic: The New Sword and Sorcery (ed. with Lou Anders) (Harper Eos)
The Best of Kim Stanley Robinson (Night Shade)
Godlike Machines (The Science Fiction Book Club)
The Best of Larry Niven (Subterranean Press)
Locus: The Magazine of the Science Fiction and Fantasy Field, Reviews Editor (Jan #588 – Dec #599)

BEST SEMIPROZINE

Locus: The Magazine of the Science Fiction and Fantasy Field,  Liza Groen Trombi (Jan #588 – Dec #599) (NB: I worked as Reviews Editor on these issues.)

BEST FANZINE

The Coode Street Podcast, Jonathan Strahan & Gary K. Wolfe

BEST NOVELLA

“Return to Titan”, Stephen Baxter (Godlike Machines)
“Return: An Innkeeper’s World Story”, Peter S. Beagle (Subterranean, Spring)
“The Enchanted: A Tale of Erith”, Cecelia Dart-Thornton, (Legends of Australian Fantasy)
“There’s a Great Big Beautiful Tomorrow/Now is the Best Time of Your Life”, Cory Doctorow (Godlike Machines)
“The Magic Word”, Jennifer Fallon, (Legends of Australian Fantasy)
“Tribute to Hell: A Tale of the Tainted Realm”, Ian Irvine, (Legends of Australian Fantasy)
“Twixt Twilight and Water: A Tale of Sevenwaters”, Juliet Marillier, (Legends of Australian Fantasy)
“Alone”, Robert Reed (Godlike Machines)
“Troika”, Alastair Reynolds (Godlike Machines)
“Crown of Rowan: A Tale of Thrysland”, Kim Wilkins, (Legends of Australian Fantasy)
“A Glimpse of the Marvellous Structure (And the Threat it Entails)”, Sean Williams (Godlike Machines)
“The Spark (A Romance in Four Acts): A Tale of the Change”, Sean Williams, (Legends of Australian Fantasy)

BEST NOVELETTE

“The Fool Jobs”, Joe Abercrombie, (Swords and Dark Magic)
“Under the Moons of Venus”, Damien Broderick (Subterranean, Spring)
“The Mad Apprentice: A Black Magician Story”, Trudi Canavan, (Legends of Australian Fantasy)
“The Dark Road: An Obernewtyn Story”, Isobelle Carmody, (Legends of Australian Fantasy)
“A Wizard of Wiscezan”, C.J. Cherryh, (Swords and Dark Magic)
“The Corsers’ Hinge: A Lamplighter Tale”, D.M. Cornish, (Legends of Australian Fantasy)
“Goats of Glory”, Steven Erikson, (Swords and Dark Magic)
“What We Take When We Take What We Need”, Daryl Gregory (Subterranean, Spring)
“Brownian Emotion”, Tom Holt (Subterranean, Spring)
“The Undefiled”, Greg Keyes, (Swords and Dark Magic)
“The Sea Troll’s Daughter”, Caitlin R Kiernan, (Swords and Dark Magic)
“The Deification of Dal Bamore”, Tim Lebbon, (Swords and Dark Magic)
“Two Lions, A Witch, and the War-Robe”, Tanith Lee, (Swords and Dark Magic)
“In the Stacks”, Scott Lynch, (Swords and Dark Magic)
“The Naturalist”, Maureen McHugh (Subterranean, Spring)
“Red Pearls: An Elric Story”, Michael Moorcock, (Swords and Dark Magic)
“To Hold the Bridge, Garth Nix”, Garth Nix, (Legends of Australian Fantasy)
“A Rich Full Week”, K. J. Parker, (Swords and Dark Magic)
“The Bodhisattvas”, Gord Sellar (Subterranean, Spring)
“Dapple Hew the Tint Master”, Michael Shea, (Swords and Dark Magic)
“Dark Times at the Midnight Market”, Robert Silverberg, (Swords and Dark Magic)

BEST SHORT STORY

“Sobek”, Holly Black (Wings of Fire)
“Tides Elba: A Tale of the Black Company”, Glen Cook, (Swords and Dark Magic)
“The Singing Spear”, James Enge, (Swords and Dark Magic)
“The Miracle Aquilina”, Margo Lanagan (Wings of Fire)
“A Suitable Present for a Sorcerous Puppet”, Garth Nix, (Swords and Dark Magic)
“Elegy for a Young Elk”, Hannu Rajaniemi (Subterranean, Spring)
“The Timpanist of the Berlin Philharmonic, 1942”, Kim Stanley Robinson (The Best of Kim Stanley Robinson)
“Thieves of Daring”, Bill Willingham, (Swords and Dark Magic)
“Bloodsport”, Gene Wolfe, (Swords and Dark Magic)

Renovation, this year’s WorldCon, has put the 2011 Hugo Nominating Ballot online. You are eligible to nominate if you were a member of Aussiecon or are a member of Renovation. No matter what you’ve read, or what you choose to nominate, please do nominate. The awards are only as good as the nominations received so your views are important!

6 Jan: Edited to correct error on title of Garth Nix’s novelette.