The first Sunday of every December, there or thereabouts, we put up the Christmas tree. It’s not quite a family tradition, but it’s a nice pre-Christmas thing to do. We get to set up the tree, decorate it with the girls, and really get the Christmas season going.  We’re not quite there, though, and it’s already the second Sunday in December. Why? Well, we’ve not been well, here at Merton Way.

As I’ve detailed here before, I continue to battle an ear/sinus infection which has rather laid me low. I’m now taking antibiotics in pills big enough to choke a horse.  Marianne too has been completely wiped out by a virus of some kind that’s caused all sorts of bronchial issues. Having slept most of Wednesday and Thursday, she then spent Friday and Saturday coughing so much she can’t sleep, so she’s tired, sick, utterly miserable, and unable to do much of anything. This has meant the cooking, the cleaning, and everything else has fallen to me, which is understandable but doesn’t make things easier.   And then there’s Jessica. She’s mostly been well, but having had no seizures in  almost a year she suddenly had one three weeks ago, then two (one in the evening and one in the morning) on Tuesday, the first time she’d had two seizures so closely together.  That is a much more serious concern, and we’re off to see her neurologist on Monday to discuss options to help her.

Along with that I received copyedits of The Best Science Fiction and Fantasy of the Year: Volume Five, which are progressing well, and yesterday the monitor on my main work computer died. I had to temporarily swipe the one from the kids’ computer just to test the machine itself was ok.  I had hoped to get some work done yesterday on other editing, but with the need to drive children places and with the dead monitor, I ended up seeing a few friends in the afternoon while Marianne rested.

Today is Sunday here in Perth. I should record a podcast, edit, and dig around for the receipt on the monitor. Instead, the girls have a drama performance at 11.00am so I need to sort their costumes, get them through breakfast, dressed and ready, and over to the hall for 10.00am, then meet up with family for the show. Then home and maybe a hurried podcast recording, possibly doing the tree, and then getting dinner ready.

The countdown to the publication of Engineering Infinity is definitely on. Even though the book isn’t out till January of next year, it just got its* first review (a decent one) over at Locus: Online, where Lois Tilton says many nice things about the book. Check it out. You can order it here.

*Spelling error corrected as per P.Hollo

I’m very pleased to announce that I have been asked to be an invited guest at Swancon 36, the 50th National Australian Science Fiction Convention, which will be held in Perth, Western Australia 21-25 April 2011.  It should be an enormous amount of fun, with friends coming from all over the place to catch up and discuss things SFnal.  I’m not sure what I’ll be doing there, other than sitting in the bar (best convention passtime EVAH), but I look forward to seeing you all over that weekend. It should be totally mintox! (Hmm, wonder if the Hyatt bar staff know how to make seabreezes…)

Sixteen days till Christmas here, and the weather’s turning warmer after a cool-ish turn. I’ve been working from home today, and likely will tomorrow as we’ve been somewhat struck down by illness here at Merton Way.  The ear problem that I’ve been struggling with off and on all year is back, and this time I’m going to see a specialist who hopefully will be able to finally get on top of it. Marianne has been knocked out by some kind of bug too – the flu or something, so she’s pretty much wiped out.

Neither of which is the serious one.  As some of you know if you’ve been reading this blog for a while my eldest has occasional seizures, and she’s just been through several. Having not had a seizure for a year, she had one three weeks ago and then two in the past 24hrs. It’s all a bit scary, truthfully, but likely not an enormous deal. She’s been exhausted as a result, and will see her neurologist on Monday. In the meantime we’re keeping a close watch on her and hoping all will be well.

Most of the other things happening are fairly trivial by comparison. Having delivered the year’s best three weeks ago, I’m waiting on the copyedits. Having turned it in so early I’m confident we’ll have a couple weeks to go over them, but you never know. The copyedits are almost certain to overlap finishing up Eclipse Four, which frankly has been the most difficult in the series to work on so far. I think the final book will be a good one, but it has called into question the viability of the whole enterprise again (even though I do love it).

Once Eclipse Four is laid to rest I can focus on The Best of Joe Haldeman, Cyberpunk, and Under My Hat. Busy busy. There are also the proposals I mentioned earlier, which will go out in the New Year. Oh, and I’ve been working behind the scenes to compile the short fiction section of the Locus recommended reading list, which comes out in February. Lest you think I simply put it together myself randomly, it actually involves collating votes and opinions from about ten people and is a little tedious to do, but worthwhile once done.

Have there been highlights? Yes there have! I finally got a copy of Godlike Machines – I bought it from abebooks.com and happily recommend them as a possible source – and I’m very pleased with it. I think it’s probably the best book I had published this year, though I’m a notoriously poor judge of these things. I greatly enjoyed recording the podcast with Gary, John and Cheryl that went up earlier this week. Lots of fun. I’m now reading Jo Walton’s fabulous Among Others, and am thinking it might be a good discussion basis for the next podcast. It’s very good, and Gary’s already read it. Hmmm.

And, using the same methodology…I don’t get a lot of time each year to read novels, but when I do get the time, these are some of the ones from the Locus list that caught my eye.

January 2011

* de Bodard, Aliette • Harbinger of the Storm • (Angry Robot, tpb)
* Parker, K. J. • The Hammer • (Orbit, tpb)
* Robson, Justina • Down to the Bone • (Gollancz, hc/tpb)
* Walton, Jo • Among Others • (Tor, hc)
* Wolfe, Gene • Home Fires • (Tor, hc)

February 2011

* Courtenay Grimwood, Jon • The Fallen Blade • (Orbit, tpb)
* MacLeod, Ian R. • Wake Up and Dream • (PS Publishing, hc)

March 2011

* Barnes, John • Daybreak Zero • (Ace, hc)
* Hardinge, Frances • Twilight Robbery • (Macmillan Children’s Books UK, nvl-ya, hc)

April 2011

* Black, Holly • Red Glove • (McElderry, nvl-ya, hc)
* McIntosh, Will • Soft Apocalypse • (Night Shade Books, tpb)
* Okorafor, Nnedi • The Akata Witch • (Viking, nvl-ya, hc)

May 2011

* Miéville, China • Embassytown • (Ballantine Del Rey, hc)
* Nix, Garth, & Sean Williams • Troubletwisters • (Scholastic Press, nvl-ya, tpb)
* Scalzi, John • Fuzzy Nation • (Tor, hc)
* Swanwick, Michael • Dancing With Bears • (Night Shade Books, hc)

June 2011

* Reynolds, Alastair • Blue Remembered Earth • (Gollancz, hc)

July 2011

* Goonan, Kathleen Ann • This Shared Dream Called Earth • (Tor, hc)
* Gregory, Daryl • Raising Stony Mayhall • (Ballantine Del Rey, tpb)
* Stross, Charles • Rule 34 • (Orbit, tpb)

August 2011

* Harrison, M. John • Pearlant • (Gollancz, hc/tpb)