Mark R. Kelly at Locus Online has published some highlights from the Locus ‘Forthcoming Books’ list, which appears in full in the December 2010 issue of the magazine. I need to pour over the whole thing but, since I’m interested for various reasons, I thought I’d excerpt the anthologies listed on the ‘selected highlights’. This list is by no means complete, of course, and it only goes up till September, but it looks like a busy year ahead. If you have an anthology coming out, or know of one, let me know in comments and I’ll happily add it here. I will also try to find the time to add links to the titles as I can.

January 2011

• Adams, John Joseph, ed. • Brave New Worlds, (Night Shade Books, anth, tpb)
• Strahan, Jonathan, ed., Engineering Infinity, (Solaris US, anth)

February 2011

• Lansdale, Joe R., ed., Crucified Dreams, (Tachyon Publications, anth, tpb)
• Saberhagen, Joan, ed., Golden Reflections, (Baen, anth, hc)
• Weber, David, ed., Worlds of Honor #5: In Fire Forged, (Baen, anth, hc)

March 2011

• Guran, Paula, ed., Vampires: The Recent Undead, (Prime Books, anth, tpb)
• Gustainis, Justin, ed., Those Who Fight Monsters, (Hades/EDGE Science Fiction and Fantasy, anth, tpb)
• Rambo, Cat, Paul Tremblay & Sean Wallace, eds., Worlds of Fantasy: The Best of Fantasy Magazine, (Prime Books, anth, tpb)
• Strahan, Jonathan, ed., The Best Science Fiction and Fantasy of the Year Volume Five, (Night Shade Books, anth, tpb)

April 2011

• Datlow, Ellen, & Terri Windling, eds., Teeth: Vampire Tales, (Harper, anth, hc)
• Farr, Russell ed., Dead Red Heart (Ticonderoga, anth, tp)
• Grzyb, Liz ed., More Scary Kisses (Ticonderoga, anth, tp)
• Sedia, Ekaterina, ed., Bewere the Night, (Prime Books, anth, tpb)
• Strahan, Jonathan, ed., Life on Mars: Tales of the New Frontier, (Viking, anth, hc)

May 2011

• Anderson, Kevin J., ed., Nebula Awards Showcase 2011, (Tor, anth, tpb)
• Strahan, Jonathan, ed., Eclipse Four, (Night Shade Books, anth, tpb)
• Wentworth, K. D., ed., L. Ron Hubbard Presents Writers of the Future Volume XXVII, (Galaxy, anth)

June 2011

• Datlow, Ellen, ed., Best Horror of the Year: Volume Three, (Night Shade Books, anth, tpb)
• Datlow, Ellen, ed., Supernatural Noir, (Dark Horse, anth, tpb)
• Hartwell, David G., & Kathryn Cramer, eds., Year’s Best SF 16, (Harper Voyager, anth)
• Horton, Rich, ed., The Year’s Best Science Fiction & Fantasy: 2011 Edition, (Prime Books, anth, tpb)
• Kushner, Ellen, & Holly Black, eds., Welcome to Bordertown • (Random House, anth, hc)
• Martin, George R. R., ed., Wild Cards: Fort Freak, (Tor, anth, hc)

July 2011

• Datlow, Ellen, ed., Naked City: Tales of Urban Fantasy, (St. Martin’s, anth, hc)`
• Dozois, Gardner, ed., The Year’s Best Science Fiction: Twenty-eight Annual Collection, (St. Martin’s Griffin, anth, tpb)
• VanderMeer, Jeff, & Ann VanderMeer, eds., The Thackery T. Lambshead Cabinet of Curiosities, (Harper Voyager, anth, hc)
• Watson, Howard, ed., The Charmed Pot, (PS Publishing, anth, hc)
• Wilbur, Rick, ed., Future Media, (Tachyon Publications, anth, tpb)

August 2011

• Beagle, Peter S., & Joe R. Lansdale, eds., Urban Fantasy, (Tachyon Publications, anth, tpb)
• Guran, Paula, ed., The Year’s Best Dark Fantasy & Horror: 2011 Edition, (Prime Books, anth, tpb)
• Harris, Charlaine, & Toni L. P. Kelner, eds., Home Improvement: Undead Edition, (Ace, anth, hc)

September 2011

• Ciriello, Dario, ed., Panverse Three  (anth, tp) 
• Datlow, Ellen, ed., Blood and Other Cravings, (Tor, anth, hc)

No date

• Dozois, Gardner & George R. R. Martin, Down These Strange Streets (Viking, antho, hc) 

I edit THE BEST SCIENCE FICTION AND FANTASY OF THE YEAR anthology series for Night Shade Books. The fifth volume in the series will be published in March 2011, and the sixth should appear in March 2012.

I am currently reading for the 2011 volume, which will cover stories first published between 1 January and 31 December 2011. 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 1 October 2011. 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 2011 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 .rtf or .doc files. PDFs are acceptable, but remain highly 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 2011.

* 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, Realms of Fantasy, 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 per se, and I’m not able to return manuscripts or respond directly to stories sent to me.

Everything is all pretty much finalised, though I’m waiting on some bits and pieces and the copyedits, but here is the table of contents for the new best of the year. It’s due out in March and you can pre-order it here.

Introduction, Jonathan Strahan
“Elegy for a Young Elk,” Hannu Rajaniemi
“The Truth is a Cave in the Black Mountains,” Neil Gaiman
“Seven Sexy Cowboy Robots,” Sandra McDonald
“The Spy Who Never Grew Up,” Sarah Rees Brennan
“The Aarne-Thompson Classification Revue,” Holly Black
“Under the Moons of Venus,” Damien Broderick
“The Fool Jobs,” Joe Abercrombie
“Alone,” Robert Reed
“Names for Water,” Kij Johnson
“Fair Ladies,” Theodora Goss
“Plus or Minus,” James P. Kelly
“The Man With the Knives,” Ellen Kushner
“The Jammie Dodgers and the Adventure of the Leicester Square Screening,” Cory Doctorow
“The Maiden Flight of McAuley’s Bellerophon,” Elizabeth Hand
“The Miracle Aquilina,” Margo Lanagan
“The Taste of Night,” Pat Cadigan
“The Exterminator’s Want-Ad,” Bruce Sterling
“Map of Seventeen,” Christopher Barzak
“The Naturalist,” Maureen McHugh
“Sins of the Father,” Sara Genge
“The Sultan of the Clouds,” Geoffrey A. Landis
“Iteration,” John Kessel
“The Care and Feeding of Your Baby Killer Unicorn,” Diana Peterfreund
“The Night Train,” Lavie Tidhar
“Still Life (A Sexagesimal Fairy Tale),” Ian Tregillis
“Amor Vincit Omnia,” K.J. Parker
“The Things,” Peter Watts
“The Zeppelin Conductors’ Society Annual Gentlemen’s Ball,” Genevieve Valentine
“The Lady Who Plucked Red Flowers Beneath the Queen’s Window,” Rachel Swirsky

And a week disappears in a flurry of something or other. I find myself returning to this blog as a diary lately, looking for things that prompt my memory for this or that reason, so I’d meant to write something about Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday, but it seems like that’s not to be. Pretty much, I went to work, and then came home. At home I was unproductive, as I continue to fail to focus and get things done in any useful way, still…

Saturday was another hot, sunny day. We’re well into barbecue season, but I know summer is here because cricket is dominating the airwaves. I woke early and watched my first session of the Ashes. Hussey and Haddin worked solidly, while the English bowlers toiled well, but with no success.

For reasons I don’t recall, dear sweet eldest daughter was in a fairly foul mood. This meant she stomped around and was difficult, and ultimately made it impossible for me to record the usual podcast with Gary. There is a recording of sorts, but it’s mostly unusable, due to interruptions and poor sound quality. We may try again later today.

I made lunch and then we took youngest to her sibling group, which sounds like it was a lot of fun. She went up to The Maze, apparently, and had all of the sort of fun she doesn’t have when we go places as a family (which is the point). We tried to take Jessica out to do some Xmas shopping, but she was uncooperative so, after some grocery shopping, we staggered in the front door of the house, hot, weary, and annoyed.

After a break we drove Marianne to her band gig. We’d been to the most recent one and were skipping this one for timing reasons, though it turned out we should have been there. Jessica’s mood seemed to lift as we sang along in the car to songs from Wicked – a musical she loves but is resolute that she does not wish to see – as we drove out to collect Sophie.  She had had a ball.

From there it was home, dinner, family movie night (the movie was  Steve Martin’s Cheaper by the Dozen, which was mostly inoffensive), and then girls to bed. I collapsed in front of TV with a glass of wine and the laptop to pass some time, waiting for Marianne to get home.

It turned out she’d had a good gig, and got an award. A surprise one out of the blue.  I’m very proud of her. She works hard with/for the band and loves it very much.

I was browsing the Night Shade site this morning and stumbled over this.  It seems to be the cover for The Best Science Fiction and Fantasy of the Year: Volume Five, though I’ve not confirmed that. You can pre-order the book, though.