And my first post at Tor.com is now up.

Well, dear blog, I continue to be at best an unreliable correspondent, for which I apologise, as I always do. In truth, I doubt that this will change in the foreseeable future. We’re racing into the Christmas season and, as I’ve detailed before, I’m busy enough that anything that can slip by unnoticed probably shall. I am not pleased with this, but I acknowledge that it’s true. Were I more determined I would force myself to write more often. I would post links to reviews, recommend books, and so on and so forth, and yet I don’t. I hope the books and other work will prove enough. And please don’t feel as though I’m ignoring you to favour others. Yes, I said I’d review a Top 40 SF stories of all time for Locus, who I work with always, but I’ve not found the focus to do that. I also am going to write a little for Tor.com, but while I hope the writing will prove to be of substance, there’s not likely to be a lot of it.

I will tell you something that is on my mind, which I want to get on paper as much as anything else. As you know, I’ve been occupied in editing Eclipse for the past two years, and it’s been a rocky and far from simple process. I continue to work on it, and will do so until the publisher tells me to stop, and I do so for two reasons: the first is that I believe strongly in the stories I get to publish and the second is that I find I learn more about myself and my editing through that series of books than through anything else I do.

Why? Well, I don’t pretend to be an overly self-reflective person but the conversations that have gone on around Eclipse have made me question my opinions about SF and editing like nothing else. I fell into editing in a very natural and easy way. It wasn’t a plan, a career, or a vocation. It was something that was fun to do, that became more fun the more I did it. I now find I need to externalise and intellectualise what I’ve learnt and consider what I’ve not. Yes, this includes issues like inclusivity and gender balance, but it also includes things like what makes a good science fiction story, why a story is a good science fiction story, and the notion of honesty and truthfulness in editing.

I don’t yet know where these considerations and ruminations will end. I still feel, even as I race towards my 46th birthday and my 20th year as an editor, that I’m only starting out in this game. I feel like I only started in 2004, and everything that came before was mostly fun, so, for me at least, it’s new.

What does this mean for 2010 and the books I’m working on? Well, the thing I’d stress is that this is an evolutionary rather than a revolutionary process. I’m trying, quite deliberately now, to test all of my assumptions about science fiction and editing. Some of those assumptions will stand, some will fall, and some will change. I think the ‘best of the year’ volume I’m working on now will be only slightly different from its predecessors, while the 2010 volume (to be published in 2011) may be quite different. The original anthologies that are just delivered or are about to be delivered will be closer to what I’ve done in the past, but the ones in conception will be different. Eclipse Four, which is even now in its infancy will continue to be the laboratory for whatever it is I’ll do. And, slowly, it will all change. How? I’m working that out, and I’ll try to either explain it here or over at Tor.com in the coming year.

Is that it? I guess so. Except, go pre-order Holly Black’s short story collection, The Poison Eaters. I’m ridiculously excited about it.

I edit THE BEST SCIENCE FICTION AND FANTASY OF THE YEAR anthology series for Night Shade Books. The fourth volume in the series will be published in March 2010, and the fifth should appear in March 2011.

I am currently reading for the 2010 volume of THE BEST SCIENCE FICTION AND FANTASY: VOLUME FIVE, and 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, so I am only reading material published between 1 January and 31 December 2010.

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 2010. 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 2010 you can send galleys or manuscripts so that I can consider the stories in time.

I prefer to receive book-length submissions in print.  Anything else can be sent to me via email.  Where possible I prefer .rtf or .doc files. PDFs are acceptable, but are usually very 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 THE BEST SCIENCE FICTION AND FANTASY: VOLUME FIVE on the envelope.

Jonathan Strahan
PO Box 544
Mt Lawley WA 6929
Australia

Email submissions, recommendations or information on publications via email. The contact address is 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 2010.

* 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, you need only email me (jstrahan (at) iinet (dot) net (dot) au) to let me know. I don’t require print-outs of online publications (I regularly read Tor.com, IGMS, Strange Horizons, Clarkesworld, Fantasy 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.

So it’s been six days since I last posted. My apologies for that. What’s happened?  Well, as per my last post, I went to see a doctor on Monday because I had flu symptoms. I’d been in a swine flu area and other people there had had H1N1, so I wanted to be sure I wouldn’t be contagious.  The doctor checked me out and basically quarantined me for a week. This involved feeling sick, wearing a face mask, and staying indoors.

Normally this would have driven me nuts, but it proved to be something of a blessing. When I got back from San Jose I was deeply panicked about how I possibly was going to get through all of the editing I needed to do if I was going to make deadline. I have a book due November 27, another due December 5, and am late or near late on some others.  So, panic.

I spent the week reading and getting things done. A long delayed book proposal is out with editors. (Yay!).  I have a year’s best table of contents. The Locus Recommended Reading short fiction list is well progressed. I’ve also got some work done on some other book projects and its possible I might make it (whew!).

So, apart from a return to the day job what do I need to do by November 30? Let’s see. Write the introduction and story notes for The Best Science Fiction & Fantasy of the Year: Volume 4. Write the introduction and notes for Legends of Australian Fantasy. Edit the stories and get the intro, notes etc done for my young adult SF anthology, Life on Mars. Do the copy-edits for Swords and Dark Magic. Follow up the introduction for The Best of Larry Niven. Complete the story invites for Eclipse Four. Get the manuscript together for The Best of Fritz Leiber, and do the running order for The Best of Kim Stanley Robinson. Enough to keep anyone busy!

Oh, and I will release the table of contents for The Best Science Fiction & Fantasy of the Year: Volume 4 in a while. I need to arrange permissions and see if I can get the stories I want.  It’s possible one or two stories may be problematic. However, once things are all legal I’ll post here.

I got back from San Jose last Wednesday, having had an awesome time with Cat, Deb, Garth, Sean and everyone else. It was wonderful seeing old friends, hanging out with the Locus gang, and making all kinds of new friends.

So, you ask, why haven’t you updated us on your exploits before? Well, as the photo might hint, I came home (having felt wonderful during the whole trip) and immediately fell ill. Today it was diagnosed as H1N1, so I am wearing a mask, trying not to infect the family, and basically attempting to get over it. Correspondence will be somewhat intermittent.

ETA: Since this is getting picked up around the place, I should clarify for accuracy: while my GP diagnosed it as H1N1 and is treating it as such, no clinical tests were done. It’s likely it’s H1N1, but there’s no actual clinical tests were done.