I am seriously pondering what I want to do as an editor over the next five years.  This, I should assure you, is a totally new thing for me. Until quite recently I have been an almost entirely instinctive creature when it comes to editing. I’ve not thought in terms of ‘career’ or the next right step, or even what I want to be doing in a while. Instead I’ve been led by my enthusiasm, which has served me well.

However, I’ve known for a while that I want to be a fiction editor for a long time. I’m signed up. I expect, should the world allow me to, to be doing this until I die.  Realising that, and as I’ve begun to think it just might be possible, has led me to ponder what it is I want to be doing. I love science fiction and fantasy. You couldn’t read what I read and stay sane if you didn’t.  I  want to do things to advance and improve the field, open doors to new writers, and create books that are interesting and challenging, books that are part of the ever-evolving dialogue of the field.

That means I’m completely committed to my two Night Shade projects, the year’s best and Eclipse (though for different reasons), and to Locus.  Again, assuming other factors allow, I suspect I’m a lifer (or at least a long-timer) on both.  However, there are other challenges. I’m not walking away from anthology editing, but I’ve begun to think about what I could do in the magazine arena. I spent the best part of ten years working on a fiction semi-prozine in the 1990s, and I really did think I was done with that.  The past few years have been so busy, so challenging, and so rewarding, I never even considered it.

And yet, suddenly, I find myself thinking about how I might approach a new science fiction magazine. About look and feel, fiction/nonfiction balance etc.  I even think quite a lot about editing online. I think I would love to edit an online magazine, one devoted to finding and developing the best science fiction stories. I don’t know if I’ll ever get the chance – I don’t feel like I have the resources right now to do it – but I think I would love doing it again.

I don’t listen to a lot of podcasts. I don’t have a lot of time to find them, and I’m not sure  I have a lot of time to listen to them, but Sean Wallace pointed out the latest instalment of Tony Smith’s Starship Sofa yesterday morning and I spent a very enjoyable time listening to Smith, Jeremy Tolbert and Jeff VanderMeer discuss all sorts of things of interest.  I’m sold. Probably the most interesting they discussed was the future of short fiction and certain magazines.  I think a lot of people were interested in the demographics for the Dell magazines (Analog & Asimov’s) and F&SF pointed out by Warren Ellis.  I was too. I have no idea if they’re remotely accurate, but if they are, they’re very interesting indeed.

Speaking of podcasts, Clarkesworld podcast Kij Johnson’s “Spar” – one of the year’s best stories.  Oh, and you can also here Johnson’s “The Cat Who Walked a Thousand Miles” over at Tor.com.  Johnson is just writing out of her socks right now – when it someone doing a collection?!?

Over at SF Signal John DeNardo has posted the second and third parts of his three-part Mind Meld where a whole bunch of editors discuss what they do when they compile anthologies. It ran way over length I suspect (which is kinda ironic), but it is interesting and well worth reading. Today my good friend and collaborator Lou Anders and I got to enjoy, for a fleeting moment, one of the more rewarding moments that anthologists get to experience: today we delivered a new book.

It’s probably  two years since Lou and I first discussed editing a definitive swords and sorcery anthology.  Separately we’d both been following the arrival of an exciting new generation of swords and sorcery writers on the scene. Steven Erikson had broken new ground with his epic Malazan series, and had been followed by many, many others: writers like Joe Abercrombie, Scott Lynch, Richard Morgan, K.J. Parker, and James Enge.  Lou was introducing Abercrombie’s work to the US at Pyr and I was consumed by the idea that there was a big book to be done, an equivalent to The New Space Opera that I’d just finished with Gardner Dozois, which would feature new work by the hot new writers, some vital writers who’d been around for a long time, and one or two left field selections.

I’m pretty sure discussions took place at World Fantasy in Saratoga Springs in 2007.  We went home, emailed back and forth, and then put together a proposal that caught the attention of Diana Gill at HarperEos. She could see, I think, the potential in the idea and gave us the green light to go ahead (I’ll always be grateful to her for that).  Lou and I then dove into the ‘new swords and sorcery project’, drawing up lists of people who ‘must’ be in the book, people who’d be exciting, and people who’d just be surprising.  Some writers weren’t available because of scheduling or because they were consumed by enormous novel writing projects, but a gratifying number saw the potential in the book too and wanted to be involved.

Over the past year stories have drifted in, slowly, and sometimes a little late.  Writers have had to drop out, while some have come on board happily and unexpectedly. The book then changed titles.  The original title, Conquering Swords, was a placeholder. A few months ago, in discussion with Diana, Lou and I proposed Swords and Dark Magic (an intended nod of the head to the late, great Fritz Leiber – oh how we’d love to have Fafhrd and the Mouser in this book!), and we knew that it was just right for the book we were doing.  And over the last month we’ve had exciting discussions about artists (Harper have been incredible about this and I am genuinely excited to see what’ll happen) and have had confirmation that Subterranean Press will do a limited edition of the book.  It even has a publication date. July 2010.

So today we delivered the manuscript of Swords and Dark Magic to Diana.  Our job is not over. Not by a long shot. But this is a pretty special moment. Oh, and yes, the excitement reminds and Lou and I might just have been seen in a bar in Montreal muttering things quietly to ourselves about second volumes and not being done yet.  We’ll have to see.

The strains of John Darnelle’s Mountain Goats singing about Sax Rohmer (it always makes me think about Charles, who had all of the Fu Manchu novels), the girls sitting watching The Gilmore Girls (do they even get most of the humor? – lucky we’re still in season 2), an empty mail inbox, the vague feeling that some deadline is slipping by while I try to relax, and the knowledge that breakfast needs to be made shortly: such is my early Saturday morning.

I’m at the end of another week, faced with a hopefully relaxing long weekend.  Today Jessica has  her first real sleepover, Alisa’s coming over for coffee, and Sophie’s hoping for a ‘mom’n’dad’n’sophe’ day.  Somewhere along the way I’ve got to try to find a suit for Howard’s dinner in San Jose (do not ask), perhaps do a little shopping, and generally just give my thoughts a chance to settle.   I’ve been reading a lot of short fiction lately. Got to get on top of the year’s best stuff.  BTW, did you notice that Kij Johnson is on a total tear right now, and that there doesn’t seem a lot of awesome hard SF this year?

What else? I seem to have fallen into a lengthy conversation offline about the merits and demerits of online publishing. I don’t see any material difference between putting a story on screen or on  a piece of paper. The thing is, from a career perspective, is it either/or?  I don’t think so, but I need to ponder the best way forward from here.

2010’s priorities are on my mind.  I’ll be mostly out of contract by Easter if all goes well. The year’s best is signed up, Eclipse is ongoing, so is Locus (of course), and there are a few projects bubbling away, but something new?  Maybe.

John DeNardo just posted the first half of an new SF Signal Mindmeld, Behind the Scenes…How the Hottest Short Fiction Anthologies Are Created, and I’m included.  Looks like a great posting, and I can’t wait to see what discussion arises.

Today also comes with GOOD news. Jason Fischer of Not If Your Were the Last Short Story on Earth has won 1st Prize  in the latest round of Writers of the Future.  Huge congrats to him.  He’ll be at the big WotF shindig next year, which always looks like fun.