Following on from the award-winning success of The Book of Dragons, Harper Voyager will publish an exciting new anthology, The Book of Witches, edited by Jonathan Strahan in the Fall of 2023. Like The Book of Dragons, The Book of Witches will be a big, inclusive, illustrated anthology of fiction and poetry, this time looking at “witches” (more specifically your witch and what it means to you).

So far writers who have agreed to contribute to the book include Linda Addison, S.A. Chakraborty, Zen Cho, P. Djèlí Clark, Indrapramit Das, Amal El Mohtar, Andrea Hairston, Millie Ho, Nalo Hopkinson, Alaya Dawn Johnson, Cassandra Khaw, Fonda Lee, Darcie Little Badger, Ken Liu, Karen Lord, Usman T. Malik, Tochi Onyebuchi, C.L. Polk, Rebecca Roanhorse, Kelly Robson, Angela Slatter, Rivers Solomon, Andrea Stewart, Sheree Renée Thomas, and Tade Thompson, and we are reserving up to three spots in the final book for new BIPOC writers.

If you are a BIPOC* writer – regardless of whether you’re widely published or just starting out – and would like to see your work appear in a major anthology like The Book of Witches, we’d love to hear from you. Just check out the submissions guidelines below and send us your story.

* Black, Indigenous, and other People of Colour

Guidelines for open submissions

• Submissions must not have been previously published in any form, whether by digital-only publisher, traditional publisher, or self-published.
• Submissions must be in English and be between 1500 and 6000 wordsin length.
• Submissions must be in a standard word processor format (MS Word or similar). No PDFs.
• Submissions should be accompanied by a short author bio (no more than 200 wds). You are welcome but not required to share any identity information which you would like to share. This information will not be published without consultation with you.
• Agented submissions are welcome, but agents are not required. If you do have an agent you should indicate so with your submission and provide contact information for their representatives.
• Submissions will open on Monday, 14 March 2022and close at 5pm Australian Western Standard Time on Friday, 18 March 2022.
• Submissions should be sent to thebookofwitches@gmail.com 
• You will be contacted ONLY if your submission is accepted for inclusion. All responses will be sent no later than Saturday, 30 April 2022.
• Simultaneous submissions are acceptable. Please do not send multiple submissions.
• Payment will be a minimum 8cpw and we will be looking for World rights to the story in English and foreign languages for print, ebook, and non-dramatic audio (ie standard audiobook), as part of the anthology only. This will be exclusive for a period of eighteen months from first publication of the book.

2021 was a year. COVID played hell with production and publication, and things that might have succeeded didn’t. That impacted books of mine, like 2020s Made to Order, and it means books that I had hoped would come out in 2021 did not.

Still, it was a busy year and with the end of the year it’s time for an eligibility post.  During 2021 I was lucky enough to work on what I think are some really excellent works of fiction that are worthy of your awards consideration.

It was a year when I edited one anthology (one other got delayed), seven of the 19 novellas published by Tordocom during the year (and there could have been more), nine of Tor.com’s short stories, and acted as reviews editor for Locus for the 19th consecutive year.

As a podcaster, I think 2021 was a move back to normal life, with just over 26 episodes published during the year, after the rather wonderful madness of our 150+ Ten Minutes with… episodes . We did win a Hugo for the podcast, which was lovely.

Fiction edited in 2021

Anthologies

• The Year’s Best Science Fiction Vol 2: The Saga Anthology of SF 2021 (Saga)

Novellas

• Fireheart Tiger, Aliette de Bodard, Tordotcom
• The Album of Doctor Moreau, Daryl Gregory, Tordotcom
• Inside Man, K J Parker, Tordotcom
• The Past is Red, Catherynne M. Valente, Tordotcom
• In the Watchful City, S. Qiouyi Lu, 2021, Tordotcom
• Comfort Me With Apples, Catherynne M. Valente, Tordotcom
• A Spindle Splintered, Alix E. Harrow, Tordotcom

Novelette

• “The Red Mother” by Elizabeth Bear
• “Questions Asked in the Belly of the World” by A. T. Greenblatt
• #Spring Love, #Pichal Pairi” by Usman T. Malik
• “Judge Dee and the Poisoner of Montmartre” by Lavie Tidhar
• “Judge Dee and the Three Deaths of Count Werdenfels” by Lavie Tidhar

Short story

• “The Station of the Twelfth” by Chaz Brenchley
• “Let All the Children Boogie” by Sam J. Miller
• “Annie Without Crow” by Michael Swanwick
• “Small Monsters” by E. Lily Yu

Editor, Short-Form (Hugos)/Professional Achievement (WFA)

• Jonathan Strahan (The Year’s Best Science Fiction: Volume 2; seven Tordotcom novellas;  nine Tor.com stories;  Locus [reviews editor]

Best Fancast/Podcast

• The Coode Street Podcast [28 episodes] [co-hosted with Gary K. Wolfe.]

I hope you’ll consider supporting the talented people that I’ve worked with during the year.