This is a weird time of year for me. I’m in ‘year’s best’ reading mode, so I’m dragging magazines, or print outs of magazines, around with me all over the place, so I can read in odd moments, take notes etc. I’m also trying, stupidly, to read a few novels. This year looks like a really good year for novels, after a comparatively quiet one last year, so I’m eager to do it if I can. I’ve been slowly reading Michael Chabon’s The Yiddish Policemen’s Union, which I’m really enjoying. It’s only taken me a whack of time because of my other reading. I’ve also just stared reading Cassandra Clare’s City of Bones. Justien recommended it somewhere, so I ordered it from Amazon along with a few other things. I’ve read the first three chapters, and am hooked. The only question is, do I take year’s best reading to Adelaide this weekend, or do I read City of Bones. I can’t decide. Though it is supposed to be a holiday weekend.

There’s a very nice review of The Best Science Fiction and Fantasy of the Year over at Bookgasm.

I suspect I *might* be having problems with my email. If you’ve emailed me in the past week at my (at)iinet address and not received a response, could you resend. I know that comcast is filtering emails from my service provider, but I wanted to check if anyone else was having troubles getting to me.

Seven months ago I signed up to edit a new project: a series of original anthologies that would contain previously unpublished stories by some of the best and brightest writers out there. The series was initially to be called one thing, and then it was to be called another. After a lot of discussion, and a great suggestion by Interzone’s Jetse de Vries, it became Eclipse.

The publisher, Night Shade, was sufficiently interested that they committed to publishing the first book in the series starting in October 2007, with future volumes following in October 2008, and October 2009. To make that October publication date, it meant that I had to get the manuscript to Night Shade by June 10 (the day before my daughter’s seventh birthday), which meant that I had seven months to get a bunch of great new stories written. That sort of deadline is always tight, so right away I knew that I couldn’t do justice to an open submission period. I immediately sent out about two dozen invitations to authors that I’ve worked with in the past, or have always wanted to work with, and about 20 of them said they’d like to be involved, if possible. Given that I figured I was looking for about a dozen writers to fill the 80,000 words or so of stories I wanted, that seemed about the right number.

There was always the possibility that some writers would drop out of the project along the way, and that has happened. It’s something you always allow for, and it’s almost always for reasons beyond anyone’s control. Certainly, there’s no-one who’s dropped out of Eclipse 1 that I wouldn’t be delighted to work with again on Eclipse 2, or any other project. That doesn’t mean, however, that I’ve not started to see some great stories (though that deadline is close). I’ve bought the first few stories for the book – by Maureen F. McHugh and Lucius Shepard, amongst others(!) – and expect to decide on another couple today. I also have a bunch that, according to their authors, sit perched on the precipice of completion. Although I’m nervous about it, I think I’ll hand in a pretty exciting manuscript in a few weeks.

Of course, I had allowed myself to get fuzzy on my deadline, so when Jason (the publisher at Night Shade) reminded me this morning that my deadline was June 10th, I realised it was time to get on with things. So, story notes to write, introductions to consider, and line edits to get the heck back to the authors.

A busy time, then, over the next few weeks. And an exciting one. I’ve got about a dozen new stories coming my way, which is one of my favorite things about doing this stuff. I do love it when a new story comes in through the email. I’ve also got a wedding to go to this weekend in Adelaide. My dear, dear friend Sean Williams is getting married to the world’s great Keith Jarrett afficionado, Amanda, and I think it’s going to be an incredible time. We’ll get to dance (shudder), party (yay), and just have a good time. We’ll also get to toast Justine’s great Norton/Nebula win, which was fantabulous. It’ll also be the longest time Marianne and I have been away from the kids since Jessica was born in June 2000. Two mornings when we can sleep in! We’re also on the verge of the publication of two new books. Best Short Novels: 2007 is due out May 24 from the Book Club, and The New Space Opera hits North American book shelves on my mum’s 69th birthday, June 1st, and there or thereabouts here in Australia. I’m pretty damned excited about those. I’m also working up some new projects – always a sign that things are going well – and am pretty much keeping busy. I’m even finding time to read stories for the year’s bests. Of course, relaxing isn’t happening. But, that can wait.

I was delighted to see the note over at Andy Wheeler’s SFBC blog that Jim Minz has got a new job over at Baen Books. Jim is one of the nicest guys in the field. It was terrible news when Del Rey decided to let him go, and I couldn’t be happier to see him land on his feet over at Baen.