I’m curious. Greg Johnson over at SF Site doesn’t deserve to be singled out, but in his review for Al Reynolds’ Zima Blue he says ‘Hard science fiction, and space opera, are styles of SF that tend to work better at lengths longer than short stories’. I’ve just edited a volume of space opera stories, and have another that contains some hard sf and space opera stories coming shortly, and they’re all short stories pretty much, and I’ve heard this view before, but is it true?  I do think the novella may be the best length for science fiction, but wasn’t science fiction founded on the short story? If you run through Bob Silverberg’s The Science Fiction Hall of Fame, isn’t it filled with short stories? And, aren’t a lot of them hard SF or space opera?  When did it become popular wisdom that sf works better at longer lengths? And why? Is there something that we were doing, back in the 40s, 50s, and 60s, that we’re not doing here in the Oughties?

Am I reading your story? Well, I might be. I’ve now handed in the final corrections for the Australian edition of The New Space Opera.  That means that I’ve now finished work on all of this year’s book projects, except for Eclipse, which is pretty cool. Actually, I’ve bought a terrific Maureen McHugh story for the first Eclipse, and have just started to see a few other stories. The deadline for that is in May, so I’m both excited and a little nervous about how it’s all going to work out. I’m also really happy with the way The Best Science Fiction and Fantasy of the Year is being received. The first book has done really well, and it looks certain that Volume 2 will happen next March. Which means that I’m now, at last, diving into reading 2007’s short fiction. I’ve been letting it build up while I work on projects, and read a few novels, but I’m now officially reading, which means I could be reading your story. And, if you think I might not be, feel free to drop me an email to see. I’m eager to see stories from all venues, so if you think there’s a chance I might miss it, please let me know.

The ever kind and generous Jason Nahrung spoke to a few people about space opera for The Brisbane Courier Mail. I was fortunate enough to be included in the article. Be sure to check it out. We’re only a few months away from the book being published, after almost a decade, so it’s pretty exciting.

I’ve just about talked myself out of the Australian science fiction anthology idea. This is the critical period in whether I do things. I’ve spoken to at least one person who thinks it’s a great idea, and one who thinks I’m out of my tree. They both have good points. The main thing about it is that it’s a distinctly non-commercial idea, and I have to decide whether I can afford that time and money. Hmm.

I’m toying with a bunch of ideas at the moment. I’m certainly not between projects, but I’m always playing with new ideas, new notions, while I try to work out what I’ll put my energies into over the next year or so. When I decided to do Eidolon with Jeremy Byrne nearly two years ago, my goal was to reconnect with the Australian SF scene. That’s still very much what I want to do. Russell Farr and I are discussing one possible project, and Jack Dann and I have been tossing ideas around for some time as well. However, this evening I was struck by another idea. I love fantasy, and I really like some horror, but my main thing is SF. I’ve edited two original anthologies for trade publishers over the past two years, both featuring space opera, or at least big spaceship stories. It’s always been a passion of mine, and I’ve always felt we’ve not done quite enough of it here in Australia. I’m not sure of the business end of it, but I think I might edit an anthology of big spaceship stories by Australians. If I do it, the absolute essentials for the project would be that all of the stories would have to feature spaceships in some way or another, and they would have to be written by Australians. I can think of a bunch of people who could write for it brilliantly, but I think, like Eidolon, it would also be essential for it to be an open submission book.  I even know what I might call it – Woomera: New Australian Science Fiction. But, is it a goer? I don’t know. I think I need to sleep on it a little, try to work out how the business end of it would work. It could be very cool.