Well, here’s an idea. I was talking to a friend last night about ‘unreal books’. Going over details of what you would or wouldn’t add to a ‘best’ of Kim Stanley Robinson. During the discussion I mentioned the idea that it’d be interesting to see what would go into a Best of Gene Wolfe. The book would be limited to a single volume, one hundred thousand words maximum (give or take a few percent).

I had a few ideas, and then I began to think about it. Wolfe is the author of more than two hundred short stories, which have been collected in at least thirteen collections. And he continues to write prolifically, so there are always more stories to consider. There are any number of ‘major’ stories — classics of the field like “Seven American Nights”, “The Death of Doctor Island” and so on – which seem essential. The question is, which ones would you put into a short ‘best of’, a reader, if you will, that is intended to introduce the uninitiated into the world of Wolfe. No repetition, nothing ‘average’: just the best of the best.

There is any number of reasons why, in the real world, such a book might not happen (not the least that I think all of his collections may be in print), but I’d love to see what you guys think should go in such a book. Fill up the comments thread, go wild. For mine, and this is off the top of my head (I’d go and read or re-read ALL of his stories before compiling such a book), I’d start with:

• The Death of Doctor Island
• Seven American Nights
• A Cabin on the Coast
• The Map

What about you guys…?

Michael Swanwick, very quietly reports on his website, that he has completed his new novel The Dragons of Babel. No publication dates yet, but it seems reasonable to imagine a late 2007 or early 2008 publication date. I’m guessing it incorporates all or part of the stories “King Dragon”, “The Word That Sings the Scythe”, “An Episode of Stardust”, “Lord Weary’s Empire”, “The Bordello in Faerie”, and “A Small Room in Koboldtown”. Should be very interesting indeed.

And when you consider that William Gibson has delivered Spook Country for August 2007 publication, and that Greg Egan has apparently finished (or is near finishing) Incandescence for an early 2008 publication, and there are some pretty fine books on the horizon. I, for one, can’t wait.

A weird side effect of listening to everything on the iPod set to shuffle is that I don’t think I have a favorite album of 2006. I need to think more, but nothing stands out as an ‘album’.  BTW, what were Microsoft thinking calling an .mp3 player a ‘Zune’? I mean, zune? And in brown…

Best two books of 2007 so far: Un Lun Dun by China Mieville and Flora Segunda by Ysabeau Wilce.  Both terrific, both YA.

Paul Kincaid reviews Best Short Novels: 2006 for SF Site. It’s an interesting review and Kincaid is an intelligent critic. The only comment I’d make on it is to clarify that the book is called Best Short Novels omitting reference to genre because it is published by The SF Book Club. Were it published by a trade publisher, it probably would go with the original title from the proposal: The Best Science Fiction and Fantasy Novellas of the Year (which is a mouthful, I know).

I like to come up with ideas for books, to push and prod to see if they can happen, and I occasionally even get to work on them. However, not every book can happen, and I certainly can’t work on all of them either. So, I thought I might occasionally blog about book ideas, see how they sound out in the world. And who knows? Someone might even do the book some day.

Kim Stanley Robinson is best known for his ‘Mars’ trilogy, and perhaps for the ‘Three California’ novels. However, he’s a Nebula and World Fantasy Award winning short story writer, and he’s done some of the best work of his career at that length. I can’t help but feel that a Best of Kim Stanley Robinson would be a terrific book.

The first problem you come up against in compiling this book is that three of his best stories – “Green Mars”, “A Short, Sharp Shock”, and “The Blind Geometer” – are all long-ish novellas. I don’t have word counts, but I’d be unsurprised if they topped 80,000 words as a group. For me, in an ideal situation, a ‘best of’ shouldn’t top about 125,000 words all up. Doing a four or five story book isn’t an option, and I don’t like the idea of splitting the book into a ‘long story’ and ‘short story’ book (something that seldom works, for my money).

So, stepping outside the real world, here is an eighteen story selection from Robinson’s near 70 story bibliography. I’m guessing, but I’d say it’s about 200,000 words long, though you could probably shorten it by dropping a story or two. The book opens with his World Fantasy Award winner, “Black Air”, and just goes from strength to strength. If you’re interested in reading this unbook, I can point you to sources. Just let me know in the comments field to this post. Oh, and I’d love to hear any alternate suggestions.

1. Black Air
2. Escape from Kathmandu
3. Rainbow Bridge
4. The Lucky Strike
5. Exploring Fossil Canyon
6. On the North Pole of Pluto
7. Green Mars
8. Coming Back to Dixieland
9. Mother Goddess of the World
10. A Short, Sharp Shock
11. Our Town,
12. Remaking History
13. Venice Drowned
14. Arthur Sternbach Brings the Curveball to Mars
15. Down and Out in the Year 2000
16. A Sensitive Dependence on Initial Conditions
17. Ridge Running
18. The Blind Geometer