Category Archives: Jonathan Strahan

Is it Time for a New “Best of” Anthology?

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I haven’t read a “Best of” anthology in a decade. (I checked.) Back in 2016, I attempted to read and review all the Best of the Year anthologies. (Note: There is a difference between an anthology and a collection. An anthology contains stories by multiple authors. A collection has one, maybe two authors. That’s what I mean for the purposes of this post.)

I don’t think I read all of them. I’m pretty sure I didn’t read Gardner Dozois’s volume simiply becuase of the length. I do recall before I was done that I was never going to do that again. Too many of the stories that year really weren’t to my taste. And those seemed to be the ones that showed up in multiple volumes. The whole thing turned out to not be any fun by the time I quit.

I haven’t read a Best of anthology since, although I’ve dipped into a couple over the last few years and listened to one on audiobooks while driving.

I’m rethinking my practice of not reading any simply because my reading time is rather limited. I’m losing touch with what writers are doing at short lengths, especially in science fiction and fantasy.

That little voice in the back of my head is telling me to close the laptop now and go no further with this post.

As usual, I’m going to ignore that voice. But I am going to issue a disclaimer: I AM NOT VOLUNTEERING FOR ANYTHING!

A number of years ago, (and I want to say it was more than ten, but I’m not sure. We’lll go with ten) I was approached by someone asking if I would be interested in editing a Year’s Best Sword and Sorcery anthology. The catch would be getting funding. And while I said I would certainly be interested in editing such a volume, funding didn’t materialize.

Time moved on.

I’ve been reading a lot of sword and sorcery lately. It’s been great. I haven’t read much S&S in the last few years as most of my reading has been focused on mysteries, crime, and thrillers. (For reasons.) There are S&S publications that didn’t exist when this idea of a year’s best S&S anthology was floated. I’m trying to get cuaght up on them.

And the idea of a best sword and sorcery of the year anthology has been rattling around in my empty skull for the last few weeks and hasn’t fallen out of one of the holes in my head.

Crowdfunding was relatively new at the time this idea was first proposed. It’s matured since then.

(Did I mention that I’m not volunteering for anything?)

Locus magazine has taken over the publishing of Johnathan Strahan’s best science fiction and fantasy anthology. They are funding it through Kickstarter. As I write this, there are sixteen days left, and the campaign has raised more than double its funding goal.

I suspect there are enough S&S stories published these days to fill a year’s best anthology. It might not be a door-stopper like some of the current year’s best anthologies are. But there’s nothing wrong with a book that is only three hundred or so pages rather than five, six, or seven hundred pages.

So, I’m going to throw this idea out there if for no other reason than to get it out of my head. An anthology of the best sword and sorcery of the year, funded by a Kickstarter. If the capmiagn is well-thought out, and the funding goal isn’t too high, it should fund. At least, I think so.

If someone wants to take this idea and run with it, go for it.

A Sneak Peek at Eclipse Online: K. J. Parker’s "One Little Room and Everywhere"

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Over the last few years, Nightshade Books has published four volumes of an anthology series titled Eclipse, edited by Jonathan Strahan.  Now that series is going online, with new stories published on the second and fourth Mondays of every month.  (The press release says first and fourth, but an email from the editor to me said second and fourth.  Since the premier is on October 8, I’m inclined to go with the second and fourth.) 

Anyway, Mr. Strahan was kind enough to send me advance copies of the two stories he’ll be publishing in October.  One is a science fiction by Christopher Rowe which I’ve reviewed over at Futures Past and Present, and the other is a fantasy by K. J. Parker, the subject of this review. These are short stories, so the review aren’t going to be as long as the ones I write for novels.

“One Little Room and Everywhere” is just one more reminder why I (and you) should read K. J. Parker. I’ve not read any novels by this author, but based on the quality of the short fiction I’ve read, I need to fix that.

This is the story of a man cast out from a school of magic because he doesn’t  have the talent to become an adept.  It’s told in first person, and our narrator isn’t entirely reliable.  At least I consider any narrator who has the habit of insisting it wasn’t his fault or making excuses to be unreliable.

Our “hero” doesn’t have the highest scruples.  Knowing he will eventually be kicked out of school (nicely, of course), he sneaks into the library and steals some forbidden Forms, what are essentially spells that involve astrally projecting into a tower and entering certain rooms.  This allows himself to set up business as a painter of icons when he leaves the school.  Iconography is highly restricted in this society, which has a Renaissance feel to it, and there are only certain icons that can be painted.  He soon becomes quite successful at it, and his icons begin to fetch high prices.

Of course, such success isn’t without it’s unforeseen costs…

What I liked about this story was the narrator’s voice, and the fact that he’s an admitted thief and cheat, and can we really believe everything he tells us?  Parker uses hints and subtleties to great effect.  The story is lushly written, but not in an overblown way.  Rather the style is reminiscent of the time in which it’s set.   The prose flows along, and like the last several short pieces I’ve read by Parker, I hated to reach the end.

With the story and it’s companion, Strahan has set the bar high on his initial choices to launch Eclipse Online.  He’s going to have his work cut out for him to keep the quality this high.  If I were a betting man, I would lay my money on his being able to do it.  Check this publication out.  It’s going to be good, and I’ll be surprised if the stories we see here don’t pick up some award nominations as well as a few awards.

October

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Well another page on the calendar had turned, and I’m more behind than ever.  Some things never change.  Here’s what I’ve got on the plate for October.  First, sometime tomorrow, I’ll announce the winner of the James Enge book giveaway.  I’ve got a dentist appointment in the morning along with my son, followed by a three hour class, so it might be later in the day before that announcement goes up.

The next novel on the agenda is Steel and Sorrow by Joshua P. Simon.  I’ll probably start it sometime this weekend.  I’ll refrain from saying what novel is after that; I’m going to play it by ear.  I’ve got several I’m going to read this month, but I haven’t decided on the final order.

There are a couple of items that are seasonal in nature that I want to sprinkle in the mix, so I’m not going to lock myself down to any particular sequence.

One thing I am going to read a great deal of over the next few months is short fiction.  In the next week, I want to review the premier issue of Nightmare magazine (I’m about a third of the way through now, and it’s great), the new fiction being posted on Black Gate, the anniversary double sized issue of Beneath Ceaseless Skies (it’s not live as of this writing, but I have a subscription and have already downloaded it), plus the inaugural stories in Eclipse Online.  Jonathan Strahan was kind enough to send me advance copies of the first two stories, and I’ll be reading those over the next day or two.  Plus I have a number of anthologies and single author collections sitting on the shelves I’ve been wanting to finish.

That’s plenty to keep me busy.