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.
