Views from Medina Road

I've posted best-of-year essays by Claude Lalumiere and Jeff VanderMeer today, finally, after having both of them for one or more weeks, their completion being backed up by work to update the SF Awards index, and then the 2005 best fantasy story poll. January has been a busy month.

Meanwhile, I've seen that the best fantasy story poll has elicited much commentary over at Jeff V's section of the Night Shade Books discussion area. I would only add that, according to the initial definition of the poll, I did omit pre-1900 stories from the final list posted yesterday. That's why no Edgar Allan Poe, etc. Though in some cases, the decision to include or omit was based on genre-affiliation as much as anything. Mark Twain? L. Frank Baum? Some titles were in fact published after 1900, but I left them off anyway since the titles seemed obscure (i.e. I didn't recognize them).

If any voter objects to the selectivity of the posted list, all they have to do is use the write-in boxes to vote for whatever stories they feel worthy, whether or not they are included in the posted selections. Anyone who deeply objects to the posted selections is free to email me; I'm happy to consider amending the posted list to include additional items. The voting is open for nearly three more months, after all.

End of year/beginning of year is a busy time; at this moment there are, um, four 'monitor' listings due to be posted: fourth week January new books; second half January new magazines; classic reprints seen in January; new paperbacks seen in February. (Given the way paperback reprints are published, the 'new in paperback' page can be ready very early in the month.) Ideally these would all be posted by now; practically, it will take another week or so.