I woke up this morning to the news radio informing me of the tidal wave in Asia that killed more than 20,000 people. Needless to say, a great tragedy.

We in the SF community can at least be thankful that Sir Arthur C. Clarke was unharmed (he lives in Sri Lanka). Both Josepha Sherman and Allen Steele reported on SFF.net that they’d received word that Clarke was okay. I know a lot of people have expressed concern for him on various message boards, so please do pass along the news.

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So, this month we acquired new stories from Matthew Hughes (a new Henghis Hapthorn adventure), two new pieces by Robert Reed, a hard SF story from Mary Rosenblum, a literary tale of quantum mechanics from Eugene Mirabelli, and another new story from last month’s slush survivor Mike Shultz, who seems to be striking while the iron is hot.

Nothing else new to report. Happy holidays, everyone!

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On the Nightshade Message Board, Jonathan Strahan posted his favorites of the year, which prompted me to do the same. I reproduce my comments here for further discussion. I’ve expanded my list a bit to include a few more categories.

Note that I’ve chosen not to include F&SF stories in my list in the interest of fair play, but feel free to include them in your own lists, which I hope to see posted in response to this one.

Favorite Novel
Market Forces, Richard K. Morgan (Gollancz)

Favorite Collection
Trujillo, Lucius Shepard (PS Publishing)

Favorite Anthology
The Faery Reel, Ellen Datlow & Terri Windling eds. (Viking)

Favorite Fantasy Short Story
“The Annals of Eelin-Ok” by Jeff Ford (The Faery Reel)

Favorite Science Fiction Short Story
“Shadow Twin” by Gardner Dozois, George R. R. Martin, & Daniel Abraham (SciFiction)

Favorite Horror Short Story
“Hands Up! Who Wants to Die” by Lucius Shepard (Night Terrors 11)

Favorite SF/F/H Publication
SciFiction, Ellen Datlow, ed.

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