“Still Life” To Appear in the Year’s Best

I’ve been sitting on this news for a few weeks, because I wanted to be a good boy and not let the cat out of the bag.  (Also, I’m hella superstitious about these things.  Announcing something in public before the editor officially finalizes things seems like a good setup for public humiliation.  And I know about public humiliation, okay?)

Anyway…  I’m super, super thrilled to announce that editor extraordinaire (and newly-minted World Fantasy winner!) Jonathan Strahan has chosen to include my story from the October issue of Apex Magazine, Still Life (A Sexagesimal Fairy Tale), for inclusion in his upcoming anthology, The Best SF and Fantasy of the Year, Volume 5.

Hooray!

It’s been almost a month and I’m still gobsmacked by this.  When the story was published at Apex, just two months ago, I wrote a bit about the history of the piece and its long path to publication.  I never expected that just a few weeks later I’d be signing a reprint contract for the very same story.  Now I’m doubly indebted to Apex magazine editor Cat Valente and her ripped-like-a-cage-fighter memory for buying Still Life, and to Jason Sizemore for publishing it for the world to see.

Apex actually has two stories in the anthology.  Theodora Goss’s wonderful story “Fair Ladies” will also appear!  The Apex blog has an announcement here.

Editor Jonathan Strahan has posted the entire table of contents here.  What a lineup!  I’m humbled and honored to be included among such vaunted company. 

Night Shade Books will publish Strahan’s Year’s Best in March, 2011.  You can pre-order the anthology here.

(In other news, I continue to wrestle with epic internet connectivity problems at home.  So, my blog updates are bound to be even more sporadic than usual through the upcoming holidays.)