BEST AMERICAN FANTASY READING ENDS...AND BEGINS AGAIN

Best American Fantasy reading is dead. Long live Best American Fantasy reading. We've made our last selections, queried the authors, and made a short list of back-ups in case we can't get everything. And now we're starting reading 2007 material as it comes in from this point forward. This has, again, been one of the more rewarding experiences of my life, the only painful part the stories we had to part with, mostly for lack of space. We won't be releasing the full contents list until the anthology comes out--we are promoting a brand and an idea as much as anything else--but here's a short description of the book that hints at its contents.

The first volume in a distinctive new series, Best American Fantasy collects the best fantasy short fiction published in North American publications, written by American authors. The anthology includes Elizabeth Hand, Kelly Link, Peter LaSalle, Brian Evenson, Sarah Monette, and over twenty others. Sure to become a favorite of both mainstream and genre fans, Best American Fantasy features rotating guest editors, a preface and introduction from the editors, and a selective recommended reading list. Current guest editors Jeff & Ann VanderMeer have over 40 years of editing experience between them, and their work has won or been shortlisted for many awards. Series editor Matthew Cheney is a respected literary blogger and writer who provides a solid grounding for each new volume. For more information on Best American Fantasy, visit the website: http://www.bestamericanfantasy.com. The editors are currently reading 2007 stories for the next volume of the anthology.

Thanks to Ann and Matt for making this such a wonderful experience. I think we've put together something profound, funny, deep, clever, inventive, and often very strange indeed. With any luck, we'll have advance reading copies in time for the AWP Conference in early March.