2012 in Retrospect: Publishing

Rather than doing a single post about what I thought of the past year, I'm going to break things up into some smaller posts.  There will be on short fiction and one on titles I especially enjoyed.  But I thought I would start with publishers.

Last year, I wrote about the publishers I thought you should be reading this year.  That list hasn't changed much.  The day before I posted that list, I gave reasons why I wasn't going to be reading much from the main imprints.  Those reasons haven't changed much, either.  If anything, they're more valid than ever.

What I'm going to attempt to do here, in this present post, is to assess some of the things I said in those two posts.

A Couple of Halloween Themed Anthologies

Halloween
Paula Guran, ed.
Prime Books
trade paper, 480 p., $14.95
ebook, $6.99 Kindle, Nook

This one came out last year, and I've only read a few of the stories in it.  Nor do I plan to read all of them, at least not this year.  I'll take my time with this one and spread it out over several years.  In other words, this is more of an FYI post than a full-on review.  However, I've been impressed enough by the contents so far to feel I should bring this one to your attention.

First of all, this is a reprint anthology, and there is one difference between the print and electronic editions.  That's the inclusion of Ray Bradbury's "The Halloween Game", which isn't in the electronic edition.  Now if you recall, I have a very high regard for Bradbury, but I wish he hadn't been so stubborn about electronic rights. "The Halloween Game" is a story that deserves to be in this book.

Even without Bradbury's contribution, the table of contents is impressive.  The stories I've read include "Night Out" by Tina Rath and "On a Dark October" by Joe Lansdale.  Both are worth the read.  I''ll dip into this one again, at least to reread "Hornets" by Al Sarrantonio, which takes place in his fictional town of Orangefield.  I've just started reading one of the Orangefield novels, and it makes reference to the events in "Hornets".

October Dreams
Richard Chizmar and Robert Morrish, ed.
Roc
trade paper, 656 p., oop, various prices second hand

This one came out ten years ago (I think there was an earlier limited edition), and it's been almost that long since I read it.  It contains a mix of memoir, reprint, and what at the time was new.  I don't remember all of the stories well enough to try to do a full review, but this is one anthology I intend to revisit, something that doesn't happen with much of what I read.  I probably won't get to it this year since the library is still in a state of disarray since the move, but I recommend this book if you come across a copy or want to order it online.   It's got some great stories in it.  Like Halloween, this is another anthology that's perfect for dipping into on a evening when there's a nip in the air and you're not sure if the sound you hear is a branch scraping against the window in the wind or something else.

Four Publishers You Should be Reading in 2012

Yep, that's right.  I said "publishers", not "authors".  The reason for this wording is these are the publishers I think are publishing the most innovative, original, and/or best written stuff in the fantasy and science fiction fields, with a dash of horror thrown in for spice.

I'm limiting my list to four (plus a runner-up) because these are the publishers whose books I've most enjoyed this year.  If you've read my post from yesterday, you can probably guess which ones won't be on there.  I'm deliberately not including small presses that publish pricey limited editions, even if they also publish trade editions.  I'm limiting the list to imprints you can find in a local bookstore.  Also, there's at least one publisher not on the list because I simply didn't get around to reading any of their books this year, and that's Orbit. I've enjoyed things they've published in the past, and have several books in the TBR stack from them.  What I've read of Orbit's line I've generally enjoyed, and I expect that to be the case with what I have on hand.

One thing to note about all the publishers on the list.  Roughly a decade, to use round figures, is about as long as any of these publishers have been around, although one or two have existed slightly longer than that.  Some are much younger.  All of them are lean, efficient, and not afraid to take chances with what they publish.  And their books don't look like all their other books.

Here's the way I'm structuring this list.  I'll list the publishers in reverse order, starting with the runner-up (along with an explanation of why that publisher isn't number 5), with a few recommendations from their line along with a list of some of what I'll be reading from them in the coming months.  I'll confine myself to three, at most four, recommendations and TBRs, even though in most cases the actual number is greater.  Links will be to the books' webpages, not any reviews I've posted; there'll be a comprehensive list of reviews at the end of the post.  For series, I'll only list the first volume.  A book's being included in the TBR listing is not a guarantee I'll review it here or at Futures Past and Present.

Let's get started, shall we?

John Joseph Adams Buys Lightspeed and Fantasy Magazines

John Joseph Adams

Prime Books announced today that it is selling both Lightspeed and Fantasy magazines to current editor John Joseph Adams.  The sale is part of the expansion of Prime Books.  Publisher Sean Wallace stated that the book publishing side of his job was taking more and more time.  Adams is a highly respected editor not only of the magazine but of numerous anthologies as well.  Adams issued the following statement:  "It’s an exciting time to be involved in publishing.  Models are changing and so is the readership, and online magazines have a better shot at sustainability than ever have before. I believe the possibilities for growth are tremendous, and I look forward to staying in the vanguard of this new frontier."

With the announcement last week that Realms of Fantasy was closing again, it's been an eventful week in sff periodical publishing.  As I promised when I posted about RoF I'll have more to say about these changes in a post later this week.