Lightspeed: Year One, edited by John Joseph Adams, has just been added to Prime’s releases for November.

Lightspeed: Year One compiles all the fiction published by Prime Books’ online science fiction magazine Lightspeed in its first year. Originally published stories include Nebula Award finalists Vylar Kaftan’s “I’m Alive, I Love You, I’ll See You in Reno” and Adam-Troy Castro’s “Arvies” as well as Carrie Vaughn’s Hugo Award-nominated “Amaryllis.” Plus there are classic stories by Stephen King, Ursula K. Le Guin, George R. R. Martin, and more.

The popular, critically-acclaimed Lightspeed is edited by bestselling anthologist John Joseph Adams. Lightspeed publishes all types of science fiction, from near-future sociological soft sf to far-future star-spanning hard sf—and everything in between. Each month, Lightspeed features a mix of original and classic stories, from a variety of authors, showcasing the best new genre voices along with bestsellers, award-winners, fan favorites, and notable authors readers already know.

Full contents and more information can be found on the product page for Lightspeed: Year One.

Jeff VanderMeer further explores his NYTimes review of Mechanique for Amazon’s Omnivoracious column, saying:

“Two…writers covered in the feature, Lauren Beukes and Genevieve Valentine, represent the future of fantastical fiction…Valentine’s novel, Mechanique, is the debut of a writer who has been enthralling readers with unique short fiction over the past few years. Her tale of a tight-knit group of altered circus performers in a ruined future mesmerizes by dint of the author’s ability to understand her characters. As I wrote, ‘Valentine…raises the novel above the ordinary through her ability to convey the richness of the circus performers’ emotional lives, coupled with impressive writing.'”

Sedia superbly blends novel of manners, alternate history, and le Carré–style espionage with a dash of superheroes and steampunk. In a Russia in which the Decembrist revolution succeeded and Constantine never abdicated, 18-year-old Sasha is unexpectedly enrolled at university thanks to a challenge her aunt Eugenia issues to Constantine. Her initial concerns about sexism fade to the background once she realizes that Chinese students are vanishing. After a visiting British student named Jack, who has strange powers, helps Sasha prevent a kidnapping, she learns of a plot that could lead Russia into war with China, England, or both. Sedia assembles a nice list of supporting characters–the forceful Eugenia, the Russian soldiers and Chinese fur traders Sasha befriends, sinister spymaster Florence Nightingale–and Sasha’s often frustrated but always practical narrative voice smoothly carries the novel to its satisfying conclusion.

Call for Submissions

As the editor of the annual anthology series The Year’s Best Dark Fantasy and Horror for Prime Books, I am now reading for the 2012 edition—the third in the series—which will include material published in 2011.

I am looking for stories of dark fantasy. Dark fantasy can simply unsettling or eerie; revelatory or baffling. It can be a story in which a small glimpse of life is seen “through a glass, darkly.” Or, in more literary terms (all of which are debatable) it might be any number of things: weird fiction (new or old), supernatural fiction, magical realism, surrealism, the fantastique, or the ever-ambiguous horror fiction (which need not have a supernatural element but can crossover into other genres).

You can get an idea of what I am looking for from the first two volumes of the series: The Year’s Best Dark Fantasy & Horror: 2010 (covering 2009) is widely available and The Year’s Best Dark Fantasy & Horror: 2011 (covering 2010) will be published in August 2011. You might also read the introduction to the first in the series here.

This is a REPRINT anthology so I am only reading material published during the calendar year of 2011.

READERS: I appreciate your recommendations. Email darkecho@darkecho.com.

PUBLISHERS: I prefer email submissions of Word documents, RTF, or PDF rather than hard copies if available. It saves you the postage and I can keep track of things better this way. If you must send galleys, magazines, or books, email me for snailmail address. If your publication appears on the Web only, please make me aware of it. Send to: darkecho@darkecho.com

WRITERS: It is best to request your publisher send me your entire collection, the anthology, or periodical in which your story was published. If it has been legitimately published online, please send the URL.

Please post and/or pass this on to others.

DEADLINE for 2011 materials: February 1, 2012. (but the sooner the better!)

Thank you.

Paula Guran