One or two people asked me about SFBC's originals while I was at World Fantasy, so I figured that counts as a groundswell. (And this entry will give me something to point people to, when it's 1 AM at a convention and I can barely remember my own name, let alone detailed publishing histories.)

The SFBC had done reprint anthologies pretty regularly in the '80s, with Alan Ryan's Ghosts and several books edited by David Hartwell and several more edited by Marvin Kaye. But we hadn't published anything completely original -- made up of entirely new material -- before the late '90s, and even the reprint anthologies were some time in the past by then.

Enter Tanith Lee. She had a story she wanted to write, and an idea for an anthology to be built around that story. The book she envisioned would be called The Vampire Sextette -- it would have six original novellas (three by male writers and three by female), all about sex and music and vampires. She told Marvin Kaye about the idea, and asked him to edit it. I'm not sure if Marvin tried to sell it to any other publishers, but he did pitch it to Ellen Asher (then, as now, Editor-in-Chief and all-around Queen Bee of the SFBC). Ellen liked the idea but thought the theme was a little too much of a muchness, and so the "music" part of the theme was made optional.

The Vampire Sextette was published in August of 2000, and contained stories by Tanith Lee (of course), Nancy A. Collins, Kim Newman, S.P. Somtow, Brian Stableford, and Chelsea Quinn Yarbro. Ace brought out a trade (bookstore) edition in 2002.

Marvin enjoyed doing Vampire, so he wanted to do another book along the same lines. After some back-and-forth with ideas, it turned into The Dragon Quintet, which was published in April of 2003 and contained stories by Orson Scott Card, Mercedes Lackey, Tanith Lee, Elizabeth Moon, and Michael Swanwick. Dragon also sold into the trade, to Tor Books, where it has had multiple editions (hardcover in 2004, trade paperback in 2005, mass-market paperback in 2006).

(Marvin then tried to sell Ellen on a book to be called The Ghost Quartet, but she didn't think it was right for the SFBC. It's currently contracted with Tor, though at least one of the stories is probably very long overdue at this point.)

Ellen thought having the number of stories being in the title was overly limiting, and convinced Marvin that his next anthology should be about elves, and have a different kind of title. That book eventually became The Fair Folk, published January of 2005, with stories by Craig Shaw Gardner, Tanith Lee, Megan Lindholm, Patricia A. McKillip, Kim Newman, and Jane Yolen & Midori Snyder. Fair Folk has just won the 2006 World Fantasy Award for Best Anthology, and the trade edition will be published in February 2007 as an Ace trade paperback.

When Fair Folk was gestating, I decided that original anthologies looked like fun, and that I wanted to get in on it as well. So I contacted Robert Silverberg about a project that I thought he'd be interested in, and that became Between Worlds. Between Worlds was published August 2004, and contained stories by Stephen Baxter, James Patrick Kelly, Nancy Kress, Mike Resnick, Walter Jon Williams, and Silverberg himself. (It hasn't sold to a trade publisher yet -- so, if you want it, make me an offer!)

Also around the same time, Mike Resnick asked Ellen if we were looking at general proposals for original anthologies. She said sure, and soon signed up Down These Dark Spaceways. That was published in May of 2005, and contained stories by Catherine Asaro, Joe Haldeman, Jack McDevitt, Robert Reed, Robert J. Sawyer ("Identity Theft," which won the 2004 UPC Award and was a Hugo and Nebula finalist), and Resnick himself. (Again, no trade sale yet -- talk to me!)

Gardner Dozois then also talked to us, and we set up two anthologies with him. The first to be finished was One Million A.D., which was published January 2006, and contained stories by Greg Egan, Nancy Kress, Robert Reed, Alastair Reynolds, Robert Silverberg, and Charles Stross. (Trade rights are available...)

The second Dozois anthology was co-edited with Jack Dann, and turned into Escape from Earth: New Adventures in Space, stories specifically aimed at a Young Adult audience. That was published in the SFBC's Worldcon issue of 2006, with stories by Kage Baker, Orson Scott Card, Joe Haldeman, Geoffrey A. Landis, Elizabeth Moon, Allen M. Steele, and Walter Jon Williams.

In between those was Marvin Kaye's first SF anthology for the SFBC, Forbidden Planets, which was published in June 2006. It had stories by Julie E. Czerneda, Alan Dean Foster, Nancy Kress, Jack McDevitt, Robert Reed, and Allen M. Steele. 

As I write this, Resnick has just turned in the follow-up to Down These Dark Spaceways, which is currently titled Alien Crimes. That's scheduled to be published by the SFBC in April of 2007, and has stories by Gregory Benford, Pat Cadigan, Kristine Kathryn Rusch, Harry Turtledove, Walter Jon Williams, and Resnick himself (again).

Also in the pipeline is Marvin Kaye's next anthology, with the working title Wizards (which probably will change). That is likely to come out in late 2007, and is expected to have stories by Peter S. Beagle, Tanith Lee, Patricia A. McKillip, Kim Newman, Holly Phillips, and Margaret Weis with Bob Krammes. (I doubt any of those stories are written yet, so things could change.)

Gardner Dozois's next SFBC anthology will be Galactic Empires, which also may come in late 2007 (or early 2008). It's expected to have stories by Stephen Baxter, Elizabeth Bear, Peter F. Hamilton, Ian McDonald, Robert Reed, and Alastair Reynolds.

And I've been talking with other editors about further potential projects, which I'll update here as they become real. We're aiming to do about three or four original anthologies a year, as long as the response is good.

Any thoughts about good themes for future anthologies?