Hi friends! I am thrilled to have the editor of one of the most anticipated, upcoming romance anthologies of this summer with us today. Introducing Jonathan Strahan, editor of ‘Someone In Time’, an incredible collection of time-travel romances brought to you by award-winning authors such as Nina Allan, Carrie Vaughn, and Seanan McGuire.
Thank you so much to Lola’s Book Tours for having me as a tour host for this book.
Genre: Science Fiction Romance/ Time Travel Romance Age category: Adult Publisher: Rebellion Publishing Release Date: 10 May 2022
Even time travel can’t unravel love
Time-travel is a way for writers to play with history and imagine different futures – for better, or worse.
When romance is thrown into the mix, time-travel becomes a passionate tool, or heart-breaking weapon. A time agent in the 22nd century puts their whole mission at risk when they fall in love with the wrong person. No matter which part of history a man visits, he cannot not escape his ex. A woman is desperately in love with the time-space continuum, but it doesn’t love her back. As time passes and falls apart, a time-traveller must say goodbye to their soulmate.
With stories from best-selling and award-winning authors such as Seanan McGuire, Alix E. Harrow and Nina Allan, this anthology gives a taste for the rich treasure trove of stories we can imagine with love, loss and reunion across time and space.
Behind The Scenes: The Makings Of A Great Anthology – Jonathan Strahan
What makes an anthology great and not just good or okay? A clarity of vision. The editor, publisher, and contributors all need to know exactly what they’re doing and what the endgame is. The Book of Dragons was a book of dragon stories. Simple, but writers delivered a real variety of stories on that theme. And the publisher did a stunning job with packaging.
That all flowed from an idea that was clearly communicated and followed through on. To be great it also needs to have variety. It can’t be one note. Surprisingly, Gardner Dozois and Susan Casper’s Ripper! is a great anthology, so is Martin H. Greenberg’s The Further Adventures of Batman. Both have clear themes, but one has surprising and different takes on Jack the Ripper from a brilliant array of contributors and the other manages to take many different looks at the Dark Knight.
So clarity and variety. What else? Well, great stories. Not good ones. The great anthologies usually have a handful of stunningly good stories, some very good one, and usually the rest are solid. The quality of the stories is something readers respond to.
Then there’s things like running order. An anthology is a seduction. You’re inviting a reader in and then asking them to stay for the length of a book – a book that is made of often very diverse parts. So you need to time it, make sure the book opens well, that long and short stories are interspersed to give the reader a sense of rising and falling action, as they read. I also think interstitial material is important – a good introduction, story notes, and so on.
If the editor gets those things right, then the book will be really good. To push the book over the edge into greatness, though, you also need luck. Probably the most famous anthology in the history of science fiction is Harlan Ellison’s Dangerous Visions. The stories in it are great. Ellison’s intros and the art are integral. It’s wonderfully constructed. But what made it great was that it was timely. It hit at a time when the science fiction field was very open to a book like that. The same could be said of Bruce Sterling’s Mirrorshades.
Thank you so much for this wonderful gues post Jonathan, and these lovely insights on what makes an anthology not just good, but great.
Get Your Copy Of Someone In Time Today
Disclaimer: This is not a sponsored a post, and I am not an affiliate. I do not receive any financial gain from promoting this book. I am only doing my part to support the author as a host for this blog tour.
1 thought on “The Makings Of A Great Anthology: Guest Post By ‘Someone In Time’ Editor Jonathan Strahan”