From the Editor's Desk , Jan 2015

Happy New Year — I feel like I've already run a marathon this year. How about you?

But before I get to any of that running stuff, let me say how proud I am of the anthologies Fae and Krampusnacht for making the Tangent Online 2014 Recommended Reading List! Tangent reviews only short speculative fiction and this list is all their top picks, individual short stories from anthologies and top magazine markets. Four stories from Krampusnacht are honored along with eleven of the seventeen stories published in Fae.

WWP has had a lot of behind-the-scenes changes these past couple of months, all of which seemed to accumulate . . . well, now that you ask . . . right about now. It's all happening now. 

We brought on board two new assistant editors to continue WWP's growth. Both bring strong backgrounds in speculative fiction editing and writing. They're such personable, witty, funny women who've been a joy to work with thus far, and their varied experiences and interests will add depth to the WWP list.

Sarena Ulibarri earned an MFA from the University of Colorado at Boulder, and attended the Clarion Fantasy and Science Fiction Writers' Workshop at UCSD in 2014. Her short fiction has appeared in Lightspeed, NewMyths.com, The Colored Lens, Kasma SF and elsewhere. She currently lives in New Mexico with her husband and their Welsh Corgi. Find more at sarenaulibarri.com.

Laura Harvey is an editor, writer, bibliophile, horsewoman, historian, teacher, debate coach, nerd, DIY junkie, and occasional rescuer of kittens. She holds a BA, MA, and is ABD, making her an exceptional asset in Trivial Pursuit. She loves reading so much that all of her handbags share one crucial ability: fitting a standard paperback or Kindle. She lives in northern California with a menagerie of beasts (dogs, cats, horses, and family members).

Sarena Ulibarri's main interest lies in futuristic science fiction while Laura Harvey gravitates toward mostly-this-world-with-just-a-tiny-twist and immersive high fantasy.  You'll get to hear more about Sarena Ulibarri and Laura Harvey in the coming weeks as they introduce themselves in future blog posts and tell a more about their "wish list" projects as WWP editors. They'll be reading query slush in February, June, and September for new speculative fiction projects.

But they aren't the only new editors starting as the new year begins. We've opened our imprint Red Moon Romance to novel and novella queries this month, and reading queries are assistant editors Trysh Thompson and Cori Vidae. They'll be working alongside me and Laura Harvey to launch RMR's anthologies and authors in the coming year.

All four of these editors are keeping me busier day-to-day, but in a way that I hope will be great for the press because it will mean more great books available to readers and a faster editing process for authors. Not to mention I've been having a hoot at editor meetings the past few weeks.

The new editors have been taking a gander at what remain of the manuscripts I requested in 2014 — projects that I didn't want to decline because they were so interesting, but knew I didn't have space in my list to take on — and they'll start making offers on their first projects as early as next week. So exciting.

January and February usually bring a period of hibernation for me — wise women try to stay indoors during Midwestern winters — but with all the changes going on at WWP, new imprint, new editors, oh, new intern too, I may be buried under snow and frigid winds, but if you were to look beneath the weather, you'd see that at World Weaver Press this winter the act of hibernation is more a buzzing hive of activity than a den of sleepy bears.

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Eileen Wiedbrauk
Editor-in-Chief