OK, you’re going to have to excuse me being a bit effusive here, but I’ve just heard that – for the first time – a story originally published on Futurismic is going to appear in a Best of the Year anthology!

Rich Horton has decided to publish the first anthology devoted purely to stories published on the web from multiple publishers. Unplugged: The Best of Online Fiction will be released by Wyrm Publishing (the people behind the excellent Clarkesworld Magazine), and it will feature Jason Stoddard‘s “Willpower“, published just two weeks ago right here on Futurismic!

Here’s the complete table of contents:

• Beth Bernobich, “Air and Angels” (Subterranean, Spring)
• Mercurio D Rivera, “Snatch Me Another” (Abyss and Apex, First Quarter)
• Nancy Kress, “First Rites” (Baen’s Universe, October)
• Tina Connolly, “The Bitrunners” (Helix, Summer)
• Rebecce Epstein, “When We Were Stardust” (Fantasy, February)
• Jason Stoddard, “Willpower” (Futurismic, December)
• Peter S Beagle, “The Tale of Junko and Sayiri” (IGMS, July)
• David Dumitru, “Little Moon, Too, Goes Round” (Aeon Thirteen)
• Hal Duncan, “The Behold of the Eye” (Lone Star, August)
• Will McIntosh, “Linkworlds” (Strange Horizons, March 17-24)
• Merrie Haskell, “The Girl-Prince” (Coyote Wild, August)
• Brendan DuBois, “Not Enough Stars in the Night” (Cosmos)
• Catherynne M Valente, “A Buyer’s Guide to Maps of Antarctica” (Clarkesworld, May)
• Cory Doctorow, “The Things that Make Me Weak and Strange Get Engineered Away” (Tor.com)

Congratulations to all the authors, and to the sites that published them! You can’t imagine how proud I am to see Futurismic considered alongside big hitters of online genre fiction like Strange Horizons and Tor.com – I run this site for the love of short form science fiction, but to see Chris’s editorial skills and Jason’s writing vindicated by Horton’s selection is a greater gift than I ever hoped to receive this year.

Indeed, Unplugged is a great moment for webzines in general – we’re not third-class venues any more. So thank you, Rich – and thank you all – for reading and believing in what we do. Here’s hoping for more selections in years to come!