Jen Albert, Editor

What I’m looking for . . . 

I’m drawn to fiction that overturns genre boundaries, books that stun with strong voice and striking imagery, that explore the human experience with nuance and aplomb. I love speculative fiction of all kinds — innovative space opera such as Ann Leckie’s Imperial Radch series; striking speculative horror such as Silvia Moreno-Garcia’s Mexican Gothic; engrossing YA fantasy like Jordan Ifueko’s Raybearer; literary post-apocalypse such as Emily St. John Mandel’s Station Eleven and Premee Mohamed’s The Annual Migration of Clouds (ECW, fall 2021); and epic sci-fantasy such as N.K. Jemisin’s Broken Earth trilogy. I’m especially taken by fiction that is uplifting and fundamentally good-hearted, as in Katherine Addison’s The Goblin Emperor, one of my favorite-ever novels. I strongly support diverse voices in writing and am interested in both adult and YA titles.

What I read (and loved) recently . . . 

Like most queer SFF fans, I absolutely adored C.L. Clark’s The Unbroken and Tamsyn Muir’s Gideon the Ninth (I guess I love women with big muscles?), and I’ve just read Susanna Clarke’s Piranesi, which might be my favorite book of the last few years. I’m also always coming back to short fiction and regularly enjoy magazines such as Lackington’sAnathema Magazine, and Augur Magazine, and progressive anthologies such as The Mythic Dream.

What I do outside of work . . . 

I spend much of my spare time working in and with the SFF community. I co-host and co-chair ephemera, a Toronto reading series, and have just stepped down as co-editor of the fantasy fiction podcast/magazine PodCastle, which has been nominated for the Hugo Award, World Fantasy Award, the Ignyte Award, the Aurora Award, and has won the British Fantasy Award. In my spare time, I enjoy running, macramé, and playing tabletop, board, and video games.

 @jenralbert     @jenralbert     jenalbert@ecwpress.com