There's never a good way to say goodbye, so maybe it's best just to get it over with. This transition has been in the works for a few months, and as of today it's official: Niall Harrison, who's best known at Strange Horizons for his incredibly capable work as Senior Editor in the Reviews Department, is the new editor-in-chief of Strange Horizons, effective immediately.

The timing is a bit awkward, as we just found out yesterday that I've been awarded a World Fantasy Award in recognition of my work with the magazine. That's an amazing honor, and one that I have to share with everyone else here at Strange Horizons. I joined the magazine staff right after it launched, ten years ago, and took over as editor-in-chief a couple of years later. For the last seven years I've been putting my heart and mind into this magazine (along with a lot of time and energy!), but in the last year or so I've come to the inescapable conclusion that it's time for me to move on. It hasn't been an easy choice, and I'm not going to pretend that I'm not a little bit sad about it, but it's the right choice, both for me and for the magazine.

However sad I might be about stepping down, though, I'm absolutely pleased to be able to hand control of this operation to Niall Harrison. In the five years that he's been on our staff, Niall has brought both energy and professionalism to our reviews department, and I have every expectation that he'll do the same for the magazine as a whole. He's also just coming off a five-year tenure as the editor of Vector, the British Science Fiction Association's critical journal, which means that he's got a base of practical experience that will help him effectively manage our operations. Most importantly, though, I know that Niall believes in Strange Horizons as much as I do—he understands the importance of what we're doing here, and he has the same big-picture vision for Strange Horizons that I do. I have every confidence that under Niall's leadership, Strange Horizons will continue to be an important part of the speculative fiction landscape.

So I guess that's goodbye. I can't even begin to express how much this magazine has meant to me over the last decade. I'm not leaving entirely—I'm going to continue working with Jed and Karen in the fiction department, and I hope that I'll still get to represent Strange Horizons at the occasional convention tea party. But we're closing the door on one stage of the magazine's history and opening another, and that's a good thing. I hope that you'll all join me in welcoming Niall Harrison as our new editor-in-chief.