I had no input into what names did or didn't go on the cover, though I have no objection to the ones they've chosen. The first thing to remember, when you look at things like this, is that this book is only being published in the United States. The only reason to put names on the cover is to sell the book. Nix is the biggest selling author in the book, both in the US and the UK, and by some order of magnitude, so he was always going to make the cover. Beagle and Sterling are both well-established, enormously respected authors. They too are something of no-brainers for the cover. After that, it could have gone either way.

As to the gender breakdown: I know I'm likely to get into trouble for this, but I never considered it. Not when I was soliciting stories, not when I was buying and editing them, and not when I was assembling the final book. It's really only now that it's been pointed out that it's clearly that it's close to 50/50, which is nice, but coincidental.

Glad to see the discussion of the book, btw. I hope you guys like it when it comes out.