A few weeks back I mentioned that I was honoured to be a finalist for New Zealand’s Sir Julius Vogel Award in short story category, for my Asimov’s story “Crimson Birds of Small Miracles”.
Well it turns out that, ahem, another small miracle has occurred; the story won the award. I’m amazed and surprised. The other stories on the ballot (at least those I had the chance to read) were excellent, and the authors of those stories read like a who’s-who of New Zealand science fiction: Grace Bridges, A.J. Fitzwater, Andi Buchanan, Octavia Cade.
Yeah.
With other commitments, I was elsewhere during the presentations, but I thank Lee Murray for collecting the award and reading my little speech.
This is my third time on the final ballot, so it’s heartening to pick up a win.
My congratulations to the other winners – a full list here: SJV Winners 2018.
Great to see some others I know in there: Darian, Dan and Lee, and Grace, but well done all.
I will be publishing the story as a standalone ebook (and print) in the near future, with a wonderful alternative cover by Maurizio Manzieri.
And, while I’m sharing good news, I have signed the contract for another story, titled “Ventiforms”, set in the same universe, which will be coming out in Asimov’s either later this year or early next year. More news on that closer to the time.
Congratulations. I have that issue of Asimov’s and I’ll be sure to check out your story.
I have a possibly unusual question: How do you handle publishing long-distance (i.e. not in your country of living)? If I understand correctly, you live in New Zealand while Asimov’s is US based. Does that make things any harder ?
Thanks John. Yes, a good question. With so many publishing venues now offering email/online submission it’s far more straightforward to submit from New Zealand. It does, however, take much longer to recieve my contributor’s copies.
Good to know. Thanks.