My short story “Daisy and Maisie, External Hull Maintenance Specialists”, originally published in the March/April issue of Analog Science Fiction/Science Fact, is on the Sir Julius Vogel Award ballot for best novella or novelette. Now, I call it a short story, but there are technical lengths for awards and the cutoff for short stories is 7,500 words… “Daisy and Maisie…” is 7,600 words. That pushes it to novelette length.
That’s all well and fine, I’m thrilled to be nominated and to make it onto the finalist ballot.
Interesting side note, my 22,000 word novella “Wildest Skies” is also on the same ballot, so I’m kind of competing with myself, with stories of very different lengths.
Again, no complaints. Not at all. I’ve been on the ballots before, and even won once, but it’s been a while. All you nice people who’ve been reading the stories have been kind enough to consider them award-worthy and to nominate them.
Thank you, thank you. It’s very appreciated.
I have friends in other categories too – Lee Murray for Best Collected work, and Best Cover for her wonderful Fox Spirit on a Distant Cloud and Mel Harding-Shaw for her novel Echoes of Earthshine and also (as Melanie Harding-Shaw) for her article “Your Guide to New Zealand Fantasy Romance Novels Coming in 2024”
A full list of the finalists can be found here on the Sir Julius Vogel Awards Finalists 2025 page.
The competition will be tight, and because of other commitments I will miss the awards ceremony in April. Wish me luck, but also best of luck to the other nominees Just not in my category 😉
“Daisy and Maisie…” will be out as a standalone story in ebook and print very soon. What do you think of the cover? This is the blurb and cover.
Daisy and Maisie, External Hull Maintenance Experts, blurb
Chuck Grimshaw works hard in the gruelling environment orbiting Mars. Long days fixing broken equipment, on a worn out ship, in a stinky spacesuit.
His two robot helpers, Daisy and Maisie, make things bearable. Never short of a wry observation or a correction to Grimshaw’s work habits.
When disaster strikes, Grimshaw finds they have more talents than just quips and repairs.
But do they have the skills to help him survive?