Well, dearest readers, I have a grin on my face that won’t go away. I received an email this week from the Science Fiction and Fantasy Association of New Zealand (SFFANZ) informing me that “Babylon’s Song” has been nominated for the Sir Julius Vogel Award for Best Novella. If you recall, three of my stories in These Broken Worlds received a nomination last year but failed to reach the shortlist.

“Babylon’s Song” is special to me. I invested a lot of emotion and time in writing the story of Samantha Babylon. I created her alongside Abel Medea for “The Last Devil,” my original submission for Interspecies. In “The Last Devil” we see her fully realized, at the top of her game as a cold-hearted slaughterer of aliens. “Babylon’s Song” tells the story of her origins and the events that set her future path. “The Last Devil,” is being developed into a novel and will be published by Kōsa Press.

Voting takes place at LexiCon, the 38th New Zealand National Science Fiction and Fantasy Convention (NatCon), which will be held from Friday 2nd to Sunday 4th June 2017 (Queen’s Birthday Weekend). It’s a fan-run event for everyone who loves science fiction and fantasy.

There is still time to nominate. The nomination period will close at 8.00pm on 31st March 2017 (NZST). The awards recognize excellence in science fiction, fantasy, or horror works created by New Zealanders and New Zealand residents, and first published or released in the 2016 calendar year.

Anyone can make a nomination and it is free!

So, if you’ve read “Babylon’s Song” and enjoyed it and believe it worthy of an award, please vote. You’d put a permanent smile on my face. I may not yet earn enough with my writing to support my family but receiving a literary award would be another rung on the ladder to recognition and a step forward on that great author’s journey to independence.

In other news, Armistice received another mention on Tor’s Aurora Australis. I love this anthology as I experimented a bit and flexed my writing voice. The jury is still out on whether said experiment worked. I have a bit of everything in this collection, from a weird tale of the wastelands to a unique Māori and alien encounter. You can get a free copy here .

That’s my week, folks. It’s Friday morning here. My wife is still in Australia on business and will only be back late Saturday night. I don’t usually drink alone but I think a good stew and a glass of shiraz tonight are justified.

Cheers!

Woelf