This last weekend was New Zealand’s national science fiction convention, Au Contraire. It’s also when the Sir Julius Vogel Awards are held. The Ghost of Matter was nominated for best novelette/novella, and I’m pleased to say that it won!
I was so convinced it wouldn’t that I hadn’t prepared anything to say, and had to stumble to the front to receive the trophy before gaping hopelessly at the audience. I don’t think I was very coherent, but at least I was brief. If it wasn’t clear then, I shared the category with five other fantastic stories, and any one of them could have won. Thanks are due to my editor Marie at Paper Road Press, who helped turn the draft into something a little more well-considered. I’m happy to report that the Shortcuts collection, of which The Ghost of Matter is a part, also won best collection, as well as best artwork for Casey Bailey’s amazing cover.
If you haven’t read it, The Ghost of Matter is about New Zealand’s most famous scientist, Ernest Rutherford. There’s an excerpt available free to read at Paper Road Press, and it’s available to buy there and at Amazon.
ojcade.com 
Congratulations! Well deserved – I enjoyed reading The Ghost of the Matter, since Rutherford has long been one of my favorite scientists. One of the truly great experimentalists.
Is there any video evidence of your hopeless gaping and incoherence?
🙂
Ha! Thankfully no, at least as far as I’m aware. If there was, whoever took it has been kind enough not to show me. I’m just grateful I didn’t trip over my own feet on the way up.