The other day I woke up to a discord ping from one of my writing friends. She had been checking out award lists and recognized my name on the British Science Fiction Association’s longlist for Best Short Fiction. To be honest, this came as a shock to me. You may remember I did a somewhat reluctant award eligibility post at the end of last year, only because one of my stories had made the recommended reading list for another award. I definitely didn’t expect to end up on any official award lists, but I followed my friend’s link and, sure enough, there was my story Soulshine published in Third Flatiron’s Gotta Wear Eclipse Glasses.

SoulShine is one of my favorite stories. (Who am I kidding? They are all my favorites.) When I was working on my novel, Casual, I used SoulShine as an exploration of the world and the virtual reality technology in it. It features a Pokemon Go style game that involves soulmates and human connection rather than imaginary creatures. I love the characters Tish and Vladi, and I hope to use them in more pieces in the future.

The BSFA award is a fan award. Any members of BSFA can nominate and vote. On February fifth, voting stops and they will narrow my category down to the top five short stories for the shortlist. Fingers are crossed I make it. But even if I don’t, there are a lot of great stories on the list I don’t mind taking a backseat to. Also, whoever nominated me, I thank you. It feels wonderful to be recognized.

I’ve been making my way down the list, reading what I can of the other stories that have been nominated. So far my favorites are: Georgie in the Sun by Natalia Theodoridou (Uncanny Magazine) and All I Asked For by Anne Charnock (Future Care Capital). I hadn’t seen Natalia’s writing before, but they seem to be a writer I want to keep my eye on. I love finding new (to me) writers that I can adore.

I do hope to get more reading and listening done on the list soon. Until then, thanks for the nomination, enjoy the list, and good luck to everyone on it!