Awards and the Power of Community

Hi all, this is just a short note to mark an occasion, a small milestone on the long journey of being a writer.

in August last year, my short story “Life in the Dirt” was published in Aurealis #173. It was my first paid writing credit, and a real milestone for me. I’d sent it off almost a year earlier, and had sort of forgotten about it, but the moment when I realised I would have a paid publishing credit in Australia’s premier spec fic magazine is kind of a fun story.

It was January 26, 2024.I was royally hungover after a pretty wild birthday party at a friend’s place. I’d crashed on the couch after drunkenly watching the first two episodes of Boy Swallows Universe on a TV the size of a wall and woken up feeling like I’d been thrown into traffic. I crossed the mighty Yarra on the way home and cursed tram disruptions caused by various parades that forced me to walk a good deal of the distance. My phone had died some time in the night so I was having to deal with these feelings without the buffer social media provides (honestly, how did we deal with hangovers before brain-rot content existed?).

I think transit took about three hours, and by the time I got home I couldn’t tell if the headache was from alcohol or dehydration. A long shower didn’t help the head, but I definitely smelled better, and I retired to bed ready to sleep off the last of the booze. I plugged my phone in and held on to consciousness long enough to set an alarm, but I was distracted by the first line of the email that popped up when the phone powered on:

I started writing in 2017, and this was the first time a third party had decided that my writing was good enough that they were willing to spend money on it. Ladies and Gentlemen, I’m not ashamed to say it: I cried.

Little did I know at the time, but I shared that issue with one Andrew Nathan Roberts, who turned out to be a member of Meridian Australis, a Spec Fic writing community based out of Melbourne.

Through one thing and another, namely the Kickstarter for my novel Sunward Sky, I met with and subsequently joined Meridian Australis and have found a wonderful team of dedicated and talented writers. Then, to my surprise, my short story was selected as a finalist in this year’s Aurealis Awards for Best Science Fiction Short Story. Once again, I found myself sharing the space with a Meridian Australis member , who I am now lucky enough to call a colleague. In addition, another Meridian member, Will Greatwich, was nominated for Best Fantasy Novella.

Ultimately I didn’t win, but I’m extremely proud to announce that both Will and Arden won their respective categories, which is an absolutely incredible turnout for the organisation. Thank you so much to Aurealis Awards for the nomination, and I can’t wait to share more fiction with you all this year (news on that coming soon, by the way). Congratulations to all the nominees and winners, and especially to my friends and colleagues at Meridian Australis.

I will now be affixing this image to every single thing I own.

Thanks for reading! If you’re interested, check out the story behind the inspiration for Life in the Dirt. Or, you can subscribe using the button above. To support this publication, please consider either buying my books, or upgrading your substack subscription to paid.

See you in the next one.