Surprised and pleased

I was very happy to see the Andromeda Spaceways co-op pick up a Ditmar for "Best Professional Acheivement" last night. (The Ditmars are the Australian Science Fiction Awards, and they recognise excellence by Australians in Science Fiction, Fantasy and Horror.)

There's more good news: We published Rick Kennett's story 'The Dark and What It Said' in ASIM #28, and he just scored the Ditmar for the best short story of 2007.

And more: Tehani Wessely, a founding member, editor of numerous issues, and the driving force behind the three ASIM best-ofs, picked up the Ditmar for best new talent.

Yea verily, we're rolling in recognition, and it feels great.

I also learned that Hal Spacejock: Just Desserts scored a Tin Duck for Best WA Professional Long Work, which is wonderful news. Big thanks to those who voted for the book, and I'm very grateful. (Series authors face several challenges, including stores carrying later books and not the early ones, the prospect of having a series dropped mid stream, author fatigue with the characters, etc, etc. A nice award right out of the blue sure helps dispel those concerns, and it's a very handy tool for sales reps when encouraging stores to order the next in the series.)

Simon Haynes is the author of the Hal Spacejock and Hal Junior series (Amazon / Smashwords / other formats)