The latest issue of Interzone (#234) contains the results of the magazine’s annual readers’ poll. I found out that my stories “Dance of the Kawkawroons” and “In the Harsh Glow of its Incandescent Beauty” placed at #6 and #7 in the list of favorites. It’s always an honor to be acknowledged by my British readers. Interestingly, this year three authors made multiple appearances in the top-10 list: myself, Jason Sanford (at #1 and #2), Aliette de Boddard (at #4 and #10). Personally, my favorite IZ story from last year was Nina Allan’s “Flying in the Face of God,” a touching, nuanced, oh-so-real exploration of the relationship between two women, one of whom is undergoing a physical transformation in anticipation of a one-way interstellar voyage. (It finished tied at #1 with Jason Sanford’s outstanding “Plague Birds.”) From posts I’ve read elsewhere, I think it was Jason and Aliette’s favorite as well and will be appearing in Gardner Dozois’s Year’s Best SF anthology (Along with Aliette’s terrific story, “The Shipmaker.”
I’ve been saying it for months, but I need to do a better job of posting here and I aim to be more interactive in the coming months.
Congratulations again! “Dance of the Kawkawroons” is one of my favorite short stories ever.
Thanks, Eugene! I’m particularly proud of the plotting in that story.