I’m a Finalist in the Jim Baen Memorial Short Story Award 🤩

I’ve been asked not to share the title or any details of the story itself because the contest is judged anonymously. However, I’ve included an extract from the press release below to give you an idea of what the contest is about and what sort of stories they are looking for.

Now in its 19th year, the Jim Baen Memorial Award recognizes the best in science fiction about realistic space exploration within the next few decades. From asteroid mining to Mars colonization, the contest focuses on stories filled with hard science, optimism, and a reminder that sometimes the biggest challenges are often solved with duct tape and guts. “The National Space Society and Baen Books value the role science fiction has always played in inspiring real progress,” said Contest Director C. Stuart Hardwick. “The award honors Jim Baen by giving writers a chance to imagine how science and ingenuity might build a brighter future—and perhaps even inspire the scientists and entrepreneurs making it happen.

This is a ‘hard sci-fi’ contest, which means there must be accurate depictions of science, technology and how those would work in space. For those of you that know me well, you’ll be as surprised as I am that I was able to write a convincing hard sci-fi story! Usually I veer more towards ‘soft’ sci-fi and space opera (think Star Wars), where I don’t need to worry about pesky things like gravity or whether faster-than-light travel is possible. Writing this story was really outside my comfort zone so, whatever happens next, I am feeling very proud of this achievement.