This year's haul is my largest yet, including a dark piece about shame and self-discovery, a very personal piece which despite appearing to reflect current events was in fact first drafted more than a decade ago, a longer piece about coping with change, and one reflecting on family, belonging, and conditional love.
Throw in a couple of reprints, including my first appearance in one of the Escape Artists podcasts, and it adds up to a busy and productive year.
The main story I'm promoting for awards consideration this year is:
Fettle & Sunder (Sci-Fi 5000 words)
Published May 2025 in Amplitudes: Stories of Queer and Trans Futurity from Erewhon Books
In the afterglow of marriage equality, I wondered if those hard-won gains would usher in a new era of social progress, or catalyze reactionary forces hankering for a dark and oppressive past that worked only for a select few. Little did I know that by the time the story eventually gets published we would already be living through the early stages of this dystopian nightmare.
Amplitudes debuted at #65 on the USA Today Best-Selling Booklist, and garnered starred reviews from Kirkus Reviews and Library Journal. My personal favorite review is by Arley Sorg in Lightspeed Book Review.
I have another three eligible stories this year, and if you find the opportunity to read, and maybe enjoy any of them enough to vote for it, I'll be grateful. If you'd like to a copy of any of the stories not publicly available, please reach out.
Mashrabiya (Fantasy 2500 words)
Published March 2025 in Inner Worlds Issue 6
This piece is the closest I've come to publishing horror. It deals with difficult themes including mental health, substance dependency, self-discovery, complicated family bonds, and forging one's own path in life, in defiance of societal strictures and expectations.
Farmhouse of the Lost and Found (Sci-Fi 6000 words)
Published September 2025 in Aurealis Magazine #184 from Neon Hemlock Press
This is my first appearance in Aurealis, and a major milestone for an Aussie like yours truly. It took many attempts, and I couldn't be happier that this is the one they picked to publish.
Eric Kimminau's take in Tangent Reviews expertly dissects the core themes of this somewhat sprawling peice.
3 East (Fantasy 1000 words)
Published November 2025 in Inner Worlds Issue 9
This represents the first time multiple stories of mine have appeared in the same year in the same venue, and I couldn't be happier it was Inner Worlds! Inspired by a bizzare personal experience that saw me roaming a massive Sydney hospital in the middle of the night searching for an exit!
The other two pieces published this year are reprints and ineligible for consideration, but if you've missed them the first time around, this is the perfect opportunity to catch up!
Arboreal Recovery Cluster, Node 896
(Sci-Fi 4000 words)
Published September 2025 in Robots Past & Future from Flame Tree Press
First appearing in Andromeda Spaceways Magazine, this story is an examination of post-human life on Earth. While most apocolyptic stories (including mine) are human-centric, I approached the end of civilization from a different angle in this piece.
Life According to Tabeeb (Sci-Fi 4000 words)
Published October 2025 in Cast of Wonders
Originally published by Flame Tree in the anthology Learning to Be Human, this marks my first appearance in one of the Escape Artists podcasts. A superb audio production narrated by the talented Loulou Szal, I couldn't have wished for a better second act for one of my all-time favorite Cairene stories!