I had just barely recovered from a bout of euphoria — caught from the news that Stormlord Rising was an Aurealis Award finalist (for Best Fantasy Novel of 2010) — when I was hit by another bout, just as serious.

Stormlord Rising is a Ditmar finalist. Now that probably won’t mean much to those of you from distant lands, so – briefly – it is Australia’s version of the Hugos. In other words, it’s a reader/fan award, where people who go to the Australian National Convention (last year’s or this year’s) are eligible to vote for the works that they like best.

Aurealis is a judged award; Ditmars are a reader popularity vote. And the other rather nice thing about the Ditmars is that the novel award is not divided into SF and Fantasy or young adult, unlike the Aurealis. So a book is up against works in SF and Fantasy and YA works.

So there you are: for the first time, I have a book that is a finalist in both awards.* 
Chuffed? You betcha.
Touched? Oh, yes. This is a reader award. Judged awards are an ego boost, great to have, and I am very proud of my nominations over the years, but reader awards are something else again. Readers liked the book enough to take the trouble to nominate. Some of them will take the trouble to vote. That is very, very special.

So thank you to all those people who nominated the book and bounced it on to the finalist list.

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*I was a finalist for the Best New Talent in 2004 — the year K.J.Bishop won in that category.