“Babylon’s Song” nominated for 2017 Sir Julius Vogel Awards

Local Resident Takes on Sci-Fi Universe in new International Collaborative Publishing Venture and ends up being nominated for the Sir Julius Vogel Award

Hawke’s Bay based author, Woelf Dietrich’s novella, which appears in the anthology Interspecies, is on the final ballot for the Sir Julius Vogel Awards, one of New Zealand’s top prizes for speculative fiction. Voting for the Sir Julius Vogel Awards takes place at LexiCon June 2nd – 4th 2017, during the 38th New Zealand National Science Fiction and Fantasy Convention.

Interspecies is the achievement of an international collaboration of writers and artists, some whom have never met in person, with Woelf being the only Kiwi in the group, and together they created the science fiction shared-universe anthology, Interspecies: Volume 1, The Inlari Sagas, and a premise that some readers have compared to District 9. Piers Anthony, one of the world's most popular fantasy authors and a New York Times bestseller twenty-one times over, says, "It is thoughtful reading.”

On post-apocalyptic Earth, New Zealand and Australia are the last habitable land masses. Humans and aliens cling to these countries, struggling for supremacy in the aftermath of a war that ravaged the globe. Four stories that explore transformation, survival, love, and the eternal search for meaning in a turbulent world. Can humans and aliens bridge the gap created by their prejudices? Or will one species forever rule the other?

In an earlier post, publisher MJ Kelley wrote about what it was like to work with Woelf on Interspecies:

"Working with Dietrich over the years, I can tell you that you’d be hard-pressed to find a more dedicated, thoughtful writer, one who gives abundantly to his peers and colleagues. It has been my honor and privilege to have the opportunity to publish some of his best work represented by “Babylon’s Song” in Interspecies and this year’s Armistice (in which you’ll find seven spellbinding sci-fi tales from Woelf). This story represents collaboration, imagination, and some of Woelf’s best work to date. Reading Samantha’s arduous sojourn, the language, the universal human emotion depicted, the setting, and the sci-fi elements of alien-occupied New Zealand—all lend themselves to capturing a reader’s imagination with awe and wonder. Special congratulations go to our talented author and friend Woelf Dietrich on this amazing accomplishment. And congratulations to all the nominees for the 2017 Vogel Awards."

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