Finalists for the 2009 Sir Julius Vogel Awards Announced
Science Fiction, Fantasy & Horror Authors Nominated

The Science Fiction and Fantasy Association of New Zealand is pleased to announce its list of finalists for the 2009 Sir Julius Vogel Awards celebrating consumer choice and excellence in science fiction, fantasy and horror. Eligible works are from the 2008 calendar year.

Christchurch author Helen Lowe, author of “Thornspell”, is one of the finalists in the category of “Young Adult Novel”. Other finalists in this category are Margaret Mahy for “The Magician of Hoad”, Ella West for “Anywhere But Here”, Fleur Beale for “Juno of Taris” and Glynne MacLean for “The Spiral Chrysalis”.

Young Adult works feature very strongly on this year's nominations. Helen Lowe and Ella West have also been nominated in the category of “Best New Talent”, while Glynne MacLean has also been nominated in the Novella category for “The Time Stealers”.

Auckland writer Nalini Singh, author of “Mine to Possess” and “Hostage to Pleasure” has been nominated for both works in the category of Best Novel. Hamilton author Russell Kirkpatrick has also been nominated in this category for his work “Dark Heart”, the second book of the Husk trilogy. Both authors will be attending Conscription as New Zealand Literary Guests of Honour.

For more information about Conscription — including how to obtain tickets to attend — please visit http://www.conscription.co.nz/ConScription/index.htm

Voting for the SJV Awards will take place at Conscription, the 30th New Zealand National Science Fiction Convention, which will be held in Auckland, New Zealand over Queen's Birthday Weekend, 29 May - 1 June 2009.

Conscription is taking place at the Grand Chancellor Hotel in Mangere. Winners will be announced after the Conscription banquet on the Sunday night of the convention.

A full list of finalists by category can be seen at http://sffanz.sf.org.nz/sjv/sjvNominations-2009.shtml.

Other categories include "Best Short Story" and "Best Collected Work", with Tim Jones having two works in this later category.