Ripley Patton's "The Derby"

Hey everybody, my friend Ripley Patton‘s short story “The Derby” has been nominated for a Sir Julius Vogel Award. In the story, the annual salmon fishing derby in Alaska takes a very unexpected turn. “The Derby” totally rocks, and you can read it online for free here, at the Wily Writers site.

The Sir Julius Vogel Award is the premiere science fiction/fantasy/horror award in New Zealand (where Ripley makes her home). It’s a fan nominated and voted award, so if you read “The Derby” and like it, please add your voice to the nominations (via the handy-dandy form). There are only 8 days left for the nominations process, so get your votes in!

Who was Sir Julius Vogel, you ask? He was Prime Minister of New Zealand in 1889. His book Anno Domini 2000 — A Woman’s Destiny was the first full-length science fiction novel by a New Zealander, and portrayed a utopia of the future in which women were equal and held positions of authority. New Zealand was the first country to give women the vote — in 1893. How cool is that?

Don’t forget to check out the rest of the stories on Wily Writers — a brand new speculative fiction web site that’s chock-full of great stuff from an international group of writers.