It is rare for an Ottawa writer to win one nomination for a Nebula award for science fiction writing, but to snag two… that’s pretty much unheard of until Kate Heartfield that is.
The local speculative fiction writer is in the running for the brand new game writing Nebula for her The Road to Canterbury and one for the novella award for the book Alice Payne Arrives. The sequel to this novella, called Alice Payne Rides, is expected out in March.
Heartfield said in a Facebook post Wednesday that she received a call on her cellphone from “Jim Hosek from the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America” while riding down the escalator at Chapters on Rideau Street after an event.
The Nebula is voted on by the members of the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America is is one of the two best-known awards in the field of speculative fiction. The other is the Hugo.
“To be nominated in two categories in the same year is just… I don’t know what to say, honestly,” she wrote.
This past year was a big one for Heartfield who is also a freelance editor and teaches arts and entertainment writing at Carleton University’s school of journalism. In addition to the works nominated, Heartfield saw her first novel Armed in Her Fashion published in 2018 along with several short stories. You can read an interview with her here.
“So I am definitely going down to Los Angeles in May to attend the ceremony and the associated conference (and this is where I thank my partner and my son for supporting me in this as in everything, for saying, ‘yes, of course you have to go.’)”
