Sean McMullen

• Name — Sean Christopher McMullen • Pen Name — Roger Wilcox • Born — 21 December 1948 • Birthplace — Victoria, Australia • Occupation — Writer, critic, musician • Genre — Science fiction and fantasy • Website — http: www.seanmcmullen.net.au

McMullen grew up in Gippsland, Victoria. He earned a degree in physics and history from Melbourne University in 1974, a postgraduate degree in library and information science, and a PhD in medieval literature from the same university. He worked as a musician through the 1970s, singing and playing guitar, and spent two years with the Victorian State Opera. He spent 33 years in scientific computing at the Bureau of Meteorology before leaving to write full-time. He holds a fourth-dan black belt in karate and is a master instructor at the Melbourne University Karate Club. He is the father of Catherine Smyth-McMullen, an Australian screenwriter. Her debut feature The Other Lamb premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival in 2019 and was featured on the Black List. She wrote Episode 11 of Season 1 of The Sandman ("Dream of a Thousand Cats / Calliope"), for which she received a 2023 Australian Writers' Guild Award nomination, and two episodes of The Killings at Parrish Station. She has won the John Hinde Award for Science Fiction and the International Emmy Ustinov Award for Television Writing.

McMullen's first professional sale was "The Pharaoh's Airship," published in Omega Science Digest in 1986; he had won the short story competition at the 1985 World Science Fiction Convention the year before. His first novel appeared in Australia as two volumes, Voices in the Light (1994) and Mirrorsun Rising (1995), the latter winning the Australian SF Award (Ditmar). He revised and combined the two for US publication as Souls in the Great Machine (1999), the first book of the Greatwinter trilogy, followed by The Miocene Arrow (2000) and Eyes of the Calculor (2001), a mix of the generally opposed genres of steampunk and cyberpunk. His first internationally published novel was The Centurion's Empire (1998), which follows its central character from the Roman Empire to the near future through repeated periods of suspended animation. His next series, the Moonworlds saga (Voyage of the Shadowmoon, 2002; Glass Dragons, 2004; Voidfarer, 2006; The Time Engine, 2008), saw McMullen move away from science fiction and into fantasy. In the 2000s, as well as continuing his short fiction, he began writing science fiction and fantasy for young readers, including The Ancient Hero (2004, part of the Quentaris Chronicles), Before the Storm (2007) and Changing Yesterday (2011), and, with Paul Collins, the six-book Warlock's Child series (2015–16). McMullen also worked in scriptwriting. After meeting producers Dean Toovey and Mal Cumpson of Inventive Entertainment, he received a Film Victoria grant to develop the screenplay Icekeeper, and several of his other stories and novels were later optioned for screen development. In 2013 his story "Hard Cases" was adapted into a short film directed by Terry Shepherd, in which McMullen made a cameo appearance. In 2010 he adapted and directed a revival of Norma Hemming's 1958 play The Matriarchy of Renok, staged at that year's World Science Fiction Convention. He continued to publish short fiction through the 2010s, including "Technarion" (2013), which won the Interzone Readers' Poll, and "Exceptional Forces" (2016), a finalist for the Asimov's Readers' Award. In 2020 and 2021 he won the Analog Reader's Award and was nominated for the Sidewise Award for Alternate History for "Wheel of Echoes." His short story "The Precedent" (2010), published in The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction, became the basis for his 2022 novel Generation Nemesis (Wizard's Tower Press), a story of generational reckoning over climate change. It was included in Aurealis magazine's reviewers' picks for best speculative fiction of 2023.

McMullen was assistant editor, alongside fellow Australian SF writer Steven Paulsen, under general editor Paul Collins, of The MUP Encyclopaedia of Australian Science Fiction & Fantasy (Melbourne University Press, 1998). With Russell Blackford and Van Ikin, he wrote Strange Constellations: A History of Australian Science Fiction (Greenwood Press, 1999), which won a William Atheling Jr Award and is still cited as a useful reference by the Encyclopedia of Science Fiction. With Steven Paulsen, he also wrote the first histories of Australian fantasy and Australian horror, each of which also won a William Atheling Jr Award. His article "Shot in Australia," in the anthology Projections, is described on his own website as the first history of Australian science fiction for the screen. With Simon Litten, he wrote Fantastical Worlds and Futures at the World's Edge: A History of New Zealand Science Fiction and Fantasy (2020), produced for that year's Worldcon in New Zealand. It was a finalist for Best Professional Production/Publication at the 2021 Sir Julius Vogel Awards. His essay "Outpost of Wonder," a 37,000-word history of Australian science fiction from 1832 to 2017, is included in his 2018 collection Dreams of the Technarion.

• Voices in the Light (Aphelion Publications, 1994) • Mirrorsun Rising (Aphelion Publications, 1995) • The Centurion's Empire (Tor, 1998) • The Ancient Hero (Lothian Books, 2004, part of the Quentaris Chronicles) • Before the Storm (Hybrid Publishers/Ford Street Publishing, 2007) • Changing Yesterday (Hybrid Publishers/Ford Street Publishing, 2011) • Generation Nemesis (Wizard's Tower Press, 2022) • This Spells Trouble (Ford Street Publishing, 2023, with Paul Collins) • Greatwinter series • Souls in the Great Machine (Tor, 1999, a rewritten version of Voices in the Light and Mirrorsun Rising) • The Miocene Arrow (Tor, 2000) • Eyes of the Calculor (Tor, 2001) • The Moonworlds Saga series • Voyage of the Shadowmoon (Tor, 2002) • Glass Dragons (Tor, 2004) • Voidfarer (Tor, 2006) • The Time Engine (Tor, 2008) • Warlock's Child series (with Paul Collins) • The Burning Sea (Hybrid Publishers/Ford Street Publishing, 2015) • Dragonfall Mountain (Hybrid Publishers/Ford Street Publishing, 2015) • The Iron Claw (Hybrid Publishers/Ford Street Publishing, 2016) • Trial by Dragons (Hybrid Publishers/Ford Street Publishing, 2016) • Voyage to Morticas (Hybrid Publishers/Ford Street Publishing, 2016) • The Guardians (Hybrid Publishers/Ford Street Publishing, 2016)

• Collections • Call to the Edge (Aphelion Publications, 1992) • Walking to the Moon (Wildside Press, 2007) • Ghosts of Engines Past (ReAnimus Press, 2013) • Colours of the Soul (ReAnimus Press, 2013) • Dreams of the Technarion (ReAnimus Press, 2018) • Stories • Title — Year — First published — Reprinted/collected — Notes • data-sort-value="pharaoh's airship"|"The Pharaoh's Airship" — 1986 — Omega Science Digest, July/August 1986 — McMullen's first professional sale • data-sort-value="focus"|"At the Focus" — 1986/1990 — Eidolon, Spring 1990 (ed. Jeremy G. Byrne) — With Paul Collins • data-sort-value="deciad"|"The Deciad" — 1986 — Call to the Edge • data-sort-value="colors of the masters"|"The Colors of the Masters" — 1988 — The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction, March 1988 (ed. Edward L. Ferman) — Glass Reptile Breakout (ed. Van Ikin, 1990); Mortal Fire: Best Australian SF (Hodder & Stoughton, 1993) — Nominee, Australian SF Award, 1989 • data-sort-value="while the gate is open"|"While the Gate Is Open" — 1990 — The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction, February 1990 (ed. Edward L. Ferman) — Call to the Edge — Winner, Australian SF Award, 1991 • data-sort-value="rich fantasy life"|"A Rich Fantasy Life" — 1990 — Inter Alia (ed. Macphail, Coventry University, 1990) — Lead story of anthology • data-sort-value="alone in his chariot"|"Alone in His Chariot" — 1991 — Eidolon, Summer 1991 (ed. Jeremy G. Byrne) — Call to the Edge — Winner, Australian SF Award, 1992 • data-sort-value="dominant style"|"The Dominant Style" — 1991 — Aurealis No. 4 (ed. Stephen Higgins, Dirk Strasser) — Call to the Edge; Centaurus (ed. Damien Broderick and David G. Hartwell, Tor, 1999); Hayakawa's SF (Japan, April 2000) — Nominee, Australian SF Award, 1992 • data-sort-value="eyes of the green lancer"|"The Eyes of the Green Lancer" — 1992 — Call to the Edge • data-sort-value="destroyer of illusions"|"Destroyer of Illusions" — 1992 — Call to the Edge • data-sort-value="porphyric plague"|"The Porphyric Plague" — 1992 — Intimate Armageddons (ed. Bill Congreve) • data-sort-value="pax romana"|"Pax Romana" — 1992 — Call to the Edge • data-sort-value="devils of langenhagen"|"The Devils of Langenhagen" — 1992 — Call to the Edge • data-sort-value="empty wheelhouse"|"An Empty Wheelhouse" — 1992 — Analog Science Fiction and Fact, January 1992 (ed. Stanley Schmidt) — Metaworlds: Best Australian Science Fiction (Penguin, 1994) • data-sort-value="souls in the great machine 1992"|"Souls in the Great Machine" — 1992 — Universe 2 (ed. Karen Haber, Robert Silverberg) • data-sort-value="glasken chronicles"|"The Glasken Chronicles" — 1992 — Eidolon, Autumn 1992 (ed. Jeremy G. Byrne) • data-sort-value="pacing the nightmare"|"Pacing the Nightmare" — 1992 — Interzone, May 1992 (ed. David Pringle, Lee Montgomerie) • data-sort-value="greater vision"|"A Greater Vision" — 1992 — Analog Science Fiction and Fact, October 1992 (ed. Stanley Schmidt) • data-sort-value="way to greece"|"The Way to Greece" — 1993 — Eidolon, Winter 1993 (ed. Jeremy G. Byrne, Jonathan Strahan) • data-sort-value="charon's anchor"|"Charon's Anchor" — 1993 — Aurealis No. 12 (ed. Stephen Higgins, Dirk Strasser) • data-sort-value="miocene arrow story"|"The Miocene Arrow" — 1994 — Alien Shores: An Anthology of Australian Science Fiction (ed. Peter McNamara, Margaret Winch) • data-sort-value="blondefire genome"|"The Blondefire Genome" — 1994 — The Lottery: Nine Science Fiction Stories (ed. Lucy Sussex) • data-sort-value="ring of green fire"|"A Ring of Green Fire" — 1994 — Interzone, November 1994 (ed. David Pringle, Lee Montgomerie) • data-sort-value="lucky jonglar"|"Lucky Jonglar" — 1996 — Dream Weavers (ed. Paul Collins) • data-sort-value="weakest link"|"The Weakest Link" — 1996 — Dream Weavers (ed. Paul Collins) • data-sort-value="slow famine"|"Slow Famine" — 1996 — Interzone, May 1996 (ed. David Pringle) • data-sort-value="queen of soulmates"|"Queen of Soulmates" — 1998 — Dreaming Down-Under (ed. Jack Dann, Janeen Webb) • data-sort-value="chronicler"|"Chronicler" — 1998 — Fantastic Worlds (ed. Paul Collins) • data-sort-value="rule of the people"|"Rule of the People" — 1998 — Aurealis #20/21 (ed. Stephen Higgins, Dirk Strasser) • data-sort-value="souls in the great machine 1999"|"Souls in the Great Machine" — 1999 — Excerpt in The Centurion's Empire • data-sort-value="new words of power"|"New Words of Power" — 1999 — Interzone, August 1999 (ed. David Pringle) — Walking to the Moon • data-sort-value="colours of the soul"|"Colours of the Soul" — 2000 — Interzone, February 2000 (ed. David Pringle) — Walking to the Moon • data-sort-value="unthinkable"|"Unthinkable" — 2000 — Analog Science Fiction and Fact, June 2000 (ed. Stanley Schmidt) • data-sort-value="mask of terminus"|"Mask of Terminus" — 2000 — Analog Science Fiction and Fact, October 2000 (ed. Stanley Schmidt) — Walking to the Moon • data-sort-value="voice of steel"|"Voice of Steel" — 2001 — sf.com, 2002 — Walking to the Moon; translated for Anticipatia (Romania), Nova Fantastyka (Poland), ESLI (Russia, 2005) — Nova Fantastyka Reader's Award winner (best translation), 2004; BSFA Award nominee, 2003 • data-sort-value="tower of wings"|"Tower of Wings" — 2001 — Analog Science Fiction and Fact, December 2001 (ed. Stanley Schmidt) — The Best Australian Science Fiction Writing (ed. Rob Gerrand, Black Inc, 2004); Walking to the Moon — Analog Readers' Award winner, 2002 • data-sort-value="svyatagor"|"Svyatagor" — 2002 — Andromeda Spaceways Inflight Magazine No. 3 (ed. Ian Nichols) • data-sort-value="walk to the full moon"|"Walk to the Full Moon" — 2002 — The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction, December 2002 (ed. Gordon Van Gelder) — Walking to the Moon — Aurealis Award winner, 2003 • data-sort-value="last page"|"The Last Page" — 2003 — Big Night In (ed. Jessica Adams, Juliet Partridge and Nick Earls, Penguin/Puffin) — With Paul Collins; charity anthology • data-sort-value="cascade"|"The Cascade" — 2004 — Agog! Smashing Stories (ed. Cat Sparks) — Year's Best SF 10 (ed. David G. Hartwell); Walking to the Moon • data-sort-value="empire of the willing"|"The Empire of the Willing" — 2005 — Future Washington (ed. Ernest Lilley) • data-sort-value="engines of arcadia"|"The Engines of Arcadia" — 2006 — Futureshocks (ed. Lou Anders) • data-sort-value="electrisarian"|"Electrisarian" — 2006 — Polder (ed. Mendlesohn, OEB) • data-sort-value="measure of eternity"|"The Measure of Eternity" — 2006 — Interzone No. 205, August 2006 • data-sort-value="dragon black"|"Dragon Black" — 2007 — Pandora 01 (Germany, Shayol, trans. Jochen Schwarzer) — Walking to the Moon — Prequel to Souls in the Great Machine; German title "Schwarzdrache" • data-sort-value="twilight year"|"The Twilight Year" — 2008 — The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction, January 2008 (ed. Gordon Van Gelder) • data-sort-value="oblivion"|"Oblivion" — 2008 — 2012 (ed. Alisa Krasnostein and Ben Payne, Twelfth Planet Press) • data-sort-value="striking fear"|"Striking Fear" — 2008 — Trust Me (ed. Paul Collins, Ford Street Publishing) • data-sort-value="constant past"|"The Constant Past" — 2008 — Dreaming Again (ed. Jack Dann) • data-sort-value="spiral briar"|"The Spiral Briar" — 2009 — The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction, April–May 2009 (ed. Gordon Van Gelder) — Translated for Esli (Russia, September 2009) • data-sort-value="art of the dragon"|"The Art of the Dragon" — 2009 — The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction, August–September 2009 (ed. Gordon Van Gelder) — Solaris (French Canadian, Autumn 2010) • data-sort-value="mother of champions"|"Mother of Champions" — 2009 — Interzone No. 222 (ed. Andy Cox) • data-sort-value="precedent"|"The Precedent" — 2010 — The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction, July/August 2010 (ed. Gordon Van Gelder) — Basis for the 2022 novel Generation Nemesis • data-sort-value="eight miles"|"Eight Miles" — 2010 — Analog, September 2010 (ed. Stanley Schmidt) — Year's Best SF 16 (ed. David G. Hartwell) — Hugo Award finalist, 2011 • data-sort-value="enigma"|"Enigma" — 2010 — Analog, Jan/Feb 2010 (ed. Stanley Schmidt) • data-sort-value="spacebook"|"Spacebook" — 2011 — Anywhere But Earth (ed. Keith Stevenson) • data-sort-value="ninety thousand horses"|"Ninety Thousand Horses" — 2012 — Analog, Jan/Feb 2012 (ed. Stanley Schmidt) — Analog Readers' Award winner, 2013 • data-sort-value="electrica"|"Electrica" — 2012 — The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction, March/April 2012 (ed. Gordon Van Gelder) — Year's Best SF 18 (ed. David G. Hartwell) • data-sort-value="steamgothic"|"Steamgothic" — 2012 — Interzone, July/August 2012 (ed. Andy Cox) — The Year's Best Science Fiction (30th Annual Collection, ed. Gardner Dozois); Ghosts of Engines Past — Sidewise Award nominee, 2013 • data-sort-value="hard cases"|"Hard Cases" — 2012 — Light Touch Paper, Stand Clear (ed. Edwina Harvey and Simon Petrie) • data-sort-value="first boat"|"The First Boat" — 2012 — Aurealis, March 2012 (ed. Michael Pryor) • data-sort-value="running invisible"|"Running Invisible" — 2012 — Trust Me Too (ed. Paul Collins) • data-sort-value="culverelle"|"Culverelle" — 2012 — The Feathered Edge (ed. Deborah J. Ross) • data-sort-value="lost faces"|"Lost Faces" — 2013 — The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction, March/April 2013 (ed. Gordon Van Gelder) • data-sort-value="firewall and the door"|"The Firewall and the Door" — 2013 — Analog, March 2013 (ed. Trevor Quachri) • data-sort-value="acts of chivalry"|"Acts of Chivalry" — 2013 — Tales of Australia – Great Southern Land (ed. Stephen C. Ormsby) • data-sort-value="technarion"|"Technarion" — 2013 — Interzone, Sept/Oct 2013 (ed. Andy Cox) — Interzone Readers' Poll winner (tied), 2014 • data-sort-value="audience"|"The Audience" — 2015 — Novelette • data-sort-value="exceptional forces"|"Exceptional Forces" — 2016 — Asimov's Science Fiction, February 2016 — Dreams of the Technarion — Asimov's Readers' Award finalist • data-sort-value="two hours at frontier"|"Two Hours at Frontier" — 2017 — Analog, November/December 2017 (ed. Trevor Quachri) • data-sort-value="wheel of echoes"|"Wheel of Echoes" — 2020 — Analog, January/February 2020 (ed. Trevor Quachri) — Analog Readers' Award winner, 2021; Sidewise Award nominee, 2021 • data-sort-value="chrysalis pool"|"The Chrysalis Pool" — 2020 — Analog, September/October 2020 (ed. Trevor Quachri) • data-sort-value="elektron mill"|"The Elektron Mill" — 2021 — ParSec No. 2 (ed. Ian Whates) — Sean McMullen's 100th professional story • data-sort-value="after the winter solstice"|"After the Winter Solstice" — 2024 — Asimov's Science Fiction, January/February 2024

• Books • The MUP Encyclopaedia of Australian Science Fiction & Fantasy (1998, assistant editor with Paul Collins) • Strange Constellations: A History of Australian Science Fiction (1999 with Russell Blackford and Van Ikin) • Fantastical Worlds and Futures at the World's Edge: A History of New Zealand Science Fiction and Fantasy (2020, with Simon Litten) • Essays and articles • Beyond Our Shores (1990) in Eidolon Winter 1990 • The High Brick Wall (1990) in Eidolon Spring 1990 (ed. Jeremy G. Byrne) • Not in Print but Worth Millions (1991) in Eidolon Winter 1991 (ed. Jeremy G. Byrne) • Book Review (1991) in Aurealis No. 5 (ed. Stephen Higgins, Dirk Strasser) • Going Commercial and Becoming Professional (1991) in Eidolon Spring 1991 (ed. Jeremy G. Byrne) • Australian SF Art Turns 50 (1992) in Eidolon Summer 1992 (ed. Jonathan Strahan, Jeremy G. Byrne) • Far from Void: The History of Australian SF Magazines (1992) in Aurealis #7 (ed. Stephen Higgins, Dirk Strasser) • Skirting the Frontier (1992) in Eidolon Autumn 1992 (ed. Jeremy G. Byrne) • Showcase or Leading Edge: Australian SF Anthologies 1968–1990 (1992) in Aurealis #9 (ed. Stephen Higgins, Dirk Strasser) • From Science Fantasy to Galileo (1992) in Eidolon Spring 1992 (ed. Jeremy G. Byrne, Jonathan Strahan) • Australian Content: The State of Quarantine (1993) in Eidolon Summer 1993 (ed. Jeremy G. Byrne, Jonathan Strahan) • Australian Content: Suffering for Someone Else's Art (1993) in Eidolon Autumn 1993 (ed. Jonathan Strahan, Jeremy G. Byrne) • Protection, Liberation and the Cold, Dangerous Universe: The Great Australian SF Renaissance (1993) in Aurealis #11 (ed. Stephen Higgins, Dirk Strasser) • No Science Fiction Please, We're Australian (1993) in Eidolon Winter 1993 (ed. Jeremy G. Byrne, Jonathan Strahan) • The Quest for Australian Fantasy (1994, with Steven Paulsen) in Aurealis No. 13 (ed. Stephen Higgins, Dirk Strasser) • Australian Content: The Great Transition (1994) in Eidolon Winter 1994 (ed. Jonathan Strahan, Jeremy G. Byrne) • The Hunt for Australian Horror Fiction (1994, with Steven Paulsen) in Aurealis No. 14 (ed. Stephen Higgins, Dirk Strasser) • A History of Australian Horror (1995, with Bill Congreve and Steve Paulsen) in Bonescribes: Year's Best Australian Horror: 1995 (ed. Bill Congreve, Robert Hood) • SF in Australia (1995, with Terry Dowling) in Locus January 1995 (ed. Charles N. Brown) • Australian Content: Recognition Australian Style (1995) in Eidolon Summer 1995 (ed. Jeremy G. Byrne) • Australia: Australian Contemporary Fantasy (1997, with Steven Paulsen) • George Turner and the Nova Mob (1997) in Eidolon, Issue 25/26 Spring 1997 (ed. Jonathan Strahan, Jeremy G. Byrne, Richard Scriven) • The Road to 1996 (1998, with Terry Dowling) in Nebula Awards 32 (ed. Jack Dann) • The British Benchmark (1999) in Interzone August 1999 (ed. David Pringle) • Time Travel, Times Scapes, and Timescape (2000, with Russell Blackford, Alison Goodman, Damien Broderick, Aubrey Townsend, Gregory Benford) in The New York Review of Science Fiction August 2000 (ed. Kathryn Cramer, David G. Hartwell, Kevin J. Maroney) • 25 (Celebrating 25 Years of Interzone) (2007) in Interzone September–October 2007 (ed. Andrew Hedgecock, Jetse de Vries, Andy Cox) • Shot in Australia, in the anthology Projections — described on McMullen's own website as the first history of Australian science fiction for the screen • Outpost of Wonder: SF in Australia 1832–2017 (2018), a 37,000-word history of Australian science fiction, included in Dreams of the Technarion

McMullen has won the Aurealis Award three times, for Best Science Fiction Novel (The Centurion's Empire, 1999; The Miocene Arrow, 2001) and Best Science Fiction Short Story ("Walk to the Full Moon," 2003). He has also won the Australian SF Award (Ditmar) eight times, mostly for short fiction and criticism, including five William Atheling Jr Awards. His novelette "Eight Miles" was a finalist for the Hugo Award in 2011, and he has been nominated twice for the Sidewise Award for Alternate History and once for the British Science Fiction Association Award. He has won the Analog Reader's Award three times and placed first in the 2014 Interzone Readers' Poll. Kirkus Reviews gave Voyage of the Shadowmoon a starred review, writing that McMullen "writes like Roger Zelazny at the peak of his powers." Publishers Weekly also starred its sequel, Glass Dragons. Reviewing the collection Dreams of the Technarion in Interzone (#275, May/June 2018), critic Ian Sales called McMullen a "cannier sf writer than Philip K. Dick ever was." The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction credits McMullen's "chaste chill control of narrative devices" with giving "what might seem to be no more than enjoyable tales of adventure a sense of solid significance." His short fiction has been reviewed extensively, and is often featured in 'Year's Best' Anthologies. Writing for Locus Online, Lois Tilton called "The Precedent" the best story in an issue of The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction that was "full of good ones," and praised it for avoiding "the trap of absurdity." A year later, Tilton named "Enigma" one of the year's best stories published in Analog. Reviewing Ghosts of Engines Past for Escape Pod, Josh Roseman named "Voice of Steel," "Svyatagor" and "Steamgothic" as highlights of the collection. Reviewing his latest novel Generation Nemesis, The New York Review of Science Fiction wrote that it is "deftly" critical of "the authoritarian excesses of environmentalism," and BestSF called it "as bleakly intense a take on climate change and its consequences as you'll find." Aurealis magazine called it "a grim but eerily poignant and relevant look at a dark future in a world destroyed by environmental collapse." Lightspeed and Nightmare editor John Joseph Adams featured the novel in his newsletter, rating it 9/10 and calling it "a really great read."

• Year — Award — Category — Work — Result • 1991 — Australian SF Award (Ditmar) — Australian Short Fiction — "While the Gate Is Open" • 1992 — Australian SF Award (Ditmar) — Short Fiction — "Alone in His Chariot" • 1992 — William Atheling Jr Award for Criticism — — — "Going Commercial and Becoming Professional" • 1993 — William Atheling Jr Award for Criticism — — — "Australian SF Art Turns 50" • 1996 — Australian SF Award (Ditmar) — Long Fiction — Mirrorsun Rising • 1996 — William Atheling Jr Award for Criticism — — — "The Hunt for Australian Horror Fiction" (with Bill Congreve and Steven Paulsen) • 1998 — William Atheling Jr Award for Criticism — — — "Australia: Australian Contemporary Fantasy" (with Steven Paulsen) • 1999 — Aurealis Award — Best Science Fiction Novel — The Centurion's Empire • 2000 — William Atheling Jr Award for Criticism — — — Strange Constellations (with Van Ikin and Russell Blackford) — (tie) • 2001 — Aurealis Award — Best Science Fiction Novel — The Miocene Arrow • 2002 — Analog Readers' Award — Novelette — "Tower of Wings" • 2003 — Aurealis Award — Best Science Fiction Short Story — "Walk to the Full Moon" • 2003 — Nova Fantastyka Reader's Award — Best Foreign Story — "Voice of Steel" • 2003 — British Science Fiction Association Award — Short Fiction — "Voice of Steel" • 2011 — Hugo Award — Novelette — "Eight Miles" — (runner-up) • 2013 — Analog Readers' Award — Novelette — "Ninety Thousand Horses" • 2013 — Sidewise Award for Alternate History — Short Form — "Steamgothic" • 2014 — Interzone Readers' Poll — — — "Technarion" — (tied for first) • 2014 — WSFA Small Press Award — — — "Acts of Chivalry" • 2021 — Analog Readers' Award — Short Story — "Wheel of Echoes" • 2021 — Sidewise Award for Alternate History — Short Form — "Wheel of Echoes" • 2021 — Sir Julius Vogel Award — Best Professional Production/Publication — Fantastical Worlds and Futures at the World's Edge (with Simon Litten)