I had a handful of original stories published this year, but many of them very, very short. So it’s no surprise my personal favourite and best candidate this year is a flash as well:

“Birding With My Human” hatched in Nature Futures in July, and I’d be thrilled if you considered it for awards & noms. Thank you!

It is eligible for Hugo, Nebula, and Locus Awards (and possibly others) in the Short Story category.

The setting in the story is based on a real location (a lake and a bird tower) and much of the story was inspired by my own birding experiences.

You can read the story here (SF, 980 words)