Simon Petrie


Simon Petrie is a New Zealand-born speculative fiction writer now based in Canberra, Australia. He is predominantly recognised as a writer in the science fiction and fantasy genres. Petrie's stories have appeared in a number of Australian publications including Borderlands, Aurealis and Andromeda Spaceways Inflight Magazine, in New Zealand publications such as Semaphore Magazine and several Random Static anthologies, and in magazines elsewhere in the English-speaking world such as Redstone Science Fiction, Murky Depths and Sybil's Garage. He is a former member of the Andromeda Spaceways Inflight Magazine collective and has edited five issues of the magazine.
Petrie's work has seen several nominations for Australian and New Zealand speculative fiction awards and he has won the Sir Julius Vogel Award three times: in 2010 for Best New Talent, and in 2013 and 2018 for Best Novella or Novelette. He is best known for two series of stories: his 'Gordon Mamon' stories centred around the exploits of a space-elevator operative who doubles as a reluctant detective and his 'Titan' stories exploring human colonization of the Saturnian satellite.

Awards and nominations

In the following table, entries with a blue background won the award; those with a white background were the nominees on the short-list.
Award winner
Nominee on the shortlist
YearWorkAwardCategory
"Murder on the Zenith Express"Sir Julius Vogel AwardBest Short Story
Sir Julius Vogel AwardBest New Talent
Ditmar AwardBest New Talent
"Single Handed"Sir Julius Vogel AwardBest Novella or Novelette
"Downdraft"Sir Julius Vogel AwardBest Short Story
Sir Julius Vogel AwardBest New Talent
Rare Unsigned CopySir Julius Vogel AwardBest Collected Work
Flight 404Ditmar AwardBest Novella or Novelette
Light Touch Paper, Stand ClearDitmar AwardBest Collected Work
Flight 404Sir Julius Vogel AwardBest Novella or Novelette
The Hunt For Red LeicesterSir Julius Vogel AwardBest Novella or Novelette
Difficult Second AlbumAurealis AwardBest Collection
"All the Colours of the Tomato"Aurealis AwardBest Science Fiction Novella
"All the Colours of the Tomato"Ditmar AwardBest Novella or Novelette<
Matters Arising from the Identification of the BodyAurealis AwardBest Science Fiction Novella
Matters Arising from the Identification of the BodyDitmar AwardBest Novella or Novelette
Matters Arising from the Identification of the BodySir Julius Vogel AwardBest Novella or Novelette