So hot right now

The cover story of today's Sunday Star Times Sunday magazine is "The Hot List: Celebrating the best of New Zealand."  The article is an odd mix of genuine acclaim or acknowledgement (hot band: Spring Break; hot sportsperson: Sonny Bill Williams), oddball references (hot welcome sign: the Manaia loaves; hot fish: gurnard) and the surely-tongue-in-cheek (hot baby name: Renesmee Carlie, a la Twilight; hot pet: miniature Mediterranean donkeys).

I hope the "hot writer" on this list falls into the first category because it's me!

Here's what they had to say:

"HOT WRITER: Craig Cliff. Age: 27ish. City: Wellington. Day job: Ministry of Education. Not exactly the stuff of great literature, but with his debut book of short stories, A Man Melting, Cliff has the literati raving. Cliff has won the novice section of the Katherine Mansfield Awards and last year was a runner-up for the $10,000 premier award."

So that's kinda cool, eh?  Any time your on the same list as grapefruit & lemon frujus (hot ice-block) and the iPad (hot gadget) you're in good company. If only they'd managed to squeeze in a picture of my book's cover!