'Borders boy' Gideon scoops international Fantasy Writers Award
A former Borders man has been announced as the grand prize winner of the 2025 Baen Fantasy Adventure Award for short fiction.
Gideon Smith beat off international competition with his tale story ‘Traitor to the Wolfguard’s Creed’.
First launched in 2014, the Baen Award has sought to celebrate original fantasy short stories which, despite coming from a range of fantasy subgenres from sword and sorcery to urban fantasy, focus on heroics, high stakes, and adventure.
As the grand prize winner, Gideon will receive an engraved award and a prize package containing various Baen Books.
He said: “I grew up in Ayton and attended Ayton Primary and Eyemouth High School, where my love of science fiction and fantasy first took root – largely thanks to books like The Lord of the Rings, a battered ZX81 computer and more than a few hours spent playing Dungeons & Dragons.
“I now live in the US, but still consider myself very much a Borders boy at heart.”
Upon learning he had won the award, Gideon said: “When I saw the email, I thought maybe a band of trolls had hijacked my inbox – I had to read it three times before I believed it. It still feels surreal.
“Baen authors are the writers I grew up on; they’re my literary role models. So now to be a part of that tradition is both humbling and heartening.”
This year, the contest drew entries from 37 countries.
“My winning story, Traitor to the Wolfguard’s Creed, will be published by Baen this autumn,” said Gideon. “It’s a tale of loyalty, rebellion, and hard moral choices, set in a fantasy world where oaths are bound by magic and betrayal comes at a steep price.
“I’ve had short stories published in a number of speculative fiction magazines and anthologies, and have written about the craft of storytelling for groups like the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers Association and the British Science Fiction Association.”
Outside of writing, Gideon trained as a physicist and geophysicist, moved to the US to teach at Harvard, took part in scientific expeditions from New Zealand to Antarctica, and eventually re-trained as a physician and returned to Harvard to teach on the medical faculty.
He added: “Fiction writing remains the thread that ties all those chapters together.”