Innovative approaches to mythology and space opera mark the speculative fiction written by award-winning author Simon Jimenez, whose second novel, The Spear Cuts Through Water, earned widespread critical acclaim including the British Fantasy Award and the IAFA Crawford Award. Beginning with his award-nominated debut, Jimenez has built a distinct body of work that combines complex worldbuilding with rich emotional depth.
Career & Background
Simon Emmanuel Jimenez was born on December 29, 1989. Growing up as a dedicated reader of fantasy and science fiction, he spent much of his childhood devouring genre classics such as C.S. Lewis's The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, Brian Jacques's Redwall series, and Dan Simmons's Hyperion. Motivated in part by a desire to see characters of Filipino heritage and diverse backgrounds play active, central roles in speculative stories, Jimenez pursued formal literary training and earned his Master of Fine Arts from Emerson College. His early shorter publications included flash fiction and short stories in venues such as Canyon Voices and the anthology Nothing Short Of, alongside interactive text-based projects like Two Weeks at Carlisle Manufacturing.
Jimenez made his full-length debut in January 2020 with the science fiction novel The Vanished Birds, published by Del Rey. The novel earned widespread recognition across the genre community, receiving nominations for the 2021 Locus Award for Best First Novel and the 2021 Arthur C. Clarke Award, while Jimenez himself was nominated for the 2021 Astounding Award for Best New Writer. His follow-up novel, The Spear Cuts Through Water, solidified his reputation in epic fantasy, winning both the British Fantasy Award and the IAFA Crawford Award, in addition to nominations for the Ursula K. Le Guin Prize, the Ignyte Award, and the Locus Award.
Writing Style & Themes
Jimenez's narrative style is characterized by lyrical prose, unconventional narrative structures, and a deep focus on emotional intelligence. Rather than relying solely on traditional action tropes, his work explores the quiet weight of memory, grief, and long-term isolation across vast stretches of space or mythological landscapes. His space opera draws structural and thematic inspiration from epic literary science fiction, creating expansive galactic corporations and interstellar transit while anchoring the narrative in intimate interpersonal relationships.
Central to Jimenez's writing is a commitment to inclusive representation and emotional resonance. Reflecting his Filipino-American background, his stories feature culturally diverse casts whose identities are woven naturally into complex worlds. Themes of displaced children, chosen family, temporal loss, and the oral traditions of storytelling recur across his works, examining how history is remembered, rewritten, or preserved through song, myth, and personal sacrifice.
Major Works
- The Vanished Birds — Published in January 2020, Jimenez's debut science fiction novel follows a starship captain hired by an interstellar corporation who takes charge of a mysterious, unspeaking boy with extraordinary abilities. The story spans decades and star systems, exploring themes of time dilation, musical connection, and motherhood. The book was nominated for the 2021 Arthur C. Clarke Award and the Locus Award for Best First Novel.
- The Spear Cuts Through Water — This 2022 epic fantasy novel tells the story of two warriors escorting an aged, fleeing deity across a tyrannical empire over the course of five days. Celebrated for its experimental narrative voice—which weaves together first-person, second-person, and performance-theater perspectives—the novel won the British Fantasy Award and the Crawford Award, and was nominated for the Ursula K. Le Guin Prize, Ignyte Award, and Locus Award.
