Vox Day, in a case of beautiful irony, has been nominated for a Hugo Award, one of the highest awards given to Science Fiction and Fantasy writers, for his novelette “Opera Vita Aertna”. I have never read Vox before, but I did read all about his expulsion from the SFWA. It was a load of utter horseshit. He was expelled basically because he not only wasn’t liberal, he could also be mean sometimes. His nomination is a rare case of justice, at least in a small way, being served.
I DID read the novelette. It is absolutely brilliant, one of the best short stories I have read in years. This is why, no matter how much I might disagree with Vox Day (or, you know, agree with people who think he can be an asshole), I can’t help but respect the man. He understands pathos, tragedy, and redemption in a way few modern authors do, and “Opera Vita Aertna” is a short piece of great beauty. The pacing was spot on and the emotional beats hit perfectly.
If I had to criticize it I would perhaps say that sometimes Vox uses some cliche turns of phrase, but this is barely noticeable and hardly detracts from the work at all.
I encourage all of my readers to read it. It’ll take you about fifteen minutes. If you click on the link above, Vox is giving it away for free. If you need a program to read it on, try this Kindle App (taken directly from Amazon itself, by the way, so it is definitely bug-free).
I will most assuredly make an effort now to seek out more Vox Day material.
Malcolm the Cynic 
I was pretty surprised to see Vox nominated for a Hugo. I hope he wins, just because the fallout from that would be a sight to behold.
Apparently Vox is being criticized for in some way “gaming” the awards by asking people who read his blog to vote for him.
The problems with that logic:
1) I read Vox pretty much daily. He mostly asks people to vote at the end of posts about his books or publishing house, so you need to be paying attention to see it.
2) Once again, if I remember correctly, Vox only tells people to vote for him if they have read his work AND think it deserves the vote
3) Vox pointed out that this was already being done, and the Hugos were very politicized already. This point was handwaved away with “Vox is butthurt”.
The point is, it’s glaringly obvious to anybody with half a brain that Vox was unjustly persecuted by the SFWA. The fact that he’s been nominated for a Hugo Award, however he got it done, really does show that a lot of people are tired of taking liberal shit all the time.
Opera Vita Aeterna really isn’t good, though. Unless you like boring theological crap.
The theology in it makes up roughly one paragraph. Perhaps two.
…Anyway, you realize you’re saying this on a blog that very frequently discusses philosophy, yes?
His Summa Elvetica, which is closely related and in the same world, is also good, and for some of the same reasons; although it does show signs of being the early experiment that it was.