Under the Mountain, a formidable fantasy story by Maurice Gee has won the 2004 Gaelyn Gordon Award.

The award commemorates Ms Gordon who died in 1997 after a prolific ten-year publishing career. It honours a book that was not chosen for an award at the time of publication but has remained in print and is still successful. Under the Mountain was published in 1979, is due its 14th reprint and was adapted for television in the early 1980’s.

Under the Mountain is an Auckland tale stimulated by the volcanoes that dot the cityscape. Strange creatures like massive slugs are planning to turn the world into their own muddy element by force of eruption and only Rachel and Theo, possessors of magic stones and with access to the mind of the slugs’ pure enemy, can save the world.

For biographical information about Maurice Gee and other New Zealand authors, LeafSalon recommends The Oxford Companion to New Zealand Literature edited by Roger Robinson and Nelson Wattie (1998).