Aurealis Awards 2016 finalists announced

The finalists for the 2016 Aurealis Awards, presented for science-fiction, fantasy and horror writing in Australia, have been announced.

Among the categories are:

Science fiction novel

• Watershed (Jane Abbott, Vintage)
• Confluence (S K Dunstall, Ace Books)
• Gemina: Illuminae Files Book Two (Amy Kaufman & Jay Kristoff, A&U)
• Squid’s Grief (D K Mok, self-published)
• Stiletto (Daniel O’Malley, HarperCollins)
• Threader (Rebekah Turner, Harlequin)

Fantasy novel

• Nevernight (Jay Kristoff, Voyager)
• Fall of the Dagger (Glenda Larke, Orbit)
• Den of Wolves (Juliet Marillier, Macmillan)
• Vigil (Angela Slatter, Jo Fletcher Books)
• Road to Winter (Mark Smith, Text)
• Sisters of the Fire (Kim Wilkins, Harlequin)

Horror novel

• Fear is the Rider (Kenneth Cook, Text)
• My Sister Rosa (Justine Larbalestier, A&U)
• The Grief Hole (Kaaron Warren, IFWG Publishing)

Graphic novel / illustrated work

• Mechanica (Lance Balchin, Five Mile)
• Brobot (James Foley, Fremantle Press)
• Negative Space (Ryan K Lindsay, Dark Horse Comics)
• The Spider King (Josh Vann, self-published)

Young adult novel

• Elegy (Jane Abbott, Random House)
• The Bone Queen (Alison Croggon, Penguin)
• The Other Side of Summer (Emily Gale, Random House)
• Lady Helen and the Dark Days Pact (Alison Goodman, HarperCollins)
• Gemima: Illuminae Files Book Two (Amy Kaufman & Jay Kristoff, A&U)
• Goldenhand (Garth Nix, A&U)

Children’s fiction

• Blueberry Pancakes Forever (Angelica Banks, A&U)
• Magrit (Lee Battersby, Walker Books)
• Somebody Stop Ivy Pocket (Caleb Crisp, Bloomsbury)
• The Turners (Mick Elliott, Lothian)
• When the Lyrebird Calls (Kim Kane, A&U)
• The Hungry Isle (Emily Rodda, Omnibus)

Best collection

• Crow Shine (Alan Baxter, Ticonderoga Publications)
• Concentration (Jack Dann, PS Publishing)
• A Feast of Sorrows (Angela Slatter, Prime)
• Winter Children and Other Chilling Tales (Angela Slatter, PS Publishing)

Best anthology

• Dreaming in the Dark (ed by Jack Dann, PS Publishing)
• Defying Doomsday (ed by Tsana Dolichva & Holly Kench, Twelfth Planet Press)
• Year’s Best YA Speculative Fiction 2015 (ed by Julia Rios & Alisa Krasnostein, Twelfth Planet
• Press)
• Best Science Fiction and Fantasy of the Year: Volume 10 (ed by Jonathan Strahan, Solaris)
• In Your Face (ed by Tehani Wessely, Fablecroft Publishing)

Science fiction novella

• Waking in Winter (Deborah Biancotti, PS Publishing)
• ‘Salto Mortal’ (Nick T Chan, Lightspeed #73)
• ‘Going Viral’ (Thoraiya Dyer, Dimension6 #8, coeur de lion)
• The Bonobo’s Dream (Rose Mulready, Seizure)
• ‘All the Colours of the Tomato’ (Simon Petrie, Dimension6 #9, coeur de lion)
• ‘Did We Break the End of the World?’ (Tansy Rayner Roberts, Defying Doomsday, Twelfth Planet Press)

Science fiction short story

• ‘Trainspotting in Winesburg’ (Jack Dann, Concentration, PS Publishing)
• ‘The Baby Eaters’ (Ian McHugh, Asimov’s Science Fiction 40/1)
• ‘The Autumn Dog Cannot Live to Spring’ (Claire McKenna, In Your Face, Fablecroft)
• ‘Of Sight, of Mind, of Heart’ (Samantha Murray, Clarkesworld #122)
• ‘68 Days’ (Kaaron Warren, Tomorrow’s Cthulu, Broken Eye Books)
• ‘The Least of Things’ (Jen White, Aurealis #94)

Fantasy novella

• ‘Raven’s First Flight’ (Alan Baxter, SNAFU: Black Ops, Cohesion Press)
• ‘By the Laws of Crab and Woman’ (Jason Fischer, Review of Australian Fiction)
• ‘Forfeit’ (Andrea K Höst, The Towers, the Moon, self-published)
• The Bonobo’s Dream (Rose Mulready, Seizure)
• ‘Burnt Sugar’ (Kirstyn McDermott, Dreaming in the Dark, PS Publishing)
• ‘Finnegan’s Field’ (Angela Slatter, Tor.com)

Fantasy short story

• ‘Watercress Soup’ (Tamlyn Dreaver, Andromeda Spaceways Magazine #65)
• ‘Where the Pelican Builds Her Nest’ (Thoraiya Dyer, In Your Face, FableCroft Publishing)
• ‘Dune Time’ (Jack Nicholls, Tor.com)
• ‘Penny for a Match, Mister?’ (Garth Nix, The Starlit Wood: New Fairy Tales, Saga Press)
• ‘The Lighthouse at Cape Defeat’ (David Versace, Aurealis #89)
• ‘The Cartographer’s Price’ (Suzanne Willis, Mythic Delirium Issue 3.1)

Horror novella

• Box of Bones (Jeremy Bates, Ghillinnein Books)
• ‘Served Cold’ (Alan Baxter, Dreaming in the Dark, PS Publishing)
• Waking in Winter (Deborah Biancotti, PS Publishing)
• ‘Burnt Sugar’ (Kirstyn McDermott, Dreaming in the Dark, PS Publishing)
• ‘Pan’ (Christopher Ruz, Andromeda Spaceways Magazine #62)

Horror short story

• ‘Non Zero Sum’ (RPL Johnson, SNAFU: Hunters, Cohesion Press)
• ‘Flame Trees’ (T P Napper, Asimov’s Science Fiction, April/May 2016)
• ‘Penny for a Match, Mister?’ (Garth Nix, The Starlit Wood: New Fairy Tales, Saga Press)
• ‘The Red Forest’ (Angela Slatter, Winter Children and Other Chilling Tales, PS Publishing)
• ‘68 Days’ (Kaaron Warren, Tomorrow’s Cthulhu, Broken Eye Books)
• ‘Life, or Whatever Passes For It’ (Durand Welsh, Peel Back the Skin, Grey Matter Press)

Young adult short story

• ‘A Right Pretty Mate’ (Lisa L Hannett, Dreaming in the Dark, PS Publishing)
• ‘Dune Time’ (Jack Nicholls, Tor.com)
• ‘No One Here is Going to Save You’ (Shauna O’Meara, In Your Face, FableCroft Publishing)
• ‘Did We Break the End of the World?’ (Tansy Rayner Roberts, Defying Doomsday, Twelfth Planet
• Press)
• ‘Pretty Jennie Greenteeth’ (Leife Shallcross, Strange Little Girls, Belladonna Publishing).

Awards convenor P R Khangure said that ‘strong, diverse shortlists for all categories indicate that speculative fiction in Australia is flourishing, with traditional, indie and self-published works well represented’. Khangure also noted that the continuation of the three novella awards, which were introduced last year, ‘shows the growth in the field of this length’.

The finalists were selected from over 800 entries across 15 categories.

The winners will be announced at a ceremony on 14 April in as part of the Swancon in Perth.

To see the winners of last year’s Aurealis Awards, click here.

Category: Awards Local news