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Aurealis Awards shortlists announced

Monday, 18 March 2024   Books+Publishing
@booksandpublishing

The shortlists for the 2023 Aurealis Awards, presented for science fiction, fantasy and horror writing in Australia, have been announced.

Among longer-form works shortlisted for this year’s awards are:

Best children’s fiction

  • The Lonely Lighthouse of Elston-Fright (Reece Carter, A&U Children’s)
  • Ghost Book (Remy Lai, A&U Children’s)
  • The Letterbox Tree (Rebecca Lim & Kate Gordon, Walker Books)
  • Deadlands: Hunted (Skye Melki-Wegner, Walker Books)
  • The Hotel Witch (Jessica Miller, Text)
  • Spellhounds (Lian Tanner, A&U Children’s)

Best graphic novel/illustrated work

  • MEAT4BURGERS (Christof Bogacs & Beck Kubrick, self-published)
  • Frankenstein Monstrance Preview #1 (Jason Franks & Tam Morris, IPI Comics)
  • Monomyth (David Hazan & Cecilia Lo Valvo, Mad Cave Studios)
  • Ember and the Island of Lost Creatures (Jason Pamment, A&U Children’s)

Best collection

  • The Measure of Sorrow: Stories (J Ashley-Smith, Meerkat Press)
  • The Gold Leaf Executions (Helen Marshall, Unsung Stories)
  • Firelight (John Morrissey, Text)

Best anthology

  • Strangely Enough (ed by Gillian Hagenus, MidnightSun)
  • An Unexpected Party (ed by Seth Malacari, Fremantle Press)
  • The Book of Witches (ed by Jonathan Strahan, Voyager)

Best young adult novel

  • Borderland (Graham Akhurst, UWA Publishing)
  • When Ghosts Call Us Home (Katya de Becerra, Macmillan)
  • Archives of Despair (Caleb Finn, Penguin)
  • The Weaver (Melanie Kanicky, MidnightSun)
  • The Spider and Her Demons (sydney khoo, Penguin)
  • The Non-Magical Declan Moore (Nathan Taylor, Magpie Drive Press)

Best horror novel

  • Borderland (Graham Akhurst, UWA Publishing)
  • When Ghosts Call Us Home (Katya de Becerra, Macmillan)
  • The Graveyard Shift (Maria Lewis, Watkins)
  • Some Shall Break (Ellie Marney, A&U Children’s)
  • Cretaceous Canyon (Deborah Sheldon, Severed Press)
  • Bunny (S E Tolsen, Macmillan)

Best fantasy novel

  • Shadow Baron (Davinia Evans, Orbit)
  • The Will of the Many (James Islington, Text)
  • The Sinister Booksellers of Bath (Garth Nix, A&U Children’s)
  • Of Knives and Night-Blooms (Tansy Rayner Roberts, self-published)
  • The Blood-Born Dragon (J C Rycroft, BattleWarrior Press)
  • How to Be Remembered (Michael Thompson, A&U)

Best science fiction novel

  • Minds of Sand and Light (Kylie Chan, Voyager)
  • The Comforting Weight of Water (Roanna McClelland, Wakefield Press)
  • Aliens: Bishop (T R Napper, Titan Books)
  • Dronikus (Marko Newman, AndAlso Books)
  • Time of the Cat (Tansy Rayner Roberts, self-published)
  • Traitor’s Run (Keith Stevenson, coeur de lion publishing).

Shortlists were also announced for the best young adult short story, best horror short story, best fantasy short story, best science fiction short story, best horror novella, best fantasy novella, and best science fiction novella. Meanwhile, nominations for the Convenors’ Award for Excellence will be released separately.

These annual awards are administrated by the Canberra Speculative Fiction Guild. Winners will be announced at an event in May.

 

Category: Awards Local news