The nominees for this year’s Aurealis Awards have been announced. The Aurealis Awards were established in 1995 to “recognize the achievements of Australian science fiction, fantasy, and horror writers.” According to the awards’ descrpition, “it is the intention of the Aurealis Awards to complement the Ditmars and the Australian Children’s Book Council Awards. Neither of these awards distinguishes between the different categories of speculative fiction. It is our hope that the Aurealis Awards finalists and winners will increase the profile of Australian science fiction, fantasy, and horror, and will provide an essential reading list for anyone with an interest in these genres.”
The winners will be announced at a ceremony on Saturday 21 May at The Independent Theatre in North Sydney.
This year’s nominees, by category, are:
Children’s Fiction (told primarily through words):
Grimsdon by Deborah Abela (published by Random House)
Ranger’s Apprentice #9: Halt’s Peril by John Flanagan (Random House)
The Vulture of Sommerset by Stephen M. Giles (Pan Macmillan)
Haggis MacGregor and the Night of the Skull by Jen Storer & Gus Gordon (Aussie Nibbles/Penguin)
The Keepers by Lian Tanner (Allen & Unwin)
Children’s Fiction (told primarily through pictures):
Night School written by Isobelle Carmody, illustrated by Anne Spudvilas (Penguin Viking)
Magpie written by Luke Davies, illustrated by Inari Kiuru (ABC Books/HarperCollins)
The Boy and the Toy written by Sonya Hartnett, illustrated by Lucia Masciullo (Penguin Viking)
Precious Little written by Julie Hunt & Sue Moss, illustrated by Gaye Chapman (Allen & Unwin)
The Cloudchasers written by David Richardson, illustrated by Steven Hunt (ABC Books/HarperCollins)
Young Adult Short Story:
“Inksucker” by Aidan Doyle (published in Worlds Next Door)
“One Story, No Refunds” by Dirk Flinthart (Shiny #6)
“A Thousand Flowers” by Margo Lanagan (Zombies vs. Unicorns)
“Nine Times” by Kaia Landelius & Tansy Rayner Roberts (Worlds Next Door)
“An Ordinary Boy” by Jen White (The Tangled Bank)
Young Adult Novel:
Merrow by Ananda Braxton-Smith (black dog)
The Midnight Zoo by Sonya Hartnett (Penguin)
Guardian of the Dead by Karen Healey (Allen & Unwin)
The Life of a Teenage Body-Snatcher by Doug MacLeod (Penguin)
Behemoth by Scott Westerfeld (Penguin)
Best Illustrated Book/Graphic Novel:
Shakespeare’s Hamlet by Nicki Greenberg (Allen & Unwin)
EEEK!: Weird Australian Tales of Suspense by Jason Paulos, et al (Black House Comics)
Changing Ways Book 1 by Justin Randall (Gestalt)
Five Wounds: An Illustrated Novel by Jonathan Walker & Dan Hallett (Allen & Unwin)
Horrors: Great Stories of Fear and Their Creators by Rocky Wood & Glenn Chadbourne (McFarlane)
Best Collection:
The Library of Forgotten Books by Rjurik Davidson (PS)
Under Stones by Bob Franklin (Affirm)
The Girl With No Hands by Angela Slatter (Ticonderoga)
Sourdough and Other Stories by Angela Slatter (Tartarus)
Dead Sea Fruit by Kaaron Warren (Ticonderoga)
Best Anthology:
Macabre: A Journey Through Australia’s Darkest Fears edited by Angela Challis & Dr. Marty Young (Brimstone)
Sprawl edited by Alisa Krasnostein (Twelfth Planet)
Scenes from the Second Storey edited by Amanda Pillar & Pete Kempshall (Morrigan)
Godlike Machines edited by Jonathan Strahan (SF Book Club)
Wings of Fire edited by Jonathan Strahan & Marianne S. Jablon (Night Shade)
Horror Short Story:
“Take the Free Tour” by Bob Franklin (Under Stones)
“Her Gallant Needs” by Paul Haines (Sprawl)
“The Fear” by Richard Harland (Macabre: A Journey Through Australia’s Darkest Fears)
“Wasting Matilda” by Robert Hood (Zombie Apocalypse!)
“Lollo” by Martin Livings (Close Encounters of the Urban Kind)
Horror Novel:
After the World by Jason Fischer (Black House Comics)
Death Most Definite by Trent Jamieson (Orbit/Hachette)
Madigan Mine by Kirstyn McDermott (Pan Macmillan)
Fantasy Short Story:
“The Duke of Vertumn’s Fingerling” by Elizabeth Carroll (Strange Horizons)
“Yowie” by Thoraiya Dyer (Sprawl)
“The February Dragon” by LL Hannett & Angela Slatter (Scary Kisses)
“All the Clowns in Clowntown” by Andrew McKiernan (Macabre: A Journey Through Australia’s Darkest Fears)
“Sister, Sister” by Angela Slatter (Strange Tales III)
Fantasy Novel:
The Silence of Medair by Andrea K. Höst (self-published)
Death Most Definite by Trent Jamieson (Orbit/Hachette)
Stormlord Rising by Glenda Larke (HarperVoyager)
Heart’s Blood by Juliet Marillier (Pan Macmillan)
Power and Majesty by Tansy Rayner Roberts (HarperVoyager)
Science Fiction Short Story:
“The Heart of a Mouse” by K.J. Bishop (Subterranean Online)
“The Angaelian Apocalypse” by Matthew Chrulew (The Company Articles of Edward Teach/The Angaelian Apocalypse)
“Border Crossing” by Penelope Love (Belong)
“Interloper” by Ian McHugh (Asimov’s Science Fiction)
“Relentless Adaptations” by Tansy Rayner Roberts (Sprawl)
Science Fiction Novel:
Song of Scarabaeus by Sara Creasy (Eos)
Mirror Space by Marianne de Pierres (Orbit/Hachette)
Transformation Space by Marianne de Pierres (Orbit/Hachette)