2016 Aurealis Awards Finalists

The 2016 Aurealis Awards finalists, recognizing the best in Australian speculative fiction, have been announced.

BEST SCIENCE FICTION NOVEL

• Watershed, Jane Abbott (Penguin Random House)
• Confluence, S.K. Dunstall (Ace)
• Gemima: Illuminae Files 2, Amie Kaufman & Jay Kristoff (Allen & Unwin)
• Squid’s Grief, DK Mok (self-published)
• Stiletto, Daniel O’Malley (HarperCollins)
• Threader, Rebekah Turner (Harlequin Australia)

BEST SCIENCE FICTION NOVELLA

• Waking in Winter, Deborah Biancotti (PS)
• “Salto Mortal”, Nick T. Chan (Lightspeed 6/16)
• “Going Viral”, Thoraiya Dyer (Dimension6 #8)
• The Bonobo’s Dream, Rose Mulready (Seizure)
• “All the Colours of the Tomato”, Simon Petrie (Dimension6 #9)
• “Did We Break the End of the World?”, Tansy Rayner Roberts (Defying Doomsday)

BEST SCIENCE FICTION SHORT STORY

• “Trainspotting in Winesburg”, Jack Dann (Concentration)
• “The Baby Eaters”, Ian McHugh (Asimov’s 1/16)
• “The Autumn Dog Cannot Live to Spring”, Claire McKenna (In Your Face)
• “Of Sight, of Mind, of Heart”, Samantha Murray (Clarkesworld 11/16)
• “68 Days”, Kaaron Warren (Tomorrow’s Cthulu)
• “The Least of Things”, Jen White (Aurealis #94)

BEST FANTASY NOVEL

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

BEST FANTASY NOVELLA

• “Raven’s First Flight”, Alan Baxter (SNAFU: Black Ops)
• “By the Laws of Crab and Woman”, Jason Fischer (Review of Australian Fiction #118)
• “Forfeit”, Andrea K. Höst (The Towers, the Moon)
• The Bonobo’s Dream, Rose Mulready (Seizure)
• “Burnt Sugar”, Kirstyn McDermott (Dreaming in the Dark)
• “Finnegan’s Field”, Angela Slatter (Tor.com 1/13/16)

BEST FANTASY SHORT STORY

• “Watercress Soup”, Tamlyn Dreaver (Andromeda Spaceways Magazine #65)
• “Where the Pelican Builds Her Nest”, Thoraiya Dyer (Insert Title Here)
• “Dune Time”, Jack Nicholls (Tor.com 4/19/16)
• “Penny for a Match, Mister?”, Garth Nix (The Starlit Wood)
• “The Lighthouse at Cape Defeat”, David Versace (Aurealis #89)
• “The Cartographer’s Price”, Suzanne Willis (Mythic Delirium 7-9/16)

BEST HORROR NOVEL

• Fear Is the Rider, Kenneth Cook (Text)
• My Sister Rosa, Justine Larbalestier (Allen & Unwin)
• The Grief Hole, Kaaron Warren (IFWG Publishing Australia)

BEST HORROR NOVELLA

• Box of Bones, Jeremy Bates (Ghillinnein)
• “Served Cold”, Alan Baxter (Dreaming in the Dark)
• “Waking in Winter”, Deborah Biancotti (PS)
• “The Starlight Circus”, Tara Calaby (Red Sun Magazine 12/16)
• “Burnt Sugar”, Kirstyn McDermott (Dreaming in the Dark)
• “Pan”, Christopher Ruz (Andromeda Spaceways Magazine #62)

BEST HORROR SHORT STORY

• “Non Zero Sum”, R.P.L. Johnson (SNAFU: Hunters)
• “Flame Trees”, T.R. Napper (Asimov’s 4-5/16)
• “Penny for a Match, Mister?”, Garth Nix (The Starlit Wood)
• “The Red Forest”, Angela Slatter (Winter Children and Other Chilling Tales)
• “68 Days”, Kaaron Warren (Tomorrow’s Cthulhu)
• “Life, or Whatever Passes For It”, Durand Welsh (Peel Back the Skin)

BEST YOUNG ADULT NOVEL

• Elegy, Jane Abbott (Penguin Random House Australia)
• The Bone Queen, Alison Croggon (Penguin Books Australia)
• The Other Side of Summer, Emily Gale (Penguin Random House Australia)
• Lady Helen and the Dark Days Pact, Alison Goodman (HarperCollins)
• Gemima: Illuminae Files 2, Amie Kaufman & Jay Kristoff (Allen & Unwin)
• Goldenhand, Garth Nix (Allen & Unwin)

BEST YOUNG ADULT SHORT STORY

• “A Right Pretty Mate”, Lisa L. Hannett (Dreaming in the Dark)
• “Dune Time”, Jack Nicholls (Tor.com 4/19/16)
• “No One Here is Going to Save You”, Shauna O’Meara (In Your Face)
• “Did We Break the End of the World?”, Tansy Rayner Roberts (Defying Doomsday)
• “Pretty Jennie Greenteeth”, Leife Shallcross (Strange Little Girls)

BEST CHILDREN’S FICTION

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

BEST COLLECTION

• Crow Shine, Alan Baxter (Ticonderoga)
• Concentration, Jack Dann (PS)
• A Feast of Sorrows, Angela Slatter (Prime)
• Winter Children, Angela Slatter (PS)

BEST ANTHOLOGY

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

BEST GRAPHIC NOVEL/ILLUSTRATED WORK

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

The Sara Douglass Book Series Award is not running this year.

Winners will be announced in an awards ceremony during Swancon 42, April 13-17, 2017 in Perth, Australia  For more, see the official website.