2018 Aurealis Awards Finalists

Best Science Fiction Novel

• Scales of Empire, Kylie Chan (HarperCollins)
• Obsidio, Amie Kaufman & Jay Kristoff (Allen & Unwin)
• Lifel1k3, Jay Kristoff (Allen & Unwin)
• A Superior Spectre, Angela Meyer (Ventura)
• Dyschronia, Jennifer Mills (Picador)
• The Second Cure, Margaret Morgan (Penguin Random House)

Best Science Fiction Novella

• “I Almost Went To The Library Last Night”, Joanne Anderton (Aurum)
• The Starling Requiem, Jodi Cleghorn (eMergent)
• Icefall, Stephanie Gunn (Twelfth Planet)
• “Pinion”, Stephanie Gunn (Aurum)
• “Singles’ Day”, Samantha Murray (Interzone 9-10/18)
• Static Ruin, Corey J. White (Tor.com Publishing)

Best Science Fiction Short Story

• “The Sixes, The Wisdom and the Wasp”, EJ Delaney (Escape Pod 1/25/18)
• “The Fallen”, Pamela Jeffs (Red Hour)
• “On the Consequences of Clinically-Inhibited Maturation in the Common Sydney Octopus”, Simon Petrie & Edwina Harvey (A Hand of Knaves)
• “A Fair Wind off Baracoa”, Robert Porteous (A Hand of Knaves)
• “The Astronaut”, Jen White (Aurealis #108)

Best Fantasy Novel

• Devouring Dark, Alan Baxter (Grey Matter)
• The Dark Days Deceit, Alison Goodman (HarperCollins)
• City of Lies, Sam Hawke (Penguin Random House)
• Lightning Tracks, A.A. Kinsela (Plainspeak)
• The Witch Who Courted Death, Maria Lewis (Hachette)
• We Ride the Storm, Devin Madson (self-published)

Best Fantasy Novella

• “This Side of the Wall”, Michael Gardner (Metaphorosis 1/18)
• “Beautiful”, Juliet Marillier (Aurum)
• “The Staff in the Stone”, Garth Nix (The Book of Magic)
• Merry Happy Valkyrie, Tansy Rayner Roberts (Twelfth Planet)
• “The Dressmaker and the Colonel’s Coat”, David Versace (Mnemo’s Memory and Other Fantastic Tales)
• The Dragon’s Child, Janeen Webb (PS)

Best Fantasy Short Story

• “Crying Demon”, Alan Baxter (Suspended in Dusk II)
• “Army Men”, Juliet Marillier (Of Gods and Globes)
• “The Further Shore”, J. Ashley Smith (Bourbon Penn #15)
• “Child of the Emptyness”, Amanda J Spedding (Grimdark #17)
• “A Moment’s Peace”, Dave Versace (A Hand of Knaves)
• “Heartwood, Sapwood, Spring”, Suzanne J. Willis (Sword and Sonnet)

Best Horror Novel

• The Bus on Thursday, Shirley Barrett (Allen & Unwin)
• Years of the Wolf, Craig Cormick (IFWG)
• Tide of Stone, Kaaron Warren (Omnium Gatherum)

Best Horror Novella

• “Andromeda Ascends”, Matthew R. Davis (Beneath the Waves: Tales from the Deep)
• “Kopura Rising”, David Kuraria (Cthulhu: Land of the Long White Cloud)
• “The Black Sea”, Chris Mason (Beneath the Waves: Tales from the Deep)
• Triquetra, Kirstyn McDermott (Tor.com Publishing)
• “With This Needle I Thee Thread”, Angela Rega (Aurum)
• “Crisis Apparition”, Kaaron Warren (Exploring Dark Short Fiction #2)

Best Horror Short Story

• “The Offering”, Michael Gardner (Aurealis #112)
• “Slither”, Jason Nahrung (Cthulhu Deep Down Under Volume 2)
• “By Kindle Light”, Jessica Nelson-Tyers (Antipodean SF #235)
• “Hit and Rot”, Jessica Nelson-Tyers (Breach #08)
• “Sub-Urban”, Alfie Simpson (Breach #07)
• “The Further Shore”, J. Ashley Smith (Bourbon Penn #15)

Best Young Adult Novel

• Small Spaces, Sarah Epstein (Walker)
• Lifel1k3, Jay Kristoff (Allen & Unwin)
• Catching Teller Crow, Ambelin & Ezekiel Kwaymullina (Allen & Unwin)
• His Name Was Walter, Emily Rodda (HarperCollins)
• A Curse of Ash and Embers, Jo Spurrier (HarperCollins)
• Impostors, Scott Westerfeld (Allen & Unwin)

Best Young Adult Short Story

• “A Robot Like Me”, Lee Cope (Mother of Invention)
• “The Moon Collector”, DK Mok (Under the Full Moon’s Light)
• “The Sea-Maker of Darmid Bay”, Shauna O’Meara (Interzone 9-10/18)
• “Eight-Step Koan”, Anya Ow (Sword and Sonnet)
• “For Weirdless Days and Weary Nights”, Deborah Sheldon (Breach #08)

Best Children’s Fiction

• The Relic of the Blue Dragon, Rebecca Lim (Allen & Unwin)
• The Slightly Alarming Tale of the Whispering Wars, Jaclyn Moriarty (Allen & Unwin)
• The Endsister, Penni Russon (Allen & Unwin)
• Secret Guardians, Lian Tanner (Allen & Unwin)
• Ting Ting the Ghosthunter, Gabrielle Wang (Penguin Random House)
• Ottilie Colter and the Narroway Hunt, Rhiannon Williams (Hardie Grant Egmont)

Best Collection

• Not Quite the End of the World Just Yet, Peter M Ball (Brain Jar)
• Phantom Limbs, Margo Lanagan (PS)
• Tales from The Inner City, Shaun Tan (Allen & Unwin)
• Exploring Dark Short Fiction #2: A Primer to Kaaron Warren, Kaaron Warren (Dark Moon)

Best Anthology

• Sword and Sonnet, Aidan Doyle, Rachael K. Jones & E. Catherine Tobler, eds. (Ate Bit Bear)
• Aurum, Russell B. Farr, ed. (Ticonderoga)
• Mother of Invention, Rivqa Rafael & Tansy Rayner Roberts, eds. (Twelfth Planet)
• Infinity’s End, Jonathan Strahan, ed. (Solaris)
• The Best Science Fiction & Fantasy of the Year, Volume 12, Jonathan Strahan, ed. (Solaris)

Best Graphic Novel/Illustrated Work

• Deathship Jenny, Rob O’Connor (self-published)
• Cicada, Shaun Tan (Hachette)
• Tales from the Inner City, Shaun Tan (Allen & Unwin)

The Sara Douglass Book Series Award shortlist will be announced at a later date due to the volume of entries under consideration. Winners will be announced in an awards ceremony on May 4, 2019 in Melbourne, Australia. For more, see the official website.