2023 Aurealis Awards Shortlist

Locus Magazine, Science Fiction FantasyThe 2023 Aurealis Awards shortlist, recognizing the best in Australian speculative fiction, has been announced.

Best Science Fiction Novel

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

Best Science Fiction Novella

  • “Eight or Die”, Thoraiya Dyer (Clarkesworld 11/23)
  • Killware, Tim Hawken (Seahawk)
  • Once We Flew, Nikky Lee (self-published)
  • The Last to Go, A.D. Lyall (Shawline)
  • “Showdown on Planetoid Pencrux”, Garth Nix (Asimov’s, 7-8/23)
  • Bitters, Kaaron Warren (Cemetery Dance)

Best Science Fiction Short Story

  • “Beirut Robot Hyenadome”, Thoraiya Dyer (Shoreline of Infinity Autumn ’23)
  • “Change YourView”, Matt Tighe (Nature: Futures)
  • “Trial by Fire”, Matt Tighe (Etherea 10/23)
  • “Hollywood Animals”, Corey J. White (Interzone 9/23)
  • “Customer Service”, Emily Wyeth (Mother’s milk)

Best Fantasy Novel

  • Shadow Baron, Davinia Evans (Orbit / Hachette)
  • The Will of the Many, James Islington (Text)
  • The Sinister Booksellers of Bath, Garth Nix (Allen & Unwin)
  • Of Knives and Night-blooms, Tansy Rayner Roberts (self-published)
  • The Blood-Born Dragon, J.C. Rycroft (BattleWarrior)
  • How to be Remembered, Michael Thompson (Allen & Unwin)

Best Fantasy Novella

  • The Leaves Forget, Alan Baxter (Absinthe)
  • “Hole World”, J.S. Breukelaar (Apex 11-12/23)
  • The Wizard Must be Stopped!, Taylen Carver (Stories Rule)
  • “A Marked Man”, T.R. Napper (Grimdark 10/23)
  • A Wicked Blade, Tansy Rayner Roberts (self-published)
  • Gate Sinister, Tansy Rayner Roberts (self-published)

Best Fantasy Short Story

  • “Sea Mist, Shore Witch”, Mikhaeyla Kopievsky (Where the Weird Things Are, Vol. 2)
  • “What Bones These Tides Bring”, Nikky Lee (Remains to be Told: Dark Tales of Aotearoa)
  • “The Reeds Remember”, Juliet Marillier (The Other Side of Never)
  • “The Dark Man, By Referral”, Chuck McKenzie (This Fresh Hell)
  • “The Unexpected Excursion of the Murder Mystery Writing Witches”, Garth Nix (The Book of Witches)
  • “12 Days of Witchmas”, Tansy Rayner Roberts (self-published)

Best Horror Novel

  • Borderland, Graham Akhurst (UWA)
  • When Ghosts Call Us Home, Katya de Becerra (Macmillan)
  • The Graveyard Shift, Maria Lewis (Datura)
  • Some Shall Break, Ellie Marney (Allen & Unwin)
  • Cretaceous Canyon, Deborah Sheldon (Severed)
  • Bunny, S.E. Tolsen (Pan Macmillan Australia)

Best Horror Novella

  • The Morass, Zachary Ashford (Crystal Lake)
  • The Leaves Forget, Alan Baxter (Absinthe Books)
  • “Hole world”, J.S. Breukelaar (Apex 11-12/23)
  • “Quicksilver”, J.S. Breukelaar (Vandal: Stories of Damage)
  • Radcliffe, Madeleine D’Este (Deadset)
  • Bitters, Kaaron Warren (Cemetery Dance)

Best Horror Short Story

  • “Il Re Giallo”, Matthew R. Davis (Strange Aeon: 2023)
  • “Death Interrupted”, Pamela Jeffs (Body of Work)
  • “Stokehold”, Pamela Jeffs (SNAFU: PUNK’D)
  • “There are Things on Me”, Matt Tighe (Killer Creatures Down Under: Horror Stories with Bite)
  • “Trial by Fire”, Matt Tighe (Etherea 10/23)
  • “Blood Born”, Pauline Yates (Midnight Echo 10/23)

Best Young Adult Novel

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

Best Young Adult Short Story

  • “The Lingering Taste of Your Last Supper”, Matthew Davis (Shallow Waters)
  • “Moonfall”, Alison Evans (Everything Under the Moon)
  • “Precarious Waters”, Pamela Jeffs (Precarious Waters and Other Dark Tales)
  • “Follow The Water”, J. Palmer (Where the Weird Things Are, Vol. 2)
  • “An ’80s Tenement Love Story”, Anthony Panegyres (Bourbon Penn 10/23)
  • “Integrated Learning”, C H Pearce (Aurealis 11/23)

Best Children’s Fiction

  • The Lonely Lighthouse of Elston-Fright, Reece Carter (Allen & Unwin)
  • Ghost Book, Remy Lai (Allen & Unwin)
  • The Letterbox Tree, Rebecca Lim & Kate Gordon (Walker Books Australia)
  • Deadlands: Hunted, Skye Melki-Wegner (Walker Books Australia)
  • The Hotel Witch, Jessica Miller (Text)
  • Spellhound, Lian Tanner (Allen & Unwin)

Best Collection

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

Best Anthology

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

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 (Allen & Unwin)

Winners will be announced in May. For more information, see the official website.


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