2024 Aurealis Awards Shortlist

April 15, 2025 locusmag 0 Comments

The 2024 Aurealis Awards shortlist, recognizing the best in Australian speculative fiction, has been announced.

Best Science Fiction Novel

Transported, Kate Fitzpatrick (New Found)
Inheritance, Genevieve Gannon (Pantera)
The Temp, Martin Livings (self-published)
Big Time, Jordan Prosser (University of Queensland Press)
Temporal Boom, J.M. Voss (Shawline)
Juice, Tim Winton (Hamish Hamilton Australia)

Best Science Fiction Novella

The Javan War, John Birmingham & Jason Lambright (Gigantic Bombs Corporation)
“Captain Santiago and the Sky Dome Waitress”, Tracy Cooper-Posey, (Celestial Hearts)
“We Who Remain”, Nikky Lee (A Night So Dark and Full of Stars)
“Daisy and Maisie, External Hull Maintenance Experts”, Sean Monaghan (Analog 3-4/24)
Ghost of the Neon God, T.R. Napper (Titan)
“Shadow Films”, Ben Peek (Lightspeed 1/24)

Best Science Fiction Short Story

“The Combat Pilot’s Dictionary”, Arden Baker (Aurealis 1/24)
“Dog of War”, Colin Clark (Aurealis 5/24)
“The Last Reader”, Greg Foyster (Conflux 18: Missions and Quests)
“The Station”, Kathryn Gledhill-Tucker (New Australian Fiction ’24)
“Life In The Dirt”, Henry Neilsen (Aurealis 8/24)
“In War with Time for Love of You”, Carol Ryles (Spawn 2: More Weird Horror Tales About Pregnancy, Birth, and Babies)

Best Fantasy Novel

Thoroughly Disenchanted, Alexandra Almond (HarperCollins)
Kavithri, Aman J. Bedi (Gollancz)
The She-Wolf of Baker Street, Narrelle M. Harris (Clan Destine)
The End and Everything Before It, Finegan Kruckemeyer (Text)
The Briar Book of the Dead, A.G. Slatter (Titan)
Skysong, C.A. Wright (Pantera)

Best Fantasy Novella

“Another Tide”, Will Greatwich (Beneath Ceaseless Skies 11/14/24)
“Doors”, Nikky Lee (Don’t Forget to Shut the Gate)
Talon Marked, Sue-Ellen Pashley (Deadset)
“The Daredevil Duchess’ Guide to Castle Hauntings”, Tansy Rayner Roberts (Castle of Secrets)
Hotel Charybdis, Tansy Rayner Roberts (self-published)
“The Good Old Days”, Craig Rosenberg (Uncertainties 11/24)

Best Fantasy Short Story

“The Beautiful Thing You Once Were”, J. Ashley-Smith (Bourbon Penn 8/24)
“Lacebound”, Eliza Baker (Aurealis 5/24)
“Remembering the Hungry Ghosts”, Emmi Khor (The West Australian 11/7/24)
Bonnets at Dawn, Tansy Rayner Roberts (self-published)
“Market of Loss”, Matt Tighe (Aurealis 11/24)
“Before the Forest”, Kell Woods (Reactor 8/14/24)

Best Horror Novel

Remedy, J.S. Breukelaar (PS)
Rock Zombie, A.B. Finlayson (self-published)
The Count, David-Jack Fletcher (Slashic Horror)
Jasper Cliff, Josh Kemp (Fremantle)
Carve Your Soul to Pieces, Ben Pienaar (self-published)
Bodily Harm, Deborah Sheldon (Undertaker)

Best Horror Novella

“We Who Remain”, Nikky Lee (A Night So Dark and Full of Stars)
“The Daredevil Duchess’ Guide to Castle Hauntings”, Tansy Rayner Roberts (Castle of Secrets)
“Bell, Book and Lamp”, Angela Slatter (Bound in Blood)
“Maleficium”, Kyla Lee Ward (Discontinue If Death Ensues)
Shattered, Pauline Yates (Black Hare)

Best Horror Short Story

“Hackles”, Jeff Clulow (Remixed Myths)
“Changeling”, Michael Gardner (Aurealis 1/24)
“Flesh of My Flesh”, Ben Matthews (Spawn 2: More Weird Horror Tales About Pregnancy, Birth and Babies)
“These Pale Shadows”, Kirstyn McDermott (Nosferatu Unbound)
“Envelopes”, Matt Tighe (Spawn 2: More Weird Horror Tales About Pregnancy, Birth and Babies)
“An Object of Vision”, Guan Un (Fission #4)

Best Young Adult Novel

Plagued Lands, Nikki Brooke (Crow Knight Film & Publishing Realm)
Aisle Nine, Ian X. Cho (HarperCollins)
They Watch From Below, Katya de Becerra (Page Street YA)
Liar’s Test, Ambelin Kwaymullina (Text)
Anomaly, Emma Lord (Affirm)
Deep is the Fen, Lili Wilkinson (Allen & Unwin)

Best Young Adult Short Story

“Time’s Key”, Emily Larkin (Stepping Sideways: Worlds of Steampunk & Dystopia)
“Maiden’s Dawn”, Nikky Lee (A Night So Dark and Full of Stars)
“The Audition”, Juliet Marillier (Borderlands: Riding the Slipstream)
“In a League of Her Own”, Jeanette O’Hagan (Stepping Sideways: Worlds of Steampunk & Dystopia)
Waking Flora, Tansy Rayner Roberts (self-published)
“What are False Stars to a God?”, Alexander Te Pohe (Avast!)

Best Children’s Fiction

Andromache Between Worlds, Gabriel Bergmoser (HarperCollins)
The Bother with the Bonkillyknock Beast, Karen Foxlee, illustrated by Freda Chiu (Allen & Unwin)
The Apprentice Witnesser, Bren MacDibble (Allen & Unwin)
Landovel, Emily Rodda (Allen & Unwin)
The Midwatch, Judith Rossell (Hardie Grant Children’s)
Bravepaw and the Heartstone of Alluria, L.M. Wilkinson, illustrated by Lavanya Naidu (Albert Street)

Best Collection

Pick Your Potion, Ephiny Gale (Foxgrove)
Kindling, Kathleen Jennings (Small Beer)
The Heart of the Labyrinth and Other Stories, DK Mok (self-published)

Best Anthology

Fission #4, Eugen Bacon & Gene Rowe, eds. (The British Science Fiction Association)
Found 2: More Stories of Found Footage Horror, Andrew Cull & Gabino Iglesias, eds. (Vermilion To One)
Celestial Bodies, Aidan Demmers, ed. (Tiny Owl Workshop)
Far-Flung, Samuel Maguire, ed. (Tiny Owl Workshop)
Calvaria Fell: Stories, Cat Sparks & Kaaron Warren (Meerkat)

Best Graphic Novel/Illustrated Work

Action Tank: Book 3, Mike Barry (Mike Barry Was Here)
The Star Tide Shores, Henry Goeldner (self-published)
In Utero, Chris Gooch (Top Shelf)
Your Highness, Your Highness, N.S Kane, illustrated by Chris Pitcairn (N.S Kane Comics)
The Sweetness Between Us, Sarah Winifred Searle (Allen & Unwin)
Titans: Out of the Shadows, Tom Taylor, illustrated by Travis Moore (DC Comics)

Sara Douglass Book Series Award

The Aurora Cycle, Amie Kaufman & Jay Kristoff (Allen & Unwin)
Warrior Bards, Juliet Marillier (Pan Macmillan Australia)
The Last Binding, Freya Marske (Tor)
The Deepwater Trilogy, Claire McKenna (Harper Voyager UK; Harper Collins Australia)

Winners will be announced at the 2024 Aurealis Awards ceremony on May 4, 2025. For more information, see the official website.

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