The Aurealis Awards shortlists have been announced and I’m so very delighted to see my story ‘A Right Pretty Mate’ nominated in the Best YA Short Story category! This is the first story of mine that could even remotely be described as YA, and I’m so chuffed to see it in such good company! Thanks to Jack Dann for including it in DREAMING IN THE DARK (which is also nominated for an award this year!) And HUGE congratulations to all of the excellent nominees — including so many fantastic friends: Angela Slatter, Kirstyn McDermott, Kim Wilkins, Alison Goodman, Jonathan Strahan, Juliet Marillier, Alan Baxter, Shauna O’Meara, Leife Shallcross, Garth Nix, Kaaron Warren, Tehani Croft, Alisa Krasnostein, Tansy Rayner Roberts, Thoraiya Dyer and Suze Willis… Hooray hooray hooray, all!
2016 Aurealis Awards – Finalists
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 GRAPHIC NOVEL / ILLUSTRATED WORK
Mechanica, Lance Balchin (Five Mile)
BROBOT, James Foley (Fremantle Press)
Negative Space, Ryan K Lindsay (Dark Horse Comics)
The Spider King, Josh Vann (self-published)
BEST YOUNG ADULT SHORT STORY
“A Right Pretty Mate”, Lisa L Hannett (Dreaming in the Dark)
“Dune Time”, Jack Nicholls (Tor.com)
“No One Here is Going to Save You”, Shauna O’Meara (In Your Face, FableCroft Publishing)
“Did We Break the End of the World?”, Tansy Rayner Roberts (Defying Doomsday, Twelfth Planet Press)
“Pretty Jennie Greenteeth”, Leife Shallcross (Strange Little Girls, Belladonna Publishing)
BEST HORROR SHORT STORY
“Non Zero Sum”, RPL Johnson (SNAFU: Hunters, Cohesion Press)
“Flame Trees”, TP Napper (Asimov’s Science Fiction, April/May 2016)
“Penny for a Match, Mister?”, Garth Nix (The Starlit Wood: New Fairy Tales, Saga Press)
“The Red Forest”, Angela Slatter (Winter Children and Other Chilling Tales, PS Publishing)
“68 Days”, Kaaron Warren (Tomorrow’s Cthulhu, Broken Eye Books)
“Life, or Whatever Passes For It”, Durand Welsh (Peel Back the Skin, Grey Matter Press)
BEST HORROR NOVELLA
“Box of Bones”, Jeremy Bates (Ghillinnein Books)
“Served Cold”, Alan Baxter (Dreaming in the Dark, PS Publishing)
“Waking in Winter”, Deborah Biancotti (PS Publishing)
“The Starlight Circus”, Tara Calaby (Red Sun Magazine, December issue)
“Burnt Sugar”, Kirstyn McDermott (Dreaming in the Dark, PS Publishing)
“Pan”, Christopher Ruz (Andromeda Spaceways Magazine #62)
BEST FANTASY SHORT STORY
“Watercress Soup”, Tamlyn Dreaver (Andromeda Spaceways Magazine #65)
“Where the Pelican Builds Her Nest”, Thoraiya Dyer (In Your Face, FableCroft Publishing)
“Dune Time”, Jack Nicholls (Tor.com)
“Penny for a Match, Mister?”, Garth Nix (The Starlit Wood: New Fairy Tales, Saga Press)
“The Lighthouse at Cape Defeat”, David Versace (Aurealis #89)
“The Cartographer’s Price”, Suzanne Willis (Mythic Delirium Issue 3.1)
BEST FANTASY NOVELLA
“Raven’s First Flight”, Alan Baxter (SNAFU: Black Ops, Cohesion Press)
“By the Laws of Crab and Woman”, Jason Fischer (Review of Australian Fiction)
“Forfeit”, Andrea K. Höst (The Towers, the Moon, self-published)
The Bonobo’s Dream, Rose Mulready (Seizure Press)
“Burnt Sugar”, Kirstyn McDermott (Dreaming in the Dark, PS Publishing)
“Finnegan’s Field”, Angela Slatter (Tor.com)
BEST SCIENCE FICTION SHORT STORY
“Trainspotting in Winesburg”, Jack Dann (Concentration, PS Publishing)
“The Baby Eaters”, Ian McHugh (Asimov’s Science Fiction 40/1)
“The Autumn Dog Cannot Live to Spring”, Claire McKenna (In Your Face, Fablecroft)
“Of Sight, of Mind, of Heart”, Samantha Murray (Clarkesworld #122)
“68 Days”, Kaaron Warren (Tomorrow’s Cthulu, Broken Eye Books)
“The Least of Things”, Jen White (Aurealis #94)
BEST SCIENCE FICTION NOVELLA
Waking in Winter, Deborah Biancotti (PS Publishing)
“Salto Mortal”, Nick T Chan (Lightspeed #73)
“Going Viral”, Thoraiya Dyer (Dimension6 #8, coeur de lion)
The Bonobo’s Dream, Rose Mulready (Seizure Press)
“All the Colours of the Tomato”, Simon Petrie (Dimension6 #9, coeur de lion)
“Did We Break the End of the World?”, Tansy Rayner Roberts (Defying Doomsday, Twelfth Planet Press)
BEST COLLECTION
Crow Shine, Alan Baxter (Ticonderoga Publications)
Concentration, Jack Dann (PS Publishing)
A Feast of Sorrows, Angela Slatter (Prime)
Winter Children, Angela Slatter (PS Publishing)
BEST ANTHOLOGY
Dreaming in the Dark, Jack Dann (ed.) (PS Publishing Australia)
Defying Doomsday, Tsana Dolichva and Holly Kench (eds.) (Twelfth Planet Press)
Year’s Best YA Speculative fiction 2015, Julia Rios and Alisa Krasnostein (eds.) (Twelfth Planet Press)
Best Science Fiction and Fantasy of the Year: Volume 10, Jonathan Strahan (ed.) (Solaris)
In Your Face, Tehani Wessely (ed.) (Fablecroft Publishing)
BEST YOUNG ADULT NOVEL
Elegy, Jane Abbott (Penguin Random House Australia)
The Bone Queen, Alison Croggon (Penguin Books Australia)
The Other Side of Summer by Emily Gale (Penguin Random House Australia)
Lady Helen and the Dark Days Pact by Alison Goodman (HarperCollins Publishers)
Gemima: Illuminae Files 2, Amy Kaufman & Jay Kristoff (Allen & Unwin)
Goldenhand, Garth Nix (Allen & Unwin)
BEST HORROR NOVEL
Fear is the Rider, Kenneth Cook (Text Publishing)
My Sister Rosa, Justine Larbalestier (Allen & Unwin)
The Grief Hole, Kaaron Warren (IFWG Publishing Australia)
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 Books)
Road to Winter, Mark Smith (Text Publishing)
Sisters of the Fire, Kim Wilkins (Harlequin Australia)
BEST SCIENCE FICTION NOVEL
Watershed, Jane Abbott (Penguin Random House)
Confluence, SK Dunstall (Ace Books)
Gemima: Illuminae Files 2, Amy Kaufman & Jay Kristoff (Allen & Unwin)
Squid’s Grief, DK Mok (self-published)
Stiletto, Daniel O’Malley (Harper Collins Publishers)
Threader, Rebekah Turner (Harlequin Australia)
