The annual awards shortlist for the best of the best in Australian Speculative Fiction has arrived!
What the heck is speculative fiction some of you may ask? Speculative fiction is an incredibly broad genre which basically encompasses any literary work involving supernatural, futuristic, or other imagined elements. So, essentially sci-fi, and fantasy but also horror fiction with supernatural elements. There were a phenomenal number of entrants this year with more than 800 entries across all categories. That is a heck of a lot of reading for the judges!
The Canberra Speculative Fiction Guild will announce the winners at the Aurealis Awards ceremony in Canberra on Saturday June 3, 2023.
To borrow one of these fabulous stories from some amazing Australian Authors and artists – click on the links or images below and reserve your copy.
BEST YOUNG ADULT NOVEL
Night Lights, Sarah Epstein (Fourteen Press)
The Rarkyn’s Familiar, Nikky Lee (Parliament House Press)
Only a Monster, Vanessa Len (Allen & Unwin)
If You Could See the Sun, Ann Liang (HQ Fiction)
We Who Hunt the Hollow, Kate Murray (Hardie Grant Children’s Publishing)
League of Liars, Astrid Scholte (Allen & Unwin)
BEST HORROR NOVEL
Sallow Bend, Alan Baxter (Cemetery Dance)
Scavengers, Robert Hood (Clan Destine Press)
The Stranger, Kathryn Hore (Allen & Unwin)
The Stone Road, Trent Jamieson (Erewhon Books)
Path of Thorns, Angela Slatter (Titan Books)
BEST FANTASY NOVEL
The Not So Chosen One, Kate Emery (Text Publishing)
The Stone Road, Trent Jamieson (Erewhon Books)
A Restless Truth, Freya Marske (Tor)
Blitz, Daniel O’Malley (HarperCollins Publishers)
Path of Thorns, Angela Slatter (Titan Books)
Honour Among Ghosts, Sean Williams (Allen & Unwin)
BEST SCIENCE FICTION NOVEL
Hovering, Rhett Davis (Hachette Australia)
The Stranger, Kathryn Hore (Allen & Unwin)
36 Streets, T R Napper (Titan Books)
Here Goes Nothing, Steve Toltz (Hamish Hamilton)
Bootstrap, Georgina Young (Text Publishing)
![Link to Catalogue record for Night Lights [electronic resource]](https://secure.syndetics.com/index.php?isbn=9780645332285/lc.jpg&client=cocplb "Night Lights [electronic resource]")
![Link to Catalogue record for The Path of Thorns [electronic resource]](https://secure.syndetics.com/index.php?isbn=9781789094381/lc.jpg&client=cocplb "The Path of Thorns [electronic resource]")
BEST GRAPHIC NOVEL / ILLUSTRATED WORK
Nottingham Vol 2: A King’s Ransom, David Hazan (writer), Shane Connery Volk (artist), Luca Romano (colourist), Justin Birch (letterer) (Mad Cave Studios)
Dark Heart #1, Scott Wilson, Katie Houghton-Ward & Justin Randall (Gestalt)
The Tree of Ecstasy and Unbearable Sadness, Matt Ottley (Dirt Lane Press)
Neverlanders, Tom Taylor & Jon Sommariva (Penguin Random House Australia)
BEST COLLECTION
The Art of Broken Things, Joanne Anderton (Trepidatio Publishing)
The Fall: Tales From The Gulp 2, Alan Baxter (13th Dragon Books
Everything Feels Like the End of the World, Else Fitzgerald (Allen & Unwin)
Here be Leviathans, Chris Flynn (University of Queensland Press)
Hard Places, Kirstyn McDermott (Trepidatio Publishing)
Team Queen, Tansy Rayner Roberts (self-published)
BEST ANTHOLOGY
Queer Weird West Tales, Julie Bozza (Ed.) (LIBRAtiger)
The Art of Being Human, Tehani Croft with Stephanie Lai (Eds.) (FableCroft Publishing)
We are Providence, L E Daniels & Christa Carmen (Eds.) (Weird House Press)
Unlimited Futures, Rafeif Ismail (Ed.) (Fremantle Press)
Clamour and Mischief, Narrelle M Harris (Ed.) (Clan Destine Press)
This All Come Back Now, Mykaela Saunders (Ed.) (University of Queensland Press)
BEST FANTASY SHORT STORY
“The Icecutter’s Daughter”, Aiki Flinthart (The Art of Being Human, FableCroft Publishing)
“Ashes”, Tania Fordwalker (Aurealis #151)
“Tastes like Home”, Kiera Lesley (Andromeda Spaceways Magazine #86)
“Salon Faerie”, Tansy Rayner Roberts (self-published)
“Beautiful Horizon”, Steve Simpson (The Purpose of Reality: Solar, Meerkat Press)
“The Past Laid Out On The Table”, Matt Tighe (Cast of Wonders 506)
BEST FANTASY NOVELLA
“The Ocean, the Lighthouse Keeper, and the Sunset”, Lee Cope (The Art of Being Human, FableCroft Publishing)
Hovering, Dorothy-Jane Daniels (Luna Press)
“Merry in Time”, Kathleen Jennings (Beneath Ceaseless Skies #352)
Winterbloom, Kirstyn McDermott (Brain Jar Press)
“Among the Faded Woods”, Faith Mudge (The Art of Being Human, FableCroft Publishing)
The Bone Lantern, Angela Slatter (PS Publishing)
BEST CHILDREN’S FICTION
The Wintrish Girl, Melanie La’Brooy (University of Queensland Press)
Gus and the Starlight, Victoria Carless (HarperCollins Publishers)
The Wrath of the Woolington Wyrm, Karen Foxlee, illustrated by Freda Chiu (Allen & Unwin)
The Raven’s Song, Zana Fraillon & Bren MacDibble (Allen & Unwin)|
The Goodbye Year, Emily Gale (Text Publishing)
Mars Awakens, H M Waugh (Allen & Unwin)
BEST YOUNG ADULT SHORT STORY
“Forbidden Voices”, E J Delaney (Cast of Wonders #510)
“Crone and the Girl”, Pamela Jeffs (The Seasonals, Four Ink Press)
“Tastes like Home”, Kiera Lesley (Andromeda Spaceways Magazine #86)
“Tornadoes, Grief and Poutine”, Aline-Mwezi Niyonsenga (Augur Magazine Issue 5.2)
“Enter Elias Schmidt”, Phoenix Raig (The New Mythic, Precipice Fiction)
“Witchy Ways”, Tansy Rayner Roberts (Witchy Ways, self-published)
BEST HORROR SHORT STORY
“Nona Doesn’t Dance” Aaron Dries (Cut to Care: A Collection of Little Hurts, IFWG Publishing Australia)
“Lidless Eyes That See”, Geneve Flynn (From the Wasteland, PS Publishing UK)
“They Call Me Mother”, Geneve Flynn (Classic Monster Unleashed, Crystal Lake Publishing and Black Spot Books
“Dread Circus”, Pamela Jeffs (That is TOO Wrong! An Anthology of Offbeat Horror Vol 2, Black Hart Publishers)
“The Hunt”, Martin Livings (Light Falling From a Long Dead Star, self-published)
“Beach Memories”, Matt Tighe (The NoSleep Podcast, S18E06)
BEST HORROR NOVELLA
“Rat’s Alley”, Jeff Clulow (From the Wasteland, PS Publishing UK)
“Kookaburra Cruel”, Aaron Dries (Damnation Games, Clan Destine Press)
“Glyphlight”, Matan Elul (The New Mythic, Precipice Fiction)
The New Wife, Kirstyn McDermott (Brain Jar Press)
“Among the Faded Woods”, Faith Mudge (The Art of Being Human, FableCroft Publishing)
“Songs from Dark Annie’s Bower”, Angela Slatter (Gaslight Ghouls: Uneasy Tales of Sherlock Holmes, Belanger Books)
BEST SCIENCE FICTION SHORT STORY
“As Though I Were a Little Sun”, Grace Chan (Fireside Magazine #102)
“Death By Water”, Grace Chan (From the Wasteland, PS Publishing UK)
“Fake Plants”, Scott Limbrick (The Furphy Anthology 2022, Hardie Grant)
“Synaesthetics”, Helena O’Connor (Nature)
“Sharing a Meal at the End of the World”, Anya Ow (Haven Speculative Issue Six)
“One Man Army”, Scott Steensma (Aurealis #156)
BEST SCIENCE FICTION NOVELLA
Resembling Lepus, Amanda Kool (Grey Matter Press)
“The Goruden-Mairu Job”, T R Napper (Night, Rain, and Neon, NewCon Press)
“The Sisters of Saint Nicola of The Almost Perpetual Motion vs the Lurch”, Garth Nix (Tor.com)
Cobalt Blue, Matthew Reilly (Pan Macmillan)
![Link to Catalogue record for Everything Feels Like the End of the World [electronic resource]](https://secure.syndetics.com/index.php?isbn=9781761064807/lc.jpg&client=cocplb "Everything Feels Like the End of the World [electronic resource]")
