Next up in announcing their shortlists are the Aurealis Awards. A relative newcomer to the award scene, the Aurealis Awards was founded in 1995 in association with Aurealis magazine.

These awards are different from the big players in the field for two reasons. The first, and most obvious, is that these awards are exclusively national awards, only Australian authors are eligible to win!

The second is the sheer amount of awards! Unlike other organisations, they split their awards out into Science Fiction, Fantasy and Horror categories and present an award for each category.

For this reason, we won’t be listing all the nominees here, only those for best novel in each category. If you want to check out the full list of nominees then you can view their website here.

 

So, for the main three categories here are their nominations:

 

BEST HORROR NOVEL

Fear is the Rider – Kenneth Cook

My Sister Rosa – Justine Larbalestier

The Grief Hole – Kaaron Warren

 

BEST FANTASY NOVEL

Nevernight – Jay Kristoff

Fall of the Dagger – Glenda Larke

Den of Wolves – Juliet Marillier

Vigil – Angela Slatter

Road to Winter – Mark Smith

Sisters of the Fire – Kim Wilkins

 

BEST SCIENCE FICTION NOVEL

Watershed – Jane Abbott

Confluence – SK Dunstall

Gemima: Illuminae Files 2 – Amie Kaufman & Jay Kristoff

Squid’s Grief – DK Mok

Stiletto – Daniel O’Malley

Threader – Rebekah Turner

 

They are also presenting awards in the categories below:

Best Children’s Fiction
Best Graphic Novel/Illustrated Work
Best Young Adult Short Story
Best Horror Short Story
Best Horror Novella
Best Fantasy Short Story
Best Fantasy Novella
Best Science Fiction Short Story
Best Science Fiction Novella
Best Collection
Best Anthology
Best Young Adult Novel

Can you see why we decided against listing them all here?

Let us know your thoughts on the nominees in the comments below!