2008 Aurealis Award shortlist

9th December- The Aurealis Awards team has announced the finalists for 2008. For the first time it includes categories for best collection and best anthology. Winners announced in Brisbane on January 24, 2009.

Best Science Fiction Novel

• K A Bedford, Time Machines Repaired While-U-Wait, Edge Science Fiction and Fantasy Publishing
• Marianne de Pierres, Chaos Space, Book Two of the Sentients of Orion, Orbit
• Simon Haynes, Hal Spacejock: No Free Lunch, Fremantle Arts Centre Press
• Kim Westwood, The Daughters of Moab, HarperVoyager
• Sean Williams, Earth Ascendant, Astropolis Book Two, Orbit

Best Science Fiction Short Story

• Simon Brown, ‘The Empire’, Dreaming Again, HarperVoyager
• Nathan Burrage, ‘Black and Bitter, Thanks’, The Workers’ Paradise, Ticonderoga Publications
• Trent Jamieson, ‘Delivery’, Cosmos, #21
• Margo Lanagan, ‘The Fifth Star in the Southern Cross’, Dreaming Again, HarperVoyager
• Tansy Rayner Roberts, ‘Fleshy’, 2012, Twelfth Planet Press

Best Fantasy Novel

• Alison Goodman, The Two Pearls of Wisdom, HarperCollins
• Sylvia Kelso, Amberlight, Juno Books
• Margo Lanagan, Tender Morsels, Allen & Unwin
• Juliet Marillier, Heir to Sevenwaters, Macmillan Australia
• Karen Miller, The Riven Kingdom, Godspeaker Book Two, HarperVoyager

Best Fantasy Short Story

• Thoraiya Dyer, ‘Night Heron’s Curse’, Andromeda Spaceways Inflight Magazine, #37
• Karen Maric, ‘The Last Deflowerer’, Andromeda Spaceways Inflight Magazine, #32
• Angela Slatter, ‘Dresses, Three’, Shimmer, Vol 2 #4
• Cat Sparks, ‘Sammarynda Deep’, Paper Cities, Senses 5 Press
• Kim Westwood, ‘Nightship’, Dreaming Again, HarperVoyager

Best Horror Novel

• Jack Dann, The Economy of Light, PS Publishing
• Nick Gadd, Ghostlines, Scribe Publications
• John Harwood, The Séance, Jonathan Cape

Best Horror Short Story

• Lee Battersby, ‘In From the Snow’, Dreaming Again, HarperVoyager
• Deborah Biancotti, ‘Pale Dark Soldier’, Midnight Echo, #1
• Trent Jamieson, ‘Day Boy’, Murky Depths, #4
• Kirstyn McDermott, ‘Painlessness’, Greatest Uncommon Denominator (GUD), #2
• Ian McHugh, ‘Bitter Dreams’, L Ron Hubbard Presents Writers of the Future, Vol XXIV

Best Anthology

• Bill Congreve & Michelle Marquardt (editors), The Year’s Best Australian Fantasy and Science Fiction, MirrorDanse Books
• Jack Dann (editor), Dreaming Again, HarperVoyager
• Jonathan Strahan (editor), The Starry Rift, Viking Children’s Books

Best Collection

• Magic Dirt: The Best of Sean Williams, Russell B Farr (editor), Ticonderoga Publications
• Robert Hood, Creeping in Reptile Flesh, Altair Australia Books

Best Illustrated Book/Graphic Novel

• Steve Hunt & David Richardson, The Cloudchasers, ABC Books
• Shaun Tan, Tales from Outer Suburbia, Allen & Unwin
• Colin Thompson, The Floods Family Files, Random House Australia
• Julie Watts, The Art of Graeme Base, Penguin/Viking

Best Young Adult Long Fiction

• Isobelle Carmody, The Stone Key, Obernewtyn Chronicles, Volume Five, Penguin/Viking
• David Cornish, Lamplighter, Monster Blood Tattoo Book Two, Omnibus Books
• Alison Goodman, The Two Pearls of Wisdom, HarperCollins
• Melina Marchetta, Finnikin of the Rock, Penguin/Viking
• Sean Williams, The Changeling, The Changeling series book one, Angus & Robertson

Best Young Adult Short Fiction

• Deborah Biancotti, ‘The Tailor of Time’, Clockwork Phoenix, Norilana Books
• Dirk Flinthart, ‘This Is Not My Story’, Andromeda Spaceways Inflight Magazine, #37
• Trent Jamieson, ‘Cracks’, Shiny, #2
• Kevin McLean, ‘Eye of the Beholder’, Misspelled, DAW Books

Best Children’s (8-12 Years) Long Fiction

• Simon Higgins, Moonshadow, Eye of the Beast, Random House Australia
• Sophie Masson, Thomas Trew and the Island of Ghosts, Hodder Children’s
• Emily Rodda, The Wizard of Rondo, Omnibus Books
• Carole Wilkinson, Dragon Dawn, Black Dog Books
• Sean Williams, The Changeling and The Dust Devils, The Changeling series books one and two, Angus & Robertson

Best Children’s (8-12 Years) Illustrated Work/Picture Book

• Anna Fienberg, Barbara Fienberg & Kim Gamble, Tashi and the Phoenix, Allen & Unwin
• Richard Harland & Laura Peterson (illustrator), Escape!, Under Siege, Race to the Ruins, The Heavy Crown, The Wolf Kingdom series, Omnibus Books
• Ian Irvine & David Cornish (illustrator), Thorn Castle, Giant’s Lair, Black Crypt, Wizardry Crag, The Sorcerer’s Tower series, Omnibus Books
• Sally Morgan with Ezekiel, Ambelin and Blaze Kwaymullina & Adam Hill (illustrator), Curly and the Fent, Random House Australia
• Richard Tulloch & Terry Denton (illustrator), Twisted Tales, Random House Australia