The juried award is given in eight categories for work by an Australasian author that has horror/dark fiction content either as a focal point or an integral element of the work, and the intent of the work must be to disturb or inspire fear in the reader. Eligible genres/sub-genres include horror, dark fiction, dark fantasy, and paranormal fiction.
POETRY
This Soundless Murk by Hester J Rook (The Future Fire)
NON-FICTION
Exploration of Menstruation in Horror and Dark Fiction by Tabatha Wood
GRAPHIC NOVEL
Hellblazer: Rise and Fall, by Tom Taylor & Darick Robertson (DC Comics)
EDITED WORKS
Midnight Echo issue 15, (ed. Lee Murray, AHWA)
COLLECTED WORKS
The Heart is a Mirror for Sinners by Angela Slatter (PS Publishing)
SHORT FICTION
“Brumation” by Anthony Ferguson (Midnight Echo Issue 15, ed. Lee Murray, AHWA)
LONG FICTION
“By Touch and By Glance” by Lisa L Hannett (Songs for Dark Seasons, Ticonderoga Publications)
The juried award is given in eight categories for work by an Australasian author that has horror/dark fiction content either as a focal point or an integral element of the work, and the intent of the work must be to disturb or inspire fear in the reader. Eligible genres/sub-genres include horror, dark fiction, dark fantasy, and paranormal fiction.
Deadway by KS Nikakis (Journey: Seeking the Sacred, Spirit and Soul in the Australian Wilderness, SOV Media)
This Soundless Murk by Hester J Rook (The Future Fire)
The King of Eyes by PS Cottier (Monstrous, Interactive Press)
Mouthing Off by PS Cottier (Monstrous, Interactive Press)
The Tongueless Dead by Leigh Blackmore (Spectral Realms 13)
NON-FICTION
Exploration of Menstruation in Horror and Dark Fiction by Tabatha Wood
Queer Vampires in Modern Cinema by Tabatha Wood
Cthulu in California by Emmet O’Cuana
What Makes Good Horror by Tim Hawken
Phantasmagoria and the Earliest Forms of Horror Storytelling by Maria Lewis
Sandalwood and Jade: The Weird and Fantastic Verse of Lin Carter by Leigh Blackmore
GRAPHIC NOVEL
Hellblazer: Rise and Fall, by Tom Taylor & Darick Robertson (DC Comics)
DCeased: Unkillables, by Tom Taylor & Karl Mostert (DC Comics)
The Mycelium Complex, by Daniel Reed
Redback Armageddon, by Nathan Grixti (Self-published)
Undad Volume Three, by: Katie Walsh-Smith, Miranda Richardson, Big Tim Stiles, Ryan Lindsay, Shane W Smith / Illustrators: Mitchell Collins, Simon Robins (Self-published)
EDITED WORKS
Black Cranes: Tales of Unquiet Women, (ed. Lee Murray and Geneve Flynn, Omnium Gatherum)
Hadithi & the State of Black Speculative Fiction (ed. Eugen Bacon and Milton Davis, Luna Press Publishing)
Midnight Echo issue 15, (ed. Lee Murray, AHWA)
Black Dogs, Black Tales – Where the Dogs Don’t Die, (ed. Tabatha Wood and Cassie Hart, Things in the Well)
Trickster’s Treats 4 – Coming, Buried or Not! (ed. Louise Zedda-Sampson and Geneve Flynn, Things in The Well)
COLLECTED WORKS
The Heart is a Mirror for Sinners by Angela Slatter (PS Publishing)
Behind the Midnight Blinds by Marty Young (Things in the Well)
Red New Day by Angela Slatter (Brain Jar Press)
Bleak Precision by Greg Chapman (Self-published)
Grotesque by Lee Murray (Things in the Well)
SHORT FICTION
“Vision Thing” by Matthew R Davis (Black Dogs, Black Tales ed. Tabatha Wood & Cassie Hart, Things in the Well)
“Let Shadows Slip Through” by Kali Napier (New Gothic Review 2, pub. Ian McMahon)
“Brumation” by Anthony Ferguson (Midnight Echo Issue 15, ed. Lee Murray, AHWA)
“The Bone Fairy” by Martin Livings (Midnight Echo Issue 15, ed. Lee Murray, AHWA)
“Hideous Armature” by Joanne Anderton (Midnight Echo Issue 15, ed. Lee Murray, AHWA)
“Needles” by Kali Napier (The Dark #62, pub. Sean Wallace)
LONG FICTION
“New Wine” by Angela Slatter (Cursed, Titan Books)
“By Touch and By Glance” by Lisa L Hannett (Songs for Dark Seasons, Ticonderoga Publications)
The Attic Tragedy by Joseph Ashley-Smith (Meerkat Press)
“Barralang, pop. 63” by Deborah Sheldon (Dimension6 #19, Coeur De Lion Publishing)
“Kua Hinga Te Kauri” by Dan Rabarts (Outback Horrors Down Under, ed Steve Dillon, Things in the Well Press)
NOVEL
The Crying Forest by Venero Armanno (IFWG Publishing, Australia)
The Australasian Horror Writers Association announced the winners of the 2019 Australian Shadows Awards on June 6.
The Australian Shadows Awards celebrate the finest in horror and dark fiction published by an Australasian within the calendar year. Works are judged on the overall effect of a work—the skill, delivery, and lasting resonance. Eligible genres/sub-genres include horror, dark fiction, dark fantasy, and paranormal fiction.
COLLECTED WORKS
Served Cold by Alan Baxter
EDITED WORKS
Midnight Echo #14 edited by Deborah Sheldon
GRAPHIC NOVEL
DCeased written by Tom Taylor
THE ROCKY WOOD AWARD FOR NON-FICTION AND CRITICISM
The Australasian Horror Writers Association announced the shortlists for the Australian Shadows Awards 2019 today. The juried award is given in seven categories for work by an Australasian author that has horror/dark fiction content either as a focal point or an integral element of the work, and the intent of the work must be to disturb or inspire fear in the reader. Eligible genres/sub-genres include horror, dark fiction, dark fantasy, and paranormal fiction.
COLLECTED WORKS
Collision: Stories by J.S. Breukelaar
Figments and Fragments by Deborah Sheldon
Served Cold by Alan Baxter
EDITED WORKS
Beside the Seaside: Tales from the Day-Tripper edited by Steve Dillon
Trickster’s Treats #3 – the Seven Deadly Sins Edition edited by Marie O’Regan and Lee Murray
Midnight Echo #14 edited by Deborah Sheldon
GRAPHIC NOVEL
The Eldritch Kid: The Bone War written by Christian D. Read
Matinee written by Emmett O’Cuana
Geebung Polo Club written by Shauna O’Meara (adapted from a Banjo Patterson poem)
DCeased written by Tom Taylor
THE ROCKY WOOD AWARD FOR NON-FICTION AND CRITICISM
Suffer the Little Children by Kris Ashton
Horror and the paranormal, chapter 8 of Writing Speculative Fiction by Eugen Bacon
The Danse Macabre by Kyla Lee Ward
Horror Movies That Mean Something and Childhood Trauma Manifested by Maria Lewis
The juried award is given for work by an Australasian author that has horror/dark fiction content either as a focal point or an integral element of the work, and the intent of the work must be to disturb or inspire fear in the reader. Eligible genres/sub-genres include horror, dark fiction, dark fantasy, and paranormal fiction.
Best Collected Work
Exploring Dark Fiction #2 A
Primer to Kaaron Warren, Shadows on the Wall by Steven Paulsen
Best Edited Work
Hellhole An Anthology of
Subterranean Horror –
ed. Lee Murray
Best Graphic Novel
The Demon Hell
Is Earth written by Andrew Constant
The juried award is
given in seven categories for work by an Australasian author that has
horror/dark fiction content either as a focal point or an integral element of
the work, and the intent of the work must be to disturb or inspire fear in the
reader. Eligible genres/sub-genres include horror, dark fiction, dark fantasy,
and paranormal fiction.
The finalists were
selected by judging panels from 183 submitted works. Winners will be announced at
Continuum 15: Other Worlds.
Best Collected Work
Bones by Andrew Cull
The
Dalziel Files by
Brian Craddock
Exploring
Dark Fiction #2 A Primer to Kaaron Warren, Shadows on the Wall by Steven Paulsen
Beneath
the Ferny Tree by
David Schembri
Best Edited Work
Cthulhu
Land of the Long White Cloud & Cthulhu Deep Down Under Volume II – eds. Steve
Proposch, Christopher Sequeira, Bryce Stevens
Hellhole
An Anthology of Subterranean Horror – ed. Lee Murray
Behind
the Mask – ed.
Steve Dillon
Best Graphic Novel
The judges of the Graphic Novel category unanimously agreed on a winner but no shortlist will provided this year.
Best Novel
Devouring
Dark by
Alan Baxter
Contrition by Deborah Sheldon
Tide
of Stone by
Kaaron Warren
Teeth
of the Wolf by
Dan Rabarts & Lee Murray
Best Poetry
Your
Mortician Knows by
Bee Nielsen
Matinee by Hester J. Rock
Polarity
by Jay Caselberg
Revenants
of the Antipodes by
Kyla Lee Ward
The
Middle of the Night by
Rebecca Fraser.
The Rocky Wood Award for Non-Fiction and Criticism
Several of the non-fiction entries received were excellent short form pieces, with great writing, quality research, and bravery shown in addressing the various subject matter. The judges felt that none were of sufficient depth or length to qualify for the Rocky Wood Award.