Australian Shadows Awards 2022

The Australasian Horror Writers Association announced the Australian Shadows Awards 2022 winners on October 28.

The juried award is given in eight categories for the finest in horror and dark fiction published by an Australasian within the calendar year.

 Eligible genres/sub-genres include horror, dark fiction, dark fantasy, and paranormal fiction.

The 2022 Australian Shadows Awards winners are:

POETRY

  • “Hip Gnomes” by P S Cottier (Antipodean SF)

GRAPHIC NOVEL

  • Gorilla My Dreams Team-Up #1: When Freaks Collide by Big Tim Stiles (Big Tim’s Funny Books)

NON-FICTION

  • “The Slow Burn Brilliance of Midnight Mass” by Kris Ashton (Aurealis Magazine)

EDITED WORKS

  • Death in the Mouth: An Anthology of Original Horror by People of Colour, edited by Cassie Hart & Sloane Leong (Self-published)

COLLECTED WORKS

  • Hard Places by Kirstyn McDermott (Trepidation Publishing)

SHORT FICTION

  • “Little Balloons” by Aaron Dries (Cut To Care: A Collection of LIttle Hurts, IFWG Australia)

LONG FICTION

  • And Then I Woke Up by Malcolm Devlin (Tor.com)

NOVEL

  • The Path of Thorns by Angela Slatter (Titan Books)

Australian Shadows Awards 2022 Finalists

The Australasian Horror Writers Association announced the Australian Shadows Awards 2022 finalists on May 8.

The juried award is given in eight categories for the finest in horror and dark fiction published by an Australasian within the calendar year.

 Eligible genres/sub-genres include horror, dark fiction, dark fantasy, and paranormal fiction.

Winners will be announced at a live awards ceremony at Asylumfest on Saturday October 28.

The 2022 Australian Shadows Awards finalists are:

POETRY

  • “Hip Gnomes” by P S Cottier (Antipodean SF)
  • “Night Terrors” by L. E. Daniels (HWA)
  • “How Does Your Garden Grow?” by Gene Flynn (Hybrid: Misfits, Monsters and Other Phenomena)
  • “If I Touch You, You’ll Know” by Rebecca Fraser (Nightmare Fuel Magazine)

GRAPHIC NOVEL

  • Gorilla My Dreams Team-Up #1: When Freaks Collide by Big Tim Stiles (Big Tim’s Funny Books)
  • How to Win a Raid by Emmet O’Cuana (Bird’s Eye Comics)
  • Batrisha and the Creepy Caretaker by Dillon Naylor (Comicoz)

NON-FICTION

  • “The Slow Burn Brilliance of Midnight Mass” by Kris Ashton (Aurealis Magazine)
  • “I Don’t Read Horror (and other weird tales)” by Lee Murray (Interstellar Flight Magazine)
  • “Vampire, the Ageless Monster” by Tim Hawken (Aurealis Magazine)
  • “No Horror Without the Body” by Tabatha Wood (Self-published)

EDITED WORKS

  • Death in the Mouth: An Anthology of Original Horror by People of Colour, edited by Cassie Hart & Sloane Leong (Self-published)
  • Found: An Anthology of Found Footage Horror Stories, edited by Andrew Cull & Gabino Iglesias (Vermillion2One Press)
  • Midnight Echo Issue 17, edited by Greg Chapman (AHWA)

COLLECTED WORKS

  • Cut to Care: A Collection of Little Hurts by Aaron Dries (IFWG Australia)
  • Liminal Spaces: Horror Stories by Deborah Sheldon (IFWG Australia)
  • Hard Places by Kirstyn McDermott (Trepidation Publishing)
  • The Devil Took Her: Tales of Horror by Michael Botur (The Sager Group)
  • Reflections by Tabatha Wood (Wild Wood Books)

SHORT FICTION

  • “Break the Skin If You Have To” by Emma Osborne (co-written with Cadwell Turnbull and Jess Essey) (Nightmare Magazine)
  • “They Call Me Mother” by Geneve Flynn (Classic Monsters Unleashed, Crystal Lake Publishing & Black Spot Books)
  • “Little Balloons” by Aaron Dries (Cut To Care: A Collection of LIttle Hurts, IFWG Australia)
  • “The Tub” by J. Ashley Smith (Midnight Echo 17, AHWA)

LONG FICTION

  • “Among The Faded Woods” by Faith Mudge (The Art of Being Human, FableCroft Publishing)
  • And Then I Woke Up by Malcolm Devlin (Tor.com)
  • “Kookaburra Cruel” by Aaron Dries (Damnation Games, Clan Destine Press)

NOVEL

  • The Stone Road by Trent Jamieson (Erewhon Books)
  • The Path of Thorns by Angela Slatter (Titan Books)
  • Denizen by James McKenzie Watson (Viking)
  • Red Ruin by Ian J. Middleton and Denver Grenell (Self-published)

Australian Shadows Awards 2021

The Australasian Horror Writers Association announced the Australian Shadows Awards 2021 winners on April 12.

The juried award is given in eight categories for the finest in horror and dark fiction published by an Australasian within the calendar year.

 Eligible genres/sub-genres include horror, dark fiction, dark fantasy, and paranormal fiction.

The 2021 Australian Shadows Awards winners are:

NON-FICTION

  • I’m Looking Right At You, HP Lovecraft by Jack Dann (IFWG)

POETRY

  • “Cheongsam” by Lee Murray (Tortured Willows: Bent. Bowed. Unbroken. Yuriko Publishing LLC)

GRAPHIC NOVEL

  • The Mycelium Complex, Issue 2 by Daniel Reed (Nautilus Illustrations)

EDITED WORKS

  • Spawn: Weird Horror Tales About Pregnancy, Birth and Babies, edited by Deborah Sheldon (IFWG Publishing Australia)

COLLECTED WORKS

  • Tool Tales by Karron Warren (IFWG Publishing, Australia)

SHORT FICTION

  • “A Good Big Brother” by Matt Tighe (Spawn: Weird Horror Tales About Pregnancy, Birth and Babies, IFWG Publishing Australia)

LONG FICTION

  • Ariadne, I Love You by J Ashley-Smith (Meerkat Press)

NOVEL

  • The Girls Left Behind by J.P. Townley

Australian Shadows Awards 2021 Shortlists

The Australasian Horror Writers Association announced the Australian Shadows Awards 2021 finalists on March 17.

The juried award is given in eight categories for the finest in horror and dark fiction published by an Australasian within the calendar year.

 Eligible genres/sub-genres include horror, dark fiction, dark fantasy, and paranormal fiction.

Winners will be announced at a special live Zoom event on the evening of Tuesday April 12.

The 2021 Australian Shadows Awards finalists are:

NON-FICTION

  • Vampire Poetry by Kyla Lee Ward (Hippocampus Press)
  • I’m Looking Right At You, HP Lovecraft by Jack Dann (IFWG)
  • The Curious Reclassification of Peter Benchley’s Jaws by Kris Ashton (Aurealis Magazine)
  • Capturing Ghosts on the Page by Kaaron Warren (Brain Jar Press)
  • Murder Down Under by Anthony Ferguson (Exposit Books)

POETRY

  • “When The Girls Began To Fall” by Geneve Flynn (Tortured Willows: Bent. Bowed. Unbroken. Yuriko Publishing LLC)
  • “Sonnet for a Scarecrow” by Rebecca Fraser (Curioser Magazine, issue 1)
  • “Cheongsam” by Lee Murray (Tortured Willows: Bent. Bowed. Unbroken. Yuriko Publishing LLC)
  • “Guest of Honour” by Geneve Flynn (Tortured Willows: Bent. Bowed. Unbroken. Yuriko Publishing LLC)
  • “Snip” by P.S. Cottier (Midnight Echo 16, AHWA)
  • “Exquisite” by Lee Murray (Tortured Willows: Bent. Bowed. Unbroken. Yuriko Publishing LLC)

GRAPHIC NOVEL

  • Frankie’s Drive-In Ozploitation Double Feature by Aaron Harvie (Badharvie)
  • Goetia by Robert Buratti (Sub Rosa Publishing)
  • The Mycelium Complex, Issue 2 by Daniel Reed (Nautilus Illustrations)

EDITED WORKS

  • SNAFU: Holy War, edited by Amanda J Spedding and Geoff Brown (Cohesion Press)
  • Midnight Echo #16, edited by Tim Hawken (AHWA)
  • Spawn: Weird Horror Tales About Pregnancy, Birth and Babies, edited by Deborah Sheldon (IFWG Publishing Australia)

COLLECTED WORKS

  • The Tallow-Wife and Other Tales by Angela Slatter (Tartarus Press)
  • Tool Tales by Karron Warren (IFWG Publishing, Australia)
  • Seeds by Tabatha Wood (Wild Wood Books)
  • Inanimates by Joanne Anderton (Brain Jar Press)
  • Danged Black Thing by Eugen Bacon (Transit Lounge Publishing)

SHORT FICTION

  • “Bad Apple” by Louise Pieper (Good Southern Witches, Curious Blue Press)
  • “A Good Big Brother” by Matt Tighe (Spawn: Weird Horror Tales About Pregnancy, Birth and Babies, IFWG Publishing Australia)
  • “Tagged” by Chuck McKenzie (Andromeda Spaceways Inflight Magazine)
  • “The Best Medicine” by Pauline Yates (Midnight Echo 16, AHWA)
  • “The Steering Wheel Club” by Kaaron Warren (Giving the Devil His Due, Running Wild Press)

LONG FICTION

  • Ariadne, I Love You by J Ashley-Smith (Meerkat Press)
  • “The Waiting Room” by Matthew Davis (It Calls from the Doors, Eerie River Publishing)
  • Cryptid Killers by Alister Hodge (Severed Press)
  • “The Little One” by Rebecca Fraser (Coralesque and Other Tales to Disturb and Distract, IFWG Publishing)
  • Dirty Heads by Aaron Dries (Black T-Shirt Books)

NOVEL

  • Butcherbird by Cassie Hart
  • An Ill Wind by Martin Livings
  • The Girls Left Behind by J.P. Townley
  • Papa Lucy and the Boneman  by Jason Fischer
  • The Airways by Jennifer Mills
  • Merfolk by Jeremy Bates

2020 Australian Shadows Awards

The Australasian Horror Writers Association announced the 2020 Australian Shadows Awards winners today.

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)

NOVEL

  • Deception Pass by Matthew Tait (Dark Crib)

2020 Australian Shadows Awards Finalists

The Australasian Horror Writers Association announced the shortlists for the 2020 Australian Shadows Awards today.

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.

The winners will be announced in an online Awards Ceremony on Friday June 11, starting at 8.30pm AEST via the official AHWA Facebook page, and simultaneously on Twitter via @AustHorror.

The 2020 Australian Shadows Awards finalists are:

POETRY

  • 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)
  • Gutterbreed by Marty Young (Eclectic Trio)
  • Flyaway by Kathleen Jennings (Picador)
  • Deception Pass by Matthew Tait (Dark Crib)

[Thanks to JJ for the story.]

2019 Australian Shadows Awards

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 Danse Macabre by Kyla Lee Ward

PAUL HAINES AWARD FOR LONG FICTION

  • Supermassive Black Mass by Matthew R. Davis

 POETRY

  • Taxonomy of Captured Roses by Hester J. Rook

SHORT FICTION

  • Steadfast Shadowsong by Matthew R. Davis

NOVEL

  • Shepherd by Catherine Jinks

Australian Shadows Awards
2019 Finalists

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

PAUL HAINES AWARD FOR LONG FICTION

  • Supermassive Black Mass by Matthew R. Davis
  • The Neverwhere Line by Matthew J. Morrison
  • Out of Darkness by Chris Mason
  • Enemy of My Enemy by Rick Kennett
  • 1862 by C.J. Halbard

 POETRY

  • Brine and Vanishings by Hester J. Rook
  • Taxonomy of Captured Roses by Hester J. Rook
  • Please Do Not Feed the Animals by Anne Casey
  • Separation by Jay Caselberg
  • Ode to a Black Hole by Charles Lovecraft
  • Boat of a Million Years by Kyla Lee Ward

SHORT FICTION

  • Steadfast Shadowsong by Matthew R. Davis
  • Vivienne & Agnes by Chris Mason
  • The Ocean Hushed the Stones by Alan Baxter
  • Ava Rune by J.S. Breukelaar

NOVEL

  • Fusion by Kate Richards
  • Shepherd by Catherine Jinks
  • The Flower and the Serpent by Madeleine D’Este

[Via SFFANZ.]

Australian Shadows Awards 2018

Australasian Horror Writers Association announced the winners of the Australian Shadows Awards 2018 on June 8 at Continuum 15: Other Worlds.

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

Best Novel

  • Tide of Stone by Kaaron Warren

Best Poetry

  • Revenants of the Antipodes by Kyla Lee Ward

Short Fiction

  • Riptide by Dan Rabarts.

The Paul Haines Award for Long Fiction

  • The Black Sea by Chris Mason

Australian Shadows Awards 2018 Finalists

On May 2 the Australasian Horror Writers Association announced the shortlists for the Australian Shadows Awards 2018.

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.

Short Fiction

  • Planned and Expected by Piper Mejia
  • Slither by Jason Nahrung
  • The Ward of Tindalos by Debbie & Matt Cowens
  • The House of jack’s Girls by Lee Battersby
  • Riptide by Dan Rabarts.

The Paul Haines Award for Long Fiction

  • Time and Tide by Robert Hood
  • Love Thee Better by Kaaron Warren
  • The Black Sea by Chris Mason
  • Thylacines by Deborah Sheldon

[Via Locus Online.]