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