Chimaera Publications and Aurealis magazine would like to congratulate all the shortlisted writers and winners of the 2007 Aurealis Awards. The field was of a particularly high standard this year, indicative of the increasing quality of Australian speculative fiction.
Fantastic Queensland should be congratulated for the quality of the Awards weekend and the friendliness with which everyone is welcomed. Thank you Ron, Kate and Damon for your hard work and calmness amidst the action.
best science fiction novel
David Kowalski, The Company of the Dead, Pan Macmillan
best science fiction short story
Cat Sparks, ‘Hollywood Roadkill’, On Spec, #69
best fantasy novel
Lian Hearn, Heaven’s Net is Wide, Tales of the Otori The First Book, Hachette Livre
best fantasy short story
Garth Nix, ‘Sir Hereward and Mister Fitz go to War Again’, Jim Baen’s Universe, April 2007
best horror novel
Susan Parisi, Blood of Dreams, Penguin Group (Australia)
best horror short story
Anna Tambour, ‘The Jeweller of Second-Hand Roe’, Subterranean, #7
best young adult novel
Anthony Eaton, Skyfall, UQP
best young adult short story
Deborah Biancotti, ‘A Scar for Leida’, Fantastic Wonder Stories, Ticonderoga Publications
best children’s (8-12 years) long fiction
Kate Forsyth, The Silver Horse, The Chain of Charms 2, Pan Macmillan
Kate Forsyth, The Herb of Grace, The Chain of Charms 3, Pan Macmillan
Kate Forsyth, The Cat’s Eye Shell, The Chain of Charms 4, Pan Macmillan
Kate Forsyth, The Lightning Bolt, The Chain of Charms 5, Pan Macmillan
Kate Forsyth, The Butterfly in Amber, The Chain of Charms 6, Pan Macmillan
best children’s (8-12 years) short fiction (tied)
Marc McBride, World of Monsters, Scholastic Australia
and
Briony Stewart, Kumiko and the Dragon, UQP
Peter McNamara Convenors' Award for Excellence
Terry Dowling, Rynemonn, Coeur de Lion Publications
Terry Dowling has long been a respected writer of science fiction and supporter of the speculative fiction community. In 2007 his book Rynemonn was released. This work is theculmination of the exceptional Tom Rynosseros stories that Dowling haspublished over more than a decade.
His work fits comfortably next to genre fiction writers such as Ray Bradbury or Ursula K. LeGuin. His literary skill and richness of storytelling equally bring to mind comparisons with writers such as Isak Dinesen and Thornton Wilder.
Therefore, the convening judges of the Aurealis Awards 2007 have awarded the Peter McNamara Convenors' Award for Excellence to Terry Dowling for Rynemonn, his magnum opus of the Tom Rynosseros/Tom Tyson saga.
GOLDEN AUREALIS
Novel: David Kowalski, The Company of the Dead, Pan Macmillan
Short Story: Cat Sparks, ‘Hollywood Roadkill’, On Spec, #69