This morning saw the announcement of the Aurealis Awards’ shortlist.  I’m not going to publish the list of nominees here because there’s something like 15 categories broken-up into Short Fiction, Novella and Novel for the different genres (Science Fiction, Fantasy, and Horror) and including categories for Children’s Fiction and Graphic Novels.

I also don’t have the time, the expertise or the vocabulary to go through each category but I thought I’d make some high-quality observations:

I read fuck all Australian genre fiction.  That’s not entirely true.  Of the novels, I’ve read five of them which is an increase on previous years.  And it would have been more if the judges had bothered to choose other Aussie-fic I read last year, like James Bradley’s excellent The Silent Invasion and… that’s the only Aussie genre novel I read last year that isn’t on this list so… er… yeah.  (Still, it should have been nominated).

I would have burnt down cities, destroyed moons, vanquished ancient alien civilisation if An Uncertain Grace by Krissy Kneen and From The Wreck by Jane Rawson had not been nominated for Best Science Fiction novel.  I’d also have been stunned if Bren MacDibble and her alter ego Cally Black had not garnered a nod in their respective categories.  I’m delighted to see Crossroads of Canopy feature for Best Fantasy Novel.  Did you know that the second book in the series, Echoes of Understorey came out, like, two days ago?

There are too many people on the list of nominations that I know personally to congratulate them individually here.  So, just know, that I send my congrats far and wide.  I do, though, want to send a shout-out to my once podcast co-host Kirstyn McDermott who received a nomination for Best Fantasy Novella.  I’ve not actually read “Braid” because I’m not that good a friend, but I’m sure it’s bloody awesome.