Silvia Moreno-Garcia, Guy Gavriel Kay among Aurora Awards finalists

The Canadian Science Fiction and Fantasy Association (CSFFA) has released its shortlists for the annual Aurora Awards.

The awards honour sci-fi, fantasy and horror writing in 10 categories, and work is nominated by members of the association. Winners will be announced during an online ceremony on August 9.

Best Novel

The Bewitching by Silvia Moreno-Garcia (Del Rey/Penguin Random House)
Blight by Rachel A. Rosen (The BumblePuppy Press)
Direct Descendant by Tanya Huff (DAW Books/Penguin Random House)
The Downloaded 2: Ghosts in the Machine by Robert J. Sawyer (Audible Originals/Shadowpaw Press)
Emily Wilde’s Compendium of Lost Tales by Heather Fawcett (Del Rey/PRH)
A Shift of Time by Julie E. Czerneda (DAW Books/PRH)
Written on the Dark by Guy Gavriel Kay (Viking Canada/Penguin Random House Canada)

Best Young Adult Novel

Breath of the Dragon by Shannon Lee and Fonda Lee (Wednesday Books/Macmillan Publishers)
Fireboy by Edward Willett (Shadowpaw Press)
A Lion’s Head by D.M. De Alwis (Ahasae Tharu Publications)
Minotaur by Jamieson Wolf (Rebel Satori Press)
One Morning Sun by Avi Silver (Molewhale Press)
Winging It by Jen Desmarais (Renaissance Press)

Best Novelette/Novella

The First Thousand Trees by Premee Mohamed (ECW Press)
“In the Gardener’s Service” by Michèle Laframboise (Asimov’s, July/August)
“The Lure of Stone” by Silvia Moreno-Garcia (Uncanny Magazine, Issue Sixty-Six)
A Palace Near the Wind by Ai Jiang (Titan Books)
The River Has Roots by Amal El-Mohtar (Tordotcom/Macmillan Publishers)

Best Short Story

“Hunted To Extinction” by Premee Mohamed (The End of the World As We Know It: New Tales of Stephen King’s The Stand, Gallery Books/Simon & Schuster)
“I Ain’t Your Doll Face” by Jacqueline Thorpe (Polar Borealis Magazine #33)
“the love song of house and lake” by Gillian Secord, On Spec Magazine, Issue #133
“The Stone Played at Tengen” by R.H. Wesley, Clarkesworld Magazine, Issue 230
“What If We Kissed While Sinking a Billionaire’s Yacht?” by Rachel A. Rosen (Antifa Lit Journal, Volume 1)

Best Graphic Novel/Comic

Atana and the Jade Mermaid by Vivian Zhou (HarperAlley/HarperCollins)
“Bonds of the Forest” by Ally Rom Colthoff (Augur Magazine, Issue 8.3)
It Never Rains by Kari Maaren (webcomic)
Questionable Content by Jeph Jacques (webcomic)
Shark Girl by Kate Beaton (Roaring Brook Press)

Best Poem/Song

“At the Spaceport Bar” by Lisa Timpf (Polar Starlight Magazine #17)
“Bigfoot Farewell” by Carolyn Clink (Cryptids, Kaiju & Corn: Poems and Micro-Stories about Modern Midwest Monsters)
“Dragon Karaoke” by David Clink (Polar Starlight, Issue #18)
“Explosive” by Derek Newman-Stille (Polar Starlight #20)
“flowers without meadow” by Tiffany Morris (Eye to the Telescope #56)
“From Dust” by J. Y. Zhang (Small Wonders)

Best Related Work

As the Earth Dreams: Black Canadian Speculative Stories by Terese Mason Pierre, ed. (House of Anansi Press)
Augur Magazine, Issues 8.1-8.3, by Kerry C. Byrne, Toria Liao, André Geleynse, Kelley Tai, and Azure Arther
On Spec Magazine, Issues #131 – 134, Vol 35 by Diane L. Walton, managing Eeditor (The Copper Pig Writers’ Society)
One Message Remains by Premee Mohamed (Psychopomp)
Year’s Best Canadian Fantasy and Science Fiction: Volume Three by Stephen Kotowych, ed. (Ansible Press)

Best Cover Art/Interior Illustration

Dancing With the Holly King by Janice Blaine (On Spec Magazine, Issue #134)
Seance by Alice M. (Heartlines Spec, Issue 7)
Lunar Base by Dan O’Driscoll (On Spec Magazine, Issue #132)
Starship Librarians by Lorna Antoniazzi (Tyche Books Ltd.)
Listen to Me and I’ll tell You a Story by Ejiwa “Edge” Ebenebe (Uncanny Magazine, Issue Sixty-Six)

Best Fan Writing and Publication

Amazing Stories online columns, Numbers 405-420 by Steve Fahnestalk, Amazing Stories.com
Book Reviews in The Ottawa Review of Books by Robert Runté
Polar Starlight Magazine, Issues 17-20 by Rhea E. Rose, ed.
Speculative Poetry and the Hugos by Lynne Sargent (Strange Horizons)
Young People Read Old Science Fiction by James Davis Nicoll (online)

Best Fan Related Work