It’s currently awards season in the speculative fiction world (see our post on the recently announced Aurealis Awards if you haven’t already) and the short list/ballot for the Ditmar Awards has just been announced. The Ditmar awards are Australia’s answer to the Hugos; fan-nominated and -voted with the winners announced at the annual NatCon (this year it will be Conflux over the ANZAC Day long weekend). This post is going to focus on the fiction (rather than art or fan) categories, but you can read the full official ballot here.

This year, several books by Aussie women writers have been shortlisted, including some books which have been very popular with AWW reviewers. I’ve included links to some AWW reviews in the list below. You can always look up more reviews on our review list pages (2012, 2013).

Best Novel

Best Novella or Novelette

  • “Flight 404”, Simon Petrie, in Flight 404/The Hunt for Red Leicester (Peggy Bright Books)
  • “Significant Dust”, Margo Lanagan, in Cracklescape (Twelfth Planet Press) — see below for collection reviews
  • “Sky”, Kaaron Warren, in Through Splintered Walls (Twelfth Planet Press) — see below for collection reviews

Best Short Story

  • “Sanaa’s Army”, Joanne Anderton, in Bloodstones (Ticonderoga Publications)
  • “The Wisdom of Ants”, Thoraiya Dyer, in Clarkesworld 75
  • “The Bone Chime Song”, Joanne Anderton, in Light Touch Paper Stand Clear (Peggy Bright Books)
  • “Oracle’s Tower”, Faith Mudge, in To Spin a Darker Stair (FableCroft Publishing)

Note an entirely AWW category for short stories and all the collected works have at least one AWW editor and all contain some (if not all) AWW stories.

Best Collected Work

  • Cracklescape by Margo Lanagan, edited by Alisa Krasnostein (Twelfth Planet Press) — reviews from Mel @ Adventures of a Subversive Reader and Dave Versace
  • Epilogue, edited by Tehani Wessely (FableCroft Publishing)
  • Through Splintered Walls by Kaaron Warren, edited by Alisa Krasnostein (Twelfth Planet Press) — reviews from Mark Webb and Tsana (me)
  • Light Touch Paper Stand Clear, edited by Edwina Harvey and Simon Petrie (Peggy Bright Books)
  • Midnight and Moonshine by Lisa L. Hannett and Angela Slatter, edited by Russell B. Farr (Ticonderoga Publications)
  • The Year’s Best Australian Fantasy and Horror 2011, edited by Liz Grzyb and Talie Helene (Ticonderoga Publications)

cracklescape through-splintered-walls-kaaron-warren