The Australian Horror Writers Association (AHWA) has announced the 2019 winners for what is “the finest in horror and dark fiction published by an Australasian within the calendar year”.
Best Novel
WINNER: Shepherd, Catherine Jinks (Text)
The Flower and the Serpent, Madeleine D’Este (self-published)
Fusion, Kate Richards (Hamish Hamilton Australia)
Best Short Fiction
WINNER: “Steadfast Shadowsong”, Matthew R. Davis (Dig Two Graves)
“Vivienne & Agnes”, Chris Mason (Beside the Seaside: Tales from the Daytripper)
“The Ocean Hushed the Stones”, Alan Baxter (Served Cold)
“Ava Rune”, J.S. Breukelaar (Collision: Stories)
Best Collected Work
WINNER: Served Cold, Alan Baxter (Grey Matter)
Collision: Stories, J.S. Breukelaar (Meerkat)
Figments and Fragments, Deborah Sheldon (IFWG)
Best Edited Work
WINNER: Midnight Echo #14, Deborah Sheldon, ed. (Australasian Horror Writers Association)
Beside the Seaside: Tales from the Day-Tripper, Steve Dillon, ed. (self-published)
Trickster’s Treats #3: The Seven Deadly Sins Edition, Marie O’Regan & Lee Murray, eds. (self-published)
Paul Haines Award for Long Fiction
WINNER: Supermassive Black Mass, Matthew R. Davis (self-published)
“The Neverwhere Line”, Matthew J. Morrison (Midnight Echo #14)
“Out of Darkness”, Chris Mason (Tales of the Lost, Volume 1)
“Enemy of My Enemy”, Rick Kennett (War of the Worlds: Battleground Australia)
1862, C.J. Halbard (Man on Fire)
Best Poetry
WINNER: “Taxonomy of Captured Roses”, Hester J. Rook (Kaleidotrope Autumn ’19)
“Brine and Vanishings”, Hester J. Rook (Liminality #21)
“Please Do Not Feed the Animals”, Anne Casey (out of emptied cups)
“Separation”, Jay Caselberg (The Literary Hatchet #23)
“Ode to a Black Hole”, Charles Lovecraft (Spectral Realms Winter ’19)
“Boat of a Million Years”, Kyla Lee Ward (The Macabre Modern and Other Morbidities)
Rocky Wood Award for Non-Fiction and Criticism
WINNER: “The Danse Macabre”, Kyla Lee Ward (The Macabre Modern and Other Morbidities)
“Suffer the Little Children”, Kris Ashton (Aurealis #119)
“Horror and the paranormal”, Eugen Bacon (Writing Speculative Fiction)
“Horror Movies That Mean Something and Childhood Trauma Manifested”, Maria Lewis (flicks.com.au)
Best Graphic Novel
WINNER: DCeased, Tom Taylor & Trevor Hairsine (DC)
The Eldritch Kid: The Bone War, Christian D. Read & Paul Mason (Gestalt)
“Matinee”, Emmet O’Cuana & David Parsons (Something Wicked 2019)
“Geebung Polo Club”, Jason Fischer & Shauna O’Meara (Skellington #1)
For more information, please visit the AHWA website.