THE AURORA SHORT-LIST OF NOMINEES IS OUT!

WELL, I HAVE SOME EXCITING NEWS! As some of you already know, the ballot list is out for the short-listed nominees for the Aurora. The information isn't out yet on the CSFFA website, but it will be shortly, along with nominee's bios, etc. I'm not jumping the gun by posting the list now, as folks have already been talking about it and congratulating the nominees on Facebook. And, Ta Dah! Both Suzenyms (under Best English Related Work) and The Tattooed Witch (under Best English Novel) are up for an Aurora! I'm so pleased! If you nominated me, thank you for your support, and congratulations to all nominees! Here is the ballot, as it was sent to me last night:

Best English Novel

1.     Red Planet Blues by Robert J. Sawyer, Penguin Canada

2.     River of Stars by Guy Gavriel Kay, Viking Canada

3.     The Tattooed Witch by Susan MacGregor, Five Rivers Publishing

4.     Tombstone Blues by Chadwick Ginther, Ravenstone Books

5.     A Turn of Light by Julie E. Czerneda, DAW Books

 Best English YA (Young Adult) Novel

1.     The Ehrich Weisz Chronicles: Demon Gate by Marty Chan, Fitzhenry & Whiteside

2.     Ink by Amanda Sun, Harlequin Teen

3.     The Lake and the Library by S.M. Beiko, ECW Press

4.     Out of Time by D.G. Ladroute, Five Rivers Publishing

5.     Resolve by Neil Godbout, Bundoran Press

6.     The Rising by Kelley Armstrong, Doubleday Canada

Best English Short Fiction

1.     "A Bunny Hug for Karl" by Mike Rimar, Masked Mosaic, Canadian Super Stories, Tyche Books

2.     "Angela and Her Three Wishes" by Eileen Bell, The Puzzle Box, EDGE

3.     "The Awakening of Master March" by Randy McCharles, The Puzzle Box, EDGE

4.     "Ghost in the Machine" by Ryan McFadden, The Puzzle Box, EDGE

5.     "The Gift" by Susan Forest, Urban Green Man, EDGE

6.     "Green Man She Restless" by Billie Milholland, Urban Green Man, EDGE

7.     "Living Bargains" by Suzanne Church, When the Hero Comes Home 2, Dragon Moon Press

 Best English Poem/Song

1.     "A City of Buried Rivers" by Clink, David, The Literary Review of Canada, vol. 21, no. 9, November

2.     "Awake"by Peter Storey, Urban Green Man, EDGE

3.     "The Collected Postcards of Billy the Kid" by Helen Marshall, Postscripts to Darkness, Issue 4, October

4.     "Lost" by Amal El-Mohtar, Strange Horizons, February

5.     "Night Journey: West Coast" by Kernaghan, Eileen, Tesseracts Seventeen: Speculating Canada from Coast to Coast to Coast, EDGE

6.     "Turning the Leaves" by Amal El-Mohtar, Apex Magazine, Issue 55, December

Best English Graphic Novel

1.     Looking for Group by Ryan Sohmer and Lar DeSouza, webcomic

2.     Rock, Paper, Cynic by Peter Chiykowski, webcomic

3.     Weregeek by Alina Pete, webcomic

4.     Wild Game: Sweet Tooth Vol. 6 by Jeff Lemire, Vertigo

Best English Related Work

1.     The Puzzle Box by The Apocalyptic Four, EDGE

2.     Urban Green Man edited by Adria Laycraft and Janice Blaine EDGE

3.     On Spec published by the Copper Pig Writers’ Society

4.     Suzenyms by Susan MacGregor, blog suzenyms.blogspot.ca

5.     Imaginarium 2013: The Best Canadian Speculative Writing edited by Sandra Kasturi and Samantha Beiko, ChiZine Publications

Best Artist

1.     Erik Mohr, cover art for ChiZine Publications

2.     Melissa Mary Duncan, illustrations and cover art

3.     Dan O'Driscoll, covers for Bundoran Press and the SF Aurora banner

4.     Apis Teicher, body of work

5.     Tanya Montini, cover design for The Ehrich Weisz Chronicles: Demon Gate

Best Fan Publications - No award will be given out in this category in 2014 due to insufficient eligible nominees.

Best Fan Music

1.     Brooke Abbey for writing and publishing 12 songs

2.     Debs & Errol for CTRL+ALT+DUETS, EP

3.     Chris Hadfield for his performance of Space Oddity

4.     Kari Maaren for Beowulf Pulled My Arm Off, CD

5.     Devin Melanson, Leslie Hudson and, Kari Maaren for Pirate Elves in Space, CD

 Best Fan Organizational

1.     Evelyn Baker and Alana Otis-Wood, co-chairs Ad Astra, Toronto

2.     S.M. Beiko and Chadwick Ginther, co-chairs Chiaroscuro Reading Series, ChiSeries Winnipeg

3.     Sandra Kasturi and James Bambury, co-chairs Chiaroscuro Reading Series, ChiSeries Toronto

4.     Randy McCharles, chair When Words Collide, Calgary

5.     Matt Moore, chair Ottawa Chiaroscuro Reading Series, ChiSeries Ottawa

6.     Rose Wilson, Art Show Director, VCON 38, Vancouver

 Best Fan Related Work

1.     R. Graeme Cameron, weekly column in Amazing Stories Magazine

2.     Steve Fahnestalk, weekly column in Amazing Stories Magazine

Robert Runté, ”Why I Read Canadian Speculative Fiction: The Social Dimension of Reading”, Scholar Keynote Address at ACCSFF ’13, Toronto

Voting for the awards will begin on May 3rd and will close at midnight (end of day) EDT on Saturday, September 6th, 2014. For further details, check the CSFFA website. The awards will be presented at VCON in Vancouver, Oct 3 – 5, 2014.