AustLit
Notes
-
The category was first presented in 2012 for the 2011 Shadows Awards.
Latest Winners / Recipients
-
Year: 2022
Indexed selectively. Also finalist: Red Ruin, by Aotearoa writers Denver Grenell and Ian Middleton.winner y The Path of Thorns London : Titan , 2022 23254949 2022 single work novel fantasy'Asher Todd comes to live with the mysterious Morwood family as a governess to their children. Asher knows little about being a governess but she is skilled in botany and herbcraft, and perhaps more than that. And she has secrets of her own, dark and terrible – and Morwood is a house that eats secrets. With a monstrous revenge in mind, Asher plans to make it choke. However, she becomes fond of her charges, of the people of the Tarn, and she begins to wonder if she will be able to execute her plan – and who will suffer most if she does. But as the ghosts of her past become harder to control, Asher realises she has no choice.'
Source: Publisher's blurb.
-
Year: 2021
Also finalist: Butcherbird, by Aoteraroa writer Cassie Hart.winner y The Girls Left Behind South Australia : J. P. Townley , 2021 24023806 2021 single work novel'When a deadly pandemic sweeps the world, three-year-old Zoey is left alone, trapped in her house, wondering why Mummy won't wake up; why Daddy never came home; and why the world outside her window has stopped. But as the dead begin to rise, she won't be alone for long.
'Across the country, in a rural Australian community, sisters Merry and Claire think they're saved when the capable, but controlling, Mr Blake rescues them from a frenzied 'grinner'. But when Merry discovers the price she's paid for protection, she's forced to choose between her safety and her sanity.'
Source: Publisher's blurb.
-
Year: 2020
winner y Deception Pass Australia : Dark Crib Publications , 2020 21480279 2020 single work novel horror'Nick Wheeler’s subject matter has always been controversial. A venerated photographer motivated to capture the malign elements of human existence – suicide as illusion and artifice – his career is suddenly in tatters after a near-fatal work accident plunges him into a coma.
'A sleep paralysis victim, Nick’s descent into oblivion ushers him back to where it all began: winters spent in the rugged foothills of Deception Pass. It was here, among the secret grottos and old-growth forests, where ancient forces first showed their hand: Shadow Men capable of paralyzing the body and manipulating generations into serving an otherworldly agenda.
'To survive, Nick must confront the past ... and the Shadows, evermore monstrous disguised by human faces.'
Source : publisher's blurb
-
Year: 2019
winner y Shepherd Melbourne : Text Publishing , 2019 16862888 2019 single work novel historical fiction'Fourteen-year-old convict Tom Clay lives in a shepherd’s hut in the bush, protecting his master’s sheep from wild dogs. When a vicious fellow shepherd returns to ensure there are no witnesses to his crimes, the bush-crafty Tom and his hapless mate Rowdy face a life-and-death battle to survive.'
Source: Publisher's blurb.
-
Year: 2018
winner y Tide of Stone United States of America (USA) : Omnium Gatherum , 2018 14976277 2018 single work novel horror'The Time-Ball Tower of Tempuston houses the worst criminals in history. Given the option of the death penalty or eternal life, they chose eternal life. They have a long time to regret that choice.'
Source: Publisher's blurb.