Aminder Dhaliwal, Sarah Raughley and Fonda Lee among 2019 Aurora Award finalists
CBC Books | | Posted: June 3, 2019 4:56 PM | Last Updated: June 3, 2019
Woman World by Aminder Dhaliwal, Legacy of Light by Sarah Raughley and Cross Fire by Fonda Lee are among the books nominated for the 2019 Aurora Awards, an annual literary event celebrating Canadian science fiction and fantasy.
Dhaliwal is nominated in the best graphic novel category for her debut book Woman World. A collection of her popular Instagram comic strip, Woman World takes place in a future where a birth defect has wiped out the male gender and leaves an environmentally-depleted planet populated entirely by women. Only granny remembers a time of mall cop heroes and "that's what she said" jokes.
Here are all the best graphic novel nominees:
- Crash and Burn by Finn Lucullan and Kate Larking
- FUTILITY: Orange Planet Horror by Rick Overwater and Cam Hayden
- It Never Rains by Kari Maaren
- Krampus Is My Boyfriend! by S.M. Beiko
- Woman World by Aminder Dhaliwal
Raughley is among the best young adult novel finalists for the third book in her Effigies series, Legacy of Light. The fantasy novel takes place in a world where four girls with elemental powers are tasked to save the world, until it turns on them in the face of a rising dark order.
Lee is also nominated in the young adult category for Cross Fire, a book in her Exo series. The novel envisions a future where Earth has been colonized by aliens, who maintain a peaceful co-existence until a sudden order to "withdraw" leaves the planet vulnerable to hostile invasion.
Lee won two Aurora Awards in 2018, including best novel for Jade City and best YA novel for Exo.
Here are all the best young adult novel nominees:
- Children of the Bloodlands: The Realms of Ancient by S.M. Beiko
- Cross Fire: An Exo Novel by Fonda Lee
- The Emerald Cloth by Clare C. Marshall
- Exit Plans for Teenage Freaks by Nathan Burgoine
- Finding Atlantis by J.M. Dover
- Legacy of Light by Sarah Raughley
- The Sign of Faust by Éric Desmarais
- Timefall by Alison Lohans
Southern Alberta writer C.L. Polk is a nominee in the best novel category for her debut book Witchmark. The fantasy novel follows a war veteran named Miles Singer, who works as a doctor and must hide his magical healing gifts.
The book was a 2018 Nebula Award nominee and a 2019 Lambda Literary Award finalist for LBGTQ/SF/F/horror.
Here are all the best novel nominees:
- Armed in Her Fashion by Kate Heartfield
- Graveyard Mind by Chadwick Ginther
- One of Us by Craig DiLouie
- They Promised Me The Gun Wasn't Loaded by James Alan Gardner
- The Quantum Magician by Derek Künsken
- Witchmark by C. L. Polk
Members of the Canadian Science Fiction & Fantasy Association will vote for the winners. They will be revealed at Can-Con 2019 in Ottawa from Oct. 18-20, 2019.