Congratulations to the Top Manuscripts!

This has been another awesome year of reading, scoring, and discovery during the Aurora Contest. Our hardworking judges carefully considered hundreds of manuscripts over September and October to arrive at the following list of finalists. Congratulations to all the authors who have advanced to the final round.

The group of final round judges is comprised of professionals entrenched in the speculative fiction world. They’ll be reading, scoring, and commenting over the coming weeks to lead us to our winners! We’ll announce those results via livestream in January, so keep an eye on our emails and social media for exact details.

In the meantime, please join me in celebrating the accomplishment of these rising stars of speculative fiction!

Fantasy 

Heartache; Wes Byrd

NIRO; Nikki Diekemper

The Swordmaker; Danika Puhek

The Temple Atoner; Kimberly Cornelius

The Veiled Ember; Sara C. Anderson

Science Fiction

Paradisos; E.J. Cattani

Simulacrum; Kinsey Holt

The Wounded Planet; Avery Simmons Chen

Horror/Paranormal/Supernatural

Boysenberry and Aquamarine; Drake of Ushuaia

Cold Call; W. Tanner Forbes

Nights of the Purple Sky; M.B. Everett

Cross-Genre

City of Lies; Sara Hinton

Curse-Eaters; Emma Heinz

Woven in the Willow; Jessica Benscoter

Adult

A Three-Stranded Cord; Sygal Amitay

Accessions; C. M. Rule

Ruthie’s Magical Pest Control; Elizabeth Shelton

The Last Tale of Vastland; Donald Beck

The Wounded Planet; Avery Simmons Chen

Young Adult

Atlantis Guard; Lucy Peterson

Curse-Eaters; Emma Heinz

Fortress of Faith; Bridgette Huebener

Outcast of Arathea; Hannah DiPasquale

Project: Tess; Allison Cook

Middle Grade

Planet Origin; Reid Echelmeier

The Legends of Elemidon; Stephanie Craig

Winston Ledger and the Pirates of Dominor; Kimberly Cornelius