{"id":34138,"date":"2026-05-12T13:16:57","date_gmt":"2026-05-12T17:16:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.monsffa.ca\/?p=34138"},"modified":"2026-05-12T13:16:57","modified_gmt":"2026-05-12T17:16:57","slug":"csffa-newsletter-may-2026","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.monsffa.ca\/?p=34138","title":{"rendered":"CSFFA Newsletter: May 2026"},"content":{"rendered":"<h4>CSFFA Newsletter: May 2026<\/h4>\n<h6><strong>In this newsletter:<\/strong><\/h6>\n<ul>\n<li>\n<h6><strong>Announcing the 2026 Aurora Award Finalists<\/strong><\/h6>\n<\/li>\n<li>\n<h6><strong>Instructions for Accessing the Aurora Award Voters&#8217; Packet<\/strong><\/h6>\n<\/li>\n<li>\n<h6><strong>Aurora Book Club Meets May 29 on Discord<\/strong><\/h6>\n<\/li>\n<li>\n<h6><strong>You&#8217;re Invited to our Discord community<\/strong><\/h6>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h5><strong>Announcing the 2026 Aurora Award Finalists<\/strong><\/h5>\n<p>This ballot is for Science Fiction, Fantasy, and Horror works originally done in 2025 by Canadians. The Aurora Awards are nominated by members of the Canadian Science Fiction and Fantasy Association. The top five nominated works were selected. Additional works were included where there was a tie for fifth place. An online awards ceremony will be held on Sunday, August 9th, 2026, at 5pm EDT, with hosts Mark Leslie Lefebvre and Elizabeth May Anderson.<\/p>\n<p>Click here for a printable version of the ballot.<\/p>\n<p>Note: Works are sorted by title. Voting will be done online by CSFFA members when they log into their account.<\/p>\n<p>BEST NOVEL<br \/>\nThe Bewitching, Silvia Moreno-Garcia, Del Rey<br \/>\nBlight, Rachel A. Rosen, The BumblePuppy Press<br \/>\nDirect Descendant, Tanya Huff, DAW Books<br \/>\nThe Downloaded 2: Ghosts in the Machine, Robert J. Sawyer, Audible Originals\/Shadowpaw Press<br \/>\nEmily Wilde\u2019s Compendium of Lost Tales, Heather Fawcett, Del Rey<br \/>\nA Shift of Time, Julie E. Czerneda, DAW Books<br \/>\nWritten on the Dark, Guy Gavriel Kay, Viking Canada<\/p>\n<p>BEST YOUNG ADULT (YA) NOVEL<br \/>\nBreath of the Dragon, Shannon Lee &amp; Fonda Lee, Wednesday Books<br \/>\nFireboy, Edward Willett, Shadowpaw Press<br \/>\nA Lion\u2019s Head, D.M. De Alwis, Ahasae Tharu Publications<br \/>\nMinotaur, Jamieson Wolf, Rebel Satori Press<br \/>\nOne Morning Sun, Avi Silver, Molewhale Press<br \/>\nWinging It, Jen Desmarais, Renaissance Press<\/p>\n<p>BEST NOVELETTE\/NOVELLA<br \/>\nThe First Thousand Trees, Premee Mohamed, ECW Press<br \/>\n\u201cIn the Gardener\u2019s Service\u201c, Mich\u00e8le Laframboise, Asimov\u2019s, July\/August<br \/>\n\u201cThe Lure of Stone\u201c, Silvia Moreno-Garcia, Uncanny Magazine, Issue Sixty-Six<br \/>\nA Palace Near the Wind, Ai Jiang, Titan Books<br \/>\nThe River Has Roots, Amal El-Mohtar, Tordotcom<\/p>\n<p>BEST SHORT STORY<br \/>\n\u201cHunted To Extinction\u201c, Premee Mohamed, Gallery Books<br \/>\n\u201cI Ain\u2019t Your Doll Face\u201c, Jacqueline Thorpe, Polar Borealis Magazine #33<br \/>\n\u201cthe love song of house and lake\u201c, Gillian Secord, On Spec Magazine, Issue #133<br \/>\n\u201cThe Stone Played at Tengen\u201c, R.H. Wesley, Clarkesworld Magazine, Issue 230<br \/>\n\u201cWhat If We Kissed While Sinking a Billionaire\u2019s Yacht?\u201c, Rachel A. Rosen, Antifa Lit Journal, Volume 1<\/p>\n<p>BEST GRAPHIC NOVEL\/COMIC<br \/>\nAtana and the Jade Mermaid, Vivian Zhou, HarperAlley<br \/>\n\u201cBonds of the Forest\u201c, Ally Rom Colthoff, Augur Magazine, Issue 8.3<br \/>\nIt Never Rains, Kari Maaren, webcomic<br \/>\nQuestionable Content, Jeph Jacques, webcomic<br \/>\nShark Girl, Kate Beaton, Roaring Brook Press<\/p>\n<p>BEST POEM\/SONG<br \/>\n\u201cAt the Spaceport Bar\u201c, Lisa Timpf, Polar Starlight Magazine #17<br \/>\n\u201cBigfoot Farewell\u201c, Carolyn Clink, Cryptids, Kaiju &amp; Corn: Poems and Micro-Stories about Modern Midwest Monsters<br \/>\n\u201cDragon Karaoke\u201c, David Clink, Polar Starlight, Issue #18<br \/>\n\u201cExplosive\u201c, Derek Newman-Stille, Polar Starlight #20<br \/>\n\u201cflowers without meadow\u201c, Tiffany Morris, Eye to the Telescope #56<br \/>\n\u201cFrom Dust\u201c, J. Y. Zhang, Small Wonders<\/p>\n<p>BEST RELATED WORK<br \/>\nAs the Earth Dreams: Black Canadian Speculative Stories, Terese Mason Pierre, House of Anansi Press<br \/>\nAugur Magazine, Issues 8.1-8.3, Kerry C. Byrne, Toria Liao, Andr\u00e9 Geleynse, Kelley Tai, and Azure Arther<br \/>\nOn Spec Magazine, Issues #131 \u2013 134, Vol 35, Diane L. Walton, Managing Editor, The Copper Pig Writers\u2019 Society, Publisher<br \/>\nOne Message Remains, Premee Mohamed, Psychopomp<br \/>\nYear\u2019s Best Canadian Fantasy and Science Fiction: Volume Three, Stephen Kotowych, Editor, Ansible Press<\/p>\n<p>BEST COVER ART\/INTERIOR ILLUSTRATION<br \/>\nDancing With the Holly King, Janice Blaine, On Spec Magazine, Issue #134<br \/>\nSeance, Alice M., Heartlines Spec, Issue 7<br \/>\nLunar Base, Dan O\u2019Driscoll, On Spec Magazine, Issue #132<br \/>\nStarship Librarians, Lorna Antoniazzi, Tyche Books Ltd.<br \/>\nListen to Me and I\u2019ll tell You a Story, Ejiwa \u201cEdge\u201d Ebenebe, Uncanny Magazine, Issue Sixty-Six<\/p>\n<p>BEST FAN WRITING AND PUBLICATION<br \/>\nAmazing Stories online columns, Numbers 405-420, Steve Fahnestalk, AmazingStories.com<br \/>\nBook Reviews in The Ottawa Review of Books, Robert Runt\u00e9<br \/>\nPolar Starlight Magazine, Issues 17-20, Rhea E. Rose, editor<br \/>\nSpeculative Poetry and the Hugos, Lynne Sargent, Strange Horizons<br \/>\nYoung People Read Old Science Fiction, James Davis Nicoll, online<\/p>\n<p>BEST FAN RELATED WORK<br \/>\nCan*Con, Marie Bilodeau, chair and Brandon Crilly, vice-chair, Ottawa<br \/>\nScintillation, Jo Walton and Rene Walling, co-chairs, Montreal<br \/>\nTwo Old Farts Talk Sci-Fi, Troy Harkin and David Clink, podcast<br \/>\nWizards &amp; Spaceships, Rachel A. Rosen and David L. Clink, podcast, Night Beats<br \/>\nThe Worldshapers Podcast, Edward Willett<br \/>\n2026 Aurora Awards Voters\u2019 Package<\/p>\n<p><strong>This year\u2019s Aurora Voters\u2019 Package is now available for CSFFA members to download.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>The purpose of the Voters\u2019 Package is simple: Before you vote for the Aurora Awards this year, we want you to be able to read as many of the nominated works as possible, so you can make an informed decision about what your favourite works are from this year\u2019s ballot.<\/p>\n<p>Each download file contains a List and Links PDF document for that specific category. This document tells you what files are contained in the Zip folder along with any web links.<\/p>\n<p>For a complete list of what is in all download files we have created a special PDF that you can read before you start to download, Complete Aurora Voters Package lists and links<\/p>\n<p>Voting for the Auroras begins: June 6 and closes July 18 at 11:59 EDT.<\/p>\n<p>NOTE: This download page will close on July 12th (Sunday). This is almost one week before voting closes. You can still get a CSFFA membership for 2026 and access the Voters&#8217; Package at any time up until this point. Please, make sure that you have downloaded any works you wish to read prior to this date.<\/p>\n<p>The e-versions of the Aurora Awards nominated works are made available to you through the generosity of the nominees and publishers. We are grateful for their participation and willingness to share with CSFFA members. We have made each category a separate file so we can track how many times a work is downloaded. If you like what you read, please support the creators by purchasing their works, which are available in bookstores and online.<\/p>\n<p>The works in the Aurora Awards Voters\u2019 Package are without Digital Rights Management, because the authors and publishers trust that you will use this Aurora Awards Voters\u2019 Package as it was intended \u2013 to help you make the best choice for the Aurora Awards. Due to this generosity, any downloads are for your personal use only and not to be shared.<\/p>\n<p>E-books will be in one or more of the following formats: Adobe Reader (.pdf) or eReader (.epub and mobi).<\/p>\n<p>This year\u2019s awards ceremony will be held online on Sunday, August 9th starting at 5pm EDT. It will be livestreamed on YouTube. The link to the ceremony will be posted and announced in our newsletter in early August.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Aurora Book Club May Updates<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>For the month of May 2026 with the Aurora Awards Retrospective Book Club, we&#8217;re reading Book 2 of Guy Gavriel Kay&#8217;s The Fionavar Tapestry, The Wandering Fire.<\/p>\n<p>MAY BOOK CLUB MEETING: May 29, 8:00pm EDT \/ 5:00 PM PDT on Discord<\/p>\n<p>More info on the book club:<\/p>\n<p>Starting in January 2026, we\u2019re inviting everyone to join us for the Aurora Awards Retrospective Book Club. The aim of the Book Club is to read every \u201cBest Novel\u201d Aurora Award winner in the association\u2019s history, in time for CSFFA&#8217;s 50th anniversary. We envision the book club wrapping up by the proposed Edmonton Worldcon in 2030, where we hope to host some form of anniversary celebration.<\/p>\n<p>Learn more about the book club, how it works, and see the full schedule at the book club page of the CSFFA website.<\/p>\n<p>We&#8217;re happy to announce that CSFFA is joining the great Discord bandwagon, and has created a community server where fans, readers, creators, and all Canadian SFF enthusiasts can gather online to discuss Canadian speculative fiction and the Aurora Awards. The Discord server is open to the public, and you can join us using this link.<\/p>\n<p>(Sometimes Discord invite links don&#8217;t work as intended, so if you find that to be the case, please reach out and we&#8217;ll try to get you sorted.)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>CSFFA Newsletter: May 2026 In this newsletter: Announcing the 2026 Aurora Award Finalists Instructions for Accessing the Aurora Award Voters&#8217; Packet Aurora Book Club Meets May 29 on Discord You&#8217;re Invited to our Discord community Announcing the 2026 Aurora Award Finalists This ballot is for Science Fiction, Fantasy, and Horror works originally done in 2025 &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/www.monsffa.ca\/?p=34138\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">CSFFA Newsletter: May 2026<\/span> <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":645,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[398,59],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-34138","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-awards","category-csffa-aurora-award-hall-of-fame"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.monsffa.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34138","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.monsffa.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.monsffa.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.monsffa.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/645"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.monsffa.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=34138"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.monsffa.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34138\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":34139,"href":"https:\/\/www.monsffa.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34138\/revisions\/34139"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.monsffa.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=34138"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.monsffa.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=34138"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.monsffa.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=34138"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}