Chimaera Publications is a publisher based in

Mount Waverley, Victoria Mount Waverley is a suburb in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, south-east of Melbourne's Central Business District, located within the City of Monash local government area. Mount Waverley recorded a population of 35,340 at the 2021 census. ...

, Australia. The company currently publishes the speculative fiction magazine ''

Aurealis ''Aurealis'' is an Australian speculative fiction magazine published by Chimaera Publications, and is Australia's longest running small-press science-fiction and fantasy magazine. The magazine is based in Melbourne. History and profile ''Aurea ...

'' as well as running the

Aurealis Awards The Aurealis Award for Excellence in Speculative Fiction is an annual literary award for Australian science fiction, fantasy and horror fiction. Only Australians are eligible for the award. History The Aurealis Award was established in 1995 ...

History

Chimaera Publications begun publishing the ''Aurealis'' magazine in 1990. In 1995 Chimaera established the

which is held yearly to reward the achievement in Australian speculative fiction. Chimaera also publishes books and in 2004 they published the multi-award-winning novel ''

The Black Crusade ''The Black Crusade'' is a 2004 horror novel by Richard Harland. It is a prequel to Harland's earlier novel '' The Vicar of Morbing Vyle''. It describes the journey of the hapless Basil Smorta, a multilingual bank clerk, who is forced into the co ...

'' by Richard Harland. ''The Black Crusade'' won the 2004 Aurealis Award for best horror novel and was named the 2004

Golden Aurealis novel Golden means made of, or relating to gold. Golden may also refer to: Places United Kingdom *Golden, in the parish of Probus, Cornwall * Golden Cap, Dorset *Golden Square, Soho, London *Golden Valley, a valley on the River Frome in Gloucestersh ...

. It was a short-list nominee for the 2005

Ditmar Award The Ditmar Award (formally the Australian SF ("Ditmar") Award; formerly the "Australian Science Fiction Achievement Award") has been awarded annually since 1969 at the Australian National Science Fiction Convention (the "Natcon") to recognise ...

for best novel. The artwork featured on the cover of ''The Black Crusade'' also won the 2005 Ditmar award for best artwork for

Kerri Valkova Kerry or Kerri may refer to: * Kerry (name), a given name and surname of Gaelic origin (including a list of people with the name) Places * Kerry, Queensland, Australia * County Kerry, Ireland ** Kerry Airport, an international airport in County ...

''Aurealis'' magazine

''Aurealis'' was first released in April 1990 and was edited by Dirk Strasser and Stephen Higgins. It is currently edited by Stuart Mayne. In 1993 it was a short-list nominee for the

for best periodical, losing to the '' Eidolon (Australian magazine)'' magazine. In 1999 it was a short-list nominee for the Ditmar Award for best Australian magazine or anthology, losing to

Jack Dann Jack Dann (born February 15, 1945) is an American writer best known for his science fiction, an editor and a writing teacher, who has lived in Australia since 1994. He has published over seventy books, in the majority of cases as editor or co-edit ...

and

Janeen Webb Janeen Webb (''née'' Pemberton) is an Australian writer, critic and editor, working mainly in the field of science fiction and fantasy. Biography The daughter of a Second World War Australian Army commando and salesman, Webb was brought up in ...

's ''

Dreaming Down-Under ''Dreaming Down-Under'' is a 1998 speculative fiction anthology edited by Jack Dann and Janeen Webb. Background ''Dreaming Down-Under'' was first published in Australia in November 1998 by Voyager Books in trade paperback format. In 1999 and ...

''. The artwork also received nominations at the Ditmar Awards Trudi Canavan was a finalist for best professional artwork for the cover ''Aurealis'' #17 as well as her work on ''Eidolon'' #22/23 but lost to

Elizabeth Kyle Elizabeth or Elisabeth may refer to: People * Elizabeth (given name), a female given name (including people with that name) * Elizabeth (biblical figure), mother of John the Baptist Ships * HMS ''Elizabeth'', several ships * ''Elisabeth'' (sch ...

's cover of '' Dream Weavers'' and Adam Duncan was a short-list nominee for best artwork in 2009 but lost to

Shaun Tan Shaun Tan (born 1973) is an Australian artist, writer and film maker. He won an Academy Award for '' The Lost Thing'', a 2011 animated film adaptation of a 2000 picture book he wrote and illustrated. Other books he has written and illustrated inc ...

's '' Tales from Outer Suburbia''. The magazine has featured short stories which have been short-listed and won literary awards. These stories have won five

and a Ditmar Award and have been short-list nominees at these awards on 21 other occasions.

Aurealis Awards

The Aurealis Awards have been running since 1995 and were developed to award work in speculative fiction. They were administered by

Fantastic Queensland The fantastic (french: le fantastique) is a subgenre of literary works characterized by the ambiguous presentation of seemingly supernatural forces. Bulgarian-French structuralist literary critic Tzvetan Todorov originated the concept, characte ...

from 2004 to 2010 in partnership with Chimaera. The Aurealis Awards were created to differ from the

and the

Australian Children’s Book Council Awards The Children's Book Council of Australia Awards was started by the Children's Book Council of Australia (CBCA) in 1946 with one category. The awards have grown and now there are five categories in the ''Book of the Year Awards'' and numerous oth ...

which don't distinguish between different genres of speculative fiction. The Aurealis Awards give separate awards for fantasy, horror and science fiction works across different age ranges.

References

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External links

Official site for the ''Aurealis''
Australian speculative fiction publishers Companies based in Melbourne Science fiction publishers