Kaaron Warren

Kaaron Warren is an Australian author of horror, science fiction, and fantasy short stories and novels.

Kaaron Warren
In June 2024
Occupation	Writer
Nationality	Australian
Genre	Speculative fiction Horror fiction

She is the author of the short story collections Through Splintered Walls, The Grinding House, and Dead Sea Fruit. Her short stories have won Australian Shadows Awards, Ditmar Awards and Aurealis Awards.

Her six novels are Slights, Walking the Tree, Mistification (published by Angry Robot), The Grief Hole, Tide of Stone, and The Underhistory.

Kaaron was Special Guest at the 2013 Australian National Science Fiction Convention.

Bibliography

In 2007

Novels

• Slights (Angry Robot, July 2009 [UK, Australia]/September 2010 [US/rest of world]) ISBN 978-0-85766-007-7 (US)
• Walking the Tree (Angry Robot, February 2010 [UK/Australia]/January 2011 [US/rest of world]) ISBN 978-0-85766-043-5 (US)
• Mistification (Angry Robot, June 2011 [UK, Australia]/July 2011 [US/rest of world) ISBN 978-0-85766-108-1 (UK), ISBN 978-0-85766-109-8 (US)
• The Grief Hole (IFWG Publishing Australia, August 2016 [Worldwide-Hardcover August 2016] ISBN 978-1-925496-05-5, [Worldwide -Trade paperback August 2016] ISBN 978-1-925496-04-8)
• Tide of Stone (Omnium Gatherum Media, April 2018) ISBN 978-0615827995
• The Underhistory (Viper, April 2024) ISBN 9781800812024

Contributed chapters

• In: Sherlock Holmes: the Australian casebook: all new Holmes stories (Victoria Echo, a division of Bonnier Publishing Australia, November 2017) ISBN 9781760404673
• In: Evil is a matter of perspective: an anthology of antagonists (Grimdark Magazine, April 2017) ISBN 9780648010562

Collections

• The Gate Theory (Cohesion Press, 2013)
• Through Splintered Walls (Twelfth Planet Press, 2012)
• The Grinding House (CSFG Publishing, 2005) ISBN 0-9581390-3-2
• Dead Sea Fruit (Ticonderoga Publications, 2010)

Short fiction

• "White Bed" (1993) in Shrieks
• "The Blue Stream" (1994) in Aurealis No. 14 (ed. Stephen Higgins, Dirk Strasser)
• "The Salamander" (1994) in Don't Cross the Water and Other Warnings
• "Summer Coming" (1994) in Narcissus Magazine No. 10
• "The Wrong Seat" (1994) in Calling Up the Devil and Associated Misdemeanours
• "The First Interview" (1995) in UQ Social Alternatives Magazine, Volume 14, No. 3
• "Loud Music" (1995) in Spies, Lies and Watching Eyes
• "The Paper Room" (1995) in Going Down Swinging No. 15
• "Skin Holes" (1995) in Strange Fruit (ed. Paul Collins)
• "The Hanging People" (1996) in Bloodsongs No. 7 (ed. Steve Proposch)
• "A Positive" (1998) in Bloodsongs No. 10
• "The Glass Woman" (1998) in Aurealis No. 22 (ed. Stephen Higgins, Dirk Strasser)
• "My Smile" (1999) in Nasty Snips (ed. Christopher C. Teague)
• "The School Fair" (1999) in Ghosts and Ghoulies (ed. Paul Collins, Meredith Costain)
• "The Left Behind" (2000) in Orb Speculative Fiction No. 1 (ed. Sarah Endacott)
• "The Speaker of Heaven" (2001) in Orb Speculative Fiction No. 2 (ed. Sarah Endacott)
• "Survival of the Last (2001) in Aurealis #27/28 (ed. Dirk Strasser, Stephen Higgins)
• "State of Oblivion" (2003) in Elsewhere (ed. Michael Barry)
• "Bone Dog" (2003) in Agog! Terrific Tales (ed. Cat Sparks)
• "Guarding the Mound" (2004) in Encounters (ed. Maxine McArthur, Donna Maree Hanson)
• "The Capture Diamonds" (2005), in Shadow Box
• "Doll Money" (2005) in Fables and Reflections, No. 7
• "Fresh Young Widow" (2005) in The Grinding House
• "The Grinding House" (2005) in The Grinding House
• "The Smell of Mice" (2005) in The Grinding House
• "Smoke" (2005) in The Grinding House
• "Smoko" (2005) in The Grinding House
• "The Sameness of Birthdays" (2005) in The Grinding House
• "Tiger Kill" (2005) in The Grinding House
• "Working for the God of the Love of Money " (2005) in The Grinding House
• "Al's Iso Bar" (2005) in The Grinding House
• "The Gibbet Bell" (2006) in Borderlands No. 7
• "The Softening" (2006) in Shadowed Realms No. 9
• "Woman Train" (2006) in The Outcast (ed. Nicole R. Murphy)
• "Dead Sea Fruit" (2006) in Fantasy magazine (ed. Sean Wallace)
• " Ghost Jail" (2007) in 2012 (ed. Alisa Krasnostein and Ben Payne)
• "Cooling the Crows" (2007) in In Bad Dreams, Volume One: Where Real Life Awaits (ed. Mark S. Deniz, Sharyn Lilley)
• "Coalescence" (2007) in Aurealis #37 (ed. Stephen Higgins, Stuart Mayne)
• "His Lipstick Minx" (2007) in The Workers' Paradise
• "Polish" (2007) in Andromeda Spaceways Inflight Magazine No. 28 (ed. Zara Baxter)
• "The Census-Taker's Tale" (2008) in Canterbury 2100 (ed. Dirk Flinthart)
• "Buster and Corky" (2008) in Scary Food (ed. Cat Sparks)
• "Down to the Silver Spirits" (2008) in Paper Cities: An Anthology of Urban Fantasy (ed. Ekaterina Sedia)
• "The Edge of a Thing" (2009) in The Edge of a Thing
• "Tontine Mary" (2009) in New Ceres Nights (ed. Alisa Krasnostein)
• "The Gaze Dogs of Nine Waterfall" (2009) in Exotic Gothic 3 (ed. Danel Olson)
• "The Tell" (2009) in Poe (ed. Ellen Datlow)
• "That Girl" (2010) in Haunted Legends (ed. Ellen Datlow, Nick Mamatas)
• "Hive of Glass" (2010) in Baggage (ed. Gillian Polack)
• "The New Rat in Town " (2010) in Worlds Next Door (ed. Tehani Wessely)
• "Purity " (2010) in Scenes from the Second Storey (ed. Mark Deniz)
• "Loss" (2010) in Sprawl (ed. Alisa Krasnostein)
• "Sins of the Ancestors" (2010) in Dead Sea Fruit (ed. Alisa Krasnostein)
• "The Coral Gatherer" (2010) in Dead Sea Fruit (ed. Russell Farr)
• "The List of Definite Endings" (2011) in Teeth (ed. Ellen Datlow and Terri Windling)
• "The Five Loves of Ishtar" (2011) in Ishtar (ed. Amanda Pillar and K. V Taylor)
• "All You Can Do Is Breathe" (2011) in Blood and Other Cravings (ed. Ellen Datlow)
• "Lucky Fingers" (2011) in Steampunk Cookbook (ed. Sharyn Lilley)
• "The Rude Little Girl" (2011) in Black Static Magazine Real Horror issue (ed. Christopher Fowler and Maura McHugh
• "The History Thief" (2012) in Visions Fading Fast (ed. Gary McMahon)
• "Blame the Neighbours" (2012) in Slices of Flesh (ed. Stan Swanson)
• "The River of Memory" (2012) in Robots vs Zombies (ed. Jeff Conner)
• "The Pickwick Syndrome" (2012) in Stories of the Smoke (ed. Jared Shurin and Anne C. Perry)
• "The Unwanted Women of Surrey" (2012) in Queen Victoria's Book of Spells (ed. Ellen Datlow)
• "Blood is Blood" (2013) in Twisted Histories (ed. Scott Harrison)
• "Eleanor Atkins is Dead and Her House is Boarded Up" (2014) in SQ Mag Edition 14 (ed. Sophie Yorkston)
• "Exurbia" (2021) in Out of the Ruins, edited by Preston Grassman, Titan Books ISBN 978-1789097399

Reprints in Year's Best Anthologies

• "The River of Memory" (2012) in Year's Best Australian Fantasy and Horror (Ticonderoga Publications, ed. Talie Helene)
• "All You Can Do Is Breathe" (2012) in Year's Best Horror and Fantasy (Prime Books, ed. Paula Guran)
• "All You Can Do Is Breathe" (2012) in Najlepsze horrory (Best Horror Stories) anthology (Poland) (ed. Bartlomiej Paszylk)
• "That Girl" (2011) in Year's Best Australian Fantasy and Horror anthology (Ticonderoga Publications, ed. Talie Helene)
• "The Census-Taker's Tale" (2010) in Year's Best Science Fiction and Fantasy anthology (Mirrordanse Books, ed. Bill Congreve and Michelle Marquardt)
• "Polish" (2010) in Best Horror anthology (ASIM, ed. Juliet Bathory and Mark Farrugia)
• "The Gaze Dogs of Nine Waterfall" (2010) in Year's Best Horror 2 anthology (NightShade Books, ed. Ellen Datlow)
• "Dead Sea Fruit" (2006) in Year's Best Horror and Fantasy 20 (Tor Books, ed. Ellen Datlow, Gavin Grant and Kelly Link)
• "Dead Sea Fruit" (2006) in Year's Best Science Fiction and Fantasy (Mirrordanse Books, ed. Bill Congreve and Michelle Marquardt)
• "Fresh Young Widow" (2006) in Year's Best Horror (Brimstone Press, ed. Angela Challis)
• "Fresh Young Widow" (2006) in Year's Best Science Fiction and Fantasy (Mirrordanse Books, ed. Bill Congreve and Michelle Marquardt)

Awards

Wins

Year	Award name/type	Title	References
1999	Aurealis Award, Horror short story	A Positive
2006	ACT Writing and Publishing Award, fiction	The Grinding House
	Ditmar Award, Novella/novelette	The Grinding House
	Ditmar Award, Short story	Fresh Young Widow
2009	Australian Shadows Award, Best Novel	Slights
	Canberra Critics Circle Fiction Award	Slights
2010	Ditmar Award, Best Novel	Slights
2011	ACT Writing and Publishing Awards, Fiction	Dead Sea Fruit
2012	Ditmar Award, Best Collected Work	Through Splintered Walls
	Canberra Critics Circle Fiction Award	Through Splintered Walls
	Australian Shadows Award, Best Collected Work	Through Splintered Walls
	Aurealis Award, Best Horror Story	Sky
	Australian Shadows Award, Best Novella	Sky
2013	Aurealis Awards for Excellence in Australian Speculative Fiction, Science Fiction Division, Best Short Story	Air, Water and the Grove: The Lowest Heaven, Focus 2013: Highlights of Australian Short Fiction, 2013
	Australian Shadows Award, Paul Haines Shadow Award for Long Fiction	The Unwanted Women of Surrey: Queen Victoria's Book of Spells: An Anthology of Gaslamp Fantasy, 2013
	Shirley Jackson Awards: Novella	Sky
	Ditmar Award, Best Novella	Sky
	ACT Writing and Publishing Awards, Non-fiction-Fiction	Through Splintered Walls
2015	Australian Shadows Award, Short Fiction
2016	Australian Shadows Award, Novel	The Grief Hole
	Aurealis Awards for Excellence in Australian Speculative Fiction, Horror Division, Novel	The Grief Hole
2017	Ditmar Award, Best Novel	The Grief Hole
2021	Ditmar Award, Short Story	The Calenture
2022	Ditmar Award, Short Story	The King in Yella
	Ditmar Award, Collection	Tool Tales (with Ellen Datlow)
2023	Ditmar Award, Best Novella or Novelette	Remnants and Bad Water
		The Smell of Waiting
	Ditmar Award, Best Short Story	Everything so slow and quiet
2024	Ditmar Award, Best Novella or Novelette	Bitters
2025	Ditmar Award, Best Novel	The Underhistory
	Ditmar Award, Best Collection	Calvaria Fell (with Cat Sparks)

Nominations

Year	Award name/type	Title	References
1996	Aurealis Award, Horror short story	Skin Holes
1996	Aurealis Award, Fantasy short story	The Blue Stream
1997	Aurealis Award, Horror short story	The Hanging People
1998	Aurealis Award, Horror short story	The Glass Woman
2001	Aurealis Award, Fantasy short story	The Left Behind
2002	Aurealis Award, Fantasy short story	The Speaker of Heaven
2004	Aurealis Award, Science Fiction short story	State of Oblivion
2006	Ditmar Award, Collected work	The Grinding House
	Australian Shadows Award	The Grinding House
2007	Aurealis Award, Horror short story	Woman Train
	Aurealis Award, Horror short story	Dead Sea Fruit
2008	Ditmar Award, Short story	His Lipstick Minx
2009	Aurealis Award, Best Horror Short Story	The Gaze Dogs of Nine Waterfall
	Australian Shadows Award, Best Short Story	The Gaze Dogs of Nine Waterfall
	Aurealis Awards for Excellence in Australian Speculative Fiction, Best Horror Novel	Slights
2010	Aurealis Awards for Excellence in Australian Speculative Fiction, Best Collection	Dead Sea Fruit
	Ditmar Award, Best Short Story	Tontine Mary: New Ceres Nights, Dead Sea Fruit
	Ditmar Award, Best Novel	Walking the Tree
	Ned Kelly Awards for Crime Writing, Best First Novel	Slights
2011	Aurealis Awards for Excellence in Australian Speculative Fiction, Anthology Division	Ishtar
	Bram Stoker Award (Final Ballot), Superior Achievement in Short Fiction	All You Can Do Is Breathe
	Ditmar Award, Best Horror Story	All You Can Do Is Breathe
2012	Shirley Jackson Award, Best Novella	Sky
	Australian Shadows Award, Best Short Story	Road
	Australian Shadows Award, Best Short Story	Mountain
	Australian Shadows Award, Best Short Story	Creek
	Aurealis Awards for Excellence in Australian Speculative Fiction, Science Fiction Division, Best Short Story	Lighthouse Keeper’s Club
	Aurealis Awards for Excellence in Australian Speculative Fiction, Best Collection	Through Splintered Walls
2013	Aurealis Awards for Excellence in Australian Speculative Fiction, Horror Division, Best Short Story	The Human Moth: The Grimscribe's Puppets, 2013
2014	Ditmar Awards, Best Short Story	Air, Water and the Grove: The Lowest Heaven, Focus 2013: Highlights of Australian Short Fiction, 2013
2015	Australian Shadows Award, Edited Publication	Midnight Echo: The Magazine of the Australian Horror Writers Association, no. 11 April 2015
	Aurealis Awards for Excellence in Australian Speculative Fiction, Science Fiction Division, Short Story	Witnessing: The Canary Press Story Magazine, no. 6 December 2015
	World Fantasy Award, Best Short Fiction	Death's Door Cafe: Shadows and Tall Trees, Spring no. 6 Focus 2014: Highlights of Australian Short Fiction, Nightmare, no. 43, April 2014
2016	Australian Shadows Award, Short Fiction	All Roll Over
	Aurealis Awards for Excellence in Australian Speculative Fiction, Science Fiction Division, Short Story	68 Days Tomorrow's Cthulhu: Stories at the Dawn of Posthumanity
	Aurealis Awards for Excellence in Australian Speculative Fiction, Horror Division, Short Story	68 Days Tomorrow's Cthulhu: Stories at the Dawn of Posthumanity
2019	Ditmar Awards, Novel	Tide of Stone
2020	Ditmar Awards, Short Story	into bones like oil
2021	Australian Shadows Award, Collected Works	Tool Tales
	Australian Shadows Award, Short Fiction	The Steering Wheel Club
	Australian Shadows Award, Non-fiction	Capturing Ghosts on the Page
2023	Ditmar Awards, Short Story	Songs We Sing at Sea are the Lies We Tell Ourselves
2024	Ditmar Awards, Novella or Novelette	The Deathplace Set
	Ditmar Awards, Collected Work	Vandal: Stories of Damage
2025	Ditmar Awards, Novella or Novelette	The Emporium
	Ditmar Awards, Short Story	Bright Hearts
2026	Ditmar Awards, Short Story	Bitter Skin
	Ditmar Awards, Fan Art	Brave New Wardrobe, Conflux 19 art show

External links

• Official website
• Kaaron Warren Interview by Ben Peek
• Kaaron Warren Interview for Horrorscope Archived 5 May 2007 at the Wayback Machine
• Kaaron Warren at the Internet Speculative Fiction Database