2018 Bram Stoker Awards

[mhatchett]

Great to see many of our favorite publishers getting a shout out!!! Congrats CD and everyone else!!

[RonClinton]

I'm really out of the popular loop, it appears...I've only read one from this entire Final Ballot list, Tremblay's THE CABIN AT THE END OF THE WORLD (though I did give -- and continue to give -- strong consideration to Katsu's THE HUNGER).


Final ballot:

Superior Achievement in a Novel

Katsu, Alma – The Hunger (G.P. Putnam’s Sons)

Maberry, Jonathan – Glimpse (St. Martin’s Press)

Malerman, Josh – Unbury Carol (Del Rey)

Stoker, Dacre and Barker, J.D. – Dracul (G.P. Putnam’s Sons)

Tremblay, Paul – The Cabin at the End of the World (William Morrow)

Superior Achievement in a First Novel

Fine, Julia – What Should Be Wild (Harper)

Grau, T.E. – I Am the River (Lethe Press)

Kiste, Gwendolyn – The Rust Maidens (Trepidatio Publishing)

Stage, Zoje – Baby Teeth (St. Martin’s Press)

Tremblay, Tony – The Moore House (Twisted Publishing)

Superior Achievement in a Young Adult Novel

Ireland, Justina – Dread Nation (Balzer + Bray)

Legrand, Claire – Sawkill Girls (Katherine Tegen Books)

Maberry, Jonathan – Broken Lands (Simon & Schuster)

Snyman, Monique – The Night Weaver (Gigi Publishing)

White, Kiersten – The Dark Descent of Elizabeth Frankenstein (Delacorte Press)

Superior Achievement in a Graphic Novel

Ahmed, Saladin – Abbott (BOOM! Studios)

Azzarello, Brian – Moonshine Vol. 2: Misery Train (Image Comics)

Bunn, Cullen – Bone Parish (BOOM! Studios)

LaValle, Victor – Victor LaValle’sDestroyer (BOOM! Studios)

Liu, Marjorie – Monstress Volume 3: Haven (Image Comics)

Superior Achievement in Long Fiction

Bailey, Michael – Our Children, Our Teachers (Written Backwards)

Hill, Joe – You Are Released (Flight or Fright: 17 Turbulent Tales) (Scribner)

Malik, Usman T. – Dead Lovers on Each Blade, Hung (Nightmare Magazine Issue #74)

Mason, Rena – The Devil’s Throat (Hellhole: An Anthology of Subterranean Terror) (Adrenaline Press)

Smith, Angela Yuriko – Bitter Suites (CreateSpace)

Superior Achievement in Short Fiction

Landry, Jess – “Mutter” (Fantastic Tales of Terror) (Crystal Lake Publishing)

Murray, Lee – “Dead End Town”(Cthulhu Deep Down Under Volume 2) (IFWG Publishing International)

Neugebauer, Annie – “Glove Box” (The Dark City Crime & Mystery Magazine Volume 3, Issue 4-July 2018)

Taff, John F.D. – “A Winter’s Tale” (Little Black Spots) (Grey Matter Press)

Ward, Kyla Lee – “And in Her Eyes the City Drowned” (Weirdbook #39) (Wildside Press)

Superior Achievement in a Fiction Collection

Files, Gemma – Spectral Evidence (Trepidatio Publishing)

Guignard, Eric J. – That Which Grows Wild (Cemetery Dance Publications)

Iglesias, Gabino – Coyote Songs (Broken River Books)

Snyder, Lucy A. – Garden of Eldritch Delights (Raw Dog Screaming Press)

Waggoner, Tim – Dark and Distant Voices: A Story Collection (Nightscape Press)

Superior Achievement in a Screenplay

Aster, Ari – Hereditary (PalmStar Media)

Averill, Meredith – The Haunting of Hill House: The Bent-Neck Lady, Episode 01:05 (Amblin Television, FlanaganFilm, Paramount Television)

Garland, Alex – Annihilation (DNA Films, Paramount Pictures, Scott Rudin Productions, Skydance Media)

Heisserer, Eric – Bird Box (Bluegrass Films, Chris Morgan Productions, Universal Pictures)

Woods, Bryan, Beck, Scott, and Krasinski, John – A Quiet Place (Platinum Dunes, Sunday Night)

Superior Achievement in an Anthology

Chambers, James, Grey, April, and Masterson, Robert – A New York State of Fright: Horror Stories from the Empire State (Hippocampus Press)

Datlow, Ellen – The Devil and the Deep: Horror Stories of the Sea (Night Shade Books)

Guignard, Eric J. – A World of Horror (Dark Moon Books)

Murray, Lee – Hellhole: An Anthology of Subterranean Terror (Adrenaline Press)

Ward, D. Alexander – Lost Highways: Dark Fictions from the Road (Crystal Lake Publishing)

Superior Achievement in Non-Fiction

Connolly, John – Horror Express (PS Publishing)

Gambin, Lee – The Howling: Studies in the Horror Film (Centipede Press)

Ingham, Howard David – We Don’t Go Back: A Watcher’s Guide to Folk Horror (Room 207 Press)

Mynhardt, Joe and Johnson, Eugene – It’s Alive: Bringing Your Nightmares to Life (Crystal Lake Publishing)

Wetmore Jr., Kevin J. – Uncovering Stranger Things: Essays on Eighties Nostalgia, Cynicism and Innocence in the Series (McFarland)

Superior Achievement in a Poetry Collection

Boston, Bruce – Artifacts (Independent Legions Publishing)

Cowen, David E. – Bleeding Saffron (Weasel Press)

Lynch, Donna – Witches (Raw Dog Screaming Press)

Simon, Marge and Manzetti, Alessandro – War (Crystal Lake Publishing)

Tantlinger, Sara – The Devil’s Dreamland (Strangehouse Books)

[Dan Hocker]

Too bad they have Flight or Fright accredited incorrectly.

[jeffingoff]

Too bad they have Flight or Fright accredited incorrectly.

D'OH!

[Ben Staad]

I feel inadequate. I didn't read anything on that list. Further, after some investigation and review reading, I may not give any of the novels a try.

[RonClinton]

I feel inadequate. I didn't read anything on that list. Further, after some investigation and review reading, I may not give any of the novels a try.

As I did with this one, I always look at these awards lists -- Stoker, Shirley Jackson, etc. -- and realize that I'm either much more out of the genre loop than I think I am, or these awards don't have much of a correlation with general sales and popular awareness. I know there's a whole indie horror thing that I'm not part of and, for the most part, don't read in, so perhaps that's a large part of it, and perhaps those judges who nominated the works are much more heavily vested in the indie horror market and its necessary success by highlighting its better works to the semi-exclusion of more mainstream or larger small-press releases...not suggesting those works that are nominated aren't deserving, just that the apparent heavy indie slant is noteable. But whatever the reason(s), it's always a puzzling thing for me when these awards roll around.

[mhatchett]

Ditto. I don't read a lot of horror but what I do read never shows up in the awards list. I do read a lot of Sci-Fi and Fantasy, same result. I guess I'm not an award winning reader LOl!!!

[bookworm 1]

I have read quite a few of these . Lots of good stuff. Congratulations to everyone.

[jeffingoff]

When HAVEN won the Stoker for best debut novel I didn't know what to believe in. I questioned the entire genre. I wandered for months in the dessert that was all that remained of my soul. I ate nothing but regret and drank nothing but confusion. I dreamt of penguins. That part really didn't fit in with everything else, but it's worth noting. It was at least more interesting than HAVEN, at least. Dreams of Penguins--always capital P, don't ask me why--who were engaged in offshore betting operations.

I need to read Tremblay! When is CD's HEAD FULL OF GHOSTS going to be published???

[jeffingoff]

When HAVEN won the Stoker for best debut novel I didn't know what to believe in. I questioned the entire genre. I wandered for months in the dessert that was all that remained of my soul. I ate nothing but regret and drank nothing but confusion. I dreamt of penguins. That part really didn't fit in with everything else, but it's worth noting. It was at least more interesting than HAVEN, at least. Dreams of Penguins--always capital P, don't ask me why--who were engaged in offshore betting operations.

I need to read Tremblay! When is CD's HEAD FULL OF GHOSTS going to be published???

And yes, I meant dessert and not desert.

[Martin]

And yes, I meant dessert and not desert.

Now I have a vision of you rambling through a giant Tiramisu being chased by Rockhopper Penguins.

[jeffingoff]

Now I have a vision of you rambling through a giant Tiramisu being chased by Rockhopper Penguins.

Pretty clever to pick the dessert with a nod to "land" in the name (terra). Also it's pretty much one of the best desserts in the world.

[Marmaduke Grigsby]

PBF145-Nunez.jpg

[Dan Hocker]

I need to read Tremblay! When is CD's HEAD FULL OF GHOSTS going to be published???

I don't think we'll officially announce Head Full of Ghosts until the previous book in the Graveyard Editions (Head Space) is at least at the printer, though we may wait until it's here and shipped. I don't know what the plan is for Head Space and the printer schedule, but I am personally hoping we'll be sending it soon.

[brlesh]

I'm really out of the popular loop, it appears...I've only read one from this entire Final Ballot list, Tremblay's THE CABIN AT THE END OF THE WORLD (though I did give -- and continue to give -- strong consideration to Katsu's THE HUNGER).

The same here. I've only actually read two nominated pieces, though I do have a few others on my TBR pile, and am considering a few others on the list for future consideration.

TE Grau - I am the River - I liked this a lot, though I am surprised it is ranked in the first novel category; as I remember it is more a novella length piece, but never the less it was an entertaining story.

Good to see Joe Hill's story 'You are Released' nominated. I thought it was the best story in Flight or Fright and definitely worthy of award nominations.

I am surprised that The Outsider by Stephen King did not get nominated in the novel category. It seems that over the years any novel by King gets a nomination, and I thought The Outsider was his best novel in several years.

B