The Horror Writers Association, the premier organization of writers and publishers of horror and dark fantasy, has just announced this year’s Bram Stoker Award winners. This is the perfect optortonity to discover new authors and maybe even decide what new e-book you are going to buy.
If you have ever heard of this award before, basically the Bram Stoker Awards are presented annually for superior writing in eleven categories including traditional fiction of various lengths, poetry, screenplays and non-fiction. Previous winners include Stephen King, J.K. Rowling, George R. R. Martin, Joyce Carol Oates and Neil Gaiman.
Superior Achievement in a Novel
Winner: Paul Tremblay – A Head Full of Ghosts
Also nominated:
- Clive Barker – The Scarlet Gospels (St. Martin’s Press)
- Michaelbrent Collings – The Deep (self-published)
- JG Faherty – The Cure (Samhain Publishing)
- Patrick Freivald – Black Tide (JournalStone Publishing)
Superior Achievement in a First Novel
Winner: Nicole Cushing – Mr. Suicide
Also nominated:
- Courtney Alameda – Shutter (Feiwel & Friends)
- Brian Kirk – We Are Monsters (Samhain Publishing)
- John McIlveen – Hannahwhere (Crossroad Press)
- John Claude Smith – Riding the Centipede (Omnium Gatherum)
Superior Achievement in a Young Adult Novel
Winner: John Dixon – Devil’s Pocket
Also nominated:
- Jennifer Brozek – Never Let Me Sleep (Permuted Press)
- Michaelbrent Collings – The Ridealong (self-published)
- Tonya Hurley – Hallowed (Simon & Schuster)
- Maureen Johnson – The Shadow Cabinet (Penguin)
- Ian Welke – End Times at Ridgemont High (Omnium Gatherum)
Superior Achievement in a Graphic Novel
Also nominated:
- Cullen Bunn – Harrow County, Vol. 1: Countless Haints (Dark Horse Comics)
- Victor Gischler – Hellbound (Dark Horse Books)
- Robert Kirkman – Outcast, Vol. 1: A Darkness Surrounds Him (Image Comics)
- Scott Snyder – Wytches, Vol. 1 (Image Comics)
Superior Achievement in Long Fiction
Winner: Mercedes M. Yardley – Little Dead Red
Also nominated:
- Gary A. Braunbeck – Paper Cuts (Seize the Night) (Gallery Books)
- Lisa Mannetti – The Box Jumper (Smart Rhino Publications)
- Norman Partridge – Special Collections (The Library of the Dead) (Written Backwards)
- Scott Edelman – Becoming Invisible, Becoming Seen (Dark Discoveries #30)
Superior Achievement in Short Fiction
Winner: John Palisano – Happy Joe’s Rest Stop
Also nominated:
- Kate Jonez – All the Day You’ll Have Good Luck (Black Static #47)
- Gene O’Neill – The Algernon Effect (White Noise Press)
- Damien Angelica Walters – Sing Me Your Scars (Sing Me Your Scars) (Apex Publications)
- Alyssa Wong – Hungry Daughters of Starving Mothers (Nightmare Magazine #37)
Superior Achievement in a Screenplay
Winner: David Robert Mitchell – It Follows
Also nominated:
- Guillermo del Toro & Matthew Robbins – Crimson Peak (Legendary Pictures)
- John Logan – Penny Dreadful: And Hell Itself My Only Foe (Showtime)
- John Logan – Penny Dreadful: Nightcomers (Showtime)
- Taika Waititi & Jemaine Clement – What We Do in the Shadows (Unison Films)
Superior Achievement in an Anthology
Winner: Michael Bailey – The Library of the Dead
Also nominated:
- Ellen Datlow – The Doll Collection: Seventeen Brand-New Tales of Dolls (Tor Books)
- Christopher Golden – Seize the Night (Gallery Books)
- Nancy Kilpatrick and Caro Soles – nEvermore! (Edge Science Fiction and Fantasy Publishing)
- Jonathan Maberry – The X-Files: Trust No One (IDW Publishing)
- Joseph Nassise and Del Howison – Midian Unmade (Tor Books)
Superior Achievement in a Fiction Collection
Winner: Lucy A. Snyder – While the Black Stars Burn
Also nominated:
- Gary A. Braunbeck – Halfway Down the Stairs (JournalStone Publishing)
- Nicole Cushing – The Mirrors (Cycatrix Press)
- Taylor Grant – The Dark at the End of the Tunnel (Cemetery Dance Publications)
- Gene O’Neill – The Hitchhiking Effect (Dark Renaissance Books)
Superior Achievement in Non-Fiction
Winner: Stephen Jones – The Art of Horror
- Justin Everett and Jeffrey H. Shanks (ed.) – The Unique Legacy of Weird Tales: The Evolution of Modern Fantasy and Horror (Rowman & Littlefield Publishers)
- Michael Knost – Author’s Guide to Marketing with Teeth (Seventh Star Press)
- Joe Mynhardt & Emma Audsley (editors) – Horror 201: The Silver Scream (Crystal Lake Publishing)
- Danel Olson – Studies in the Horror Film: Stanley Kubrick’s The Shining (Centipede Press)
Superior Achievement in a Poetry Collection
Winner: Alessandro Manzetti – Eden Underground
Also nominated:
- Bruce Boston – Resonance Dark and Light (Eldritch Press)
- Ann Schwader – Dark Energies (P’rea Press)
- Marge Simon – Naughty Ladies (Eldritch Press)
- Stephanie M. Wytovich – An Exorcism of Angels (Raw Dog Screaming Press)
Michael Kozlowski is the editor-in-chief at Good e-Reader and has written about audiobooks and e-readers for the past fifteen years. Newspapers and websites such as the CBC, CNET, Engadget, Huffington Post and the New York Times have picked up his articles. He Lives in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.
