The Horror Witers Association (HWA), the international writers group for horror and dark fantasy, has released the final nominations for this year’s Bram Stoker Awards.

The 2020 Bram Stoker Awards® Final Ballot

Superior Achievement in a Novel

• Jones, Stephen Graham – The Only Good Indians (Gallery/Saga Press)
• Katsu, Alma – The Deep (G.P. Putnam’s Sons)
• Keisling, Todd – Devil’s Creek (Silver Shamrock Publishing)
• Malerman, Josh – Malorie (Del Rey)
• Moreno-Garcia, Silvia – Mexican Gothic (Del Rey)

Superior Achievement in a First Novel

• Hall, Polly – The Taxidermist’s Lover (CamCat Publishing, LLC)
• Harrison, Rachel – The Return (Berkley)
• Jeffery, Ross – Tome (The Writing Collective)
• Knight, EV – The Fourth Whore (Raw Dog Screaming Press)
• Reed Petty, Kate – True Story (Viking)

Superior Achievement in a Graphic Novel

• Archer, Steven (author/artist) – TheMasque of the Red Death (Raw Dog Screaming Press)
• Brody, Jennifer (author) and Rivera, Jules (artist) – Spectre Deep 6 (Turner)
• Douek, Rich (author) and Cormack, Alex (artist) – Road of Bones (IDW Publishing)
• Holder, Nancy (author), Di Francia, Chiara (artist), and Woo, Amelia (artist) – Mary Shelley Presents (Kymera Press)
• Manzetti, Alessandro (author) and Cardoselli, Stefano (artist/author) – Her Life Matters: (Or Brooklyn Frankenstein) (Independent Legions Publishing)
• Niles, Steve (author), Simeone, Salvatore (author), and Kudranski, Szymon (artist) – Lonesome Days, Savage Nights (TKO Studios)

Superior Achievement in a Young Adult Novel

• Cesare, Adam – Clown in a Cornfield (HarperTeen)
• Kraus, Daniel – Bent Heavens (Henry Holt and Company/Macmillan)
• Snyman, Monique – The Bone Carver (Vesuvian Books)
• Thomas, Aiden – Cemetery Boys (Swoon Reads/Macmillan)
• Waters, Erica – Ghost Wood Song (HarperTeen)

Superior Achievement in Long Fiction

• Iglesias, Gabino – Beyond the Reef (Lullabies for Suffering: Tales of Addiction Horror) (Wicked Run Press)
• Jones, Stephen Graham – Night of the Mannequins (Tor.com)
• Kiste, Gwendolyn – The Invention of Ghosts (Nightscape Press)
• Landry, Jess – I Will Find You, Even in the Dark (Dim Shores Presents Volume 1) (Dim Shores)
• Pinsker, Sarah – Two Truths and a Lie (Tor.com)

Superior Achievement in Short Fiction

• Arcuri, Meghan – “Am I Missing the Sunlight?” (Borderlands 7) (Borderlands Press)
• Fawver, Kurt – “Introduction to the Horror Story, Day 1” (Nightmare Magazine Nov. 2020 (Issue 98))
• Malerman, Josh – “One Last Transformation” (Miscreations: Gods, Monstrosities & Other Horrors) (Written Backwards)
• O’Quinn, Cindy – “The Thing I Found Along a Dirt Patch Road” (Shotgun Honey Presents Volume 4: Recoil) (Down and Out Books)
• Ward, Kyla Lee – “Should Fire Remember the Fuel?” (Oz is Burning) (B Cubed Press)

Superior Achievement in a Fiction Collection

• Koja, Kathe – Velocities: Stories (Meerkat Press)
• Langan, John – Children of the Fang and Other Genealogies (Word Horde)
• Lillie, Patricia – The Cuckoo Girls (Trepidatio Publishing)
• Murray, Lee – Grotesque: Monster Stories (Things in the Well)
• Taborska, Anna – Bloody Britain (Shadow Publishing)

Superior Achievement in a Screenplay

• Amaris, Scarlett and Stanley, Richard – Color Out of Space (SpectreVision)
• Green, Misha – Lovecraft Country, Season 1, Episode 1: “Sundown” (Affeme, Monkeypaw Productions, Bad Robot Productions, Warner Bros. Television Studios)
• Green, Misha and Ofordire, Ihuoma – Lovecraft Country, Season 1, Episode 8: “Jig-a-Bobo” (Affeme, Monkeypaw Productions, Bad Robot Productions, Warner Bros. Television Studios)
• LaManna, Angela – The Haunting of Bly Manor, Season 1, Episode 5: “The Altar of the Dead”(Intrepid Pictures, Amblin Television, Paramount Television Studios)
• Whannell, Leigh – The Invisible Man (Universal Pictures, Blumhouse Productions, Goalpost Pictures, Nervous Tick Productions)

Superior Achievement in a Poetry Collection

• Manzetti, Alessandro – Whitechapel Rhapsody: Dark Poems (Independent Legions Publishing)
• McHugh, Jessica – A Complex Accident of Life (Apokrupha)
• Pelayo, Cynthia – Into the Forest and All the Way Through (Burial Day Books)
• Sng, Christina – A Collection of Dreamscapes (Raw Dog Screaming Press)
• Tantlinger, Sara – Cradleland of Parasites (Rooster Republic Press)

Superior Achievement in an Anthology

• Bailey, Michael and Murano, Doug – Miscreations: Gods, Monstrosities & Other Horrors (Written Backwards)
• Flynn, Geneve and Murray, Lee – Black Cranes: Tales of Unquiet Women (Omnium Gatherum Media)
• Kolesnik, Samantha – Worst Laid Plans: An Anthology of Vacation Horror (Grindhouse Press)
• Tantlinger, Sara – Not All Monsters: A Strangehouse Anthology by Women of Horror (Rooster Republic Press)
• Yardley, Mercedes M. – Arterial Bloom (Crystal Lake Publishing)

Superior Achievement in Non-Fiction

• Florence, Kelly and Hafdahl, Meg – The Science of Women in Horror: The Special Effects, Stunts, and True Stories Behind Your Favorite Fright Films (Skyhorse)
• Heller-Nicholas, Alexandra – 1000 Women in Horror (BearManor Media)
• Keene, Brian – End of the Road (Cemetery Dance Publications)
• Peirse, Alison – Women Make Horror: Filmmaking, Feminism, Genre (Rutgers University Press)
• Waggoner, Tim – Writing in the Dark (Guide Dog Books/Raw Dog Screaming Press)
• Wetmore, Jr. Kevin J. – The Streaming of Hill House: Essays on the Haunting Netflix Adaption (McFarland)

Superior Achievement in Short Non-Fiction

• Jackson Joseph, Rhonda – “The Beloved Haunting of Hill House: An Examination of Monstrous Motherhood” (The Streaming of Hill House: Essays on the Haunting Netflix Adaptation) (McFarland)
• Pelayo, Cynthia – “I Need to Believe” (Southwest Review Volume 105.3)
• Robinson, Kelly – “Lost, Found, and Finally Unbound: The Strange History of the 1910 Edison Frankenstein” (Rue Morgue Magazine, June 2020)
• Sng, Christina – “Final Girl: A Life in Horror” (Interstellar Flight Magazine, October 2020)
• Waggoner, Tim – “Speaking of Horror” (The Writer)
• Active and Lifetime members of the HWA will vote between March 1, 2021, and March 15. The award is named for Irish author Bram Stoker, (1847 – 1912) who wrote Dracula and The Lair of the White Worm, among other novels, and several stories.

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