{image via HWA.org}

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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Susan Macdonald
Susan Macdonald

Susan Macdonald is the author of the children’s book “R is for Renaissance Faire”, as well as 26 short stories, mostly fantasy in “Alternative Truths”, “Swords and Sorceress ”, Swords &Sorceries Vols. 1, 2, & 5, “Cat Tails” “Under Western Stars”, and “Knee-High Drummond and the Durango Kid”. Her articles have appeared on SCIFI.radio’s web site, in The Inquisitr, and in The Millington Star. She enjoys Renaissance Faires (see book above), science fiction conventions,  Highland Games, and Native American pow-wows.