The 2016 Bram Stoker Awards® Preliminary Ballot Announced

The Horror Writers Association (HWA) is pleased to announce the Preliminary Ballots for the 2016 Bram Stoker Awards®. The HWA (see www.horror.org ) is the premier writers organization in the horror and dark fiction genre, with over 1,300 members. We have presented the Bram Stoker Awards in various categories since 1987 (see http://www.horror.org/awards/stokers.htm )

The HWA Board and the Bram Stoker Awards® Committee congratulate all those appearing on these Preliminary Ballots. Notes about the voting process will appear after the ballot listing.

2016 Bram Stoker Awards® Preliminary Ballot

Superior Achievement in a Novel

Fenn, J. Lincoln – Dead Souls (Gallery Books)

Hand, Elizabeth – Hard Light: A Cass Neary Crime Novel (Minotaur Books)

Heuvelt, Thomas Olde – Hex (Tor Books)

Jones, Stephen Graham – Mongrels (William Morrow)

Langan, John – The Fisherman (Word Horde)

Lombardi, Nicola – The Tank (Dunwich Edizioni)

MacLeod, Bracken – Stranded: A Novel (Tor Books)

Murray, Lee – Into the Mist (Cohesion Press)

Prentiss, Norman– Odd Adventures with your Other Father (Kindle Press)

Snyman, Monique – Muti Nation (Omnium Gatherum Media)

Tremblay, Paul – Disappearance at Devil’s Rock (William Morrow)

Superior Achievement in a First Novel

Barnett, Barbara – The Apothecary’s Curse (Pyr Books)

Chapman, Greg – Hollow House (Omnium Gatherum Media)

Deady, Tom – Haven (Cemetery Dance Publications)

Franks, Matthew – The Monster Underneath (Samhain Publishing, Ltd.)

Garza, Michelle and Lason, Melissa – Mayan Blue (Sinister Grin Press)

Gorman, William – Blackwater Val (Crystal Lake Publishing)

Kilgore, Kari – Until Death (Spiral Publishing)

Labat, L.M. – The Sanguinarian ID (Night to Dawn Magazine & Books LLC)

Lewis, Beth – The Wolf Road (Crown Publishing)

Murphy, Jason – The Black Goat Motorcycle Club (Sinister Grin Press)

Woodrow, Jonathan – Wasteland Gods (Horrific Tales Publishing)

Wytovich, Stephanie – The Eighth (Dark Regions Press)



Superior Achievement in a Young Adult Novel

Alexander, Maria – Snowed (Raw Dog Screaming Press)

Brozek, Jennifer – Last Days of Salton Academy (Ragnarok Publishing)

Cosimano, Elle – Holding Smoke (Hyperion-Disney)

Ford, Michael Thomas – Lily (Lethe Press)

Kelley, Michael Brent – Keep Away From Psycho Joe (Omnium Gatherum Media)

Roberts, Jeyn – When They Fade (Knopf Books for Young Readers)

Sirowy, Alexandra – The Telling (Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers)

Varley, Dax – Sinful: A Bleed Novel (Garden Gate Press)

Superior Achievement in a Graphic Novel

Bunn, Cullen – Blood Feud (Oni Press)

Chambers, James – Kolchak the Night Stalker: The Forgotten Lore of Edgar Allan Poe (Moonstone)

de Campi, Alex – No Mercy, Vol. 2 (Image Comics)

Miller, Mark Alan and Lansdale, Joe R. – The Steam Man (Dark Horse Books)

Moore, Alan – Providence, Act 1 (Avatar Press)

Quach, Ashley P – Weirdy (Sassquach Comics)

Kirkman, Robert & Paul Azaceta – Outcast by Kirkman & Azaceta, Vol 3 This Little Light (Image Comics)



Superior Achievement in Long Fiction

Anderson, Paul Michael – Bones Are Made to be Broken (Bones Are Made to be Broken) (Written Backwards)

Boden, John – Jedi Summer with the Magnetic Kid (Post Mortem Press)

Cushing, Aric – Vampire Boy (Grand & Archer)

Cushing, Nicole – The Sadist’s Bible (01Publishing)

Drinkwater, Karl – Harvest Festival (Organic Apocalypse)

Edelman, Scott – That Perilous Stuff (Chiral Mad 3) (Written Backwards)

LaValle, Victor – The Ballad of Black Tom (Tor.com)

Malerman, Josh – The Jupiter Drop (You, Human) (Dark Regions Press)

Matthews, Mark – All Smoke Rises: Milk-Blood Redux (Wicked Run Press)

Shane, Simmons – Raw (Silent Screams: An Anthology of Socially Conscious Dark Fiction) (Serpent & Dove Speculative Fiction)

Waggoner, Tim – The Winter Box (Darkfuse)



Superior Achievement in Short Fiction

Bailey, Michael – Time is a Face on the Water (Borderlands 6) (Borderlands Press)

Bodner, Hal – A Rift in Reflection (Chiral Mad 3) (Written Backwards)

Golden, Christopher – The Bad Hour (What the #@&% is That?) (Saga Press)

Hanson, Michael H. – Conqueror Worms (Dark Corners) (Iron Clad Press)

Hucklebridge, Dane – Ortolan (F(r)iction #5) (Tethered by Letters)

Kiste, Gwendolyn – Reasons I Hate My Big Sister (Nightscript Volume 2) (Chthonic Matter)

Mannetti, Lisa – Arbeit Macht Frei (Gutted: Beautiful Horror Stories) (Crystal Lake Publishing)

Manzetti, Alessandro – Long Hair’s Inferno (The Monster, the Bad, and the Ugly) (Kipple Officina Libraria)

Oates, Joyce Carol – The Crawl Space (Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine Volume #2016/Issue#8) (Dell Magazines)

Smith, John Claude – The Wounded Table (The Wrath of Concrete and Steel) (Dunhams Manor Press)

Yap, Isabel – Only Unclench Your Hand (What the #@&% is That?) (Saga Press)



Superior Achievement in a Fiction Collection

Barron, Laird – Swift to Chase (JournalStone)

Braum, Daniel – The Night Marchers and Other Strange Tales (Cemetery Dance/Grey Matter Press)

Chizmar, Richard – A Long December (Subterranean Press)

Gavin, Richard – Sylvan Dread: Tales of Pastoral Darkness (Three Hands Press)

Oates, Joyce Carol – The Doll-Master and Other Tales of Terror (Mysterious Press)

O’Neill, Gene – Lethal Birds (Omnium Gatherum Media)

Schaller, Eric – Meet Me in the Middle of the Air (Undertow Publications)

Schwaeble, Hank – American Nocturne (Cohesion Press)

Sutton, Pete – A Tiding of Magpies (Kensington Gore Publishing)

Wehunt, Michael – Greener Pastures (Shock Totem Publications)



Superior Achievement in a Screenplay

Alvarez, Fede and Sayagues, Rodo – DON’T BREATHE (Ghost House Pictures, Good Universe)

Campbell, Josh, Chazelle, Damien, and Stuecken, Matthew – 10 CLOVERFIELD LANE (Paramount Pictures)

Catlin, Sam, Rogen, Seth, and Goldberg, Evan – PREACHER: PILOT (Episode1:0) (AMC)

Duffer, Matt and Duffer, Ross – STRANGER THINGS: THE VANISHING OF WILL BYERS (Episode 01: Chapter One) (21 Laps Entertainment, Monkey Massacre)

Duffer, Matt and Duffer, Ross – STRANGER THINGS: THE UPSIDE DOWN (Episode 01: Chapter Eight) (21 Laps Entertainment, Monkey Massacre)

Eggers, Robert – THE VVITCH (Parts and Labor, RT Features, Rooks Nest Entertainment, Code Red Productions, Scythia Films, Maiden Voyage Pictures, Mott Street Pictures, Pulse Films, and Very Special Projects)

Gimple, Scott M. – THE WALKING DEAD: THE DAY WILL COME WHEN YOU WON’T BE (Episode 07:01) (AMC)

Hayes, Carey, Hayes, Chad, Wan, James and Johnson, David – THE CONJURING 2 (New Line Cinema)

Logan, John – PENNY DREADFUL: A BLADE OF GRASS (Episode 03:04) Showtime Presents in association with SKY, Desert Wolf Productions, Neal Street Productions)

Nichols, Jeff – MIDNIGHT SPECIAL (Warner Bros.)



Superior Achievement in an Anthology

Bailey, Michael – Chiral Mad 3 (Written Backwards)

Bennett, T.C. and Carbone, Tracy L. – Cemetery Riots (Awol From Elysium Press)

Dabrowski, Lisa – Horror from the Inside Out (Whorror House)

Johnson, Eugene and Day, Charles – Drive-In Creature Feature (Evil Jester Press)

Kahle, Pete – Not Your Average Monster, Vol. 2: A Menagerie of Vile Beasts (Bloodshot Books)

Manzetti, Alessandro – The Beauty of Death (Independent Legions Publishing)

Manzetti, Alessandro and di Orazio, Paolo – The Monster, the Bad and the Ugly (Kipple Officina Libraria)

Monteleone, Thomas F. and Monteleone, Oliva F. – Borderlands 6 (Samhain Publishing, Ltd.)

Mosiman, Billie Sue – Fright Mare-Women Write Horror (DM Publishing)

Murano, Doug and Ward, D. Alexander – Gutted: Beautiful Horror Stories (Crystal Lake Publishing)

Rivera, Anthony and Lawson, Sharon – Peel Back the Skin (Grey Matter Press)



Superior Achievement in Non-Fiction

Braudy, Leo. Haunted: On Ghosts, Witches, Vampires, Zombies and Other Monsters of the Natural and Supernatural (Yale University Press)

Franklin, Ruth – Shirley Jackson: A Rather Haunted Life (Liveright Publishing Corporation)

Ocker, J.W. A Season with the Witch (Countryman Press)

Olson, Danel P. – Guillermo del Toro’s “The Devil’s Backbone” and “Pan’s Labyrinth”: Studies in the Horror Film (Centipede Press)

Poole, W. Scott. In the Mountains of Madness: The Life, Death and Extraordinary Afterlife of H. P. Lovecraft (Soft Skull Press)

Skal, David J. – Something in the Blood: The Untold Story of Bram Stoker, the Man Who Wrote

Dracula (Liveright Publishing Corporation)

Tibbetts, John. The Gothic Worlds of Peter Straub (McFarland)

Towlson, Jon. The Turn to Gruesomeness in American Horror Films, 1931-1936 (McFarland)



Superior Achievement in a Poetry Collection

Betts, Matt – Underwater Fistfight (Raw Dog Screaming Press)

Boston, Bruce and Manzetti, Alessandro – Sacrificial Nights (Kipple Officina Libraria)

Collings, Michael R. – Corona Obscura: Poems Dark and Elemental (self-published)

Cowen, David E. – The Seven Yards of Sorrow (Weasel Press)

DiLouie, Craig and Moon, Jonathan – Children of God: Poems, Dreams, and Nightmares from the Family of God Cult (ZING Communications, Inc., Jonathan Moon.)

Gailey, Jeannine Hall – Field Guide to the End of the World: Poems (Moon City Press)

Lepovetsky, Lisa – Voices from Empty Rooms (Alban Lake)

Lopez III, Aurelio Rico – Two Drinks Away from Chaos (Azoth Khem Publishing)

Simon, Marge. – Small Spirits (Midnight Town Media)

Wytovich, Stephanie M. – Brothel (Raw Dog Screaming Press)



Important Notes for those Appearing on the Preliminary Ballot:

Please note that works that make the Preliminary Ballot are NOT “Bram Stoker Award nominees,” nor are works that bypass the Preliminary Ballot and move directly to the Final Ballot (i.e., in cases where there are five or fewer works on the ballot in a category); authors, editors, publishers, and others should not refer to any work appearing on these ballots as such – doing so is a severe breach of etiquette – Active and Lifetime (voting) members tend to notice such breaches and may consider them when determining which works to vote for on the Ballot. Rule VIIi contains sanctions for members who willfully disregard this requirement.

If your work appears on the ballot (i.e., you are the author, agent, editor, publisher, or publicist) and you wish to provide a Link allowing Voting Members to read the work, we will issue a SPECIAL PRELIMINARY BALLOT INTERNET MAILER on or about January 27. Please email the Internet Mailer editor at imailer@horror.org with the details of your link as soon as you can, but no later than January 26 (links will not be accepted for this Special IM after January 26). You may offer to send electronic copies, provide reading copies on a website, or provide physical copies. Anyone validly representing a work appearing on the Preliminary Ballot may submit via this method, whether or not they are HWA members (this includes the author, agent, editor, publisher, or publicist of the work).

Do NOT spam Voting Members; this is a severe breach of etiquette – Active and Lifetime (voting) members tend to notice such breaches and may consider them when determining which works to vote for on the Ballot.

You may also post the fact that your work is available to be read for Bram Stoker Award consideration ONCE and only once here: http://horrorwritersassociation.org/login-forum/index.php?board=12.0 (Bram Stoker Eligible Work). If you had already posted your work here prior to the announcement of the Preliminary Ballot you ARE entitled to post it once more. Note: Only members may post at this Forum but members are encouraged to post on behalf of non-members who may appear on the Ballot.

January 23: A Special Internet Mailer will be sent to Lifetime and Active (Voting) Members showing any links that are available for them to read works on the Preliminary Ballot. There will no second Mailer for the Preliminary Ballot so those representing works on the Preliminary Ballot must have their links in to imailer@horror.org no later than January 22.

February 1: The Stoker Preliminary ballot will be dispatched – please note only Active and Lifetime Members can vote. If you are an Active or Lifetime Member and do NOT receive your electronic Ballot link by February 2, please first check your spam/junk mail filter and then email: admin@horror.org . Note that Ballots are sent to the same email address as this Internet Mailer. It is the responsibility of Members to keep their email address up to date by advising the administrator of any changes at admin@horror.org. Late Ballots cannot be accepted under any circumstances.

February 15: The Stoker Preliminary ballot closes at midnight U.S. Pacific Time. Any ballots received after this time will be discarded.

February 23: The Stoker nominees announced.

Another Internet Mailer will be sent on February 23 describing the Bram Stoker Awards Final Ballot Process.

Please direct any questions to: stokerchair@horror.org

Rena Mason (Bram Stoker Awards® Committee Co-Chair)