2015 Stoker Preliminary Ballot

The Horror Writers Association (HWA) announced the preliminary ballot for the 2015 Bram Stoker Awards on January 21, 2016.

Superior Achievement in a Novel

• The Scarlet Gospels, Clive Barker (St. Martin’s)
• The Catacombs, Jeremy Bates (Ghillinnein)
• The Fold, Peter Clines (Crown)
• The Deep, Michaelbrent Collings (self-published)
• The Cure, JG Faherty (Samhain)
• Monster, Keith Ferrario (Samhain)
• Black Tide, Patrick Freivald (JournalStone)
• Skullcrack City, Jeremy Robert Johnson (Lazy Fascist)
• Werewolf Cop, Andrew Klavan (Pegasus)
• The Private Sector, Leigh M. Lane (Eldritch)
• He Who Walks in Shadow, Brett J. Talley (JournalStone)
• A Head Full of Ghosts, Paul Tremblay (Morrow)

Superior Achievement in a First Novel

• Shutter, Courtney Alameda (Feiwel & Friends)
• Mr. Suicide, Nicole Cushing (Word Horde)
• Heaven, Hell, or Houston: A Zombie Thriller, Thom Erb (Severed)
• The Amazing Mr. Howard, Kenneth W. Harmon  (JournalStone)
• The Library at Mount Char, Scott Hawkins (Crown)
• Consumption, Heather Herrman (Hydra)
• We Are Monsters, Brian Kirk (Samhain)
• Hannahwhere, John McIlveen (Crossroad)
• The Keeper of the Crows, Kyle Alexander Romines (Sunbury)
• Riding the Centipede, Jean Claude Smith (Omnium Gatherum)

 Superior Achievement in a Young Adult Novel

• Never Let Me Sleep, Jennifer Brozek (Permuted)
• The Suffering, Rin Chupeco (Sourcebooks Fire)
• The Ridealong, Michaelbrent Collings (self-published)
• Devil’s Pocket, John Dixon (Simon & Schuster)
• Department 19: Darkest Night, Will Hill (HarperCollins Children’s)
• Hallowed, Tonya Hurley (Simon & Schuster)
• The Shadow Cabinet, Maureen Johnson (Penguin)
• The Silent End, Samuel Sattin (Ragnarok)
• Bleed, Dax Varley (Garden Gate)
• End Times at Ridgemont High, Ian Welke (Omnium Gatherum)

Superior Achievement in Long Fiction

• “Paper Cuts”, Gary A. Braunbeck (Seize the Night)
• Cracked Sky, Ben Eads (Omnium Gatherum)
• “Becoming Invisible, Becoming Seen”, Scott Edelman (Dark Discoveries 1/15)
• The Torment of Rachel Ames, Jeff Gunhus (Seven Guns)
• The Box Jumper, Lisa Mannetti  (Smart Rhino)
• “Resistance”, Seanan McGuire (The End Has Come)
• At the Lazy K, Gene O’Neill (Written Backwards)
• “Dia de los Muertos”, Jason Parent  (Bad Apples 2)
• “Special Collections”, Norman Partridge (The Library of the Dead)
• “Little Dead Red”, Mercedes M. Yardley (Grimm Mistresses)

Superior Achievement in Short Fiction

• “Snow”, Dale Bailey (Nightmare 6/15)
• “A Trader on the Border of the Mutant Rain Forest”, Bruce Boston (Daily Science Fiction 8/21/15)
• “An American Ghost in Zurich”, Daniel Braum (Savage Beasts)
• “Choking Hazard”, Michael Paul Gonzalez (Winter Horror Days)
• “All the Day You’ll Have Good Luck”, Kate Jonez (Black Static 7-8/15)
• “The Massacre of the Mermaids”, Alessandro Manzetti (The Massacre of the Mermaids)
• The Algernon Effect, Gene O’Neill (White Noise)
• “Happy Joe’s Rest Stop”, John Palisano (18 Wheels of Horror)
• “The Cork Won’t Stay”, Nate Southard (Nightmare 7/15)
• “Sing Me Your Scars”, Damien Angelica Walters (Sing Me Your Scars)
• “Hungry Daughters of Starving Mothers”, Alyssa Wong  (Nightmare 10/15)

 

Superior Achievement in an Anthology

• The Library of the Dead, Michael Bailey, ed. (Written Backwards)
• The Doll Collection: Seventeen Brand-New Tales of Dolls, Ellen Datlow, ed. (Tor)
• Beware the Little White Rabbit, Shannon Delany & Judith Graves, eds. (Leap)
• Seize the Night,  Christopher Golden, ed. (Gallery )
• Horrorology, Stephen Jones, ed. (Quercus)
• nEvermore!, Nancy Kilpatrick & Caro Soles, ed. (Edge Science Fiction and Fantasy)
• X-Files: Trust No One, Jonathan Maberry, ed. (IDW)
• 18 Wheels of Horror, Eric Miller, ed. (Big Time)
• Shadows Over Main Street, Doug Murano & D. Alexander Ward, eds. (Hazardous)
• Midian Unmade, Joseph Nassise & Del Howison, eds. (Tor)
• Shrieks and Shivers from the Horror Zine, Jeani Rector, ed. (Post Mortem)
• Exigencies, Richard Thomas, ed. (Dark House)

Superior Achievement in a Fiction Collection

• Halfway Down the Stairs, Gary Braunbeck (JournalStone)
• Apocalypse Girl Dreaming, Jennifer Brozek (Evil Girlfriend Media)
• The Abandonment of Grace and Everything After, Shane Jiraiya Cummings (Brimstone)
• The Mirrors, Nicole Cushing (Cycatrix)
• Sacrificing Virgins, John Everson (Samhain)
• The Dark at the End of the Tunnel, Taylor Grant (Crystal Lake)
• New Avalon: Love and Loss in the City of Steam, Neal F. Litherland (James Ward Kirk)
• The Hitchhiking Effect, Gene O’Neill (Dark Renaissance)
• While the Black Stars Burn, Lucy A. Snyder (Raw Dog Screaming)
• Dominoes in Time, Matthew Warner (Cemetery Dance)

Superior Achievement in Non-Fiction

• The Unique Legacy of Weird Tales: The Evolution of Modern Fantasy and Horror, Justin Everett & Jeffrey H. Shanks, eds. (Rowman & Littlefield)
• Monsters and Monstrosity from the Fin de Siècle to the Millennium, Sharla Hutchinson & Rebecca A. Brown, eds. (McFarland)
• The Art of Horror, Stephen Jones (Applause Theatre & Cinema)
• Author’s Guide to Marketing with Teeth, Michael Knost (Seventh Star)
• Horror 201: The Silver Scream, Joe Mynhardt & Emma Audsley, eds. (Crystal Lake)
• Studies in the Horror Film: Stanley Kubrick’s The Shining, Danel Olson (Centipede)
• Haunted by the Abyss: The Otherworldly Experiences of Paranormal, Sarah Soderlund  (Llewellyn)
• Haunted Plantations of the South, Richard Southall (Llewellyn)

Superior Achievement in a Poetry Collection

• Resonance Dark and Light, Bruce Boston (Eldritch)
• The Madness in our Marrow, Amanda Crum (Amanda Crum)
• The Robot Scientist’s Daughter, Jeannine Hall Gailey (Mayapple)
• Dark Parchments, Michael H. Hanson (MoonDream)
• Eden Underground, Alessandro Manzetti (Crystal Lake )
• The Crimson Tome, K.A. Opperman (Hippocampus
• Poetic Allegories, Michael Randolph (Eldritch)
• Dark Energies, Ann Schwader (P’rea Press)
• Naughty Ladies, Marge Simon (Eldritch)
• An Exorcism of Angels, Stephanie M. Wytovich (Raw Dog Screaming)

Superior Achievement in a Graphic Novel

• Harrow County, Vol. 1: Countless Haints, Cullen Bunn (Dark Horse)
• Hellbound, Victor Gischler (Dark Horse)
• Behemoth, Chris Kipiniak (Monkeybrain)
• Outcast, Vol. 1: A Darkness Surrounds Him, Robert Kirkman (Image)
• The Children’s Vampire Hunting Brigade, Vol. 2: Age of the Wicked, David Lucarelli (Creator’s Edge)
• Wytches, Vol. 1, Scott Snyder (Image)
• Colder, Vol. 2: The Bad Seed, Paul Tobin (Dark Horse)
• Shadow Show: Stories in Celebration of Ray Bradbury, Sam Weller & Mort Castle, eds. (IDW)

Superior Achievement in a Screenplay

• Spring
• Crimson Peak
• Goodnight, Mommy
• Hannibal: “The Wrath of the Lamb”
• The Walking Dead: “Here’s Not Here”
• Penny Dreadful: “And Hell Itself My Only Foe”
• Penny Dreadful: “Nightcomers”
• It Follows
• What We Do in the Shadows
• Bone Tomahawk

Voting is open to active and lifetime HWA members until February 15, 2016.

Bram Stoker Award nominees for 2015 (the short list) will be announced on February 23, 2016. Winners will be honored May 14, 2016 at the gala held in the Flamingo Hotel in Las Vegas, Nevada during the first annual StokerCon. For more information, see the HWA website.