2010 Stoker Awards Preliminary Ballot

The 2010 Stoker Preliminary Ballot has been released:

Superior Achievement in a Novel

• Vipers, Lawrence C. Connolly (Fantasist Enterprises)
• Siren, John Everson (Leisure)
• Horns, Joe Hill (William Morrow)
• It Came From Del Rio, Stephen Graham Jones (Trapdoor)
• Sparrow Rock, Nate Kenyon (Leisure)
• Desperate Souls, Gregory Lamberson (Medallion)
• The Frenzy Way, Gregory Lamberson (Medallion)
• Rot and Ruin, Jonathan Maberry (Simon & Schuster)
• Apocalypse of the Dead, Joe McKinney (Pinnacle)
• Empire of Salt, Weston Ochse (Abaddon)
• Dweller, Jeff Strand (Leisure/Dark Regions Press)
• A Dark Matter, Peter Straub (DoubleDay)

Superior Achievement in a First Novel

• Mr. Shivers, Robert Jackson Bennett (Orbit)
• Freek Camp, Steve Burt (Steve Burt Creations)
• The Man of Mystery Hill, Tracy L. Carbone (Echelon Quake)
• Black and Orange, Benjamin Kane Ethridge (Bad Moon Books)
• Carnival of Fear, J.G. Faherty (Graveside Tales)
• A Book of Tongues, Gemma Files (ChiZine)
• At the End of Church Street, Gregory Hall (Belfire)
• Madigan Mine, Kirstyn McDermott (Picador Australia)
• Castle of Los Angeles, Lisa Morton (Gray Friar)
• Spellbent, Lucy Snyder (Del Rey)

Superior Achievement Long Fiction

• “The Doctor, the Kid and the Ghosts in the Lake”, Mort Castle (F Magazine #9)
• “Requiem for the Burning God”, Shane Jiraiya Cummings (Cthulhu’s Dark Cults)
• The Painted Darkness, Brian James Freeman (Cemetery Dance)
• Chasing the Dragon, Nicholas Kaufmann (ChiZine)
• Dreams in Black and White, John R. Little (Morning Star)
• Dissolution, Lisa Mannetti (Deathwatch)
• “Blemish”, Joe McKinney (Dark Recesses #1)
• The Samhanach, Lisa Morton (Bad Moon Books)
• Jade, Gene O’Neill (Bad Moon Books)
• Invisible Fences, Norman Prentiss (Cemetery Dance)

Superior Achievement in Short Fiction

• “The Beheld”, Paul Bens (Dark Discoveries #160)
• “Return to Mariabronn”, Gary Braunbeck (Haunted Legends)
• “Surprise!”, G.O. Clark (Dark Valentine 2)
• “Seminar Z”,  J. Comeau (Dead Set: A Zombie Anthology)
• “The Devil in the Details”, Brock Cooper (The New Bedlam Project)
• “The Folding Man”, Joe R. Lansdale (Haunted Legends)
• “1925: A Fall River Halloween”, Lisa Mannetti (Shroud Magazine #10)
• “Survivors”, Joe McKinney (Dead Set: A Zombie Anthology)
• “Big Rock Candy Mountain”, Weston Ochse (Dark Discoveries #16)
• “Roadside Assistance”, David Sakmyster (Horrorworld)
• “Troot”, Margaret B. Simon (Null Immortalis)
• “The Days of Flaming Motorcycles”, Catherynne M. Valente (Dark Faith)
• “Final Draft”, Mark W. Worthen (Horror Library IV)

Superior Achievement in an Anthology

• Dark Faith, Maurice Broaddus & Jerry Gordon, eds. (Apex)
• Horror Library IV, R.J. Cavender & Boyd E. Harris, eds. (Cutting Block)
• Cthulhu’s Dark Cults, David Conyers, ed. (Chaosium)
• Haunted Legends, Ellen Datlow & Nick Mamatas, eds. (Tor)
• The New Dead, Christopher Golden, ed. (St. Martin’s Griffin)
• Black Wings, S.T. Joshi, ed. (PS Publishing)
• Evolve: Vampire Stories of the New Undead, Nancy Kilpatrick, ed. (Edge)
• Null Immortalis, D.F. Lewis, ed. (Megazanthus)
• Dead Set: A Zombie Anthology, Michelle McCrary & Joe McKinney, eds. (23 House)
• Scenes From the Second Storey, Amanda Pillar & Pete Kempshall (Morrigan)

Superior Achievement in a Collection

• Occultation, Laird Barron (Night Shade Books)
• Blood and Gristle, Michael Louis Calvillo (Bad Moon Books)
• This Way to Egress, Lawrence C. Connolly (Ash-Tree Press)
• What Will Come After by Scott Edelman (PS Publishing)
• Full Dark, No Stars, Stephen King (Simon & Schuster)
• Little Things, John R. Little (Bad Moon Books)
• A Hell of a Job, Michael McCarty (Damnation Books)
• A Host of Shadows, Harry Shannon (Dark Regions)
• Fungus of the Heart, Jeremy Shipp (Raw Dog Screaming Press)
• Hellfire and Damnation, Connie Corcoran Wilson (Sam’s Dot)

Superior Achievement in Non-Fiction

• Weird Encounters, Joanne M. Austin (Sterling)
• To Each Their Darkness, Gary A. Braunbeck (Apex)
• Shadows Over Florida, David Goudsward & Scott T. Goudsward (Bear Manor Media)
• The Conspiracy Against the Human Race, Thomas Ligotti (Hippocampus)
• Wanted Undead or Alive, Jonathan Maberry & Janice Gable Bashman (Citadel)
• Master of Imagination, Michael McCarty (Bear Manor Media)
• Listen to the Echoes: The Radbury Interviews, Sam Weller (Melville House)

Superior Achievement in a Poetry Collection

• Dark Matters, Bruce Boston (Bad Moon Books)
• Love Craft, Bryan Dietrich (Finishing Line)
• Chemickal Reactions, Karen L. Newman (Naked Snake)
• Wood Life, Rich Ristow (Snuff Books)
• Wild Hunt of the Stars, Ann K. Schwader (Sam’s Dot)
• Diary of a Gentleman Diabolist, Robin Spriggs (Anomalous Books)
• Savage Menace and Other Poems of Horror, Richard L. Tierney (P’rea Press)
• Vicious Romantic, Wrath James White (Needfire Poetry)

Horror Writers Association members will vote to choose final nominees from this list, and then vote again to determine winners. Winning titles will be announced at the Stoker Weekend in Long Island NY, June 16-19, 2011.