2013 Stoker Preliminary Ballot

The 2013 Stoker Preliminary Ballot has been released by the Horror Writers Association:

Superior Achievement in a Novel

  • Darkbound, Michaelbrent Collings (self-published)
  • The Colony: Genesis, Michaelbrent Collings (self-published)
  • The Asylum, John Harwood (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt)
  • NOS4A2, Joe Hill (Morrow)
  • Doctor Sleep, Stephen King (Scribner)
  • Malediction, Lisa Morton (Evil Jester)
  • Evil and the Mask, Fuminori Nakamura (Soho Crime)
  • A Necessary End, Sarah Pinborough & F. Paul Wilson (Thunderstorm/Maelstrom)
  • The Heavens Rise, Christopher Rice (Gallery)
  • Only the Thunder Knows, Gord Rollo (JournalStone)

Superior Achievement in a First Novel

  • Pivot, L.C. Barlow (self-published)
  • Whisper, Michael Bray (self-published)
  • Poe, J. Lincoln Fenn (47North)
  • Cain’s Blood, Geoffrey Girard (Touchstone)
  • Candy House, Kate Jonez (Evil Jester)
  • Losing Touch, Christian A. Larsen (Post Mortem)
  • The Year of the Storm, John Mantooth (Berkley)
  • The Evolutionist, Rena Mason (Nightscape)
  • Redheads, Jonathan Moore (Samhain)
  • Stoker’s Manuscript, Royce Prouty (Putnam)

Superior Achievement in a YA Novel

  • The Adventures of Kyle McGerrt: Hunt for the Ghoulish Bartender, Charles Day (Blood Bound)
  • Special Dead, Patrick Freivald (JournalStone)
  • Unbreakable, Kami Garcia (Little, Brown)
  • Project Cain, Geoffrey Girard (Simon & Schuster)
  • Truly, Madly, Deadly, Hannah Jayne (Sourcebooks Fire)
  • Sick, Tom Leveen (Abrams)
  • Dog Days, Joe McKinney (JournalStone)
  • In the Shadow of Blackbirds, Cat Winters (Abrams)

Superior Achievement Long Fiction

  • “The Bluehole”, Dale Bailey (F&SF 5-6/13)
  • “The Great Pity”, Gary Braunbeck (Chiral Mad 2)
  • Three Chords of Chaos, James Chambers (Dark Quest)
  • “The Slaughter Man”, Benjamin K. Ethridge (Limbus, Inc.)
  • “No Others Are Genuine”, Gregory Frost (Asimov’s 10-11/13)
  • House of Rain, Greg F. Gifune (DarkFuse)
  • Baggage of Eternal Night, Eric J. Guignard (JournalStone)
  • The Deceived, Dustin LaValley (Thunderstorm)
  • East End Girls, Rena Mason (JournalStone)
  • Astoria, S.P. Miskowski (Omnium Gatherum)

Superior Achievement in Short Fiction

  • “The Book With No End”, Colleen Anderson (Bibliotheca Fantastica)
  • “Primal Tongue”, Michael Bailey (Zippered Flesh 2)
  • “Flowers Blooming in the Season of Atrophy”, Max Booth III (Chiral Mad 2)
  • “Snapshot”, Patrick Freivald (Blood & Roses)
  • “Night Train to Paris”, David Gerrold (F&SF 1-2/13)
  • “The Hunger Artist”, Lisa Mannetti (Zippered Flesh 2)
  • “Black Tea”, Samuel Marolla (Black Tea and Other Tales)
  • “The Slipway Grey”, Helen Marshall (Chilling Tales)
  • “The Geminis”, John Palisano (Chiral Mad 2)
  • “Code 666”, Michael Reaves (F&SF 3-4/13)

Superior Achievement in an Anthology

  • Horror Library: Volume 5, R.J. Cavender & Boyd E. Harris, ed. (Cutting Block)
  • Blood Rites: An Invitation to Horror, Marc Ciccarone, ed. (Blood Bound)
  • After Death…, Eric J. Guignard, ed. (Dark Moon)
  • Barbers & Beauties, Michael Knost & Nancy Eden Siegel, ed. (Hummingbird House)
  • Tales of Jack the Ripper, Ross E. Lockhart, ed. (Word Horde)
  • Bleed, Lori Michelle, ed. (Perpetual Motion Machine)
  • The Grimscribe’s Puppets, Joseph S. Pulver, Sr., ed. (Miskatonic River)
  • Shadow Masters: An Anthology from the Horror Zine, Jeani Rector, ed. (Imajin)
  • Dark Visions: A Collection of Modern Horror, Volume One, Anthony Rivera & Sharon Lawson, ed. (Grey Matter)

Superior Achievement in a Collection

  • North American Lake Monsters: Stories, Nathan Ballingrud (Small Beer)
  • The Beautiful Thing That Awaits Us All and Other Stories, Laird Barron (Night Shade)
  • They Might Be Demons, Max Booth III (Dark Moon)
  • Fresh Cut Tales: A Collection of Dark Fiction, Kenneth W. Cain (Distressed Press)
  • The Tears of Isis, James Dorr (Perpetual Motion Machine)
  • The Crossroads: A Collection of Narrative Horror, K. Trap Jones (Hazardous Press)
  • The Ape’s Wife and Other Stories, Caitlìn R. Kiernan (Subterranean)
  • Deeply Twisted, Chantal Noordeloos (TMH Publishing)
  • Dance of the Blue Lady, Gene O’Neill (Bad Moon)
  • Flowers of the Sea, Reggie Oliver (Tartarus)
  • Bible Stories for Secular Humanists, S.P. Somtow (Diplodocus)

Superior Achievement in Non-Fiction

  • Images of the Modern Vampire: The Hip and the Atavistic, Barbara Brodman & James E. Doan, eds. (Fairleigh Dickinson)
  • Ramsey Campbell: Critical Essays on the Modern Master of Horror, Gary William Crawford, ed. (Scarecrow)
  • Nolan on Bradbury: Sixty Years of Writing about the Master of Science Fiction, William F. Nolan (Hippocampus)
  • The Intermedial Experience of Horror: Suspended Failures, Jarkko Toikkanen (Palgrave Macmillan)
  • Lovecraft and Influence: His Predecessors and Successors, Robert H. Waugh, ed. (Scarecrow)
  • The Works of Tim Burton: Margins to Mainstream, Jeffrey Andrew Weinstock, ed. (Palgrave Macmillan)

Superior Achievement in a Poetry Collection

  • The Horror Show, Vincenzo Bilof (Bizarro Pulp)
  • Dark Roads: Selected Long Poems 1971-2012, Bruce Boston (Dark Renaissance)
  • Scenes Along the Zombie Highway, G.O. Clark (Dark Regions)
  • Luminous Worlds, David C. Kopaska-Merkel (Dark Regions)
  • The Sex Lives of Monsters, Helen Marshall (Kelp Queen)
  • Dangerous Dreams, Marge Simon & Sandy DeLuca (Elektrik Milk Bath)
  • Four Elements, Marge Simon, Rain Graves, Charlee Jacob, & Linda Addison (Bad Moon/Evil Jester)
  • Demonstra: A Poetry Collection, Bryan Thao Worra (Innsmouth Free Press)
  • Hysteria: A Collection of Madness, Stephanie M. Wytovich (Raw Dog Screaming)

As only five Graphic Novel finalists were selected, they will proceed directly to the final ballot. They will not be officially considered “nominees” until the final ballot is formally announced.

Superior Achievement in a Graphic Novel

  • Fatale Book Three: West of Hell, Ed Brubaker (Image)
  • Alabaster: Wolves, Caitlìn R. Kiernan (Dark Horse)
  • Witch Doctor, Vol. 2: Mal Practice, Brandon Seifert (Image)
  • Sin Titulo, Cameron Stewart (Dark Horse)
  • Colder, Paul Tobin (Dark Horse)

Horror Writers Association members will vote to choose final nominees from this list, and then vote again to determine winners. The Final Ballot (Bram Stoker Award nominees for the 2013 calendar year) will be announced on February 23, 2014.