2014 Bram Stoker Preliminary Ballot

Superior Achievement in a Novel

• The Flesh Sutra, Tim Burke (NobleFusion)
• The Burning Dark, Adam Christopher (Tor)
• This Darkness Light, Michaelbrent Collings (self-published)
• Vortex, Lawrence C. Connolly (Fantasist Enterprises)
• Suffer the Children, Craig DiLouie (Gallery)
• Jade Sky, Patrick Freivald (JournalStone)
• Beautiful You, Chuck Palahniuk (Jonathan Cape/Vintage)
• The Vines, Christopher Rice (47North)
• The Reborn, Brett J. Talley (JournalStone)
• Blood Kin, Steve Rasnic Tem (Solaris)

Superior Achievement in a First Novel

• Mr. Wicker, Maria Alexander (Raw Dog Screaming)
• Forsaken, J.D. Barker (Hampton Creek)
• Predator, Janice Gable Bashman (Month9Books)
• Consumed, David Cronenberg (Scribner)
• Return of the Mothman, Michael Knost (Woodland)
• Hyde, Daniel Levine (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt)
• Bird Box, Josh Malerman (HarperCollins)
• The Violet Hour, Whitney Miller (Flux)
• Angel Manor, Chantal Noordeloos (Horrific Tales)
• Predator X, C.J. Waller (Severed)

Superior Achievement in a YA Novel

• Lych Way, Ari Berk (Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers)
• Intentional Haunting, Jake Bible (Permuted)
• White Space, Ilsa J. Bick (Egmont)
• Phoenix Island, John Dixon (Gallery)
• Phoenix Island, Kami Garcia (Little, Brown Books for Young Readers)
• Killer Instinct, S.E. Green (Simon Pulse)
• Passionaries, Tonya Hurley (Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers
• Amity, Micol Ostow (Egmont)
• All Those Broken Angels, Peter Adam Salomon (Flux)
• Horror High School: Return of the Loving Dead, Sam Swanson & Araminta Star Matthews (Curiosity Quills)
• Eleanor: Book 1: The Unseen: Johnny Worthen (Jolly Fish)

Superior Achievement in Long Fiction

• “Dandelion Clocks”, Michael Bailey (Inkblots and Blood Spots)
• “The Infected“, Taylor Grant (Cemetery Dance #71)
• “Dreams of a Little Suicide”, Eric J. Guignard (Hell Comes To Hollywood II)
• Ceremony of Flies, Kate Jonez (DarkFuse)
• “Fishing for Dinosaurs“, Joe R. Lansdale (Limbus, Inc., Book II)
• “Three Guys Walk Into a Bar“, Jonathan Maberry (Limbus, Inc., Book II)
• “Lost and Found“, Joe McKinney (Limbus, Inc., Book II)
• “Ridin the Dawg“, Gene O’Neill (Mia Moja)
• “The Long Long Breakdown”, John F.D. Taff (The End in All Beginnings)
• “The Riggle Twins”, Gregor Xane (Bad Apples)

Superior Achievement in Short Fiction

• “Sleep Paralysis“, Dale Bailey (Nightmare 4/14)
• “Hot Tub“, Hal Bodner (Hell Comes to Hollywood II)
• “Trigger Warning“, Patrick Freivald (Demonic Visions Book 4)
• “Baby’s Breath“, Sydney Leigh (Bugs: Tales That Slither, Creep, and Crawl)
• “The Vaporization Enthalpy of a Peculiar Pakistani Family“, Usman T. Malik (Qualia Nous)
• “Nature’s Oddities“, Alessandro Manzetti (The Shaman: And Other Shadows)
• “Ruminations“, Rena Mason (Qualia Nous)
• “Splinterette“, John Palisano (Widowmakers: A Benefit Anthology of Dark Fiction)
• “The Street of Fruiting Bodies“, Sayuri Ueda (Phantasm Japan)
• “A Dweller in Amenty“, Genevieve Valentine (Nightmare 3/14)
• “The Floating Girls: A Documentary“, Damien Angelica Walters (Jamais Vu #3)

Superior Achievement in an Anthology

• The End Is Nigh, John Joseph Adams & Hugh Howey, eds. (Broad Reach)
• Qualia Nous, Michael Bailey, ed. (Written Backwards)
• A Darke Phantastique, Jason Brock, ed. (Cycatrix)
• Fearful Symmetries, Ellen Datlow, ed. (ChiZine)
• Halloween Tales, Kate Jonez, ed. (Omnium Gatherum)
• Hell Comes to Hollywood II, Eric Miller, ed. (Big Time)
• Burnt Tongues, Chuck Palahniuk, Richard Thomas, & Dennis Widmyer, eds. (Medallion)
• The Dark Rites of Cthulhu, Brian M. Sammons, ed. (April Moon)
• Limbus, Inc., Book II, Brett J. Talley, ed. (JournalStone)
• Journals of Horror: Found Fiction, Terry M. West (Pleasant Storm)

Superior Achievement in a Collection

• Inkblots and Blood Spots, Michael Bailey (Villipede)
• After the People Lights Have Gone Off, Stephen Graham Jones (Dark House)
• Little by Little, John R. Little (Bad Moon)
• Gifts for the One Who Comes After, Helen Marshall (ChiZine)
• Escape Plans, David Sakmyster (Wordfire)
• The Madeleine Wheel: Playing with Spiders, Terrence Scott (self-publishing)
• Soft Apocalypses, Lucy Snyder (Raw Dog Screaming)
• The Untold Tales of Ozman Droom, Robin Spriggs (Anomalous)
• The End In All Beginnings, John F.D. Taff (Grey Matter)
• Songs for the Lost, Alexander Zelenyj (Eibonvale)

Superior Achievement in Non-Fiction

• William Hope Hodgson: Voices from the Borderland, Massimo Berruti, S.T. Joshi, & Sam Gafford (Hippocampus)
• Disorders of Magnitude, Jason V Brock (Rowman & Littlefield)
• The Art of Neil Gaiman, Hayley Campbell (HarperCollins)
• Lovecraft and A World in Transition, S.T. Joshi (Hippocampus)
• The New Annotated H.P. Lovecraft, Leslie S. Klinger (Liveright)
• Horror 101: The Way Forward, Joe Mynhardt & Emma Audsley (Crystal Lake)
• Mrs. Wakeman vs. the Antichrist, Robert Damon Schneck (Tarcher/Penguin)
• Shooting Yourself in the Head For Fun and Profit: A Writer’s Survival Guide, Lucy Snyder (Post Mortem)
• The Creature Chronicles: Exploring the Black Lagoon Trilogy, Tom Weaver, David Schecter & Steve Kronenberg (McFarland)

Superior Achievement in a Poetry Collection

• Fearworms: Selected Poems, Robert Payne Cabeen (Fanboy Comics)
• Gravedigger’s Dance, G.O. Clark (Dark Renaissance)
• The Madness of Empty Spaces, David E. Cowen (Weasel)
• Venus Intervention, Corrinne De Winter & Alessandro Manzetti (Kipple Officina Libraria)
• Dreams from the Black Nebula, Wade German (Hippocampus)
• Forgiving Judas, Tom Piccirilli (Crossroad)
• The Manufacturer of Sorrow, Michelle Scalise (Eldritch)
• Sweet Poison, Marge Simon & Mary Turzillo (Dark Renaissance)
• Creepy Little Death Poems, Tiffany Tang (Dreality)
• Mourning Jewelry, Stephanie Wytovich (Raw Dog Screaming)

Superior Achievement in a Graphic Novel

• Sugar Skull, Charles Burns (Pantheon)
• Through the Woods, Emily Carroll (McElderry)
• Kiss Me Satan, Victor Gischler & Juan Ferrerya (Dark Horse)
• Locke and Key: Vol. 6: Alpha and Omega, Joe Hill & Gabrielle Rodriguez (IDW)
• I Tell You It’s Love, Joe R. Lansdale & Daniele Serra (Short, Scary Tales)
• Bad Blood, Jonathan Maberry & Tyler Crook (Dark Horse)
• The Witcher, Paul Tobin (Dark Horse)

Superior Achievement in a Screenplay

• American Horror Story: Coven: “The Magical Delights of Stevie Nicks”
• The Babadook
• Doctor Who: “Listen”
• Helix: “Pilot”
• Infliction
• Penny Dreadful: “Possession”
• Penny Dreadful: “Séance”
• Sleepy Hollow: “Bad Blood”
• The Walking Dead: “The Grove”
• Wolf Creek 2
  

Horror Writers Association members will vote to choose final nominees from this list, and then vote again to determine winners. The final ballot will be announced February 23, 2015.