The 2020 Bram Stoker Awards® Final Ballot
The 2020 Bram Stoker Awards® Final Ballot Announced
The Horror Writers Association (HWA) is pleased to announce the Final Ballot for the 2020 Bram Stoker Awards®. The HWA (see http://www.horror.org/) is the premier writers organization in the horror and dark fiction genre, with more than 1,700 members. We have presented the Bram Stoker Awards in various categories since 1987 (see https://www.thebramstokerawards.com/)
Works on this ballot may be referred to as “nominees,” “finalists,” or “nominated works,” and their authors as “finalists.” If your work appears on this ballot, please e-mail your preferred mailing address to stokerchair@horror.org by March 1 to assist in preparation and mailing of your Bram Stoker Awards Finalist certificate.
The HWA Board and the Bram Stoker Awards® Committee congratulate all those appearing on the Final Ballot. Notes about the voting process will appear after the ballot listing.
If your work appears on this ballot and you would like to offer it to voting members of the HWA in the Internet Mailer to be sent on or around February 25, please see important information following the ballot.
The 2020 Bram Stoker Awards® Final Ballot
Superior Achievement in a Novel
Jones, Stephen Graham – The Only Good Indians (Gallery/Saga Press)
Katsu, Alma – The Deep (G.P. Putnam’s Sons)
Keisling, Todd – Devil’s Creek (Silver Shamrock Publishing)
Malerman, Josh – Malorie (Del Rey)
Moreno-Garcia, Silvia – Mexican Gothic (Del Rey)
Superior Achievement in a First Novel
Hall, Polly – The Taxidermist’s Lover (CamCat Publishing, LLC)
Harrison, Rachel – The Return (Berkley)
Jeffery, Ross – Tome (The Writing Collective)
Knight, EV – The Fourth Whore (Raw Dog Screaming Press)
Petty, Kate Reed – True Story (Viking)
Superior Achievement in a Graphic Novel
Archer, Steven (author/artist) – The Masque of the Red Death (Raw Dog Screaming Press)
Brody, Jennifer (author) and Rivera, Jules (artist) – Spectre Deep 6 (Turner)
Douek, Rich (author) and Cormack, Alex (artist), and Birch, Justin (letterer) – Road of Bones (IDW Publishing)
Holder, Nancy (author), Di Francia, Chiara (artist), and Woo, Amelia (artist), and Foster, Laurie (inker), Molina, Sandra (colorist), and Temofonte, Saida (letterer) – Mary Shelley Presents (Kymera Press)
Manzetti, Alessandro (author) and Cardoselli, Stefano (artist/author), and Stucci, Alessio (letterer) – Her Life Matters: (Or Brooklyn Frankenstein) (Independent Legions Publishing)
Niles, Steve (author), Simeone, Salvatore (author), and Kudranski, Szymon (artist), and and Mauer, Thomas (letterer) – Lonesome Days, Savage Nights (TKO Studios)
Superior Achievement in a Young Adult Novel
Cesare, Adam – Clown in a Cornfield (HarperTeen)
Kraus, Daniel – Bent Heavens (Henry Holt and Company/Macmillan)
Snyman, Monique – The Bone Carver (Vesuvian Books)
Thomas, Aiden – Cemetery Boys (Swoon Reads/Macmillan)
Waters, Erica – Ghost Wood Song (HarperTeen)
Superior Achievement in Long Fiction
Iglesias, Gabino – Beyond the Reef (Lullabies for Suffering: Tales of Addiction Horror) (Wicked Run Press)
Jones, Stephen Graham – Night of the Mannequins (Tor.com)
Kiste, Gwendolyn – The Invention of Ghosts (Nightscape Press)
Landry, Jess – I Will Find You, Even in the Dark (Dim Shores Presents Volume 1) (Dim Shores)
Pinsker, Sarah – Two Truths and a Lie (Tor.com)
Superior Achievement in Short Fiction
Arcuri, Meghan – “Am I Missing the Sunlight?” (Borderlands 7) (Borderlands Press)
Fawver, Kurt – “Introduction to the Horror Story, Day 1” (Nightmare Magazine Nov. 2020 (Issue 98))
Malerman, Josh – “One Last Transformation” (Miscreations: Gods, Monstrosities & Other Horrors) (Written Backwards)
O’Quinn, Cindy – “The Thing I Found Along a Dirt Patch Road” (Shotgun Honey Presents Volume 4: Recoil) (Down and Out Books)
Ward, Kyla Lee – “Should Fire Remember the Fuel?” (Oz is Burning) (B Cubed Press)
Superior Achievement in a Fiction Collection
Koja, Kathe – Velocities: Stories (Meerkat Press)
Langan, John – Children of the Fang and Other Genealogies (Word Horde)
Lillie, Patricia – The Cuckoo Girls (Trepidatio Publishing)
Murray, Lee – Grotesque: Monster Stories (Things in the Well)
Taborska, Anna – Bloody Britain (Shadow Publishing)
Superior Achievement in a Screenplay
Amaris, Scarlett and Stanley, Richard – Color Out of Space (SpectreVision)
Green, Misha – Lovecraft Country, Season 1, Episode 1: “Sundown” (Affeme, Monkeypaw Productions, Bad Robot Productions, Warner Bros. Television Studios)
Green, Misha and Ofordire, Ihuoma – Lovecraft Country, Season 1, Episode 8: “Jig-a-Bobo” (Affeme, Monkeypaw Productions, Bad Robot Productions, Warner Bros. Television Studios)
LaManna, Angela – The Haunting of Bly Manor, Season 1, Episode 5: “The Altar of the Dead” (Intrepid Pictures, Amblin Television, Paramount Television Studios)
Whannell, Leigh – The Invisible Man (Universal Pictures, Blumhouse Productions, Goalpost Pictures, Nervous Tick Productions)
Superior Achievement in a Poetry Collection
Manzetti, Alessandro – Whitechapel Rhapsody: Dark Poems (Independent Legions Publishing)
McHugh, Jessica – A Complex Accident of Life (Apokrupha)
Pelayo, Cynthia – Into the Forest and All the Way Through (Burial Day Books)
Sng, Christina – A Collection of Dreamscapes (Raw Dog Screaming Press)
Tantlinger, Sara – Cradleland of Parasites (Rooster Republic Press)
Superior Achievement in an Anthology
Bailey, Michael and Murano, Doug – Miscreations: Gods, Monstrosities & Other Horrors (Written Backwards)
Murray, Lee and Flynn, Geneve – Black Cranes: Tales of Unquiet Women (Omnium Gatherum Media)
Kolesnik, Samantha – Worst Laid Plans: An Anthology of Vacation Horror (Grindhouse Press)
Tantlinger, Sara – Not All Monsters: A Strangehouse Anthology by Women of Horror (Rooster Republic Press)
Yardley, Mercedes M. – Arterial Bloom (Crystal Lake Publishing)
Superior Achievement in Non-Fiction
Florence, Kelly and Hafdahl, Meg – The Science of Women in Horror: The Special Effects, Stunts, and True Stories Behind Your Favorite Fright Films (Skyhorse)
Heller-Nicholas, Alexandra – 1000 Women in Horror (BearManor Media)
Keene, Brian – End of the Road (Cemetery Dance Publications)
Peirse, Alison – Women Make Horror: Filmmaking, Feminism, Genre (Rutgers University Press)
Waggoner, Tim – Writing in the Dark (Guide Dog Books/Raw Dog Screaming Press)
Wetmore, Jr. Kevin J. – The Streaming of Hill House: Essays on the Haunting Netflix Adaption (McFarland)
Superior Achievement in Short Non-Fiction
Joseph, Rhonda Jackson – “The Beloved Haunting of Hill House: An Examination of Monstrous Motherhood” (The Streaming of Hill House: Essays on the Haunting Netflix Adaption) (McFarland)
Pelayo, Cynthia – “I Need to Believe” (Southwest Review Volume 105.3)
Robinson, Kelly – “Lost, Found, and Finally Unbound: The Strange History of the 1910 Edison Frankenstein” (Rue Morgue Magazine, June 2020)
Sng, Christina – “Final Girl: A Life in Horror” (Interstellar Flight Magazine, October 2020)
Waggoner, Tim – “Speaking of Horror” (The Writer)
Our voting members will now vote on this Final Ballot, with voting closing on March 15, 2021 (only Active and Lifetime Members in good standing are eligible to vote).
The Final Ballot will be sent to Lifetime and Active Members in good standing on March 1. If you are an Active or Lifetime Member and do NOT receive your electronic Ballot link by March 3, please first check your spam/junk mail filter, make sure your email address is updated in Wild Apricot, and then email Brad C. Hodson at admin@horror.org with a brief message about the issue. Note that Ballots are sent to the same email address as the Newsletter and the Internet Mailer. It is the responsibility of Members to keep their email address up to date by in Wild Apricot or by advising the administrator of any issues with your membership account at admin@horror.org. Late Ballots cannot be accepted under any circumstances.
If your work (you are the author, agent, editor, publisher, or publicist) appears on the ballot and you wish to provide a link allowing Voting Members to read the work, there will be a SPECIAL FINAL BALLOT INTERNET MAILER issued on or about February 25. Please email the Internet Mailer editor at imailer@horror.org with a link to your work as soon as you can but no later than February 23 (links will not be accepted for this Special IM after February 23). Anyone validly representing a work appearing on the Final 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://www.horrorwritersassociation.org/login-forum/ (Bram Stoker Eligible Work); on the HWA Facebook page here: https://www.facebook.com/groups/Horrorwritersassoc/; and in the Wild Apricot forums here: https://hwa46.wildapricot.org/Works-Offered-for-Bram-Stoker-Awards-Consideration-2020. If you have already posted your work here prior to the announcement of the Final Ballot you are entitled to post it again. Note: Only members may post in the website and Wild Apricot forums, but members are encouraged to post on behalf of non-members who may appear on the Ballot. The Facebook page is open to members and non-members alike. Non-members may also email stokerchair@horror.org for help with this.
- Please direct any questions regarding the Preliminary Ballot to stokerchair@horror.org.
- Any questions regarding your membership/account information to admin@horror.org.
- If you’re on the Final Ballot and want to provide your work for the Special Final Ballot Internet Mailer to go out on or around February 25, please send a link to your work to imailer@horror.org.