2012 Stoker Final Ballot!

The Horror Writers Association (HWA) is pleased to announce the Final Ballot for the 2012 Bram Stoker Awards®. The HWA (see www.horror.org ) is the premiere writers organization in the horror and dark fiction genre, with nearly 1000 members. We have presented the Bram Stoker Awards in various categories since 1987 (see http://www.horror.org/stokers.htm ).

The HWA Board and the Bram Stoker Awards Committee congratulate all these Bram Stoker Award Nominees.

Notes about the voting process appear after the ballot listing.

SUPERIOR ACHIEVEMENT IN A NOVEL

Ethridge, Benjamin Kane – Bottled Abyss (Redrum Horror)

Everson, John – NightWhere (Samhain Publishing)

Kiernan, Caitlin R. – The Drowning Girl (Roc)

Little, Bentley – The Haunted (Signet)

McKinney, Joe – Inheritance (Evil Jester Press)

SUPERIOR ACHIEVEMENT IN A FIRST NOVEL

Boccacino, Michael – Charlotte Markham and the House of Darklings (William Morrow)

Coates, Deborah – Wide Open (Tor Books)

Day, Charles – The Legend of the Pumpkin Thief (Noble YA Publishers LLC)

Dudar, Peter – A Requiem for Dead Flies (Nightscape Press)

Gropp, Richard – Bad Glass (Ballantine/Del Rey)

Soares, L.L. – Life Rage (Nightscape Press)

SUPERIOR ACHIEVEMENT IN A YOUNG ADULT NOVEL

Bray, Libba – The Diviners (Little Brown)

Lyga, Barry – I Hunt Killers (Little Brown)

Maberry, Jonathan – Flesh & Bone (Simon & Schuster)

McCarty, Michael – I Kissed A Ghoul (Noble Romance Publishing)

Stiefvater, Maggie – The Raven Boys (Scholastic Press)

Strand, Jeff – A Bad Day for Voodoo (Sourcebooks)

SUPERIOR ACHIEVEMENT IN A GRAPHIC NOVEL

Bunn, Cullen – The Sixth Gun Volume 3: Bound (Oni Press)

Moore, Terry – Rachel Rising Vol. 1: The Shadow of Death (Abstract Studio)

Thornton, Ravi – The Tale of Brin and Bent and Minno Marylebone (Jonathan Cape)

Wacks, Peter J., and Guy Anthony De Marco – Behind These Eyes (Villainous Press)

Wood, Rocky, and Lisa Morton – Witch Hunts: A Graphic History of the Burning Times (McFarland)

SUPERIOR ACHIEVEMENT IN LONG FICTION

Burke, Kealan Patrick – Thirty Miles South of Dry County (Delirium Books)

Ketchum, Jack, and Lucky McKee – I’m Not Sam (Sinister Grin Press)

McKinney, Joe, and Michael McCarty – Lost Girl of the Lake (Bad Moon Books)

O’Neill, Gene – The Blue Heron (Dark Regions Press)

Prentiss, Norman – The Fleshless Man (Delirium Books)

SUPERIOR ACHIEVEMENT IN SHORT FICTION

Boston, Bruce – Surrounded by the Mutant Rain Forest (Daily Science Fiction)

McKinney, Joe – Bury My Heart at Marvin Gardens (Best of Dark Moon Digest, Dark Moon Books)

Ochse, Weston – Righteous (Psychos, Black Dog and Leventhall Publication)

Palisano, John – Available Light (Lovecraft eZine, March 2012)

Snyder, Lucy – Magdala Amygdala (Dark Faith: Invocations, Apex Book Company)

SUPERIOR ACHIEVEMENT IN SCREENPLAY

Goldman, Jane – The Woman in Black (Cross Creek Pictures)

Kim, Sang Kyu – The Walking Dead, “Killer Within” (AMC TV)

Minear, Tim – American Horror Story: Asylum, “Dark Cousin” (Brad Falchuk Teley-Vision, Ryan Murphy Productions)

Ross, Gary, Suzanne Collins, and Billy Ray – The Hunger Games (Lionsgate, Color Force)

Whedon, Joss, and Drew Goddard – The Cabin in the Woods (Mutant Enemy Productions, Lionsgate)

SUPERIOR ACHIEVEMENT IN ANTHOLOGY

Castle, Mort, and Sam Weller – Shadow Show (HarperCollins)

Guignard, Eric J. – Dark Tales of Lost Civilizations (Dark Moon Books)

Miller, Eric – Hell Comes to Hollywood (Big Time Books)

Scioneaux, Mark C., R.J. Cavender, and Robert S. Wilson – Horror for Good: A Charitable Anthology (Cutting Block Press)

Swanson, Stan – Slices of Flesh (Dark Moon Books)

SUPERIOR ACHIEVEMENT IN FICTION COLLECTION

Carroll, Jonathan – Woman Who Married a Cloud: Collected Stories (Subterranean Press)

Castle, Mort – New Moon on the Water (Dark Regions)

Hand, Elizabeth – Errantry: Strange Stories (Small Beer Press)

Hirshberg, Glen – The Janus Tree (Subterranean Press)

Oates, Joyce Carol – Black Dahlia and White Rose: Stories (Ecco)

SUPERIOR ACHIEVEMENT IN NON-FICTION

Collings, Michael – Writing Darkness (CreateSpace)

Klinger, Les – The Annotated Sandman, Volume 1 (Vertigo)

Morton, Lisa – Trick or Treat: A History of Halloween (Reaktion Books)

Paffenroth, Kim, and John W. Morehead – The Undead and Theology (Pickwick Publications)

Phillips, Kendall R. – Dark Directions: Romero, Craven, Carpenter, and the Modern Horror Film (Southern Illinois University Press)

SUPERIOR ACHIEVEMENT IN POETRY

Addison, Linda, and Stephen M. Wilson – Dark Duet (NECON eBooks)

Boston, Bruce, and Gary William Crawford – Notes from the Shadow City (Dark Regions Press)

Collings, Michael – A Verse to Horrors (Amazon Digital Services)

Simon, Marge – Vampires, Zombies & Wanton Souls (Elektrik Milk Bath Press)

Turzillo, Mary A. – Lovers & Killers (Dark Regions)

New Review

A nice one (from a faith perspective) - of THE UNDEAD AND THEOLOGY!

The last paragraph is esp. quotable - "Papers such as the ones presented in The Undead and the Theology are a bridge of conversation from theology classrooms to what is intriguing the masses today. When graduates throw up their hands and say 'And how am I suppose to use this education in the real world?!' (and what seminary student hasn’t done that?), we have an answer."

Pokemon! (And a General Evaluation of Human Action)

When my son was four, we played the Pokemon card game obsessively. Literally every day. And not like playing Go Fish or Candyland with him (out of a feeling of duty) - I liked playing as much as he did. In fact, he got his first starter kit and some booster packs for Christmas 1998 and we could not wait for Borders to reopen on December 26 so we could get more booster packs to tweak our decks. And I quickly realized what I loved about the game: it had four distinct parts to it, each of which was enjoyable. 

First, you had to shop for the cards. There was the anticipation, an almost gambling like addiction of not knowing what you'd get exactly, but hoping for the Magic Bullet to defeat all enemies.

Then there was the trading stage. (Obviously, my son engaged in this much more than I did.) This was the social aspect, hanging out with fellow enthusiasts, talking strategy, talking smack about how your water deck would annihilate them next time. 

Then there was the planning and building stage. Unlike the previous stage, this one was completely solitary, focused. This was numbers crunching (you have to calculate things in Pokemon like figuring out average damage per turn and how many turns a Pokemon will stay on the front line until defeated, almost as much as you used to with old fashioned pencil-and-paper D&D), geeked out, hours and hours late at night, sometimes cackling maniacally when a particularly good arrangement presented itself. 

Finally, you got to actually play. This is not really the social aspect, as you and your opponent are hunkered over the cards, totally focused on them and what you can predict will happen next. There is the thrill of victory, sometimes, but regardless of the outcome, you'll have to go back to step three (and maybe steps 1 and 2, as well) and start over before next time!

So I had always appreciated the game for how much enjoyment I could get out of it, and in several different ways. But I was thinking this morning, that other things I really enjoy in life, also participate in similar phases or steps to the Pokemon obsessions. Teaching, for example - I go browsing and shopping for books; I love (and now very much miss) the social aspect of sitting and talking with other teachers about our profession, about pedagogy and what we have planned and what works or doesn't; I read the books, plan the lessons, build the syllabus, think of the opening question for seminar; and then I actually teach. And cooking is even closer (since the shopping stage is more integral): I love shopping for the food (and what's available, local, and/or on sale very much contributes to the planning stage); it's fun to socialize with other foodies, even trade recipes or tips or even coupons or news of sales; then I plan the week's menus (around what was bought, and to maximize use of leftovers); then I actually cook and eat, which is really a more balanced activity than play, as I do the cooking alone but the eating is social, as is the praise for the victorious cooking. 

So, maybe I need some more hobbies that partake of all four! Knitting? Model trains? Who knows! 

I Go To A Land Down Under

I am now clear to announce - I am an invited speaker at the 2013 Melbourne Zombie Convention! I am thrilled and would like to thank the organizers for thinking of me, especially Geoff Brown who worked out the details with me! This is so exciting!

This is their Facebook page at the moment, with official website promised soon!

https://www.facebook.com/events/525794974099727/