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Stoker Finalists Named

The finalists for the Stoker ballot have been named! It’s unbelievable that Women in Horror Month is already drawing to an end and it will soon be Stoker time! As in past years, we at ML will make a heroic effort to review the finalists (I hope that’s not a surprise, guys). Yes, our reviewers are heroes. Any finalists who happen to be reading this… Please contact us at monsterlibrarian@monsterlibrarian.com so we can get this (heroic) party going!

And now:

“We are proud to present a particularly notable slate of nominees this year, showing the horror genre is strong and popular,” Rocky Wood, the HWA’s President, said.

IMPORTANT: Voting begins on 2/28 and ends on 3/15. Only Active and Lifetime members can vote.

The nominees are:

Superior Achievement in a Novel

      Joe Hill – NOS4A2 (William Morrow)
      Stephen King – Doctor Sleep (Scribner)
      Lisa Morton – Malediction (Evil Jester Press)
      Sarah Pinborough and F. Paul Wilson – A Necessary End (Thunderstorm/Maelstrom Press)
      Christopher Rice – The Heavens Rise (Gallery Books)

Superior Achievement in a First Novel

      Kate Jonez – Candy House (Evil Jester Press)
      John Mantooth – The Year of the Storm (Berkley Trade)
      Rena Mason – The Evolutionist (Nightscape Press)
      Jonathan Moore – Redheads (Samhain Publishing)
      Royce Prouty – Stoker’s Manuscript (G.P. Putnam’s Sons)


Superior Achievement in a Young Adult Novel

      Patrick Freivald – Special Dead (JournalStone)
      Kami Garcia – Unbreakable (Little, Brown Books for Young Readers)
      Geoffrey Girard – Project Cain (Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers)
      Joe McKinney – Dog Days (JournalStone)
      Cat Winters – In the Shadow of Blackbirds (Harry N. Abrams)


Superior Achievement in a Graphic Novel

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


Superior Achievement in Long Fiction

      Dale Bailey – “The Bluehole” (The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction, May/June 2013)
      Gary Braunbeck – “The Great Pity” (Chiral Mad 2, Written Backwards)
      Benjamin K. Ethridge – “The Slaughter Man” (Limbus, Inc., JournalStone)
      Gregory Frost – “No Others Are Genuine” (Asimov’s Science Fiction, Oct./Nov. 2013)
      Greg F. Gifune – House of Rain (DarkFuse)
      Rena Mason – East End Girls (JournalStone)

Superior Achievement in Short Fiction

      Michael Bailey – “Primal Tongue” (Zippered Flesh 2, Smart Rhino Publications)
      Patrick Freivald – “Snapshot” (Blood & Roses, Scarlett River Press)
      David Gerrold – “Night Train to Paris” (The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction, Jan./Feb. 2013)
      Lisa Mannetti – “The Hunger Artist” (Zippered Flesh 2, Smart Rhino Publications)
      John Palisano – “The Geminis” (Chiral Mad 2, Written Backwards)
      Michael Reaves – “Code 666” (The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction, March/April 2013)


Superior Achievement in a Screenplay

      Fabien Adda and Fabrice Gobert – The Returned: “The Horde” (Ramaco Media I, Castelao Pictures)
      Brad Falchuk – American Horror Story: Asylum: “Spilt Milk” (Brad Falchuk Teley-Vision, Ryan Murphy Productions)
      Bryan Fuller – Hannibal: “Apéritif” (Dino De Laurentiis Company, Living Dead Guy Productions, AXN: Original X Production, Gaumont International Television)
      Daniel Knauf – Dracula: “A Whiff of Sulfur” (Flame Ventures, Playground, Universal Television, Carnival Films
      Glen Mazzara – The Walking Dead: “Welcome to the Tombs” (AMC TV)


Superior Achievement in an Anthology

      R.J. Cavender and Boyd E. Harris (ed.) – Horror Library: Volume 5 (Cutting Block Press)
      Eric J. Guignard (ed.) – After Death… (Dark Moon Books)
      Michael Knost and Nancy Eden Siegel (ed.) – Barbers & Beauties (Hummingbird House Press)
      Joseph S. Pulver, Sr. (ed.) – The Grimscribe’s Puppets (Miskatonic River Press)
      Anthony Rivera and Sharon Lawson (ed.) – Dark Visions: A Collection of Modern Horror, Volume One (Grey Matter Press)

Superior Achievement in a Fiction Collection

      Nathan Ballingrud – North American Lake Monsters: Stories (Small Beer Press)
      Laird Barron – The Beautiful Thing That Awaits Us All and Other Stories (Night Shade Books)
      James Dorr – The Tears of Isis (Perpetual Motion Machine Publishing)
      Caitlin R. Kiernan – The Ape’s Wife and Other Stories (Subterranean)
      Gene O’Neill – Dance of the Blue Lady (Bad Moon Books)
      S. P. Somtow – Bible Stories for Secular Humanists (Diplodocus Press)


Superior Achievement in Non-Fiction

      Barbara Brodman and James E. Doan (ed.) – Images of the Modern Vampire: The Hip and the Atavistic (Fairleigh Dickinson)
      Gary William Crawford (ed.) – Ramsey Campbell: Critical Essays on the Modern Master of Horror (Scarecrow Press)
      William F. Nolan – Nolan on Bradbury: Sixty Years of Writing about the Master of Science Fiction (Hippocampus Press)
      Jarkko Toikkanen – The Intermedial Experience of Horror: Suspended Failures (Palgrave Macmillan)
      Robert H. Waugh (ed.) – Lovecraft and Influence: His Predecessors and Successors (Scarecrow Press)

Superior Achievement in a Poetry Collection

      Bruce Boston – Dark Roads: Selected Long Poems 1971-2012 (Dark Renaissance Books)
      Helen Marshall – The Sex Lives of Monsters (Kelp Queen Press)
      Marge Simon and Sandy DeLuca – Dangerous Dreams (Elektrik Milk Bath Press)
      Marge Simon, Rain Graves, Charlee Jacob, and Linda Addison – Four Elements (Bad Moon Books/Evil Jester Press)
      Stephanie M. Wytovich – Hysteria: A Collection of Madness (Raw Dog Screaming Press)

HWA’s voting members will now vote on this Final Ballot, with voting closing on March 31 (only Active and Lifetime Members are eligible to vote).

The Bram Stoker Awards® will be presented at the 27th annual Bram Stoker Awards® Banquet held during the WORLD HORROR CONVENTION 2014 in Portland, Oregon, on May 10th. Purchase of tickets to both the convention and the banquet are open to the public. The awards will also be live-streamed online for those who cannot attend in person.

Posted on February 26, 2014 by , Reply

Women in Horror Fiction: Becky Siegel Spratford on Discovery of Women Horror Writers for Public Library Collections

    

 

Becky Spratford is a Readers’ Advisor for patrons 13 and up at the Berwyn (IL) Public Library. She is also a steering committee member for the Adult Reading Roundtable, which provides Readers’ Advisory training in the Chicagoland area.  You can see more of Becky’s work on her two popular and critically acclaimed blogs, RA for All and RA for All: Horror, or in her book The Readers’ Advisory Guide to Horror, 2nd edition (ALA Editions, 2012). She is also a proud member of the Horror Writers Association.

As the expert in readers’ advisory for the horror genre in the library world, Becky is sharing with us her tips for librarians and mainstream readers interested in discovering women horror writers. Thank you so much, Becky!

 

Discovery of Women Horror Writers for Public Library Collections

 

A guest post by Becky Spratford

 

One of the biggest complaints I get from my fellow librarians is that it is so hard to identify new horror authors in general, and to find women writers is almost impossible.  In honor of Women in Horror Recognition Month, Kirsten and I have teamed up to provide a month of posts aimed at helping you, the public librarian, to identify good female horror authors to add to your collections.

Now of course, the two places you should start your search for answers to any horror collection questions at your library are RA for All: Horror and Monster Librarian. But the larger question is, where do we get our info? That’s what I am going to do in this post–share my favorite resources for discovering new books and authors.

One of the problems with horror fiction is that outside of the biggest names, most horror is released by small presses.  Now the good news here is that many of these presses highly value librarians. To help us both discover and purchase their titles, they are making a better effort to make their books available through Baker and Taylor and Ingram. Even just as recently as 4 years ago, I would have to get administrative permission to make purchases from specific small presses on a case by case basis; now I can simply include them with my regular collection purchases on Ingram.

Now you can go to my full list of horror small presses here, but the ones I have had the best luck with in recent years for discovering authors (including plenty of women writers) who are best for public library collections are:

 

47 North

Cemetery Dance

Dark Fuse

Dark Moon Books

JournalStone

 

Speaking of JournalStone, one of the best things they do to aid your discovery of new authors is the annual writing contest they host. This year’s winner happens to also be a woman Cynthia Tottleben.  Her winning novel, The Eye Unseen, has just been released and is getting a lot of attention.

But just relying on the small presses and their marketing campaigns has its limitations; for example, are the books they are touting actually good for a general audience?  One way to figure out the cream of the crop is to look at who is being nominated for the horror industry’s most trusted award, The Bram Stoker Award.  Now, I speak from experience because as a member of the Horror Writers Association [who sponsors the award], I can, and do, recommend books for each year’s award. Starting early by looking at the Stoker Preliminary Ballot each year is a good idea.  It comes out in early February each year.  Click here for the current preliminary ballot. But spending a little time looking at the nominees and winners from the last few years is also helpful for your collection development.  If you are particularly looking for up and comers, I suggest the First Novel and the various short story categories.

In general, the Horror Writers Association’s website has many resources, reviews, and links that you can use.  I suggest setting up an RSS feed to the Horror Writers Association’s blog which will allow you to see an ongoing conversations about horror fiction today.

So there are my trade secrets about how I discover horror authors for my library’s collection, but so as not to make you do all the work yourself, here are some of my current favorite women in horror.  Please note, all write to a YA or adult audience.  Links lead either to my blog or Goodreads.

 

Ania Ahlborn

R.B. Chesterton

Mira Grant

Elizabeth Hand

Kate Jonez

Caitlin R. Kiernan

Sarah Langan

Alison Littlewood

Lisa Morton

Sarah Pinborough

Alexandra Sokoloff

Maggie Stiefvater

Cat Winters

 

Once you know where to look, it is not that hard to discover great new women writers. Just remember that RA for All Horror and Monster Librarian are both there to help you, the librarian, help your horror patrons.

 

 

Posted on February 12, 2014 by , Reply

Women in Horror Fiction: J. Lincoln Fenn

Image of J. Lincoln Fenn    

 

If you haven’t discovered J.Lincoln Fenn yet, you should check out her debut novel, Poe (2013, 47North). It’s got lots of dark humor, a great, quirky narrator, and while the story is firmly grounded in the present, it’s also a fantastical tale of insanity with a chilling, gothic feel. Poe also made the preliminary ballot for this year’s Stoker Awards. If any of that intrigues you, today Poe is available as a Kindle Daily Deal, so it’s a great time to check it out.

 

1.) Can you give our readers a brief introduction?

I’m just a white girl from Massachusetts who lives in Hawaii and writes dark things. My debut novel Poe won the 2013 Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award for Sci-Fi/Fantasy/Horror, which led to its publication by 47North. A complete and utter surprise since about 10,000 people enter that contest each year.

Poe is a genre blend of horror/urban fantasy/dark humor, more along the lines of John Dies in the End than your standard horror novel. It centers on Dimitri Petrov, a 23-yr. old, snarky obituary writer who wakes up on a slab in the morgue after a Halloween séance gone bad. Things go downhill from there.

 

2.) Why do you write horror?  What draws you to the genre?

Probably my Roman-Catholic roots and New England upbringing draws me to horror. Christianity is a religion based on one of the goriest books ever written, with a Sunday ritual involving the transfiguration of a wafer and wine into flesh and blood, which everyone consumes. And New England is just inherently spooky. Those long, dark winters with the wind howling around the eaves explain a lot about Hawthorne, Poe, and Lovecraft.

I write horror because I think it’s where we get to explore our darkest fears. Stephen King said, “Fiction is the truth inside the lie.” The truth inside horror is our fear of death. Some cultures take this on more directly. In Tibet, they practiced ‘sky burial’ where a corpse was dismembered as an offering to the vultures, a more literal form of transfiguration except the deity is impermanence.

 

3.) Can you describe your writing style or the tone you prefer to set for your stories?

I want to wake people up when I write. I want to them to read something and go, no, she didn’t just say that, did she? I want my words to do something. When I was writing Poe I was reading Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas and Great Expectations. Tonally there’s something gonzo-style about Dimitri’s voice, and the only better snark than Charles Dickens is George Eliot.

I also like playing disparate notes at the same time. The Prologue (to Poe) is horrific, with gory descriptions of the morgue, but the dialogue is funny, and there’s danger and threat too. Wakey wakey.

 

4. Who are some of your influences?  Are there any women authors who have particularly inspired you to write?

Even though Poe has almost nothing to do with E. A. Poe, he is a big influence. My grandfather, who worked in a factory, was somehow talked into buying Poe’s complete works. A wonderful discovery one long, dull summer.

I have an altar to Margaret Atwood. She sets an impossible standard, but I forgive her for that. Other women writers I find inspiring are Gillian Flynn, Ann Patchett, Isabel Allende, Joyce Carol Oates, Toni Morrison, and Carolyn See. I had the good fortune to meet and take a course with See, who gave great advice on writing and the writing life.

 

5.) What authors do you like to read?  Any recommendations?

I started reading Neil Gaiman after my PW weekly review said his fans would like Poe, and I thought oh yes, here’s a kindred spirit. The Ocean at the End of the Lane and David Mitchell’s Cloud Atlas were two of my favorite reads in 2013.

If it’s been a while since you read Frankenstein (probably high school), pick it up again. It holds up, and in these days of glow-in-the-dark bunnies and genetically engineered tomatoes, scarily prescient. Then read Oryx and Crake. And be afraid.
6.) Where can readers find your work?

For less than the cost of a latte and scone, anyone can pick up a Kindle version of Poe on Amazon. There’s also a paperback, which has a nice, waxy cover, and an audiobook. Readers can also find my most current musings on my blog at www.jlincolnfenn.com. Also I follow back.

 

Interested in learning more? Here’s a link to J. Lincoln Fenn’s Amazon page. You can access her most recent tweets and blog posts– they appear in the column to the right of the main page.

Have a great day, and check back soon to see another profile!

 

 

 

Posted on February 4, 2014 by , Reply
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