Stoker Awards 2018 | Musings of the Monster Librarian

Victor Lavalle’s Destroyer by Victor LaValle, illustrated by Dietrich Smith

BOOM! Studios, 2018

ISBN-13: 9781684150557

Available: Paperback, Kindle edition, comiXology

Victor LaValle’s Destroyer is set in a world where Victor Frankenstein is real, and so is his Creature. Having survived by living under the frigid environment of Antarctica, he becomes angered when a whaling vessel invades the waters and sheds blood of the ocean creatures he is seen swimming with in the first pages. Here begins the journey of the Destroyer, his only goal to eliminate humanity from the planet.

But Destroyer isn’t simply the story of Frankenstein’s Creature and his revenge. At the center is Dr. Josephine Baker, who herself is a descendant of the Frankenstein family, and her resurrected son, Akai. He had been gunned down by the Chicago police after a paranoid woman called them insisting a Black man was brandishing a firearm in her neighborhood. Dr. Baker brought him back using nanotechnology, plus a little of her ancestor’s methods. Two scientists, Percy and Byron, believe they’re searching for Dr. Baker to protect her from the Destroyer, but they discover their mission may be greater than they thought. Add to the mix Akai’s estranged father, the Bride, and a ruthless agent who will stop at nothing to get her hands on Dr. Baker’s creation, and you have yourself one amazing story.

LaValle does not shy away from sociopolitical commentary in Destroyer. Strong themes in this graphic novel include misogyny, racism, and police brutality, all of which are timely and necessary topics. LaValle expertly weaves a tale of modern-day United States fear and hatred with the original Frankenstein story using elements and names familiar to readers of Shelley’s original work. The artwork supplied by Smith creates the perfect accompaniment to a gripping story.

I watched a keynote given by LaValle during the Library Journal Library Con Live! 2018 where he discussed the graphic novel. I highly recommend seeing him speak if you have the chance.

Contains: blood, gore, misogyny, police brutality, racism, violence

Highly recommended

Reviewed by Lizzy Walker

Editor’s note: Victor Lavalle’s Destroyer is on the final ballot for the 2018 Bram Stoker Award in the Graphic Novel category.

The Horror Writers Association published the final ballot for the Bram Stoker Award. Winners will be announced May 11. Stay tuned while we try to get as many of these read and reviewed before then as we can!

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LOS ANGELES – Feb. 23, 2019 – PRLog — The Horror Writers Association announces the 2018 Bram Stoker Awards® Final Ballot. The HWA is the premier organization for writers of horror and dark fantasy. “This year’s nominees demonstrate a continued lineup of quality work in the horror genre,” said Lisa Morton, HWA President. “Our members and awards juries have again chosen truly outstanding works of literature, cinema, non-fiction, and poetry.”

The presentation of the Bram Stoker Awards® will occur during the 4th annual StokerCon™, to be held at the Amway Grand Plaza Hotel in Grand Rapids, Michigan. The gala presentation will happen on Saturday night, May 11th. Tickets to the banquet and the convention are on sale to the public at http://stokercon2019.org/. The awards presentation will also be live-streamed online via the website.

Named in honor of the author of the seminal horror novel Dracula, the Bram Stoker Awards® are presented annually for superior achievement in writing in eleven categories, including traditional works of various lengths, poetry, screenplays, and non-fiction. Previous winners include Stephen King, J.K. Rowling, George R. R. Martin, Joyce Carol Oates, and Neil Gaiman. The HWA is a nonprofit organization of writers and publishing professionals around the world, dedicated to promoting dark literature and the interests of those who write it. The HWA formed in 1985 with the help of many of the field’s greats, including Dean Koontz, Robert McCammon, and Joe R. Lansdale. The HWA is home to the prestigious Bram Stoker Award® and the annual StokerCon™ horror convention.

We proudly provide the list of talented nominees who reached the final ballot below for each category.

Superior Achievement in a Novel

Katsu, Alma – The Hunger (G.P. Putnam’s Sons)
Maberry, Jonathan – Glimpse (St. Martin’s Press)
Malerman, Josh – Unbury Carol (Del Rey)
Stoker, Dacre and Barker, J.D. – Dracul (G.P. Putnam’s Sons)
Tremblay, Paul – The Cabin at the End of the World (William Morrow)

Superior Achievement in a First Novel

Fine, Julia – What Should Be Wild (Harper)
Grau, T.E. – I Am the River (Lethe Press)
Kiste, Gwendolyn – The Rust Maidens (Trepidatio Publishing)
Stage, Zoje – Baby Teeth (St. Martin’s Press)
Tremblay, Tony – The Moore House (Twisted Publishing)

Superior Achievement in a Young Adult Novel

Ireland, Justina – Dread Nation (Balzer + Bray)
Legrand, Claire – Sawkill Girls (Katherine Tegen Books)
Maberry, Jonathan – Broken Lands (Simon & Schuster)
Snyman, Monique – The Night Weaver (Gigi Publishing)
White, Kiersten – The Dark Descent of Elizabeth Frankenstein (Delacorte Press)

Superior Achievement in a Graphic Novel

Ahmed, Saladin – Abbott (BOOM! Studios)
Azzarello, Brian – Moonshine Vol. 2: Misery Train (Image Comics)
Bunn, Cullen – Bone Parish (BOOM! Studios)
LaValle, Victor – Victor LaValle’s Destroyer (BOOM! Studios)
Liu, Marjorie – Monstress Volume 3: Haven (Image Comics)

Superior Achievement in Long Fiction

Bailey, Michael – Our Children, Our Teachers (Written Backwards)
Hill, Joe – You Are Released (Flight or Fright: 17 Turbulent Tales) (Scribner)
Malik, Usman T. – Dead Lovers on Each Blade, Hung (Nightmare Magazine Issue #74)
Mason, Rena – The Devil’s Throat (Hellhole: An Anthology of Subterranean Terror) (Adrenaline Press)
Smith, Angela Yuriko – Bitter Suites (CreateSpace)

Superior Achievement in Short Fiction

Landry, Jess – “Mutter” (Fantastic Tales of Terror) (Crystal Lake Publishing)
Murray, Lee – “Dead End Town” (Cthulhu Deep Down Under Volume 2) (IFWG Publishing International)
Neugebauer, Annie – “Glove Box” (The Dark City Crime & Mystery Magazine Volume 3, Issue 4-July 2018)
Taff, John F.D. – “A Winter’s Tale” (Little Black Spots) (Grey Matter Press)
Ward, Kyla Lee – “And in Her Eyes the City Drowned” (Weirdbook #39) (Wildside Press)

Superior Achievement in a Fiction Collection

Files, Gemma – Spectral Evidence (Trepidatio Publishing)
Guignard, Eric J. – That Which Grows Wild (Cemetery Dance Publications)
Iglesias, Gabino – Coyote Songs (Broken River Books)
Snyder, Lucy A. – Garden of Eldritch Delights (Raw Dog Screaming Press)
Waggoner, Tim – Dark and Distant Voices: A Story Collection (Nightscape Press)

Superior Achievement in a Screenplay

Aster, Ari – Hereditary (PalmStar Media)
Averill, Meredith – The Haunting of Hill House: The Bent-Neck Lady, Episode 01:05 (Amblin Television, FlanaganFilm, Paramount Television)
Garland, Alex – Annihilation (DNA Films, Paramount Pictures, Scott Rudin Productions, Skydance Media)
Heisserer, Eric – Bird Box (Bluegrass Films, Chris Morgan Productions, Universal Pictures)
Woods, Bryan, Beck, Scott, and Krasinski, John – A Quiet Place (Platinum Dunes, Sunday Night)

Superior Achievement in an Anthology

Chambers, James, Grey, April, and Masterson, Robert – A New York State of Fright: Horror Stories from the Empire State (Hippocampus Press)
Datlow, Ellen – The Devil and the Deep: Horror Stories of the Sea (Night Shade Books)
Guignard, Eric J. – A World of Horror (Dark Moon Books)
Murray, Lee – Hellhole: An Anthology of Subterranean Terror (Adrenaline Press)
Ward, D. Alexander – Lost Highways: Dark Fictions from the Road (Crystal Lake Publishing)

Superior Achievement in Non-Fiction

Connolly, John – Horror Express (PS Publishing)
Gambin, Lee – The Howling: Studies in the Horror Film (Centipede Press)
Ingham, Howard David – We Don’t Go Back: A Watcher’s Guide to Folk Horror (Room 207 Press)
Mynhardt, Joe and Johnson, Eugene – It’s Alive: Bringing Your Nightmares to Life (Crystal Lake Publishing)
Wetmore Jr., Kevin J. – Uncovering Stranger Things: Essays on Eighties Nostalgia, Cynicism and Innocence in the Series (McFarland)

Superior Achievement in a Poetry Collection

Boston, Bruce – Artifacts (Independent Legions Publishing)
Cowen, David E. – Bleeding Saffron (Weasel Press)
Lynch, Donna – Witches (Raw Dog Screaming Press)
Simon, Marge and Manzetti, Alessandro – War (Crystal Lake Publishing)
Tantlinger, Sara – The Devil’s Dreamland (Strangehouse Books)

HWA is a nonprofit organization of writers and publishing professionals around the world, dedicated to promoting dark literature and the interests of those who write it. The HWA formed in 1985 with the help of many of the field’s greats, including Dean Koontz, Robert McCammon, and Joe Lansdale. Today, with over 1,500 members around the globe, it is the oldest and most respected professional organization for the much-loved writers who have brought you the most enjoyable sleepless nights of your life. The HWA is the home of the prestigious Bram Stoker Award® and the creator of the annual StokerCon™ convention.