The Stoker Awards Are Coming May 10th

I can’t even begin to tell you how excited I am for this year’s Bram Stoker Awards.  Stephen King vs Joe Hill with the excellent team of F. Paul Wilson and Sarah Pinboroughhoping to exploit a split vote.

And to top it all off, the Horror Writers Association is again offering a live stream of the banquet.  Please find the official press release with all the details following.

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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE                               
April 29, 2014   
Contact Doug Murano               
doug.murano@gmail.com

27^th Annual Bram Stoker Awards® to Be Presented May 10 2014

An all-star lineup of some of the most respected voices in horror will present The Bram Stoker Awards® – the horror genre’s highest honor – as part of the World Horror Convention after an evening gala banquet (approximately 7:30 p.m.) Saturday, May 10, 2014, in the Multnomah/Holladay Room at the DoubleTree by Hilton in Portland, Oregon. Jeff Strand, author of I Have a Bad Feeling About This and known as “the funniest man in the gore business,” will emcee. 

Presenters include: Linda Addison (How to Recognize a Demon Has Become Your Friend), Michael Arnzen (Play Dead), Jason V. Brock (The Ackermonster Chronicles), Greg Chapman (Witch Hunts), Ellen Datlow (Lovecraft’s Monsters), James Dorr (The Tears of Isis), Scott Edelman (What Will Come After), JG Faherty (Castle By the Sea), Lois Gresh (Dark Fusions: Where Monsters Lurk!), Lynne Hansen (Shades of Blue and Gray), Nancy Holder (Buffy: The Making of a Slayer), Jack Ketchum (The Lost), Leslie Klinger (The New Annotated H. P. Lovecraft), John R. Little (Little By Little), Lisa Mannetti (The Gentling Box), Mike McCarty (Werewolf Bloodlines Book One: Gemini Rising), Joe McKinney (The Savage Dead), Lisa Morton (Netherworld: Book One in the Chronicles of Diana Furnaval), Yvonne Navarro (Concrete Saviour: A Dark Redemption Novel), Weston Ochse (Age of Blood: Seal Team 666 Book Two), John Palisano (Nerves), John Skipp (Psychos: Serial Killers, Depraved Madmen, and the Criminally Insane), Aaron Sterns (Wolf Creek 2), Steve Rasnic Tem (Blood Kin), F. Paul Wilson (A Necessary End) and Rocky Wood (Stephen King: A Literary Companion). 

In addition, Lifetime Achievement Award-winner Stephen Jones, the renowned editor behind such anthology series as Best New Horror and Zombie Apocalypse!, will be on-hand to accept; and R. L. Stine, the legendary creator of Goosebumps and Fear Street, will accept his Lifetime Achievement Award via video. 

The awards presentation will begin immediately after the banquet, approximately 7:30 p.m., and will be streamed live via the internet, courtesy of platinum sponsor, Samhain Publishing. To view the live-stream, please follow these instructions:

1. On the evening of May 10, visit
https://avms.webex.com/avms/j.php?MTID=mbfc75996326ded17427e4dad4f06c473. 

2. If requested, enter your name and email address.
3. If a password is required, enter: whc2014. Then, click "Join."

Haunted Hotel Gives the NBA's Thunder an Advantage

Check out this great article from the New York Times about the haunted hotel where the OKC Thunder's opponents stay.  If they win the NBA Championship, will they have the supernatural to thank for it?

Stephen King's Carrie Turns 40

In my book, I argue that the current age of horror fiction began with the publication of Carrie by Stephen King.  Everything before Carrie is "classic," while everything after is modern.  It really was THAT important.

Well, this week Carrie, a novel that changed horror, heck changed American fiction writing, forever, turns 40.  This was King's first novel, and as I also argue in my book, no matter how you feel about King and his work, it would be very hard to dispute the fact that no other American author has had as great of an impact on the American fiction landscape over that time period.  And, I would go so far as to say he is America's greatest living storyteller.

Anyway, in honor of the 40th Anniversary of the publication of Carrie, the Guardian UK ran a series of articles and essays:

• Click here for Stephen King's "How I Wrote Carrie" essay
• Click here for "How Carrie changed Stephen King's Life and Began A Generation of Horror"
• Click here for the Carrie at 40 Quiz

Happy 40th Birthday Carrie!