Collection Development Alert: Stoker Preliminary Ballot

Contrary to popular belief, Halloween is NOT the best time to work on your horror collection, rather it is during award season-- just like any genre.  It is frustrating that no one thinks mysteries, science fiction, fantasy, historical fiction, etc... can only be updated, weeded, and assessed during a single month each year. Bur Horror, you all only seriously think about your readers and collections from September 1- November 1.

Now, I know I am being harsh there and that the work I do has done much to change this, but it is kinda true.

I am here to remind you that often, genre awards times are the best times to assess your collections.  As I have outlined in this popular post on RA for All, awards lists, particularly long lists of authors in contention for an award, are an amazing collection development tool. It is the easiest way to identify a core list of exemplary authors in a genre at that time.

Now that is not to say that the authors who appear on awards long lists are the only ones worth your attention.  But, it is a great place to start as you assess the state of your holdings.

Earlier this week, as a member of the Horror Writers Association, I received the preliminary ballot for the 2015 Bram Stoker Awards.  I am posting it here for all of you library workers for the exact reason I stated above, to use as a collection development tool.

As you will see below, many authors and titles I championed over the last few years are represented here. But there are also many who I think are worthy to have in your horror collections right now who are not here [and I have a track record of being right about those authors].

So today, start using this list to assess your current horror collections, and over the next few months, check back here on the blog often as I will be writing more frequently about books and authors you need to keep on your radar.

Again, remember, people read horror all the year through. Don’t let your collections languish until the Fall. Make it your goal to pay attention to all of your genre collections on a more regular basis.

Ok, enough grandstanding, here is the preliminary ballot. Now get to work.

The 2015 Bram Stoker Awards Preliminary Ballot Announced

Ron Breznay and Rena Mason, Co-Chairs, Bram Stoker Awards® Committee

The Horror Writers Association (HWA) is pleased to announce the Preliminary Ballot for the 2015 Bram Stoker Awards (given out in 2016). The HWA (see www.horror.org) is the premiere writers organization in the horror and dark fiction genre. We have presented the Bram Stoker Awards in various categories since 1987 (see www.horror.org/awards/stokers.htm).

The HWA Board and the Bram Stoker Awards Committee congratulate all those appearing on the Preliminary Ballot. Notes about the voting process appear after the ballot listing. The Preliminary Ballot is:

Superior Achievement in a Novel

• Barker, Clive – The Scarlet Gospels (St. Martin’s Press)
• Bates, Jeremy – The Catacombs (World’s Scariest Places: Book Two) (Ghillinnein Books)
• Clines, Peter – The Fold (Crown)
• Collings, Michaelbrent – The Deep (self-published)
• Faherty, JG – The Cure (Samhain Publishing)
• Ferrario, Keith – Monster (Samhain Publishing)
• Freivald, Patrick – Black Tide (JournalStone Publishing)
• Johnson, Jeremy Robert – Skullcrack City (Lazy Fascist Press)
• Klavan, Andrew – Werewolf Cop (Pegasus)
• Lane, Leigh M. – The Private Sector (Eldritch Press)
• Talley, Brett J. – He Who Walks in Shadow (JournalStone Publishing)
• Tremblay, Paul – A Head Full of Ghosts (William Morrow)

Superior Achievement in a First Novel

Alameda, Courtney – Shutter (Feiwel & Friends)

Cushing, Nicole – Mr. Suicide (Word Horde)

Erb, Thom – Heaven, Hell, or Houston: A Zombie Thriller (Severed Press)

Harmon, Kenneth W. – The Amazing Mr. Howard (JournalStone Publishing)

Hawkins, Scott – The Library at Mount Char (Crown)

Herrman, Heather – Consumption (Hydra)

Kirk, Brian – We Are Monsters (Samhain Publishing)

McIlveen, John – Hannahwhere (Crossroad Press)

Romines, Kyle Alexander – The Keeper of the Crows (Sunbury Press, Inc.)

Smith, John Claude – Riding the Centipede (Omnium Gatherum)

Superior Achievement in a Young Adult Novel

• Brozek, Jennifer – Never Let Me Sleep (Permuted Press)
• Chupeco, Rin – The Suffering (Sourcebooks Fire)
• Collings, Michaelbrent – The Ridealong (self-published)
• Dixon, John – Devil’s Pocket (Simon & Schuster)
• Hill, Will – Department 19: Darkest Night (HarperCollins Children’s Books)
• Hurley, Tonya – Hallowed (Simon & Schuster)
• Johnson, Maureen – The Shadow Cabinet (Penguin)
• Sattin, Samuel – The Silent End (Ragnarok Publications)
• Varley, Dax – Bleed (Garden Gate Press)
• Welke, Ian – End Times at Ridgemont High (Omnium Gatherum)

Superior Achievement in a Graphic Novel

• Bunn, Cullen – Harrow County, Vol. 1: Countless Haints (Dark Horse Comics)
• Gischler, Victor – Hellbound (Dark Horse Books)
• Kipiniak, Chris – Behemoth (Monkeybrain Comics)
• Kirkman, Robert – Outcast, Vol. 1: A Darkness Surrounds Him (Image Comics)
• Lucarelli, David – The Children’s Vampire Hunting Brigade, Vol. 2: Age of the Wicked (Creator’s Edge Press)
• Snyder, Scott – Wytches, Vol. 1 (Image Comics)
• Tobin, Paul – Colder, Vol. 2: The Bad Seed (Dark Horse Comics)
• Weller, Sam, Chris Ryall, Carlos Guzman and Mort Castle (editors) – Shadow Show: Stories in Celebration of Ray Bradbury (IDW Publishing)

Superior Achievement in Long Fiction

• Braunbeck, Gary A. – Paper Cuts (Seize the Night) (Gallery Books)
• Eads, Ben – Cracked Sky (Omnium Gatherum)
• Edelman, Scott – Becoming Invisible, Becoming Seen (Dark Discoveries #30)
• Gunhus, Jeff – The Torment of Rachel Ames (Seven Guns Press)
• Mannetti, Lisa – The Box Jumper (Smart Rhino Publications)
• McGuire, Seanan – Resistance (The End Has Come) (Broad Reach Publishing)
• O’Neill, Gene – At the Lazy K (Written Backwards)
• Parent, Jason – Dia de los Muertos (Bad Apples 2) (Corpus Press)
• Partridge, Norman – Special Collections (The Library of the Dead) (Written Backwards)
• Yardley, Mercedes M. – Little Dead Red (Grimm Mistresses) (Ragnarok Publications)

Superior Achievement in Short Fiction

• Bailey, Dale – Snow (Nightmare Magazine #33)
• Boston, Bruce – A Trader on the Border of the Mutant Rain Forest (Daily Science Fiction)
• Braum, Daniel – An American Ghost in Zurich (Savage Beasts) (Grey Matter Press)
• Gonzalez, Michael Paul – Choking Hazard (Winter Horror Days) (Omnium Gatherum)
• Jonez, Kate – All the Day You’ll Have Good Luck (Black Static #47)
• Manzetti, Alessandro – The Massacre of the Mermaids (The Massacre of the Mermaids) (Kipple Officina Libraria)
• O’Neill, Gene – The Algernon Effect (White Noise Press)
• Palisano, John – Happy Joe’s Rest Stop (18 Wheels of Horror) (Big Time Books)
• Southard, Nate – The Cork Won’t Stay (Nightmare Magazine #34)
• Walters, Damien Angelica – Sing Me Your Scars (Sing Me Your Scars) (Apex Publications)
• Wong, Alyssa – Hungry Daughters of Starving Mothers (Nightmare Magazine #37)

Superior Achievement in a Screenplay

• Benson, Justin – Spring (XYZ Films)
• del Toro, Guillermo, & Matthew Robbins – Crimson Peak (Legendary Pictures)
• Franz, Veronika, and Severin Fiala – Goodnight, Mommy (Ulrich Seidl Film Produktion)
• Fuller, Bryan, Steve Lightfoot & Nick Antosca – Hannibal: The Wrath of the Lamb (Dino De Laurentiis Company)
• Gimple, Scott M. – The Walking Dead: Here’s Not Here (AMC)
• Logan, John – Penny Dreadful: And Hell Itself My Only Foe (Showtime)
• Logan, John – Penny Dreadful: Nightcomers (Showtime)
• Mitchell, David Robert – It Follows (Northern Lights Films)
• Waititi, Taika & Jemaine Clement – What We Do in the Shadows (Unison Films)
• Zahler, S. Craig – Bone Tomahawk (Caliber Media Company)

Superior Achievement in an Anthology

• Bailey, Michael – The Library of the Dead (Written Backwards)
• Datlow, Ellen – The Doll Collection: Seventeen Brand-New Tales of Dolls (Tor Books)
• Delany, Shannon, and Judith Graves – Beware the Little White Rabbit (Leap Books, LLC)
• Golden, Christopher – Seize the Night (Gallery Books)
• Jones, Stephen – Horrorology (Quercus Publishing)
• Kilpatrick, Nancy, and Caro Soles – nEvermore! (Edge Science Fiction and Fantasy Publishing)
• Maberry, Jonathan – X-Files: Trust No One (IDW Publishing)
• Miller, Eric – 18 Wheels of Horror (Big Time Books)
• Murano, Doug, and D. Alexander Ward – Shadows Over Main Street (Hazardous Press)
• Nassise, Joseph, and Del Howison – Midian Unmade (Tor Books)
• Rector, Jeani – Shrieks and Shivers from the Horror Zine (Post Mortem Press)
• Thomas, Richard – Exigencies (Dark House Press)

Superior Achievement in a Fiction Collection

• Braunbeck, Gary – Halfway Down the Stairs (JournalStone Publishing)
• Brozek, Jennifer – Apocalypse Girl Dreaming (Evil Girlfriend Media)
• Cummings, Shane Jiraiya – The Abandonment of Grace and Everything After (Brimstone Press)
• Cushing, Nicole – The Mirrors (Cycatrix Press)
• Everson, John – Sacrificing Virgins (Samhain Publishing)
• Grant, Taylor – The Dark at the End of the Tunnel (Crystal Lake Publishing)
• Litherland, Neal F. – New Avalon: Love and Loss in the City of Steam (James Ward Kirk Publishing)
• O’Neill, Gene – The Hitchhiking Effect (Dark Renaissance Books)
• Snyder, Lucy A. – While the Black Stars Burn (Raw Dog Screaming Press)
• Warner, Matthew – Dominoes in Time (Cemetery Dance Publications)

Superior Achievement in Non-Fiction

• Everett, Justin, and Jeffrey H. Shanks (ed.) – The Unique Legacy of Weird Tales: The Evolution of Modern Fantasy and Horror (Rowman & Littlefield Publishers)
• Hutchinson, Sharla, and Rebecca A. Brown (ed.) – Monsters and Monstrosity from the Fin de Siècle to the Millennium (McFarland and Company)
• Jones, Stephen – The Art of Horror (Applause Theatre & Cinema Books)
• Knost, Michael – Author’s Guide to Marketing with Teeth (Seventh Star Press)
• Mynhardt, Joe, & Emma Audsley (editors) – Horror 201: The Silver Scream (Crystal Lake Publishing)
• Olson, Danel – Studies in the Horror Film: Stanley Kubrick’s The Shining (Centipede Press)
• Soderlund, Sarah – Haunted by the Abyss: The Otherworldly Experiences of Paranormal (Llewellyn Publications)
• Southall, Richard – Haunted Plantations of the South (Llewellyn Publications)

Superior Achievement in a Poetry Collection

• Boston, Bruce – Resonance Dark and Light (Eldritch Press)
• Crum, Amanda – The Madness in our Marrow (Amanda Crum)
• Gailey, Jeannine Hall – The Robot Scientist’s Daughter (Mayapple Press)
• Hanson, Michael H. – Dark Parchments (MoonDream Press)
• Manzetti, Alessandro – Eden Underground (Crystal Lake Publishing)
• Opperman, K.A. – The Crimson Tome (Hippocampus Press)
• Randolph, Michael – Poetic Allegories (Eldritch Press)
• Schwader, Ann – Dark Energies (P’rea Press)
• Simon, Marge – Naughty Ladies (Eldritch Press)
• Wytovich, Stephanie M. – An Exorcism of Angels (Raw Dog Screaming Press)

Our voting members will now vote on this Preliminary Ballot, with voting closing on February 15 (only Active and Lifetime Members are eligible to vote).

Works appearing on the Preliminary Ballot are NOT “Bram Stoker Award nominees” and authors, editors, publishers, and others should not refer to any of these works as such – doing so is a severe breach of etiquette – voting members tend to notice such breaches and may consider them when determining which works to vote for on the Ballot.

The Final Ballot (Bram Stoker Award nominees for 2015 calendar year) will be announced on February 23. Winners will be announced on May 14th at the gala awards presentation held in the iconic Flamingo Hotel in Las Vegas, Nevada, as part of the first annual StokerCon (see http://www.stokercon2016.com for more information).