I write a column 4x a year for The LineUp. One of these columns is always a Bram Stoker AwardsⓇ Wrap Up. My latest one is live here and you can read the unedited version below. The version on the site is much prettier though, and it has links to buy the books.
June 2026:From the Haunted Stacks: 2025 Bram Stoker AwardsⓇ Wrap Up
Each year, the Horror Writers Association presents the Bram Stoker AwardsⓇ for Superior Achievement in thirteen categories. There are a few interesting things about these, the most prestigious awards in the horror genre.
One, the award itself is very cool, an eight-inch replica of a haunted house, designed specifically for HWA by sculptor Steven Kirk. The door of the house opens to reveal a brass plaque engraved with the name of the winning work and its author.
Two, the Bram Stoker AwardsⓇ are not for the “best” works of the year; rather, they are “for superior achievement” which leaves room for more titles to be considered in a broader context.
And three, the awards are chosen by a hybrid system of juries (one for each category) and member input. When you put all of this together, the results are always a cause for celebration.
And that is exactly what happened on June 6, 2026, when the Bram Stoker AwardsⓇ for books published in 2025 were presented live in Pittsburgh as part of StokerCon. Visit the Bram Stoker AwardsⓇ official website for a full list of winners here. [Including me for Long Nonfiction!] Or you can watch the entire ceremony for yourself in the YouTube video here.
In Haunted Stacks style though, I am not here to simply list the winners for you. Rather, I will focus on the titles that won in five of the categories and offer you two read-alikes to continue your superior reading adventure.
Superior Achievement in a Novel
The Buffalo Hunter Hunter by Stephen Graham Jones
Told through a Lutheran minister’s journal entries dated from 1912, readers meet Good Stab, “...the Indian who can't die. …the worst dream America ever had.” What follows is a riveting story of heartbreak, death, and revenge, a thought-provoking tale filled with existential terror, unease, and a high body count, this remarkable work of American fiction transforms, in Jones’ deft hands, from the unapologetic horror novel it most certainly is to a critique on the entire idea of America. A critique that despite the horrors, both real and supernatural, is infused with heart and projects hope.
If you liked The Buffalo Hunter Hunter, try….
In the Valley of the Sun by Andy Davidson
Desperately trying to escape his past, Travis is left bloodied and weak after an encounter with a pale-skinned girl. No longer able to tolerate the light of day, and tormented by an overpowering hunger he stumbles to a local motel where the widowed owner, Annabelle, and her son offer him a job in exchange for board. The three lonely souls strike up an awkward friendship, but monsters, both real and imagined, can’t be hidden forever. The plot and characters play with the mind, and the pacing reflects the story’s harsh landscape—a slow, riveting burn. In the Valley of the Sun was previously nominated for the Bram Stoker AwardⓇ for Superior Achievement in a First Novel
The Last Report on the Miracles at Little No Horse by Louise Erdrich
Father Damien Modeste has served the Ojibwe on their remote reservation for over 50 years, but as he is nearing the end of his life, he is afraid that the people he has served will feel betrayed when his secrets and those of the possibly false Saint Leopolda are revealed. Should he risk everything to reveal the truth, or manufacture a false history to protect both of their legacies. Authentic character, an intricate but engrossing plot, with lyrical, moving, and understated prose, this thought provoking look at deception, imposters, and America’s complicated history with its Native populations will appeal to fans’ of Jones’ novel even without the vampires.
Superior Achievement in a First Novel
The October Film Haunt by Michael Wehunt
Ten years ago Jorie and her two best friends friends went viral with their content about their favorite horror movies, but when the spent a night in the graveyard from the most chilling cult film ever made– Proof of Demons by the enigmatic Hélène Enriquez, their entire lives were upended forever and a young girl was left for dead. In the time since, Jorie has been hiding from her former life with her son in Vermont, until one day a video tape shows up in the mail, and then costumed devotees of Enriquez appear in the woods, near her home, threatening and filming her. Could this be the beginning of an entirely new and all too real horror movie? Layered and atmospheric with multiple plot lines merge together, this debut novel is as terrifying as the scariest movie you have ever seen.
If you liked The October Film Haunt, try…
Horror Movie by Paul Tremblay
“The Think Kid” is the only surviving member of the team who made the 1993 film Horror Movie. Although never released in full, the film has risen to cult status and is being rebooted 30 years later. Moving effortlessly between “Then” and “Now,” “The Thin Kid” speaks directly to readers, placing them under his spell, despite repeated warning signs not to trust him, explaining the details of the original film, its current reboot, and including sections of the original screenplay. The result, a suspenseful story that is indelibly marked by its relentless unease and disturbing revelations, about the characters, yes, but also, the readers themselves.
Listen to Your Sister by Neena Viel
Also on the ballot with Wehunt this year, Viel’s debut follows Calla, 25, big sister and guardian to brothers Dre, 23, and Jamie, 16, overwhelmed by her parental duties and plagued by a vivid and horrific nightmare, she is barely holding the family together. But when the siblings get separated and then trapped in Calla’s nightmare, they fight for their lives to bring the family back together. Told through all three siblings' point of view in alternating chapters, readers will fall easily into this compelling story of sympathetic but flawed characters. Viel turns real and relatable trauma into a terrifying and immersive supernatural Horror story, but one clearly underpinned with love.
Superior Achievement in a Long Fiction: This year, there was a tie in this category.
The first winner (alphabetically by author) was Cathedral of the Drowned by Nathan Ballingrud
Charlie exists in two halves. The first, is his brain in a jar stranded on a moon of Jupiter. The other is filled with murderous rage, hanging on the wall of a home on Earth’s moon, a host for the eggs of the Moon Spider. Both Charlies come together in the flooded wreck of a crashed cathedral ship, home to a giant centipede. They stalk each other in the haunted ruins all while a new Moon Spider is preparing to hatch. This novella is a sequel to Ballingrud’s Crypt of the Moon Spider.
If you liked Cathedral of the Drowned try…
Uncertain Sons by Thomas Ha
Another nominee in this category, Ha’s novella is also science fiction tinged horror but this is earth based science fiction set in a cosmic waste land, told with a direct and unsettling narration that begs the reader to participate in the story. Overall readers can expect Ha’s writing to be very of this moment, he is able to capture the world we live in now, but by adding original storylines with weird, cosmic touches. “Uncertain Sons,” is the titular story in a larger collection, meaning readers who enjoy this piece can immediately find more.
And the second winner was Wolf Moon, Antler Moon by A.C. Wise
Merrow is witness to the murder of five girls on Prom Night. She knows who killed them–- men from her high school, so she runs into the woods to hide. Her grandmother had taught her that in the world there are wolves and there are deer. One is the predator and the other, the prey. Merrow knows she does not want to be the prey, so she becomes the monster who hunts the wolves. Written like a dark fairy tale, with characters that can slip in and out of animal forms, this dark town will captivate the readers who pay it a visit.
If you liked Wolf Moon, Antler Moon try…
Squid Teeth by Sarah Langan
Langan had two novellas nominated in this category in 2025, but this one pairs very nicely with Wise’s tale as it also blends fairy tale with a speculative horror story that follows a female potter who is able to grow and then use filmaments from her mouth. She then uses them, through much practice and pain, to create breathtaking designs on her pottery. Bizarre yet relatable and full of anger, Langan’s story serves as a biting critique of artistic institutions.
Superior Achievement in an Anthology
Silk & Sinew: A Collection of Folk Horror from the Asian Diaspora edited by Kristy Park Kulski
Soil, Estuary, Bedrock, Roots, and Air are the five named sections that ground this ambitious anthology of stories, poems, and drawings that dig into the anger, complications of assimilation, and racist stereotypes from which their Asian American Folk Horror is unearthed. As readers make their way through, tales of ghosts, shape shifters, and family dynamics morph into sinister nightmares of violence, body horror, cannibalism, and more. Hammering its consistent message home, this resolute volume delivers a reading experience that will terrify readers of all identities to their core.
If you liked Silk & Sinew try…
Black Cranes: Tales of Unquiet Women edited by Lee Murray and Geneve Flynn
Before Silk and Sinew, Murray and Flynn won in this category for their stereotype busting anthology of 14 stories as varied in tone and type as the women writing them. Tales of dangerous science fiction, bleak near future dystopias, reimagined folk tales, battle ready princesses, and just straight up furious horror. While the stories are individually entertaining, it is in the breadth of cultural experiences, storytelling styles, and originality of ideas as they pile on top of one and other where the preconceived notions of both the authors identities and of the limitations of the horror genre itself will be smashed to the delight of readers.
HOWL: An Anthology of Werewolves from Women-in-Horror edited by Lindy Ryan and Stephanie Wytovich
Too often throughout history, werewolf stories have featured men, but women are well versed in monthly cycles of blood and it is past time for them to be allowed to show their rage without fear or shame.Featuring stories by Delilah S. Dawson, Christina Henry, Gwendolyn Kiste, Ai Jiang, and an introduction by Rachel Harrison, this is an anthology that will have readers braying at the moon for more stories by these shapeshifting women.
Superior Achievement in a Fiction Collection
Lost in The Dark and Other Excursions by John Langan
Langan is considered a modern master of the horror short story and this collection of 13 new tales of cosmic horror cement that legacy. Some stories are straightforward and others told entirely through endnotes. More than a few are set on or near the water. And my favorite, a horror story hidden within an essay about why he loves horror. Widely different yes, but all are united by his unique lush prose and ability to make the mundane strange and unsettling.
If you liked List in the Dark and Other Excursions, try…
Acquired Taste by Clay McCleod Chapman With this collection of 25 stories, Chapman gives readers a glimpse into his crowd-pleasing and critically acclaimed style of crafting visceral stories, every single one of which will leave readers psychologically unmoored. The stories are of varying lengths and scare levels, hitting on a range of tropes, all anchored by intense narrators burrowing through the pages and into readers’ bodies. wreaking havoc on their nervous systems. And readers love every minute of it.
Teenage Girls Can Be Demons by Hailey Piper Piper presents 13 stories exploring the rage, terror, and horrors of the most difficult and transformative years of a young woman’s life. These stories use monsters, magic, and utterly original plots to draw readers in and bite their heads off. But these coming of age tales are not fueled by rage alone as the characters (and readers) will leave this collection fully empowered.
Click here to read more From the Haunted Stacks aethciels by me over the years.
