2021 Splatterpunk Award Nominees

2 weeks ago, the 2021 Splatterpunk Award Nominees were announced. The full press release is below,  but before I post that, here are three important points for library workers specifically. 

First, Extreme Horror is a huge trend in Horror right now, especially the "Splatter Western." Some library workers shy away from the term "Splatterpunk" thinking it will be "too extreme" for a general collection. To this I say no on two fronts. 1. Do you have erotica in your collections? I don't actually need you to answer because I know the answer is yes. If you carry Erotica, you can carry Extreme Horror. and 2. These are the VERY BEST of the subgenre, so you have a "resource" to back up your purchase.

Second, the biggest growth in this subgenre is from women and people of color. 

Third, I am on the record as saying that Awards Lists make for the very best RA Tool. I keep a permanent page of the Horror Awards I trust in the right gutter of this blog.

Now, here is the 2021 Splatterpunk Award Nominees official press release:

February 17, 2021

Best-selling authors and Splatterpunk Award founders Wrath James White and Brian Keene are proud to announce the nominees for the 2021 Splatterpunk Awards, honoring superior achievement for works published in 2020 in the sub-genres of Splatterpunk and Extreme Horror.

The nominees are recommended by readers, fans and peers. The nominees are as follows.

BEST NOVEL

1. Pandemonium by Ryan Harding and Lucas Mangum (Death’s Head Press)
2. Tome by Ross Jeffery (The Writing Collective)
3. Dust by Chris Miller (Death’s Head Press)
4. Slaughter Box by Carver Pike (Self-Published)
5. Gone To See The River Man by Kristopher Triana (Cemetery Dance Publications)
6. They All Died Screaming by Kristopher Triana (Blood Bound Books)
7. The Magpie Coffin by Wile E. Young (Death’s Head Press)

BEST NOVELLA

1. The Slob by Aron Beauregard (Self-Published) *
2. Bella’s Boys by Thomas R. Clark (Stitched Smile Publications)
3. Juniper by Ross Jeffery (The Writing Collective)
4. Red Station by Kenzie Jennings (Death’s Head Press)
5. True Crime by Samantha Kolesnik (Grindhouse Press)
6. The Night Silver River Run Red by Christine Morgan (Death’s Head Press)
7. How Much 2 by Matt Shaw (Self-Published)

BEST SHORT STORY

1. “The Incident at Barrow Farm” by M. Ennenbach (from Cerberus Rising, Self-Published)
2. “Full Moon Shindig” by Patrick C. Harrison III (from Visceral: Collected Flesh, Death’s Head Press)
3. “Phylum” by Tom Over (from The Comfort Zone and Other Safe Spaces, NihilismRevised)
4. “Footsteps” by Janine Pipe (from Diabolica Britannica, Keith Anthony Baird)
5. “Next In Line” by Susan Snyder (from Devour the Earth, Madness Heart Press)
6. “My Body” by Wesley Southard (from Midnight In the Pentagram, Silver Shamrock Publishing)
7. “The God In The Hills” by Jon Steffens (from The God In the Hills, Filthy Loot Press)

BEST COLLECTION

1. War of Dictates by John Baltisberger (Death’s Head Press)
2. Cerberus Rising by M. Ennenbach, Chris Miller and Patrick C. Harrison III (Self-Published) **
3. The Essential Sick Stuff by Ronald Kelly (Silver Shamrock Publishing)
4. Rhapsody In Red by Peter Molnar (Stitched Smile Publications)
5. Visceral: Collected Flesh by Christine Morgan and Patrick C. Harrison III (Death’s Head Press) ***
6. The Comfort Zone and Other Safe Spaces by Tom Over (NihilismRevised)
7. Blood Relations by Kristopher Triana (Grindhouse Press)

BEST ANTHOLOGY

1. Chew On This edited by Robert Essig (Blood Bound Books)
2. Brewtality edited by K. Trap Jones (The Evil Cookie Publishing)
3. Welcome To the Splatter Club edited by K. Trap Jones (Blood Bound Books)
4. Worst Laid Plans edited by Samantha Kolesnik (Grindhouse Press)
5. Crash Code edited by Quinn Parker (Blood Bound Books)
6. If I Die Before I Wake Vol. 3: Tales of Deadly Women and Retribution edited by R.E. Sargent and Steven Pajak (Sinister Smile Press)

7. Psi-Wars: Classified Cases of Psychic Phenomena edited by Joshua Viola (Hex Publishers)

* Qualifies due to being significantly revised from its original edition.

** Qualifies as a collection, rather than an anthology.

*** Qualifies as a collection, rather than an anthology.

A panel of judges composed of professionals, critics and scholars in the field will now begin the process of reading each nominated work, and selecting a winner for each category. Winners will be announced at KillerCon, taking place in Austin, Texas this August. If national health concerns prevent a physical convention, then the winners will be announced in an online ceremony instead.

In addition to the winners, author and editor John Skipp will receive the annual J. F. Gonzalez Lifetime Achievement Award honoring his significant contributions to the sub-genres of Splatterpunk and Extreme Horror. Previous recipients are David J. Schow, David G. Barnett and Edward Lee.

Three notes of interest regarding this year’s awards:

While each category normally has five nominees (six if there is a tie), press will note that each category for this year contains seven. That is due to the overwhelming response in recommendations from the public this year. More new readers were engaged with Splatterpunk and Extreme Horror in 2020, leading to an increase in public response. As such, Wrath and Brian decided to extend the nominees to seven for each category, to better serve the community.

Building on a trend we pointed out in 2019, this year saw a continued significant increase in the number of women and authors who identify as female writing Splatterpunk and Extreme Horror. The recommendation process evidenced readers and fans mentioning a number of new female voices.

Splatter Westerns (which combine elements of Splatterpunk or Extreme Horror with the traditional Western genre) were clearly a favorite among readers in 2020, as evidenced both in the nominees and in the recommendations.

Press inquiries can be sent to Wrath James White or Brian Keene

Horror Writers' Association's YouTube Page

Tonight  I am moderating the second of 2 panels sponsored by the Horror Writers' Association for Women in Horror Month. You can register here or by clicking on the graphic at the bottom of this post. [And if it tells you it is full, we are live streaming it on the HWA's Facebook page too.]

But the point of this post isn't to promote my appearance [rather, that was the point of my post on RA for All today], but to remind you that the HWA has a lot of excellent content for you and your Horror loving patrons on their YouTube page. From the Librarian's Day videos to author talks, there is a lot of good content there. 

With so much excellent content available on YouTube these days, consider offering a list of channels that your patrons might enjoy by genre.

And in the meantime, join me tonight. 

#HorrorForLibraries Giveaway #34: Tales From The Hinterland [MG]

The #HorrorForLibraries Giveaway is back today. Here is a refresher on the basic rules to enter:

1. You need to be affiliated with an American public library. My rationale behind that is that I will be encouraging you to read these books and share them with patrons. While many of them are advanced reader copies that you cannot add to your collections, if you get the chance to read them, my hope is that you will consider ordering a copy for your library and give away the ARC away as a prize or pass it on to a fellow staff member.
2. If you are interested in being included in any giveaway at any time, you must email me at zombiegrl75 [at] gmail [dot] com with the subject line "#HorrorForLibraries." In the body of the email all you have to say is that you want to be entered and the name of your library.
3. Each entry will be considered for EVERY giveaway. I will randomly draw a winner on Fridays sometime after 5pm central. But only entries received by 5pm each week will be considered for that  week.
4. If you win, you are ineligible to win again for 4 weeks; you will have to re-enter after that time to be considered [I have a list of who has won, when, and what title]. However, if you do not win, you carry over into the next week. There is NO NEED to reenter.

Click here to see giveaway #33. Our winner was Lizzy from Staunton [VA] Public Library.

Today I have a finished hard cover copy of Tales of the Hinterland by Melissa Albert. This novel is a companion to the very popular Hazel Wood duology.

Like the very best middle grade horror, this book is dark, harrowing at times, but still safe for kids. One of my Goodreads followers, Kristina has a great  review of the novel here. She lists her three words as, "harrowing, familiar yet fresh, spellbinding." Later in her review she goes on to really get into the appeal of the story [and the series]:

"The tales are deliciously dark and creepy, and I loved how brutal and visceral some of the tales were. It felt like a callback to the original fairy tales, which were quite dark and violent."

Click through to read more by Kristina.

This finished, hardcover copy is courtesy of Flatiron Books and can be added into your collections immediately. 

And don't forget, I have more librarian vetted, middle grade horror recs with readalikes and programming ideas on the Summer Scares Resources page.

Remember, if you enter today, you are entered in perpetuity.

Bram Stoker Awards Final Ballot Announced

Below is the final ballot of titles that are in the running for a Bram Stoker Award. I have linked to all of the books I have reviewed [which are numerous]. Please note that I have reviewed 4 of 5 titles in the novel category and the 5th title is from the publisher who I promoted last week in my #HorroForLibraries giveaway. I know you own the other 4, add Devil's Creek too.

I also want to point all of you to the excellent Bram Stoker Awards website. It is maintained separately from the HWA's main site to make it easier for everyone to have easy backlist access.

The Bram Stoker Awards will be announced as part of the Virtual StokerCon 2021- May 20-23. I will have a lot of news about the event very soon, but here is a bit of a preview: Librarians' Day will be happening and it will be a part of the entire Con. So for the same price you would have paid to attend in person, library workers can attend the entire event and authors can attend Librarians' Day. So for example, you get entry to the Final Frame Film Competition which is one of my favorite things about StokerCon with your LD ticket.

[However, that is just the tip of the iceberg in news about StokerCon.]

Also, I would like to  point out that in the list of this year's nominees for the Bram Stoker Awards we have 2 current Summer Scares authors nominated for their new works [Katsu and Koja], our current spokesperson [Moreno-Garcia] and 4 past Summer Scares authors [Jones [2 nominations below and a former spokesperson], Kraus, Keene, and Bulkin [in the Black Cranes Anthology]].

Your takeaway from this fact: Summer Scares is a prefect entry into the Horror genre for all ages of library patrons. Our committee is knowledgable about horror for libraries and we have our pulse on what is "the best." 

Here is the list and remember, all awards lists make for my favorite RA Tool.

The 2020 Bram Stoker Awards® Final Ballot

Superior Achievement in a Novel

Jones, Stephen Graham – The Only Good Indians (Gallery/Saga Press)

Katsu, Alma – The Deep (G.P. Putnam’s Sons)

Keisling, Todd – Devil’s Creek (Silver Shamrock Publishing)

Malerman, Josh – Malorie (Del Rey)

Moreno-Garcia, Silvia – Mexican Gothic (Del Rey)

Superior Achievement in a First Novel

Hall, Polly – The Taxidermist’s Lover (CamCat Publishing, LLC)

Harrison, Rachel – The Return (Berkley)

Jeffery, Ross – Tome (The Writing Collective)

Knight, EV – The Fourth Whore (Raw Dog Screaming Press)

Reed Petty, Kate – True Story (Viking)

Superior Achievement in a Graphic Novel

Archer, Steven (author/artist) – The Masque of the Red Death (Raw Dog Screaming Press)

Brody, Jennifer (author) and Rivera, Jules (artist) – Spectre Deep 6 (Turner)

Douek, Rich (author) and Cormack, Alex (artist) – Road of Bones (IDW Publishing)

Holder, Nancy (author), Di Francia, Chiara (artist), and Woo, Amelia (artist) – Mary Shelley Presents (Kymera Press)

Manzetti, Alessandro (author) and Cardoselli, Stefano (artist/author) – Her Life Matters: (Or Brooklyn Frankenstein) (Independent Legions Publishing)

Niles, Steve (author), Simeone, Salvatore (author), and Kudranski, Szymon (artist) – Lonesome Days, Savage Nights (TKO Studios)

Superior Achievement in a Young Adult Novel

Cesare, Adam – Clown in a Cornfield (HarperTeen)

Kraus, Daniel – Bent Heavens (Henry Holt and Company/Macmillan)

Snyman, Monique – The Bone Carver (Vesuvian Books)

Thomas, Aiden – Cemetery Boys (Swoon Reads/Macmillan)

Waters, Erica – Ghost Wood Song (HarperTeen)

Superior Achievement in Long Fiction

Iglesias, Gabino – Beyond the Reef (Lullabies for Suffering: Tales of Addiction Horror) (Wicked Run Press)

Jones, Stephen Graham – Night of the Mannequins (Tor.com)

Kiste, Gwendolyn – The Invention of Ghosts (Nightscape Press)

Landry, Jess – I Will Find You, Even in the Dark (Dim Shores Presents Volume 1) (Dim Shores)

Pinsker, Sarah – Two Truths and a Lie (Tor.com)

Superior Achievement in Short Fiction

Arcuri, Meghan – “Am I Missing the Sunlight?” (Borderlands 7) (Borderlands Press)

Fawver, Kurt – “Introduction to the Horror Story, Day 1” (Nightmare Magazine Nov. 2020 (Issue 98))

Malerman, Josh – “One Last Transformation” (Miscreations: Gods, Monstrosities & Other Horrors) (Written Backwards)

O’Quinn, Cindy – “The Thing I Found Along a Dirt Patch Road” (Shotgun Honey Presents Volume 4: Recoil) (Down and Out Books)

Ward, Kyla Lee – “Should Fire Remember the Fuel?” (Oz is Burning) (B Cubed Press)

Superior Achievement in a Fiction Collection

Koja, Kathe – Velocities: Stories (Meerkat Press)

Langan, John – Children of the Fang and Other Genealogies (Word Horde)

Lillie, Patricia – The Cuckoo Girls (Trepidatio Publishing)

Murray, Lee – Grotesque: Monster Stories (Things in the Well)

Taborska, Anna – Bloody Britain (Shadow Publishing)

Superior Achievement in a Screenplay

Amaris, Scarlett and Stanley, Richard – Color Out of Space (SpectreVision)

Green, Misha – Lovecraft Country, Season 1, Episode 1: “Sundown” (Affeme, Monkeypaw Productions, Bad Robot Productions, Warner Bros. Television Studios)

Green, Misha and Ofordire, Ihuoma – Lovecraft Country, Season 1, Episode 8: “Jig-a-Bobo” (Affeme, Monkeypaw Productions, Bad Robot Productions, Warner Bros. Television Studios)

LaManna, Angela – The Haunting of Bly Manor, Season 1, Episode 5: “The Altar of the Dead” (Intrepid Pictures, Amblin Television, Paramount Television Studios)

Whannell, Leigh – The Invisible Man (Universal Pictures, Blumhouse Productions, Goalpost Pictures, Nervous Tick Productions)

Superior Achievement in a Poetry Collection

Manzetti, Alessandro – Whitechapel Rhapsody: Dark Poems (Independent Legions Publishing)

McHugh, Jessica – A Complex Accident of Life (Apokrupha)

Pelayo, Cynthia – Into the Forest and All the Way Through (Burial Day Books)

Sng, Christina – A Collection of Dreamscapes (Raw Dog Screaming Press)

Tantlinger, Sara – Cradleland of Parasites (Rooster Republic Press)

Superior Achievement in an Anthology

Bailey, Michael and Murano, Doug – Miscreations: Gods, Monstrosities & Other Horrors (Written Backwards)

Murray, Lee and Flynn, Geneve – Black Cranes: Tales of Unquiet Women (Omnium Gatherum Media)

Kolesnik, Samantha – Worst Laid Plans: An Anthology of Vacation Horror (Grindhouse Press)

Tantlinger, Sara – Not All Monsters: A Strangehouse Anthology by Women of Horror (Rooster Republic Press)

Yardley, Mercedes M. – Arterial Bloom (Crystal Lake Publishing)

Superior Achievement in Non-Fiction

Florence, Kelly and Hafdahl, Meg – The Science of Women in Horror: The Special Effects, Stunts, and True Stories Behind Your Favorite Fright Films (Skyhorse)

Heller-Nicholas, Alexandra – 1000 Women in Horror (BearManor Media)

Keene, Brian – End of the Road (Cemetery Dance Publications)

Peirse, Alison – Women Make Horror: Filmmaking, Feminism, Genre (Rutgers University Press)

Waggoner, Tim – Writing in the Dark (Guide Dog Books/Raw Dog Screaming Press)

Wetmore, Jr. Kevin J. – The Streaming of Hill House: Essays on the Haunting Netflix Adaption (McFarland)

Superior Achievement in Short Non-Fiction

Jackson Joseph, Rhonda – “The Beloved Haunting of Hill House: An Examination of Monstrous Motherhood” (The Streaming of Hill House: Essays on the Haunting Netflix Adaptation) (McFarland)

Pelayo, Cynthia – “I Need to Believe” (Southwest Review Volume 105.3)

Robinson, Kelly – “Lost, Found, and Finally Unbound: The Strange History of the 1910 Edison Frankenstein” (Rue Morgue Magazine, June 2020)

Sng, Christina – “Final Girl: A Life in Horror” (Interstellar Flight Magazine, October 2020)

Waggoner, Tim – “Speaking of Horror” (The Writer)

It's ALIVE! The Readers' Advisory Guide to Horror, Third Edition

  

Here it is. The third edition of my book. And it is now live for pre-orders on the ALA Editions website. 

It won't be delivered until late summer, but over the next few months I will be updating the horror blog, which is the free update to the book. There is original information including double the annotations that could not fit into this book, but they will be available in full at RA for All: Horror. 

If you are interested in buying this book, please consider a preorder. 

Speaking of, I do want to address the price. It is not cheap-- $64 full price. But to put that in perspective, I charge  $300 minimum to give my 90 minute Horror presentation which is a brief summary of what is inside the pages of this book. So in that case, it is a great deal.

I am very excited to share this with all of you. 

#HorrorForLibraries Giveaway #33: A Silver Shamrock 4 Pack

 The #HorrorForLibraries Giveaway is back today. Here is a refresher on the basic rules to enter:

1. You need to be affiliated with an American public library. My rationale behind that is that I will be encouraging you to read these books and share them with patrons. While many of them are advanced reader copies that you cannot add to your collections, if you get the chance to read them, my hope is that you will consider ordering a copy for your library and give away the ARC away as a prize or pass it on to a fellow staff member.
2. If you are interested in being included in any giveaway at any time, you must email me at zombiegrl75 [at] gmail [dot] com with the subject line "#HorrorForLibraries." In the body of the email all you have to say is that you want to be entered and the name of your library.
3. Each entry will be considered for EVERY giveaway. I will randomly draw a winner on Fridays sometime after 5pm central. But only entries received by 5pm each week will be considered for that  week.
4. If you win, you are ineligible to win again for 4 weeks; you will have to re-enter after that time to be considered [I have a list of who has won, when, and what title]. However, if you do not win, you carry over into the next week. There is NO NEED to reenter.

Click here to see giveaway #32. Our winner was Jennifer from Ventress Memorial Library [MA].

This week have a prize pack of 4 books from one of my vetted independent horror publishers-- Silver Shamrock. Click here to see the full list of publishers, And here for their website. 

The titles are in the photo and listed below with links to Goodreads. These are all titles you can add with confidence. I have been impressed by the quality and quantity of the books this newer publisher is putting out. 

Enter but also click through to see more about each title. You  may want to add them to your collections:

• Dead Daughters by Tim Meyer
• Clementine's Awakening by  Jennifer Soucy  
• The Five Turns of the Wheel by Stephanie Ellis
• The Lupin Project by Allan Leverone

Good luck!

Summer Scares 2021 Announcement!

In celebration of National Library Lover’s Day, the Horror Writers Association (HWA), in partnership with United for Libraries, Book Riot, and Booklist, is delighted to announce the third annual Summer Scares Reading List, which includes titles selected by a panel of authors and librarians and is designed to promote horror as a great reading option for all ages, during any time of the year.

Each year, three titles will be chosen in the Adult, Young Adult, and Middle Grade categories, and for 2021 they are:

ADULT

• The Hunger by Alma Katsu [G.P. Putnam’s Sons, 2018]
• The Cipher by Kathe Koja [originally published 1991 by Dell but reissued Meerkat Press, 2020]
• Frankenstein in Baghdad by Ahmed Saadawi, Translator Jonathan Wright [Penguin Books, 2018] 

YOUNG ADULT

• The Marrow Thieves by Cherie Dimaline [Dancing Cat Books, 2017]
• The Diviners by Libba Bray [Little Brown Books for Young Readers, 2012]
• Undead Girl Gang by Lily Anderson [Razorbill, 2018]

MIDDLE GRADE

• Ollie’s Odyssey by William Joyce [Atheneum/Caitlyn Dlouhy Books, 2015]
• Whichwood by Tahereh Mafi [Dutton Books for Young Readers, 2017]
• Fearsome Creatures of the Lumberwoods by Hal Johnson [Workman, 2015]

The goal of the Summer Scares program is to introduce horror titles to school and public library workers in order to help them start conversations with readers that will extend beyond the books from each list and promote reading for years to come. Along with the annual list of recommended titles for readers of all ages, the Summer Scares committee will also release themed lists of even more “read-alike” titles for libraries to use when suggesting books to readers this summer and all year long. And, in order to help libraries forge stronger connections between books and readers, the Summer Scares committee will be working with both the recommended list authors and horror authors from all over the country, to provide free programming to libraries. From author visits (both in person and virtual) to book discussions to horror themed events, Summer Scares is focused on connecting horror creators with libraries and readers all year long.

Due to ongoing COVID-19 concerns, the 2021 Summer Scares programming will be virtual, and held in conjunction with the Horror Writers Association’s annual StokerCon event (May 20 – May 23, 2021). Authors and committee members will be participating in live and pre-recorded sessions. Authors and committee members will also be available virtually throughout the year to libraries and schools to promote the Summer Scares program and discuss the use of horror fiction as a tool to increase readership and nurture a love of reading.

The Summer Scares program committee consists of bestselling author Silvia Morena-Garcia (Mexican Gothic, Gods of Jade and Shadow, Certain Dark Things, Untamed Shore), Becky Spratford (library consultant, author of The Readers Advisory Guide to Horror, 2nd Ed.), Konrad Stump (Local History Associate for the Springfield-Greene County Library and creator of the library’s popular “Oh, the Horror!” series), Carolyn Ciesla (library director, academic dean, book reviewer), Julia Smith (senior editor at Booklist), Kelly Jensen (editor, Book Riot, author of [Don’t] Call Me Crazy: 33 Voices Start the Conversation about Mental Health), and JG Faherty (HWA Library Program director, author of Sins of the Father, The Cure, and Ghosts of Coronado Bay).

“The Summer Scares Programming Guide is back and packed with ideas that library workers can use to engage their communities with these great titles, whether they're planning book displays, hosting author events, or planning an entire Summer Scares program series,” states Konrad Stump, co-creator of the programming guide. “It also highlights the unique circumstances of programming during a pandemic.”

The HWA is a non-profit organization of writers and publishing professionals, and the oldest organization dedicated to the horror/dark fiction genre. One of the HWA’s missions is to foster an appreciation of reading through extensive programming and partnerships with libraries, schools, and literacy-based organizations.

For more information about the Summer Scares reading program, including how to obtain promotional materials and schedule events with the authors/committee members, visit the HWA’s Libraries web page (www.horror.org/libraries), Becky Spratford’s Reader’s Advisory Horror Blog RA for All: Horror (http://raforallhorror.blogspot.com/p/summer-scares.html), or the Book Riot, Booklist, or United for Libraries websites and social media sites.

You can also contact JG Faherty, HWA Library Program Director (libraries [at] horror [dot] org), or Becky Spratfor HWA Secretary (bspratford [at] hotmail [dot] com) for more information, and Konrad Stump (konrads[at]thelibrary[dot]org for programming content and assistance.