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2017 Stoker Awards Announced

 From the Horror Writers Association: 

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

 

2017 Bram Stoker Awards® Winners

 

Providence, RI, March 3, 2018

The Horror Writers Association (HWA), the premier organization of writers and publishers of horror and dark fantasy, announces this year’s Bram Stoker Awards® winners after a ceremony held at the historic Biltmore Hotel in downtown Providence, Rhode Island. “We are excited to announce this year’s winners from another impressive list of finalists. The winners represent a broad spectrum of highly talented writers devoted to horror and dark fantasy,” said Lisa Morton, HWA President and multiple Bram Stoker Award winner. “Our members and awards juries have demonstrated considerable dedication and objectivity to the selection process for outstanding works of literature, cinema, non-fiction, and poetry.”

Named in honor of the author of the seminal horror novel Dracula, the Bram Stoker Awards® are presented annually for superior writing in eleven categories including traditional fiction 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.

 

We proudly provide the list of talented winners along with the finalist nominees.

Superior Achievement in a Novel

 

Winner: Golden, Christopher – Ararat (St. Martin’s Press)

Also nominated:

King, Stephen and King, Owen – Sleeping Beauties (Scribner)

Malerman, Josh – Black Mad Wheel (Ecco)

Miskowski, S.P. – I Wish I Was Like You (JournalStone)

Tem, Steve Rasnic – Ubo (Solaris)

 

Superior Achievement in a First Novel

 

Winner: Cabeen, Robert Payne – Cold Cuts (Omnium Gatherum Media)

Also nominated:

Davidson, Andy – In the Valley of the Sun (Skyhorse Publishing)

Hayward, Matt – What Do Monsters Fear? (Post Mortem Press)

Hepler, Jeremy – The Boulevard Monster (Bloodshot Books)

Thomas, Scott – Kill Creek (Ink Shares)

 

Superior Achievement in a Young Adult Novel

 

Winner: Liggett, Kim – The Last Harvest (Tor Teen)

Also nominated:

French, Gillian – The Door to January (Islandport Press)

Leveen, Tom – Hellworld (Simon Pulse)

Lukavics, Amy – The Ravenous (Harlequin Teen)

Porter, Sarah – When I Cast Your Shadow (Tor Teen)

 

Superior Achievement in a Graphic Novel

 

Winner: Duffy, Damian and Butler, Octavia E. – Kindred: A Graphic Novel Adaptation

(Abrams ComicArts)

Also nominated:

Carey, Mike and Arvind, Ethan David – Darkness Visible (IDW)

Ferris, Emil – My Favorite Thing is Monsters (Fantagraphics)

Hickman, Jonathan – The Black Monday Murders (Image Comics)

Liu, Marjorie – Monstress Volume 2: The Blood (Image Comics)

 

Superior Achievement in Long Fiction

 

Winner: Jones, Stephen Graham – Mapping the Interior (Tor.com)

Also nominated:

Edelman, Scott – Faking it Until Forever Comes (Liars, Fakers, and the Dead Who Eat     Them) (Written Backwards)

Kiernan, Caitlín R. – Agents of Dreamland (Tor.com)

Taylor, Lucy – Sweetlings (Tor.com)

Waggoner, Tim – A Kiss of Thorns (DarkFuse)

 

Superior Achievement in Short Fiction

 

Winner: Mannetti, Lisa – “Apocalypse Then” (Never Fear: The Apocalypse) (13Thirty Books)

Also nominated:

Bailey, Michael – “I Will Be the Reflection Until the End” (Tales from the Lake Vol. 4)     (Crystal Lake Publishing)

Chambers, James – “A Song Left Behind in the Aztakea Hills” (Shadows Over Main         Street, Volume 2) (Cutting Block Books)

Neugebauer, Annie – “So Sings the Siren” (Apex Magazine #101) (Apex Publications)

Yardley, Mercedes M. – “Loving You Darkly” (F(r)iction Magazine #8)

(Tethered by Letters)

 

Superior Achievement in a Fiction Collection

 

Winner: Hill, Joe – Strange Weather (William Morrow)

Also nominated:

Kiste, Gwendolyn – And Her Smile Will Untether the Universe (JournalStone)

Malerman, Josh – Goblin (Earthling Publications)

Matsuura, Thersa – The Carp-Faced Boy and Other Tales (Independent Legions Publishing)

McGrath, Patrick – Writing Madness (Centipede Press)

 

 

Superior Achievement in a Screenplay

 

Winner: Peele, Jordan – Get Out (Universal Pictures, Blumhouse Productions,

QC Entertainment)

Also nominated:

Del Toro, Guillermo and Taylor, Vanessa – The Shape of Water (TSG Entertainment, Double        Dare You Productions)

Duffer, Matt and Duffer, Ross – Stranger Things: MadMax, Episode 02:01: Chapter One (21       Laps Entertainment, Monkey Massacre)

Frost, Mark and Lynch, David – Twin Peaks, Part 8 (Rancho Rosa Partnership, Inc.)

Palmer, Chase, Fukunaga, Cary, and Dauberman, Gary – It (New Line Cinema)

 

Superior Achievement in an Anthology

 

Winner: Murano, Doug – Behold!: Oddities, Curiosities & Undefinable Wonders

(Crystal Lake Publishing)

Also nominated:

Brooks, Kinitra, PhD., Addison, Linda D., and Morris, Susana, PhD. – Sycorax’s Daughters             (Cedar Grove Publishing)

Datlow, Ellen – Black Feathers: Dark Avian Tales: An Anthology (Pegasus Books)

Maberry, Jonathan and Romero, George A. – Nights of the Living Dead: An Anthology (St.             Martin’s Griffin)

Manzetti, Alessandro and Lester, Jodi Renee – The Beauty of Death Vol. 2: Death by Water             (Independent Legions Publishing)

 

Superior Achievement in Non-Fiction

 

Winner: Hendrix, Grady. Paperbacks from Hell: The Twisted History of ‘70s and ‘80s Horror Fiction (Quirk Books)

Also nominated:

Brittany, Michele – Horror in Space: Critical Essays on a Film Subgenre (McFarland)

Brooks, Kinitra D. – Searching for Sycorax: Black Women’s Hauntings of Contemporary   Horror (Rutgers University Press)

Jones, Stephen – The Art of Horror Movies: An Illustrated History (Applause Theatre &     Cinema Books)

Mynhardt, Joe and Johnson, Eugene – Where Nightmares Come From: The Art of Storytelling      in the Horror Genre – (Crystal Lake Publishing)

 

Superior Achievement in a Poetry Collection

 

Winner: Sng, Christina – A Collection of Nightmares (Raw Dog Screaming Press)

Also nominated:

Frazier, Robert and Boston, Bruce – Visions of the Mutant Rain Forest (Crystal Lake         Publishing)

Manzetti, Alessandro – No Mercy (Crystal Lake Publishing)

Simon, Marge and Turzillo, Mary – Satan’s Sweethearts (Weasel Press)

Wytovich, Stephanie M. – Sheet Music to My Acoustic Nightmare

(Raw Dog Screaming Press)

 

 

 

 

 

Graphic Novel Review: Straitjacket by El Torres, art by Guillermo Sanna

Straitjacket TP

Straitjacket by El Torres, art by Guillermo Sanna

Amigo Comics, 2016

ISBN: 9788416486199

Available: Trade paperback (direct from Amigo Comics), comiXology ebook

As a child, Alexandra Wagner ritually murdered her twin brother, Alexander. She was subsequently institutionalized and believes she protects the real world against “The Outer Darkness”, with the help of her brother on the other side. The doctors and hospital orderlies don’t believe her, of course, chalking up her cryptic words and gestures as simply signs of her insanity. Who could believe the ravings of someone diagnosed with mental illness? Dr. T. certainly doesn’t until she attacks and kills another patient, and the orderly dispatched to restrain her swears she disappeared right in front of him. The good doctor returns home after a long day, only to find Alex waiting for him.

This is the second series I have read by El Torres. He is a great storyteller, weaving impossible stories where the supernatural intrudes in the real world in fascinating and disturbing ways. Sanna’s artwork adds the perfect horrific atmosphere for Alex’s story. The art is primarily black and white, with sprays of red to indicate certain things to the reader, like identifying which realm certain creatures or characters are in or setting the mood.

If you like horror that explores the concepts of death and madness, you need to pick up Straitjacket. Highly recommended.

Contains: blood, gore, madness, nudity

Reviewed by Lizzy Walker

 

Graphic Novel Review: The Westwood Witches by El Torres, art by Abel Garcia

TWW1low 001

The Westwood Witches by El Torres, art by Abel Garcia

Amigo Comics, 2015

ISBN: 9788416074761

Available: print, comiXology ebook

The Westwood Witches opens with a man running for his life. His pursuers, a coven of witches, punish him for his lack of neighborly respect. After they are finished with him, they use his near-dead body as a means to summon Baphomet.

The perspective then changes to a man sitting at his laptop displeased at what he as just written. Jack Kurtzberg, a successful author of a witch romance bestseller, hates his work. He’s on contract to write a sequel to his first book, but his writer’s block is preventing him from continuing, and the bills are piling up. After the untimely death of his brother, Jack and his wife, Susan, move to Jack’s childhood New England town. He soon discovers there is more to his friendly neighbors than meets the eye. The wives are particularly interested in what he is writing, especially when it comes to the history and mythology of the witches. When Jack discovers the truth about Westwood, after a Witches’ Sabbath gone wrong, he also solves a mystery from his childhood that affects the entire town.

El Torres expertly weaves a story of a struggling writer coming to terms with the death of his brother, the unraveling of the neighborhood, belief, and how the witches connect with the rest of Jack’s story. Garcia’s art lends the appropriate macabre, dark atmosphere. This is a must for readers who like some edge to their witches. Highly recommended.

This volume reprints issues 1-4.

Contains: blood, gore, nudity, sexual content

Reviewed by Lizzy Walker