Back in March, I laid out the list of nominees for the Horror Writers Association’s 2021 Stoker Awards for superior literary achievement in horror, in a variety of categories. The Bram Stoker Awards (literally the coolest award in history) were instituted in 1987 and the eleven award categories are: Novel, First Novel, Short Fiction, Long Fiction, Young Adult, Fiction Collection, Poetry Collection, Anthology, Screenplay, Graphic Novel, and Non-Fiction. As I previously explained, I’ve tried everything short of writing a qualifying story, to get my hands on one.

But alas, the 2021 awards were distributed only to the worthy few (none of whom were willing to sell), at the Association’s annual banquet on May 12-15 during StokerCon 2022 which was held at the Curtis Hotel in Denver CO. Black Gate and Goth Chick News would like to congratulate the following authors and editors for their superior achievements and suggest you, beloved readers, start loading up your Amazon wish list immediately.

Lifetime Achievement Awards

Jo Fletcher
Nancy Holder
Koji Suzuki

Superior Achievement in a Novel

WINNER: My Heart Is a Chainsaw, Stephen Graham Jones (Saga)

• The Queen of the Cicadas, V. Castro (Flame Tree)
• The Final Girl Support Group, Grady Hendrix (Berkley)
• Children of Chicago, Cynthia Pelayo (Agora)
• The Book of Accidents, Chuck Wendig (Del Rey)

Superior Achievement in a First Novel

WINNER: Queen of Teeth, Hailey Piper (Strangehouse)

• Helminth, S. Alessandro Martinez (Omnium Gatherum)
• When the Reckoning Comes, LaTanya McQueen (Harper Perennial)
• Rabbits, Terry Miles (Del Rey)
• The Forest, Lisa Quigley (Perpetual Motion Machine)
• Tidepool, Nicole Willson (The Parliament House)

(There are six nominees in this category, due to a tie for fifth place.)

Superior Achievement in a Young Adult Novel

WINNER: The River Has Teeth, Erica Waters (HarperTeen)

• All These Bodies, Kendare Blake (Quill Tree)
• The Book of the Baku, R.L. Boyle (Titan)
• Bad Witch Burning, Jessica Lewis (Delacorte)
• House of Hollow, Krystal Sutherland (G.P. Putnam’s Sons)

Superior Achievement in Long Fiction

WINNER: “Twentieth Anniversary Screening,” Jeff Strand (Slice and Dice)

• Goddess of Filth, V. Castro (Creature)
• Nothing But Blackened Teeth, Cassandra Khaw (Tor Nightfire)
• Things Have Gotten Worse Since We Last Spoke, Eric LaRocca (Weirdpunk)
• “Recitation of the First Feeding,” Hailey Piper (Unfortunate Elements of My Anatomy)

Superior Achievement in Short Fiction

WINNER: “Permanent Damage,” Lee Murray (Attack From the ‘80s)

• “The Yellow Crown”, Carol Gyzander (Under Twin Suns: Alternate Histories of the Yellow Sign)
• “A Gathering at the Mountain”, Cindy O’Quinn (The Bad Book)
• “Two Shakes Of A Dead Lamb’s Tail”, Anna Taborska (Terror Tales of the Scottish Lowlands)
• “A Whisper in the Death Pit”, Kyla Lee Ward (Weirdbook #44)

Superior Achievement in a Fiction Collection

WINNER: In That Endlessness, Our End, Gemma Files (Grimscribe)

• Beneath a Pale Sky, Philip Fracassi (Lethe)
• Empty Graves: Tales of the Living Dead, Jonathan Maberry (WordFire)
• The Dead Hours of Night, Lisa Tuttle (Valancourt)
• The Ghost Sequences, A.C. Wise (Undertow)

Superior Achievement in an Anthology

WINNER: When Things Get Dark: Stories Inspired by Shirley Jackson, Ellen Datlow, ed. (Titan)

• Under Twin Suns: Alternate Histories of the Yellow Sign, James Chambers, ed. (Hippocampus)
• There is No Death, There are No Dead, Aaron J. French & Jess Landry, eds. (Crystal Lake)
• Professor Charlatan Bardot’s Travel Anthology to the Most (Fictional) Haunted Buildings in the Weird, Wild World, Eric J. Guignard, ed. (Dark Moon)
• Attack From the ’80s, Eugene Johnson, ed. (Raw Dog Screaming)

Superior Achievement in Non-Fiction

WINNER: Writers Workshop of Horror 2, Michael Knost, ed. (Hydra)

• 9/11 Gothic: Decrypting Ghosts and Trauma in New York City’s Terrorism Novels, Danel Olson (Lexington)
• Giving the Devil His Due: Satan and Cinema, Jeffrey Andrew Weinstock & Regina M. Hansen (Fordham University Press)
• Eaters of the Dead: Myths and Realities of Cannibal Monsters, Kevin J. Wetmore, Jr. (Reaktion)
• Shirley Jackson: A Companion, Kristopher Woofter (Peter Lang)

Superior Achievement in Short Non-Fiction

WINNER: “Horror Writers: Architects of Hope”, Angela Yuriko Smith (The Sirens Call #55)

• “The Three Paradigms of Horror”, Dejan Ognjanović (Vastarien Vol. 4, #2)
• “One and Done”, Cindy O’Quinn (Were Tales: A Shapeshifter Anthology)
• “A Horror Fan’s Guide to Surviving Womanhood”, Emily Ruth Verona (thefinalgirls.co.uk)
• Devil’s Advocates: The Conjuring, Kevin J. Wetmore, Jr. (Auteur/Liverpool University Press

Superior Achievement in a Poetry Collection

WINNER: Tortured Willows: Bent. Bowed. Unbroken., Christina Sng, Angela Yuriko Smith, Lee Murray & Geneve Flynn (Yuriko)

• Apache Witch and Other Poetic Observations, Joe R. Lansdale (Independent Legions)
• Strange Nests, Jessica McHugh (Apokrupha)
• Victims, Marge Simon & Mary Turzillo (Weasel)
• Exposed Nerves, Lucy A. Snyder (Raw Dog Screaming)

Superior Achievement in a Graphic Novel

WINNER: The Inhabitant of the Lake, Alessandro Manzetti & Stefano Cardoselli (Independent Legions)

• Abbott 1973, Saladin Ahmed & Sami Kivelä (BOOM! Studios)
• Joker/Harley: Criminal Sanity, Kami Garcia, Mico Suayan, Jason Badower, and Mike Mayhew (DC Comics)
• Proctor Valley Road, Grant Morrison, Alex Child, and Naomi Franquiz (BOOM! Studios)
• An Unkindness of Ravens, Dan Panosian and Marianna Ignazzi (BOOM! Studios)

Superior Achievement in a Screenplay

WINNER: Midnight Mass, “Book VI: Acts of the Apostles”

• Antlers
• Candyman
• Fear Street: Part One – 1994
• Squid Game, “Red Light, Green Light”

The Seventh Annual Final Frame Horror Short Competition

WINNER: Best Writing in a Short Film: Becoming Emma Braintree, written and directed by Joshua Koske, based on a short story by Aaron Dries

• First runner up: The Thing That Ate The Birds, written and directed by Sophie Mair and Dan Gitsham
• Second runner up: Every Time We Meet For Ice Cream Your Whole F***ing Face Explodes, written and directed by Anthony Cousins, based on a short story by Carlton Mellick III

Specialty Press Award

Valancourt Books

Richard Laymon President’s Award

Sumiko Saulson

Silver Hammer Award

Kevin J. Wetmore

Mentor of the Year Award

Michael Knost