2015 Bram Stoker Awards Preliminary Ballot

The Bram Stoker Awards are awarded by the Horror Writer's Association each year for "superior achievement" in horror. The Bram Stoker Award categories include Novel, First Novel, Short Fiction, Long Fiction, Young Adult, Fiction Collection, Poetry Collection, Anthology, Screenplay, Graphic Novel and Non-Fiction.

The preliminary ballot for the 2015 Bram Stoker Awards was announced today by the Bram Stoker Awards Committee. Voting members of the Horror Writer's Association will vote on this ballot through February 15. The final nominees will be announced on February 23. The Bram Stoker Award winners will then be announced on May 14th at (the first annual!) StokerCon in Las Vegas.

These are the works that were selected for the 2015 preliminary ballot:

Superior Achievement in a Novel

The Scarlet Gospels by Clive Barker
The Catacombs (World’s Scariest Places: Book Two) by Jeremy Bates
The Fold by Peter Clines
The Deep by Michaelbrent Collings
The Cure by JG Faherty
Monster by Keith Ferrario
Black Tide by Patrick Freivald
Skullcrack City by Jeremy Robert Johnson
Werewolf Cop by Andrew Klavan
The Private Sector by Leigh M. Lane
He Who Walks in Shadow Brett J. Talley
A Head Full of Ghosts by Paul Tremblay

Superior Achievement in a First Novel

Shutter by Courtney Alameda
Mr. Suicide by Nicole Cushing
Heaven, Hell, or Houston: A Zombie Thriller by Thom Erb
The Amazing Mr. Howard by Kenneth W. Harmon
The Library at Mount Char by Scott Hawkins
Consumption by Heather Herrman
We Are Monsters by Brian Kirk
Hannahwhere by John McIlveen
The Keeper of the Crows by Kyle Alexander Romines
Riding the Centipede by Jean Claude Smith

Superior Achievement in a Young Adult Novel

Never Let Me Sleep by Jennifer Brozek
The Suffering by Rin Chupeco
The Ridealong by Michaelbrent Collings
Devil’s Pocket by John Dixon
Department 19: Darkest Night by Will Hill
Hallowed by Tonya Hurley
The Shadow Cabinet by Maureen Johnson
The Silent End by Samuel Sattin
Bleed by Dax Varley
End Times at Ridgemont High by Ian Welke

Superior Achievement in a Graphic Novel

Harrow County, Vol. 1: Countless Haints by Cullen Bunn
Hellbound by Victor Gischler
Behemoth by Chris Kipiniak
Outcast, Vol. 1: A Darkness Surrounds Him by Robert Kirkman
The Children’s Vampire Hunting Brigade, Vol. 2: Age of the Wicked by David Lucarelli
Wytches, Vol. 1 by Scott Snyder
Colder, Vol. 2: The Bad Seed by Paul Tobin
Shadow Show: Stories in Celebration of Ray Bradbury edited by Sam Weller and Mort Castle

Superior Achievement in Long Fiction

I'm opting not to highlight covers for this category since some of the selections were published as part of a larger collection.

Paper Cuts by Gary A. Braunbeck (Seize the Night)
Cracked Sky by Ben Eads
Becoming Invisible, Becoming Seen by Scott Edelman (Dark Discoveries #30)
The Torment of Rachel Ames by Jeff Gunhus
The Box Jumper by Lisa Mannetti
Resistance by Seanan McGuire (The End Has Come)
At the Lazy K by Gene O'Neill
Dia de los Muertos by Jason Parent (Bad Apples 2)
Special Collections by Norman Partridge (The Library of the Dead)
Little Dead Red by Mercedes M. Yardley (Grimm Mistresses)

Superior Achievement in Short Fiction

I'm opting not to highlight covers for this category since most of the selections were either published as part of a larger collection or were originally published online.

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)
Gonzalez, Michael Paul – Choking Hazard (Winter Horror Days)
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)
O’Neill, Gene – The Algernon Effect
Palisano, John – Happy Joe’s Rest Stop (18 Wheels of Horror)
Southard, Nate – The Cork Won’t Stay* (Nightmare Magazine #34)
Walters, Damien Angelica – Sing Me Your Scars (Sing Me Your Scars)
Wong, Alyssa – Hungry Daughters of Starving Mothers* (Nightmare Magazine #37)

*Snow, A Trader on the Border of the Mutant Rain Forest, The Cork Won't Stay, and Hungry Daughters of Starving Mothers can be read online by following the links.

Superior Achievement in a Screenplay

Spring by Justin Benson
Crimson Peak by Guillermo del Toro and Matthew Robbins
Goodnight, Mommy by Veronika Franz and Severin Fiala
Hannibal: The Wrath of the Lamb by Bryan Fuller, Steve Lightfoot, and Nick Antosca
The Walking Dead: Here’s Not Here by Scott M. Gimple
Penny Dreadful: And Hell Itself My Only Foe by John Logon
Penny Dreadful: Nightcomers by John Logan
It Follows by David Robert Mitchell
What We Do in the Shadows by Taika Waititi and Jemaine Clement
Bone Tomahawk by S. Craig Zahler

Superior Achievement in an Anthology

The Library of the Dead edited by Michael Bailey (Written Backwards)
The Doll Collection: Seventeen Brand-New Tales of Dolls edited by Ellen Datlow (Tor Books)
Beware the Little White Rabbit edited by Shannon Delany and Judith Graves
Seize the Night edited by Christopher Golden
Horrorology by Stephen Jones
nEvermore! edited by Nancy Kilpatrick and Caro Soles
X-Files: Trust No One edited by Jonathan Maberry
18 Wheels of Horror edited by Eric Miller
Shadows Over Main Street edited by Doug Murano and D. Alexander Ward
Midian Unmade edited by Joseph Nassise and Del Howison
Shrieks and Shivers from the Horror Zine edited by Jeani Rector
Exigencies edited by Richard Thomas

Superior Achievement in a Fiction Collection

Halfway Down the Stairs by Gary Braunbeck
Apocalypse Girl Dreaming by Jennifer Brozek
The Abandonment of Grace and Everything After by Shane Jiraiya Cummings
The Mirrors by Nicole Cushing
Sacrificing Virgins by John Everson
The Dark at the End of the Tunnel by Grant Taylor
New Avalon: Love and Loss in the City of Steam by Neal F. Litherland
The Hitchhiking Effect by Gene O'Neill
While the Black Stars Burn by Lucy A. Snyder
Dominoes in Time by Matthew Warner

Superior Achievement in Non-Fiction

The Unique Legacy of Weird Tales: The Evolution of Modern Fantasy and Horror edited by Justin Everett and Jeffrey H. Shanks
Monsters and Monstrosity from the Fin de Siècle to the Millennium edited by Sharla Hutchinson and Rebecca A. Brown
The Art of Horror edited by Stephen Jones
Author’s Guide to Marketing with Teeth edited by Michael Knost
Horror 201: The Silver Scream edited by Joe Mynhardt and Emma Audsley
Studies in the Horror Film: Stanley Kubrick’s The Shining by Danel Olson
Haunted by the Abyss: The Otherworldly Experiences of Paranormal by Sarah Soderlund
Haunted Plantations of the South by Richard Southall

Superior Achievement in a Poetry Collection

Resonance Dark and Light by Bruce Boston
The Madness in our Marrow by Amanda Crum
The Robot Scientist’s Daughter by Jeannine Hall Gailey
Dark Parchments by Michael H. Hanson
Eden Underground by Alessandro Manzetti
Dark Energies by Ann Schwader
The Crimson Tome by K.A. Opperman
Poetic Allegories Michael Randolph
Naughty Ladies by Marge Simon
An Exorcism of Angels by Stephanie M. Wytovich