Bram Stoker Award Winners Announced!

I'd like to take some time out from the regularly scheduled programming here to recognize the winners of the illustrious Bram Stoker Awards, the premiere accolade in horror fiction the world over. True to the international spirit, the awards were presented yesterday outside North America for the very first time--at the World Horror Convention in Brighton, England, to be exact.

So, without further ado, here are the 2010 honorees:

• Novel: Audrey’s Door by Sarah Langan
• First Novel: Damnable by Hank Schwaeble
• Long Fiction: The Lucid Dreaming by Lisa Morton
• Short Fiction: “In the Porches of My Ears” by Norman Prentiss (Post-Scripts #18)
• Collection: A Taste of Tenderloin by Gene O’Neill
• Anthology: He is Legend edited by Christopher Conlon
• Non-Fiction: Writers Workshop of Horror edited by Michael Knost
• Poetry: Chimeric Machines by Lucy Snyder

Great to see Sarah Langan, a relative newcomer, snag another Stoker for her fourth novel. This is her second Stoker, as she previously won in 2007 for The Missing. She also contributed to last year's winner for Best Anthology, Unspeakable Horror--a volume put together by LoTT-D members Chad Helder and Vince Liaguno.

Speaking of anthologies, Christopher Conlon's winner is a tribute to the great Richard Matheson, containing original stories by some great writers like Joe Hill and others. And that Writer's Workshop of Horror is a fine little volume for those looking to break into horror fiction, worth checking out for sure.

The Bram Stoker Awards are presented every year since 1987 by the Horror Writers Association of America. And no, my first short story was not nominated... Oh well, gives me something to strive for with the next one!

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In other random developments, please be sure to check out my guest review of Dead Snow over at Day of the Woman! And I would be remiss if I did not give another plug for the Rondo Hatton Awards--voting ends Saturday night, so get those ballots in!

2009 Stoker Winners Announced! And LoTTD Members Among Them!!

The Bram Stoker Awards, horror literature's highest annual accolades, were presented on Saturday in Burbank, California by the Horror Writers Association. I'd like to throw out my sincerest congrats to all the winners, but most notably to my fellow League of Tana Tea Drinkers cohorts, Vince Liaguno and Chad Helder, who snagged the Stoker for Best Anthology, for their collection of queer horror fiction, Unspeakable Horror: From the Shadows of the Closet. Nicely done, gentlemen, nicely done.

Stephen King, needless to say, walked away with a couple of Stokers, as usual--this time around he got Best Novel for Duma Key, and Best Fiction Collection fort Just After Sunset.

Other Stoker winners included:

• First Novel: The Gentling Box by Lisa Mannetti
• Long Fiction: Miranda by John R. Little
• Short Fiction: "The Lost" by Sarah Langan
• Nonfiction: A Halloween Anthology by Lisa Morton
• Poetry Collection: The Nightmare Collection by Bruce Boston

Horror Authors Unite to Support Writers' Strike

The strike of the Writers Guild of America (WGA) has of course been the talk of the American entertainment industry of late. Recently, the Horror Writers Association (HWA)--a respected 20-year-old fraternity of genre authors most known for its yearly Bram Stoker Awards--publicly declared its support of the strike. On their website, and in messages dispatched throughout the business, they have stated the following:

"The Horror Writers Association, on behalf of its writer members, stands in support of the Writers Guild of America strike in seeking appropriate compensation for writers when their work is distributed digitally, either via DVD or Internet downloads. Although HWA is not a union, it is an organization of writers that advocates for authors' rights. Writers Guild of America and its demands fall solidly into this category. All writers will be affected by the outcome of this strike, and we stand in solidarity, resisting those who seek to distribute our work on the Internet, DVD, or any format without fair compensation."

The HWA counts the likes of Dean Koontz, Ray Bradbury, Stephen King, Brian Lumley, Peter Straub, Clive Barker and Richard Matheson among its members. To learn more about the group, go to horror.org.