Congratulations To The 2024 Bram Stoker Award Finalists!

Let’s not forget about horror authors during award season! Each year, the Horror Writers Association awards the highly coveted and prestigious Bram Stoker Award. Of course named after one of the fathers of the horror novel, Bram Stoker. Widely considered the most prestigious horror novel award, this title is granted based on “superior achievement” rather than popularity or “best” of the year. Any horror novel written in English and published within the last year (2023) is eligible to receive this accolade.

Notable winners include: Stephen King, Joyce Carol Oats, Dean Koonts, Clive Barker, Peter Straub, and many more titans of terror. 

As of right now, there are 13 categories: Novel, First Novel, Short Fiction, Long Fiction, Young Adult, Middle Grade, Fiction Collection, Poetry Collection, Anthology, Screenplay, Graphic Novel, Nonfiction, and Short Nonfiction.

Here are a few of the 2024 Bram Stoker Awards finalists:

Superior Achievement in an Anthology

Aquilone, James – Shakespeare Unleashed (Crystal Lake Publishing, Monstrous Books)

Peele, Jordan, and Adams, John Joseph – Out There Screaming (Random House)

Rowland, Rebecca – American Cannibal (Maenad Press)

Superior Achievement in a Fiction Collection

Files, Gemma – Blood from the Air (Grimscribe Press)

Keisling, Todd – Cold, Black, & Infinite (Cemetery Dance)

Malerman, Josh – Spin A Black Yarn (Del Rey)

Superior Achievement in a First Novel

LaRocca, Eric – Everything the Darkness Eats (CLASH Books/Titan)

Leede, CJ – Maeve Fly (Tor Nightfire/Macmillan/Titan)

Rebelein, Sam – Edenville (William Morrow/Titan)

Superior Achievement in a Graphic Novel

Bunn, Cullen (author) and Leomacs (artist) – Ghostlore, Vol. 1 (BOOM! Studios)

Chu, Amy (author) and Lee, Soo (artist) – Carmilla: The First Vampire (Dark Horse)  

Tanabe, Gou (author and artist) – H.P. Lovecraft’s The Shadow Over Innsmouth (Dark Horse Comics)

Superior Achievement in Long Fiction

Due, Tananarive – “Rumpus Room” (The Wishing Pool and Other Stories, Akashic Books)

Jiang, Ai – Linghun (Dark Matter INK)

Khaw, Cassandra – The Salt Grows Heavy (Tor Nightfire/Macmillan/Titan)

Superior Achievement in Long Nonfiction

Coleman, Robin R. Means and Harris, Mark H. – The Black Guy Dies First: Black Horror Cinema from Fodder to Oscar (Gallery/Saga Press)

Hartmann, Sadie – 101 Horror Books to Read Before You’re Murdered (Page Street Publishing)

Murray, Lee and Smith, Angela Yuriko (eds.) – Unquiet Spirits: Essays by Asian Women in Horror (Black Spot Books)

Superior Achievement in a Middle Grade Novel

Senf, Lora – The Nighthouse Keeper (Atheneum Books for Young Readers)

Tuma, Refe – Frances and the Werewolves of the Black Forest (HarperCollins)

Young, Suzanne – What Stays Buried (HarperCollins)

Superior Achievement in a Novel

Hendrix, Grady – How to Sell a Haunted House (Berkley/Titan)

Jones, Stephen Graham – Don’t Fear the Reaper (Gallery/Saga Press/Titan)

LaValle, Victor – Lone Women (One World)

Wendig, Chuck – Black River Orchard (Del Rey/Penguin Random House)

Superior Achievement in Poetry

Gold, Maxwell Ian – Bleeding Rainbows and Other Broken Spectrums (Hex Publishers)

McHugh, Jessica – The Quiet Ways I Destroy You (Apokrupha Press)

Pichette, Marisca – Rivers in Your Skin, Sirens in Your Hair (Android Press)

Superior Achievement in a Screenplay

Brooker, Charlie – Black Mirror: Beyond the Sea (Episode 03:06) (Zeppotron, Babieka, Banijay Entertainment, Broke and Bones, House of Tomorrow)

Cervera, Michelle Garza and Castillo, Abia – Huesera: The Bone Woman (Disruptiva Films, Machete Producciones, MalignoGorehouse)

Duffield, Brian – No One Will Save You (20th Century Studios, Star Thrower Entertainment)

Rugna, Demián – When Evil Lurks (Machaco Films, Aramos Cine, Shudder)

Yamazaki, Takashi – Godzilla Minus One (Robot Communications, Toho Studios)

Superior Achievement in Short Fiction

Daniels, L.E. – “Silk” (Hush, Don’t Wake the Monster: Stories Inspired by Stephen King, Twisted Wing Productions)

Jones, Rachael K. – “The Sound of Children Screaming” (Nightmare Magazine)

Miller, Sam J. – “If Someone You Love Has Become a Vurdalak” (The Dark)

Superior Achievement in Short Non-Fiction

Bissett, Carina – “Words Wielded by Women” (Apex Magazine)

Bulkin, Nadia – “Becoming Ungovernable: Latah, Amok, and Disorder in Indonesia,” (Unquiet Spirits: Essays by Asian Women in Horror, Black Spot Books)

Wetmore Jr., Kevin – “A Theatre of Ghosts, A Haunted Cinema: The Japanese Gothic as Theatrical Tradition in Gurozuka” (The Wenshan Review of Literature and Culture: Special Issue on Asian Gothic)

Superior Achievement in a Young Adult Novel

Dimaline, Cherie – Funeral Songs for Dying Girls (Tundra Book Group)

Simmons, Kristen – Find Him Where You Left Him Dead (Tor Teen)

Smith, Cynthia Leitich – Harvest House (Candlewick Press)

You can view the full list here!

The 2023 Bram Stoker Awards® will be announced June 1st, 2024 during the Annual Bram Stoker Awards Banquet held during StokerCon™ 2024 in San Diego, California.