The 2023 Bram Stoker Awards® Final Ballot
The Horror Writers Association (HWA) is pleased to announce the Final Ballot for the 2023 Bram Stoker Awards®. The HWA is the premier writers organization in the horror and dark fiction genre, with more than 2,000 members. We have presented the Bram Stoker Awards in various categories since 1987.
Works appearing on this Ballot are Bram Stoker Award® Nominees for Superior Achievement in their Category, e.g., Novel, and everyone may refer to them as such immediately after the announcement.
The HWA Board and the Bram Stoker Awards® Committee congratulate all those appearing on the Final Ballot. Notes about the voting process will appear after the ballot listing.
If your work appears on this ballot and you would like to offer it to voting members of the HWA in the Internet Mailer to be sent on or around February 26, please see important information following the ballot.
The 2023 Bram Stoker Awards® Final Ballot
Superior Achievement in an Anthology
Aquilone, James – Shakespeare Unleashed (Crystal Lake Publishing, Monstrous Books)
Golden, Christopher, and Keene, Brian – The Drive-In: Multiplex (Pandi Press)
Hawk, Shane and Van Alst, Jr., Theodore C. – Never Whistle at Night: An Indigenous Dark Fiction Anthology (Vintage)
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)
Nogle, Christi – The Best of Our Past, the Worst of Our Future (Flame Tree Press)
Read, Sarah – Root Rot & Other Grim Tales (Bad Hand Books)
Superior Achievement in a First Novel
Carmen, Christa – The Daughters of Block Island (Thomas & Mercer)
Compton, Johnny – The Spite House (Tor Nightfire/Macmillan)
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)
Cesare, Adam (author) and Stoll, David (artist) – Dead Mall (Dark Horse Comics)
Chu, Amy (author) and Lee, Soo (artist) – Carmilla: The First Vampire (Dark Horse)
Ito, Junji (author and artist) – Tombs (Viz Media)
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)
McCarthy, J.A.W. – Sleep Alone (Off Limits Press LLC)
Murray, Lee – Despatches (PS Publishing)
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)
Fitzpatrick, Claire (ed.) – A Vindication of Monsters: Essays on Mary Wollstonecraft and Mary Shelley (IFWG Publishing International)
Hartmann, Sadie – 101 Horror Books to Read Before You’re Murdered (Page Street Publishing)
Morton, Lisa – The Art of the Zombie Movie (Applause Books)
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
Henning, Sarah – Monster Camp (Margaret K. McElderry Books)
López, Diana – Los Monstruos: Felice and the Wailing Woman (Kokila)
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
Due, Tananarive – The Reformatory (Gallery/Saga Press/Titan)
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)
Tingle, Chuck – Camp Damascus (Tor Nightfire/MacMillan/Titan)
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)
Walrath, Holly Lyn – Numinous Stones (Aqueduct Press)
Wytovich, Stephanie M. – On the Subject of Blackberries (Raw Dog Screaming 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, Maligno Gorehouse)
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. – “Sound of Children Screaming” (Nightmare Magazine)
Miller, Sam J. – “If Someone You Love Has Become a Vurdalak” (The Dark)
O’Quinn, Cindy – “Quondam” (The Nightmare Never Ends, Exploding Head Fiction)
Tabing, Nadine Aurora – “An Inherited Taste” (No Trouble at All, Cursed Morsels Press)
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)
Kulski, K.P. – “100 Livers” (Unquiet Spirits: Essays by Asian Women in Horror, Black Spot Books)
Murray, Lee – “Displaced Spirits” (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
Bayron, Kalynn – You’re Not Supposed to Die Tonight (Bloomsbury YA)
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)
Tran, Trang Thanh – She Is a Haunting (Bloomsbury YA)
If your work appears on the Final Ballot (i.e., you are the author, agent, editor, publisher, or publicist) and you wish to provide a link allowing Voting Members to read the work, there will be a SPECIAL FINAL BALLOT INTERNET MAILER issued on or about February 26.
If a link to your work was listed on the Special Preliminary Ballot Internet Mailer it will be relisted automatically and you need not email or query.
If a link to your work was not listed on the Special Preliminary Ballot IM, please email the details to stokerchair@horror.org no later than February 25. Anyone validly representing a work appearing on the Final Ballot may submit via this method, whether or not they are HWA members (this includes the author, agent, editor, publisher, or publicist of the work).
Do NOT spam Voting Members; this is a severe breach of etiquette – Active and Lifetime (voting) members tend to notice such breaches and may consider them when determining which works to vote for on the Ballot.
You may also post the fact that your work is available to be read for Bram Stoker Award consideration ONCE, and only once, on the HWA Facebook page; and on the HWA Discord. If you had already posted your work in these places prior to the announcement of the Preliminary Ballot, you are entitled to post it again. The Discord and Facebook page are open to members and non–members alike. Non–members may also email stokerchair@horror.org for help with this.
March 1: The Final Ballot is dispatched – please note only Active and Lifetime Members in good-standing as of January 31 can vote. If you are an Active or Lifetime Member and do NOT receive your electronic ballot link by March 3, please first check your spam/junk mail filter, make sure your email address is updated in Wild Apricot, and then email ballotmaster@horror.org with a brief message about the issue. Note that Ballots are sent to the same email address as the Newsletter and the Internet Mailer. It is the responsibility of Members to keep their email address up to date in Wild Apricot or by advising the administrator of any issues with your membership account at director@horror.org. Late Ballots cannot be accepted under any circumstances.
March 15: The 2024 Bram Stoker Recommendation sheet goes live and the 2024 Bram Stoker Awards Juries open to Submissions. Members should hold any Recommendations for works published in the calendar year 2024 until the Sheet is live.
Members wishing to submit work published in 2024 to the relevant Jury should read the information at the Bram Stoker Awards website before doing so.
March 15: The Bram Stoker Awards Final Ballot closes at midnight U.S. Pacific Time. Any ballots received after this time will be discarded.
June 1: The 2023 Bram Stoker Awards® will be announced during the Annual Bram Stoker Awards Banquet held during StokerCon™ 2024 in San Diego, California.
Bookings and information for StokerCon are available at StokerCon2024.com.
Note: Banquet Tickets are separate from the Convention Membership and should be purchased directly from Eventbrite. Click “Tickets” to see the Banquet option as an add-on to your existing registration or an option for a new registration.
Please direct any questions about the ballot to: stokerchair@horror.org. Questions about StokerCon should go to info@stokercon.com. Questions about the HWA should go to director@horror.org.
