Horror Fiction Collections: 2022 Bram Stoker Awards Nominees
Find out more about the nominations for Superior Achievements in a two categories—Fiction Collection and Anthology.
The Horror Writer’s Association (HWA) has announced the nominees for the 2022 Bram Stoker Awards. Below, find out the nominees in the Superior Achievement in a Fiction Collection category and also the category Superior Achievement in an Anthology—with info about the nominated books from Paula D. Ashe, RJ Joseph, Cassandra Khaw, Richard Thomas, Attila Veres, Ellen Datlow, Sadie Hartmann and Ashley Saywers, Christi Nogle and Willow Becker, Lindy Ryan, and Sara Tantlinger.
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You can also check out the the whole list of nominations below.
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Superior Achievement in a Fiction Collection
We Are Here to Hurt Each Other by Paula D. Ashe (Nictitating Books)
With these twelve stories Paula D. Ashe takes you into a dark and bloody world where nothing is sacred and no one is safe. A landscape of urban decay and human degradation, this collection finds the psychic pressure points of us all, and giddily squeezes. Try to run, try to hide, but there is no escape: We are here to hurt each other.
CONTENT WARNINGS FOUND INSIDE BOOK
“My god, this book—where do I even begin? The exquisite language. The devastation. The slow, creeping dread. Truly masterful. I’m a new and devoted fan of Paula D. Ashe.”
—Eric LaRocca, author of Things Have Gotten Worse Since We Last Spoke And Other Misfortunes“Gooey, gory and utterly mesmerizing, Paula D. Ashe’s debut short fiction collection reads like the sloppy love-child of Clive Barker and David Cronenberg—Barker for sheer gruesomely sensual intoxication, the language of blood-soaked angels, Cronenberg for bodies flipped inside-out and messed around back-to-front like suppurating biological Rubik’s Cubes. I want to study it; I wish I’d written it.”
—Gemma Files, author of Experimental Film“Poignant, grim, and startling, the remarkable stories of We Are Here To Hurt Each Other shine with luminescent dread. In this collection, Paula D. Ashe reminds us that monsters aren’t just real: They’re here and they’re human.”
—Tiffany Morris, author of Havoc in Silence“Clive Barker is her Virgil, but Paula D. Ashe is Dante guiding you ever deeper into an Inferno more hellish and cursed than the 14th Century Catholic poet could’ve possibly envisioned. The only salvation possible for these damned souls is to find rapture in suffering and release in condemnation. Most are lucky just to find the one, true end to all woe. Paula D. Ashe is a Prophet of Pain.”
—Christopher Ropes, author of These Tales Are Winter: A Phenomenology of Ghosts“Paula D. Ashe came to hurt me, refused to apologize, and left me in a forensically unfeasible state of despair. Holy fuck.”
—Joe Koch, author of The Wingspan of Severed Hands“The stories in Paula D. Ashe’s debut collection are brutal, intense, and will have you questioning what lies beneath the veneer of strangers, of loved ones, and of yourself.”
—Doungjai Gam, author of glass slipper dreams, shattered“To hold the reader’s undivided attention, such a degree of blistering honesty requires an equally high level of storytelling skill, and Ashe does not disappoint. Here is a writer whose impeccable prose grips the reader from the first sentence, and commands attention. The stories in this collection convey a chilling urgency, as all truthful and uncompromising fictions do.”
—S. P. Miskowski, author of I Wish I Was Like You
Hell Hath No Sorrow Like a Woman Haunted by RJ Joseph (The Seventh Terrace)
The Black women in these tales are women we all know. The mothers, wives, business owners, creatives, and more, that we see in everyday life. They perform the impossible and hold all ends together.
Sometimes, they’re an open book, their stories written in the beloved lines of their faces and the varied bodies they wear with pride or weariness.
Other times, their secrets squirm beneath the surface, aching for release and discovery while beckoning others to lean in. They whisper the horror of their predicaments, closer to home than you realize.
These Black women are more than we know. They’re also victims, monsters…and often, a little of both.
Breakable Things by Cassandra Khaw (Undertow Publications)
Cassandra Khaw’s dynamic and vibrant debut collection, Breakable Things, explores the fragile and nebulous bonds that weave love and grief into our existence. This exquisite and cutting collection of stories showcases a bloody fusion of horrors from cosmic to psychological to body traumas.
“Khaw (Nothing but Blackened Teeth) packs a gruesome punch with the 23 bite-size horror stories...the distinctive authorial voice and uncanny atmospherics will surely find some fans.”
—Publishers Weekly“A delicious bowl of razor blades. With coiled prose and whetted instinct, Khaw’s stories put a finger on the dark pulse of being human.”
—Rich Larson, author of Ymir and Tomorrow Factory“A remarkable collection of tales from one of the most versatile and vital voices of their generation. Cassandra Khaw’s stories are deftly wrought and sharp enough to draw blood, building entire worlds in a scant few pages. Horrifying and beautiful!”
—Christopher Golden, New York Times bestselling author of Road of Bones and Ararat“Khaw takes the familiar and gives it a vicious cutting edge. Breakable Things is haunting, and in the best way, sneaky. It gets inside you, and when you least expect it, it strikes, leaving you bloodied on the floor unsure if you're laughing or crying.”
—Nghi Vo, author of The Chosen and The Beautiful“Some writers are simply indispensable if you want to understand your cultural moment. Cassandra Khaw is three of them. For reasons, take your pick: a (1) master storyteller who (2) finds multiple angles into the deepest recesses of your psyche to (3) leave you not just stricken, but strangely relieved, strangely edified. Breakable Things is a match-strike in the darkness that makes you understand the value of darkness. Enjoyed best under the covers!”
—Carlos Hernandez, award-winning author of the Sal and Gabi series
Spontaneous Human Combustion by Richard Thomas (Keylight Books)
A TOR NIGHTFIRE MOST EXCITING HORROR BOOK OF 2022
“In range alone, Richard Thomas is boundless. He is Lovecraft. He is Bradbury. He is Gaiman.”
—Chuck Palahniuk
With a Foreword by Brian Evenson
In this new collection, Richard Thomas has crafted 14 stories that push the boundaries of dark fiction in an intoxicating, piercing blend of fantasy, science fiction, and horror. Equally provocative and profound, each story is masterfully woven with transgressive themes that burrow beneath the skin.
A poker game yields a strange prize that haunts one man, his game of chance now turned into a life-or-death coin flip.
A set of twins find they have mysterious new powers when an asteroid crashes in a field near their house, and the decisions they make create an uneasy balance.
A fantasy world is filled with one man’s desire to feel whole again, finally finding love, only to have the shocking truth of his life exposed in an appalling twist.
A father and son work slave labor in a brave new world run by aliens and mount a rebellion that may end up freeing them all.
A clown takes off his make-up in a gloomy basement to reveal something more horrifying under the white, tacky skin.
Powerful and haunting, Thomas’ transportive collection dares you to examine what lies in the darkest, most twisted corners of human existence and not be transformed by what you find.
The Black Maybe by Attila Veres (Valancourt Books)
Attila Veres, Hungary’s leading horror writer, makes his English debut at last in this groundbreaking new collection featuring ten of his finest tales.
The volume opens with “To Bite a Dog,” in which a man’s budding relationship is jeopardized by his girlfriend’s bizarre and macabre habit involving dogs. “Fogtown” tells of a legendary ’90s rock band whose music nobody has ever actually heard but which might nonetheless spell doom for a man obsessed with finding their recordings. “Multiplied by Zero” is a wry travelogue in which a man recounts his hellish experiences on a holiday tour exploring Lovecraftian landscapes. And in the title story “The Black Maybe,” which Steve Rasnic Tem calls “one of the weirdest tales I’ve read in years,” a girl and her family escape the city bustle to experience farm life, only to discover with unimaginable horror the truth of what is really being harvested there.
These tales showcase a range of genres and styles, from weird fiction to folk horror to cosmic horror, and reveal a dazzlingly original new writer whose stories are thrilling, frightening, often blackly humorous, and totally unlike anything you have read before.
“Every decade or so, a writer comes along who reconfigures the way we think about the Weird. First Thomas Ligotti, then Laird Barron, and now Attila Veres. An astonishing collection, really unlike anything out there, which suggests a new way forward.”
—Brian Evenson, author of Song for the Unraveling of the World“These stories dwell in the in-between places of life and death, that place where nightmares wait to be harvested. These are your nightmares, or they soon will be, so settle in for an excursion to a horrific mental, emotional, and spiritual landscape like no other. A brilliant work.”
—Elizabeth Engstrom, author of When Darkness Loves Us and Black Ambrosia“A stunning parade of terrors surreal and horrors sublime. The uncanny stories in The Black Maybe are as originally chilling and imaginatively dangerous as anything you’ll read this decade, if not your lifetime, and Attila Veres deserves the worldwide acclaim this inventive work of horror will surely bring him. His approach is genuinely fresh. No maybes about it: this book is pitch black and totally engrossing.”
—Michael Arnzen, Bram Stoker Award-winning author of Proverbs for Monsters“Original, brilliant, distinctive. These masterful stories by Attila Veres are a breath of fresh air from out of the darkness.”
—Michael Cisco, award-winning author of The Divinity Student“The Black Maybe, by Attila Veres, is a refreshing blast of cold cellar air. The horror is insidious and surreal, slowly chewing away what you think is real until you find yourself surrounded by a nightmare. I love this book!”
—Nathan Ballingrud, author of Wounds and North American Lake Monsters
Superior Achievement in an Anthology
Screams from the Dark: 29 Tales of Monsters and the Monstrous by Ellen Datlow (Tor Nightfire)
A bone-chilling anthology from legendary horror editor, Ellen Datlow, Screams from the Dark contains 29 all-original tales about monsters.
From werewolves and vampires, to demons and aliens, the monster is one of the most recognizable figures in horror. But what makes something, or someone, monstrous?
Award-winning and up-and-coming authors like Richard Kadrey, Cassandra Khaw, Indrapramit Das, Priya Sharma, and more attempt to answer this question. These all-new stories range from traditional to modern, from mainstream to literary, from familiar monsters to the unknown—and unimaginable.
This chilling collection has something to please—and terrify—everyone, so lock your doors, hide under your covers, and try not to scream.
Contributors include: Ian Rogers, Fran Wilde, Gemma Files, Daryl Gregory, Priya Sharma, Brian Hodge, Joyce Carol Oates, Indrapramit Das, Siobhan Carroll, Richard Kadrey, Norman Partridge, Garry Kilworth, Caitlín R. Kiernan, Chikodili Emelumadu, Glen Hirshberg, A.C. Wise, Stephen Graham Jones, Kaaron Warren, Livia Llewellyn, Carole Johnstone, Margo Lanagan, Joe R. Lansdale, Brian Evenson, Nathan Ballingrud, Cassandra Khaw, Laird Barron, Kristi DeMeester, Jeffrey Ford, and John Langan.
Human Monsters: A Horror Anthology by Sadie Hartmann and Ashley Saywers (Dark Matter Ink)
35 BRAND NEW TALES OF TERROR
Not all monsters are fantasy. Some are very real, and they walk among us. They’re our friends, family, neighbors, and co-workers. They’re the people we’re supposed to trust...and they know it. Contained within this anthology are 35 never-before-published works by supremely talented authors and best-selling novelists. Brace yourself for the unexpected and unimaginable horror of...human monsters.
STORIES BY
Linda D. Addison, Gemma Amor, Jena Brown, Nat Cassidy, Venezia Castro, Andrew Cull, Andy Davidson, L.P. Hernandez, Laurel Hightower, C.S. Humble, Emma Alice Johnson, Jeremy Robert Johnson, Stephen Graham Jones, Rebecca Jones-Howe, Caroline Kepnes, Samantha Kolesnik, Chad Lutzke, Josh Malerman, Catherine McCarthy, Francesca McDonnell Capossela, Jeremy Megargee, Tim Meyer, S.P. Miskowski, Archita Mittra, Stephanie Nelson, Leah Ning, Cynthia Pelayo, Sam Rebelein, Belicia Rhea, Stephen S. Schreffler, Greg Sisco, Elton Skelter, John F. D. Taff, Dana Vickerson, Kelsea Yu.
Edited by Sadie Hartmann and Ashley Saywers. Introduction by Christopher Golden, author of ROAD OF BONES. Additional editing by Rob Carroll and Marissa van Uden.
Mother: Tales of Love and Terror by Christi Nogle and Willow Becker (Weird Little Worlds)
Mothers protect, nurture, love, and adore...but what if they are more than just their title?
In these 33 stories and poems, we examine what motherhood is and explore mothers of all kinds. With more than 300 pages of horror, dark fantasy, science fiction, and poetry, we introduce the motivations and compulsions that make up a mother—both good and evil.
Whether they are robot mothers, evil stepmothers, or sociopathic mothers-to-be, these stories will illuminate what’s really going on inside of that woman we think we know so well...Mother.
Into the Forest: Tales of the Baba Yaga by Lindy Ryan (Black Spot Books)
A collection of new and exclusive short stories inspired by the Baba Yaga. Featuring Gwendolyn Kiste, Stephanie M. Wytovich, Mercedes M. Yardley, Monique Snyman, Donna Lynch, Lisa Quigley, and R.J. Joseph, with an introduction by Christina Henry.
Deep in the dark forest, in a cottage that spins on birds’ legs behind a fence topped with human skulls, lives the Baba Yaga. A guardian of the water of life, she lives with her sisters and takes to the skies in a giant mortar and pestle, creating tempests as she goes. Those who come across the Baba Yaga may find help, or hindrance, or horror. She is wild, she is woman, she is witch— and these are her tales.
Edited by Lindy Ryan, this collection brings together some of today’s leading voices of women-in-horror as they pay tribute to the Baba Yaga, and go Into the Forest.
“Perfect for horror fans who can't get enough of folklore and fairy-tale retellings that veer in unexpected directions.”
—Booklist Starred Review“Fans of folklore retellings will find plenty to enjoy.”
—Publishers Weekly“The stories in Into the Forest collect the guts and bones of some of the world’s oldest witch tales and refashion them into something new, beautiful, and gruesome.”
—Foreword Reviews“A powerful literary reflection... Outstanding in its diversity and interpretations, Into the Forest is very highly recommended not just for horror collections, but for libraries strong in women’s literature, as well as for reader’s book groups who would study the legend and realities of the Baba Yaga folktale as it journeys into the heart and soul of women’s experiences and psychology.”
—Midwest Book Review
Chromophobia: A Strangehouse Anthology by Women in Horror by Sara Tantlinger (Strangehouse Books)
The follow-up anthology to Strangehouse Books’ Stoker-nominated NOT ALL MONSTERS, edited by Stoker Award-winning author and poet Sara Tantlinger.
CHROMOPHOBIA brings together the talents of 25 authors, newcomer and veteran writers alike, who explore the role of color in horror and deliver stories that use color in creative, unconventional, and unnerving ways. Featuring stories by: Frances Lu-Pai Ippolito; Jo Kaplan; Sonora Taylor; Ali Seay; Chelsea Pumpkins; Pippa Bailey; Jess Koch; G.G. Silverman; EV Knight; Kathryn E. McGee; Bindia Persaud; Jaye Wells; Lauren C. Teffeau; Geneve Flynn; Red Lagoe; KC Grifant; Christa Wojciechowski; Christine Makepeace; K.P. Kulski; Jacqueline West; Lillah Lawson; Tiffany Morris; J.B. Lamping; Jeanne E. Bush; Nu Yang.
“Extraordinary tales of terror that are as grim as they are delightful.”
—Kirkus Reviews“… clever, unsettling stories … push the boundaries of conventional horror.”
—BookLife Reviews
The rest of the 2022 Bram Stoker Awards nominations
The HWA organization presents the Bram Stoker Awards for Superior Achievement, named in honor of Bram Stoker, author of the seminal horror work, Dracula. Winners will be announced June 17 during the Annual Bram Stoker Awards at StokerCon™ 2023 Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Bookings and information at: http://stokercon.com.
Superior Achievement in a Novel
The Devil Takes You Home
Gabino Iglesias
(Mullholland Press)
The Fervor
Alma Katsu
(G.P. Putnam’s Sons)
Reluctant Immortals
Gwendolyn Kiste
(Saga Press)
Daphne
Josh Malerman
(Del Rey)
Sundial
Catriona Ward
(Tor Nightfire)
Superior Achievement in a First Novel
Jackal Erin Adams (Bantam Books)
The Hacienda Isabel Cañas (Berkley)
Black Tide KC Jones (Tor Nightfire)
Beulah Christi Nogle (Cemetery Gates Media)
All the White Spaces Ally Wilkes (Emily Bestler Books/Atria/Titan Books)
Interview:
Info about each book HERE:
Superior Achievement in a Middle Grade Novel
Camp Scare
Delilah S. Dawson
(Delacorte Press)
They Stole Our Hearts
Daniel Kraus
(Henry Holt and Co.)
This Appearing House
Ally Malinenko
(Katherine Tegen Books)
The Clackity
Lora Senf
(Atheneum Books for Young Readers)
A Comb of Wishes
Lisa Stringfellow
(Quill Tree Books)
Superior Achievement in a Graphic Novel
Kolchak: The Night Stalker: 50th Anniversary
James Aquilone, editor
(Moonstone Books)
Eat the Rich
Sarah Gailey (author) and Pius Bak (artist)
(Boom! Studios)
Kraken Inferno: The Last Hunt
Alessandro Manzetti (author) and Stefano Cardoselli (artist/author)
(Independent Legions Publishing)
Something is Killing the Children, Vol. 4
James Tynion IV (author) and Werther Dell’Edera (artist)
(Boom! Studios)
The Me You Love in the Dark
Skottie Young (author) and Jorge Corona (artist)
(Image Comics)
Superior Achievement in a Young Adult Novel
What We Harvest
Ann Fraistat
(Delacorte Press)
The Weight of Blood
Tiffany D. Jackson
(Katherine Tegen Books)
These Fleeting Shadows
Kate Alice Marshall
(Viking)
The Triangle
Robert P. Ottone
(Raven Tale Publishing)
Gallant
V.E. Schwab
(Greenwillow Books)
Burn Down, Rise Up
Vincent Tirado
(Sourcebooks Fire)
Superior Achievement in Long Fiction
And in Her Smile, the World
Rebecca J. Allred and Gordon B. White
(Trepidatio Publishing)
“Through the Looking Glass and Straight into Hell”
Orphans of Bliss: Tales of Addiction Horror
Christa Carmen
(Wicked Run Press)
Below
Laurel Hightower
(Ghoulish Books)
The Wehrwolf: A Short Story
Alma Katsu
(Amazon Original Stories)
Three Days in the Pink Tower
EV Knight
(Creature Publishing)
Superior Achievement in Short Fiction
“Nona Doesn’t Dance”
Cut to Care: A Collection of Little Hurts
Aaron Dries
(IFWG Australia, IFWG International)
“Poppy’s Poppy”
Douglas Gwilym
(Penumbric Speculative Fiction Magazine, Vol. V, No. 6)
“The Only Thing Different Will Be the Body”
A Woman Built by Man
J.A.W. McCarthy
(Cemetery Gates Media)
“A Song for Barnaby Jones”
Anna Taborska
(Zagava)
“The Star”
Great British Horror 7: Major Arcane
Anna Taborska
(Black Shuck Books)
“Fracture”
Mother: Tales of Love and Terror
Mercedes M. Yardley
(Weird Little Worlds)
Superior Achievement in a Screenplay
The Pale Blue Eye
Scott Cooper
(Cross Creek Pictures, Grisbi Productions, Streamline Global Group)
The Black Phone
Scott Derrickson and C. Robert Cargill
(Blumhouse Productions, Crooked Highway, Universal Pictures)
Stranger Things: Episode 04.01 “Chapter One: The Hellfire Club”
The Duffer Brothers
(21 Laps Entertainment, Monkey Massacre, Netflix, Upside Down Pictures)
Men
Alex Garland
(DNA Films)
Pearl
Mia Goth and Ti West
(A24, Bron Creative, Little Lamb, New Zealand Film Commission)
Superior Achievement in a Poetry Collection
Sifting the Ashes
Michael Bailey and Marge Simon
(Crystal Lake Publishing)
Girls from the County
Donna Lynch
(Raw Dog Screaming Press)
Crime Scene
Cynthia Pelayo
(Raw Dog Screaming Press)
The Rat King: A Book of Dark Poetry
Sumiko Saulson
(Dooky Zines)
The Gravity of Existence
Christina Sng
(Interstellar Flight Press)
Superior Achievement in Non-Fiction
Weird Fiction: A Genre Study
Michael Cisco
(Palgrave Macmillan)
A Haunted History of Invisible Women: True Stories of America's Ghosts
Leanna Renee Hieber and Andrea Janes
(Citadel Press)
Toil and Trouble: A Women’s History of the Occult
Lisa Kröger and Melanie R. Anderson
(Quirk Books)
Writing in the Dark: The Workbook
Tim Waggoner
(Guide Dog Books)
Writing Poetry in the Dark
Stephanie M. Wytovich
(Raw Dog Screaming Press)
Superior Achievement in Short Non-Fiction
“I Don’t Read Horror (& Other Weird Tales)” by Lee Murray
(Interstellar Flight Magazine) (Interstellar Flight Press)
“This is Not a Poem” by Cynthia Pelayo
(Writing Poetry in the Dark) (Raw Dog Screaming Press)
“A Clown in the Living Room: The Sinister Clown on Television” by Kevin J. Wetmore, Jr.
(The Many Lives of Scary Clowns: Essays on Pennywise, Twisty, the Joker, Krusty and More) (McFarland and Company)
“African American Horror Authors and Their Craft: The Evolution of Horror Fiction from African Folklore” by L. Marie Wood
(Conjuring Worlds: An Afrofuturist Textbook for Middle and High School Students) (Conjure World)
“The H Word: The Horror of Hair” by L. Marie Wood
(Nightmare Magazine, No. 118) (Adamant Press)
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