2010 Bram Stoker Award Winners
The Bram Stoker Awards were held this weekend! Did you watch the livestream? I am so bummed, I totally forgot!
Here’s a rundown of this years winners!
2010 Winners {presented June 18, 2011}
Superior Achievement in a NOVEL:
A DARK MATTER by Peter Straub
 Buy on Amazon | A Dark MatterBy: Peter Straub Published by: Anchor ISBN: 1400096723 Pages: 608 |
Synopsis (from Amazon):
On a Midwestern campus in the 1960s, a charismatic guru and his young acolytes perform a secret ritual in a local meadow. What happens is a mystery—all that remains is a gruesomely dismembered body and the shattered souls of all who were present. Forty years later, one man seeks to learn about that horrifying night, and to do so he’ll have to force those involved to examine the unspeakable events that have haunted them ever since. Unfolding through their individual stories, A Dark Matter is an electric, chilling, and unpredictable novel that proves Peter Straub to be the master of modern horror.
Superior Achievement in a First Novel (tie)
BLACK AND ORANGE by Benjamin Kane Ethridge
 Buy on Amazon | Black & OrangeBy: Benjamin Kane Ethridge Published by: Crossroad Press & Bad Moon Books |
Synopsis (from Amazon):
Forget everything you know about Halloween. The stories are distortions. They were created to keep the Church of Midnight hidden from the world. Every October 31st a gateway opens to a hostile land of sacrificial magic and chaos. Since the beginning of civilization the Church of Midnight has attempted to open the gateway and unite with its other half, the Church of Morning. Each year they’ve come closer, waiting for the ideal sacrifice to open the gateway permanently. This year that sacrifice has come. And only two can protect it. Martin and Teresa are the nomads, battle-hardened people who lack identity and are forever road-bound on an endless mission to guard the sacrifice. Their only direction is from notes left from a mysterious person called the Messenger. Endowed with a strange telekinetic power, the nomads will use everything at their disposal to make it through the night alive. But matters have become even more complicated this year. Teresa has quickly lost ground battling cancer, while Martin has spiraled into a panic over being left alone. His mind may no longer be on the fight when it matters most… because ever on their heels is the insidious physical representation of a united church: Chaplain Cloth. "BLACK AND ORANGE begins like a train and just keeps rolling. Benjamin Kane Ethridge has crafted a dark, yet colorful fantasy, with vivid characters and some of the punchiest dialogue I have read in a long time. Trust me; this book belongs on your must-read list." Rio Youers, author of MAMA FISH and OLD MAN SCRATCH.
and
CASTLE OF LOS ANGELES by Lisa Morton
 Buy on Amazon | The Castle of Los AngelesBy: Lisa Morton Published by: Gray Friar Press ISBN: 1906331154 Pages: 190 |
Synopsis (from Amazon):
Theatre director Beth Ortiz is the newest resident of The Castle, an exclusive Los Angeles artists’ community. Anxious actors aren’t all Beth has to worry about in her new space, however, for The Castle has a secret history of madness and murder, and a celebrity artist who develops a strange fixation on Beth . . . And The Castle also happens to be haunted . . . By some particularly uneasy spirits . . . . . . "As unique as a fingerprint" – Dennis Etchison
Superior Achievement in Long Fiction
INVISIBLE FENCES by Norman Prentiss
 Buy on Amazon | Invisible FencesBy: Norman Prentiss Published by: ISBN: 1587671840 Pages: 165 |
Synopsis (from authors website):
Do you see the point of the story, Nathan? We all cut parts of ourselves away, but we never lose them. Things stay with us—souvenirs with memories attached. We can’t always choose what to keep, what to throw away.
Nathan’s parents devised cautionary tales for him and his sister—gruesome stories about predatory cars racing along the “Big Street” at one end of their neighborhood, or dope fiends lurking in the woods behind their house and ready to plunge hypodermics into the skin of foolish young trespassers. These stories served their purpose during Nathan’s gullible childhood, essentially constructing an invisible fence around the yard and keeping the boy close to home where he’d be safe.
Such barriers are not so easy to discard in later life. As an adult, Nathan no longer believes his parents’ stories, and yet they still confine him. He lives cautiously, avoiding serious relationships, avoiding risk. But despite his efforts, something from his parents’ cautionary tales threatens to creep beneath that invisible border…and the enclosed yard might not be as safe and secure as it always seemed…
Superior Achievement in Short Fiction
THE FOLDING MAN by Joe R. Lansdale
Superior Achievement in an Anthology
HAUNTED LEGENDS edited by Ellen Datlow and Nick Mamatas
 Buy on Amazon | Haunted LegendsBy: assorted Published by: Tor Books ISBN: 0765323001 Pages: 352 |
Synopsis (from Amazon):
Darkly thrilling, these twenty new ghost stories have all the chills and power of traditional ghost stories, but each tale is a unique retelling of an urban legend from the world over.Multiple award-winning editor Ellen Datlow and award-nominated author and editor Nick Mamatas recruited Jeffrey Ford, Ramsey Campbell, Joe R. Lansdale, Caitlin Kiernan, Catherynne M. Valente, Kit Reed, Ekaterina Sedia, and thirteen other fine writers to create stories unlike any they’ve written before. Tales to make readers shiver with fear, jump at noises in the night, keep the lights on. These twenty nightmares, brought together by two renowned editors of the dark fantastic, are delightful visions sure to send shivers down the spines of horror readers.
Superior Achievement in a Collection
 Buy on Amazon | Full Dark, No StarsBy: Stephen King Published by: Pocket ISBN: 1451650604 Pages: 400 |
Synopsis (from Amazon):
FULL DARK, NO STARS Four new, unforgettable short works from the #1 internationally bestselling author . . . “Four raw looks at the limits of greed, revenge, and self-deception” (Booklist, starred review) from the greatest storyteller of our time.
Superior Achievement in Nonfiction
TO EACH THEIR DARKNESS by Gary A. Braunbeck
 Buy on Amazon | To Each Their DarknessBy: Gary A. Braunbeck Published by: Apex Publications ISBN: 0984553517 Pages: 346 |
Synopsis (from Amazon):
Explore the world of writing horror from a Bram Stoker and International Horror Guild award-winning author’s point of view. Gary Braunbeck uses film, fiction and life experience to elucidate the finer points of storytelling, both in and out of genre. This part-autobiographical, always analytical book looks at how stories develop and what makes them work-or not work-when they’re told. Be warned: reality is as brutal as fiction. Rob Zombie, police shootings, William Goldman and human misery are all teachers to the horror neophyte, and Braunbeck uses their lessons to make To Each Their Darkness a whirlwind of horror and hope for the aspiring writer. "When Gary Braunbeck writes about writing he richly knows whereof he speaks, and you who are new to the game would do well to listen. When he writes about the darkness in his own life he’s harrowing. He does both in this book, intertwining them eloquently. And his clarion call – "go for broke – just don’t go for the easy out" – should be heard, understood and absorbed by writers everywhere." -Jack Ketchum , author of The Girl Next Door and Off Season "Gary A. Braunbeck is, quite simply, one of the best storytellers working in this genre – or any other. His brooding, poetic prose reaches a deeper level, and impacts both the characters and the reader. Well worth the emotional investment. Braunbeck knows what scares us – and what hurts us too. And it hurts so good…" – Bram Stoker Award-winner Brian Keene, author of The Rising, City of the Dead, and The Conqueror Worms
Superior Achievement in a Poetry Collection
DARK MATTERS by Bruce Boston
 Buy on Amazon | Dark MattersBy: Bruce Boston Published by: Bad Moon Books ISBN: 0984460152 Genre: Author’s Website: Author’s Twitter: Recommendable for people who: |
Synopsis (from Amazon):
A collection of dark poetry by one of the industry’s finest craftsman. Beautifully illustrated by Daniele Serra. Whether he’s writing about an errant siren, a grimoire, a vulture, or the apocalyptic implosion of our way of life, Boston does it with stunning and unexpected complexity. There is a sense of completeness to his poems, a sense that he has turned the thing around and looked at it from every angle. He offers insights that are startling in their clarity, and-after he’s shown them to us-completely logical. This is a laudable achievement in and of itself, but the fact that he can balance his eye for detail and his intuition about character with a poet’s ear for the lyrical joy of language is awe-inspiring. – Joe McKinney, author of Dead City and Quarantined
HWA 2010 SPECIALTY PRESS AWARD
DARK REGIONS PRESS
2010 SILVER HAMMER AWARD
ANGEL LEIGH McCOY
2010 RICHARD LAYMON AWARD
MICHAEL COLANGELO
Looks like I have some books to add to my WISHLIST!!!
Dear Wish Fairy:
I would like one copy of EACH please! THANK YOU!
ALL MY LOVE,
~B