Archive for Award News
Thirteen of Australia’s Darkest Authors Honored
Posted by: | CommentsThe Australian Horror Writers Association (AHWA) has selected thirteen of the best and scariest works of horror fiction from 2009 as the finalists in the annual Australian Shadows Award, the highest honor for horror, dark fantasy, and paranormal fiction in Australia and New Zealand.
This is a landmark year for the award as it has expanded from a single category to three categories: Long Fiction (novels, novellas, and short story collections), Edited Publication (anthologies and magazines), and Short Fiction.
The Australian Shadows finalists are (in alphabetical order):
Long Fiction
- A Book of Endings by Deborah Biancotti (Twelfth Planet Press)
- Red Queen by H. M. Brown (Penguin Australia)
- “Wives” by Paul Haines (X6, Coeur de Lion Publishing)
- The Dead Path by Stephen M. Irwin (Hachette Australia)
- Slights by Kaaron Warren (Angry Robot)
Edited Publication
- Grants Pass, edited by Jennifer Brozek & Amanda Pillar (Morrigan Books)
- Festive Fear, edited by Stephen Clark (Tasmaniac Publications)
- Aurealis #42, edited by Stuart Mayne (Chimaera Publications)
Short Fiction
- “Six Suicides” by Deborah Biancotti (A Book of Endings)
- “The Emancipated Dance” by Felicity Dowker (Midnight Echo #2)
- “Busking” by Jason Fischer (Midnight Echo #3)
- “The Message” by Andrew J. McKiernan (Midnight Echo #2)
- “The Gaze Dogs of Nine Waterfalls” by Kaaron Warren (Exotic Gothic 3)
The winners will be determined by guest judges Bill Congreve (editor of the Year’s Best Australian SF & Fantasy series), James Doig (editor of Australian Gothic), and Martin Livings (author of Carnies) will be announced on April 5. The judges for this year’s awards were Craig Bezant, Stephanie Gunn, and Chuck McKenzie.
The Australian Horror Writers Association (AHWA) is the peak professional body for Australian authors of dark fiction (horror, dark fantasy, and paranormal fiction) and has more than 250 members. The AHWA was founded in 2003, and since its incorporation in 2005, the Association has implemented an annual short story competition, a mentorship programme, online writers forums, news and article archives, the fiction magazine Midnight Echo, and The Australian Shadows Award.
Horror Realm Receives Rondo Nomination
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Horror Realm, Pittsburgh’s modern horror convention, has been honored with a nomination for Best Convention of 2009 by the Rondo Hatton Classic Horror Awards. The Rondos are fan based, with nominations and votes coming from horror fans, pros and enthusiasts. The Classic Horror Film Board has been honoring excellence in the horror genre through the Rondos since 2002. Voting continues through April 3; ballots are available at: Rondo Award
Horror Realm offers an eclectic guest lineup for horror fans, including the addition of:
- Three’s Company cast members Priscilla Barnes and Joyce DeWitt. Barnes is best known to horror fans for her role in the 2005 Rob Zombie film, The Devil’s Rejects.
- Gary Streiner, one of the ten original investors in the seminal horror film Night of the Living Dead. Streiner was also sound engineer for the film and founder of the Living Dead Festival.
- Mike Gornick, who was director of photography for the George Romero films Dawn of the Dead, Day of the Dead, Knightriders and Creepshow. He also directed the film Creepshow II.
- Terri Susan Smith was the lead female actress in the cult film Basket Case. Today, Terri is better known as gypsy artist Ahu Smith, who creates sacred healing Bowls of Empowerment.
- Mark Tierno will make his first ever convention appearance at Horror Realm. Tierno is a voice-over artist and comedian best known for his role as the zombie “Beef Treats” in the film Day of the Dead.
- Monique Dupree, a scream queen, alternative model and singer with more than 50 films to her credit.
- Mark Cray, an independent actor best known for roles in The Grindhouse Massacre and The Horror Convention Massacre.
- Dawn of the Dead alums Sharon Ceccatti-Hill, Tony Buba and Joe Shelby.
A complete guest list including photos and bios can be found on the convention web site.
The convention welcomes the Pittsburgh Film Worker Awards as part of its film program. The awards honor work in independent feature length as well as short horror films with a “Creatch” award. The competition will include a short film festival.
The Horror Realm film program will also feature a screening of Night of the Living Dead Reanimated, a video based art show in which artists from around the world were invited to select scenes from the original film and make them their own.
For details on the convention, including exhibitor and sponsor rates, schedule, guests, advance ticket purchase and hotel reservations, please visit: Horror Realm
International Aeon Award 2009 Winners
Posted by: | CommentsAlbedo One, Ireland’s premier magazine of science fiction, fantasy and horror, has announced the winners of the International Aeon Award 2009 short fiction contest. The quality of entries was extremely high, with 27 stories shortlisted for the Award, submitted from countries as diverse as the USA and India.
Grand Judge Ian Watson chose as winner “Frogs on My Doorstep” by Annette Reader. Ian described the story as “very intriguing and full of emotional impact.” The alternate world concept “is handled very convincingly” and is reminiscent of the recent work of Chris Beckett. Annette will receive the €1000 Grand Prize and publication in Albedo One.
In second place, Ian chose “Bridges” by Nick Wood. Ian commented that the story, featuring a future South Africa in which apartheid never ended, is “politically acute and powerful, with its heart in the right place… and is in many ways a ‘textbook story,’ because it’s so well done.” Nick will receive the €200 second place prize and publication in Albedo One.
In third place, Ian chose “Canis Lupus, Rosa Canina” by Judith Brown. Ian remarked that “the story is nasty, but brilliantly written, with masterly descriptions of landscape and powerful imagery.” Judith will receive the €100 third place prize and publication in Albedo One.
The Aeon Award 2010 is now open for entries until the end of November 30th. This year long-serving Grand Judge Ian Watson is joined by Hugo-winning SF author Anne McCaffrey, multiple Hugo Award-winning author Mike Resnick and the respected Irish horror author Sam Millar.
Full entry details can be found at: Aeon Award
2009 Stoker Awards Final Ballot
Posted by: | CommentsThe Horror Writers Association has released the final ballot for the 2009 Stoker Awards. Members will vote to determine the final winners with the awards being presented at the World Horror Convention, March 25-28 2010, in Brighton, England. Here is the final ballot:
Superior Achievement in a Novel
- Audrey’s Door, Sarah Langan (Harper)
- Patient Zero, Jonathan Maberry (St. Martin’s Griffin)
- Quarantined, Joe McKinney (Lachesis)
- Cursed, Jeremy Shipp (Raw Dog Screaming Press)
Superior Achievement in a First Novel
- Breathers, S. G. Browne (Broadway Books)
- Solomon’s Grave, Daniel G. Keohane (Dragon Moon Press)
- Damnable, Hank Schwaeble (Jove)
- The Little Sleep, Paul Tremblay (Henry Holt)
Superior Achievement in Long Fiction
- Dreaming Robot Monster, Mort Castle (Mighty Unclean)
- The Hunger of Empty Vessels, Scott Edelman (Bad Moon)
- The Lucid Dreaming, Lisa Morton (Bad Moon)
- Doc Good’s Traveling Show, Gene O’Neill (Bad Moon)
Superior Achievement in Short Fiction
- “Keeping Watch”, Nate Kenyon (Monstrous: 20 Tales of Giant Creature Terror)
- “The Crossing of Aldo Ray”, Weston Ochse (The Dead That Walk)
- “In the Porches of My Ears”, Norman Prentiss (Postscripts 18)
- “The Night Nurse”, Harry Shannon (Horror Drive-In 7/09)
Superior Achievement in an Anthology
- He Is Legend: An Anthology Celebrating Richard Matheson, Christopher Conlon, ed. (Gauntlet)
- Lovecraft Unbound, Ellen Datlow, ed. (Dark Horse)
- Poe, Ellen Datlow, ed. (Solaris)
- Midnight Walk, Lisa Morton, ed. (Dark House)
Superior Achievement in a Fiction Collection
- Martyrs and Monsters, Robert Dunbar (DarkHart)
- Got to Kill Them All and Other Stories, Dennis Etchison (Cemetery Dance)
- A Taste of Tenderloin, Gene O’Neill (Apex)
- In the Closet, Under the Bed, Lee Thomas (Dark Scribe)
Superior Achievement in Non-fiction
- Writers Workshop of Horror, Michael Knost (Woodland)
- Cinema Knife Fight, L.L. Soares & Michael Arruda (Fearzone)
- The Stephen King Illustrated Companion, Bev Vincent (Fall River)
- Stephen King: The Non-Fiction, Rocky Wood & Justin Brook (Cemetery Dance)
Superior Achievement in a Poetry Collection
- Double Visions, Bruce Boston (Dark Regions)
- North Left of Earth, Bruce Boston (Sam’s Dot)
- Barfodder, Rain Graves (Cemetery Dance)
- Chimeric Machines, Lucy A. Snyder (Creative Guy)
3rd Annual Black Quill Awards
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A master of otherworldly suspense and a literary fiction darling have taken top honors in the 3rd Annual Black Quill Awards, as winners were announced today by Dark Scribe Magazine, the virtual magazine “dedicated to the books that keep readers up at night.”
Chicago-based author Gillian Flynn snagged the coveted Editor’s Choice award for Dark Genre Novel Of The Year for her sophomore effort, Dark Places, while veteran dark scribe Dan Simmons took Readers’ Choice honors in the same category for Drood, his historical reimagining of the last years of Charles Dickens’ life. Simmons was nominated in the same category in 2007 for The Terror.
The Black Quill Awards were handed out in (8) categories honoring works of dark genre literature – horror, suspense, and thrillers – from both mainstream and small press publishers. While six of the awards recognized literary efforts, two of the awards recognized important aspects of book publishing and promotion: cover design and artwork and book trailer production – a growing marketing aspect of dark genre publishing. Peter Mahaichuk and César Puch dominated the Best Cover Art And Design category for their work on Michael Louis Calvillo’s As Fate Would Have It for Bad Moon Books, while Calvillo himself took Readers’ Choice for Best Small Press Chill.
Filmmaker JT Petty won Editors’ Choice for Best dark genre book trailer for his work on the book trailer for real-life wife Sarah Langan’s Audrey’s Door, while up-and-coming trailer producer John Palisano took Readers’ Choice in that same category for Gary Braunbeck’s Far Dark Fields.
First-time nominees fared well in this year’s Black Quills, with Paul G. Bens Jr. taking top honors in the Best Small Press Chill category (Editor’s Choice) and Stoker Award-winner Lisa Morton scoring an Editors’ Choice nod for her editing work on Midnight Walk in the Best Dark Genre Anthology category. Jameson Currier snagged an Editors’ Choice award for Best Dark Genre Fiction Collection for The Haunted Heart And Other Tales, while David Nickle picked up the Readers’ Choice award in that same category for Monstrous Affections.
Editor Michael Knost took Editors’ Choice honors in the Best Dark Genre Book Of Non-Fiction category for the how-to compilation Writers Workshop Of Horror, while frequent Stephen King chronicler Bev Vincent earned Readers’ Choice honors in the same category for his The Illustrated Stephen King Companion. Elsewhere, Sarah Totton and Harry Shannon earned Editors’ Choice and Readers’ Choice nods, respectively, in the Best Dark Scribble category. Totton’s short story “Flatrock Sunners” appeared in the UK print magazine Black Static, while Shannon’s “The Night Nurse” ran on the webzine Horror Drive-In.
Prolific genre editor Ellen Datlow – a double nominee this year – added a Black Quill Award to her lengthy list of honors for her editing work on Poe: 19 New Tales Inspired By Edgar Allan Poe. This was Datlow’s third nomination, following last year’s nomination for Inferno: New Tales Of Terror And The Supernatural and a second nomination this year for her work on the Lovecraft Unbound collection.
Nominations for the Black Quills are editorial-based, with both the editors and active contributing writers submitting nominations in each of the (8) categories. Once nominations are announced, readers of DSM cast their votes for their picks in each category. For this year’s outing, more than 3,300 votes were cast by the magazine’s readers. In a unique spin intended to celebrate both critical and popular success, two winners are traditionally announced in each category – Reader’s Choice and Editor’s Choice. Winners receive recognition in DSM, inclusion in press release materials announcing nominations and winners, a virtual icon to be used on their own website, and a handsome award certificate.
A complete list of all the nominees and winners follows:
Dark Genre Novel Of The Year:
- Audrey’s Door by Sarah Langan (Harper)
- Castaways by Brian Keene (Leisure Books)
- Dark Places by Gillian Flynn (Shaye Areheart Books) Winner – Editors’ Choice
- Drood by Dan Simmons (Little, Brown and Company) Winner – Readers’ Choice
- The Little Stranger by Sarah Waters (Riverhead Hardcover)
- The Unseen by Alexandra Sokoloff (St. Martin’s Press)
Best Small Press Chill (Novel or novella published by small press publisher; awarded to the author):
- As Fate Would Have It by Michael Louis Calvillo (Bad Moon Books) Winner – Readers’ Choice
- Frozen Blood by Joel Sutherland (Lachesis Publishing)
- Kelland by Paul G. Bens Jr. (Casperian Books) Winner – Editors’ Choice
- Last Days by Brian Evenson (Underland Press)
- The Harlequin And The Train by Paul G. Tremblay (Necropolitan Press)
- Valley Of The Dead by Kim Paffenroth (Cargo Cult Press)
Best Dark Genre Fiction Collection:
- Martyrs & Monsters by Robert Dunbar (DarkHart Press)
- Monstrous Affections by David Nickle (ChiZine Publications) Winner – Readers’ Choice
- Pumpkin Teeth by Tom Cardamone (Lethe Press)
- The Haunted Heart And Other Tales by Jameson Currier (Lethe Press) Winner – Editors’ Choice
- Ugly Man by Dennis Cooper (Harper Perennial)
Best Dark Genre Anthology:
- Dark Delicacies Iii: Haunted edited by Del Howison and Jeff Gelb (Running Press)
- He Is Legend: An Anthology Celebrating Richard Matheson edited by Christopher Conlon (Gauntlet Press)
- Lovecraft Unbound edited by Ellen Datlow (Dark Horse Comics)
- Midnight Walk edited by Lisa Morton (Darkhouse Publishing) Winner – Editors’ Choice
- Poe: 19 New Tales Inspired By Edgar Allan Poe edited by Ellen Datlow (Solaris) Winner – Readers’ Choice
- Shivers V edited by Richard Chizmar (Cemetery Dance Publications)
Best Dark Genre Book Of Non-Fiction:
- Morbid Curiosity Cures The Blues edited by Loren Rhodes (Scribner)
- Stephen King: The Non-Fiction by Rocky Wood and Justin Brooks (Cemetery Dance Publications)
- The Stephen King Illustrated Companion by Bev Vincent (Fall River Press) Winner – Readers’ Choice
- Writer’s Workshop Of Horror edited by Michael Knost (Woodland Press) Winner – Editors’ Choice
Best Dark Scribble (Single work, non-anthology short fiction appearing in a print or virtual magazine; awarded to the author):
- “Flatrock Sunners” by Sarah Totton (Black Static #12 / Print) Winner – Editors’ Choice
- “Following Marla” by John R. Little (Horror World, February 2009 / Virtual)
- “Night Nurse” by Harry Shannon (Horror Drive-In, July 2009 / Virtual) Winner – Readers’ Choice
- “The Loyalty of Birds” by Rachel Sobel (Clarkesworld #30 / Virtual)
- “The Man in the Mirror” by Jameson Currier (Icarus #1 / Print)
- “The Mind of a Pig” by Ekaterina Sedia (Apex Magazine, March 2009 / Virtual)
Best Cover Art & Design:
- As Fate Would Have It – Artwork: Peter Mahaichuk; Cover Design: César Puch [by Michael Louis Calvillo from Bad Moon Books] Winner – Editors’ Choice / Winner – Readers’ Choice
- The Estuary – Artwork: Johann Bodin; Cover Design: Jacob Kier [by Derek Gunn from Permuted Press]
- The Haunted Heart And Other Tales – Artwork by: Richard Taddei; Cover Design: John Molloy [by Jameson Currier from Lethe Press]
- The Pilo Family Circus – Cover Design by: Heidi Whitcomb [by Will Elliot from Underland Press]
Best Dark Genre Book Trailer:
- Audrey’s Door – Production by JT Petty (Author: Sarah Langan) Winner – Editors’ Choice
- Far Dark Fields – Production by John Palisano (Author: Gary Braunbeck) Winner – Readers’ Choice
- Isis – Production by Circle of Seven (Author: Douglas Clegg)
- The Lifeless – Production by Coscom Entertainment (Author: Lorne Dixon)
- Sense And Sensibility And Sea Monsters – Production by Seth Dalton and Ransom Riggs (Author: Jane Austen and Ben H. Winters)
Ptacek Awarded Silver Hammer
Posted by: | CommentsThe Board of Trustees of the Horror Writers Association has announced that this year’s Silver Hammer Award is being awarded to Kathryn Ptacek. The Hammer Award is given periodically to an HWA volunteer who has done a truly massive amount of work for HWA, often unsung and behind the scenes. It was instituted in 1996, and is decided by a vote of HWA’s Board of Trustees.
The award is so named because it represents the careful, steady, continuous work of building HWA’s “house” — the many institutional systems that keep the organization functioning on a day-to-day basis. The award itself is a chrome-plated hammer with an engraved plaque on the handle. The chrome hammer is also a satisfying allusion to The Beatles’ song, “Maxwell’s Silver Hammer,” a miniature horror story in itself.
Kathy Ptacek has been HWA’s newsletter editor for the last decade, overseeing a staff of writers and proofreaders to produce the organization’s informative and entertaining monthly newsletter. Kathy has written novels in the fantasy, romance and horror genres, edited the acclaimed Women of Darkness anthologies, and was a 1989 Bram Stoker Award nominee for her short story “Each Night, Each Year.” Kathy also publishes and edits the popular Gila Queen’s Guide to Markets.
Past winners of the Silver Hammer Award include Lawrence Watt-Evans, Sèphera Girón, Robert Weinberg and Douglas Winter.
HWA’s 2009 Specialty Press Award Winner
Posted by: | CommentsTartarus Press, of North Yorkshire, England, will receive the Horror Writers Association’s Specialty Press Award for 2009. The award will be presented during the Bram Stoker Awards Banquet at the World Horror Convention, to be held this year in Brighton, England, March 25-28.
The annual Specialty Press Award recognizes a publisher outside the mainstream New York City publishing community that specializes in dark-themed fiction. Winners are typically “small presses” specializing in limited editions, small print runs, or the work of new and relatively unknown authors. The winner of the award is determined by a majority vote of the HWA Board of Trustees.
Ray Russell and Rosalie Parker’s Tartarus Press specializes in weird, ghostly, and gothic fiction ranging from reprints of obscure but notable novellas and novels to single-author collections of classics and brand new collections by contemporary writers. Tartarus has reprinted collections by Arthur Machen, F. Marion Crawford, Sarban, Robert Aickman, Edith Wharton, and Nathaniel Hawthorne, plus published new collections by Rhys Hughes, Mark Valentine, Peter Cannon, and Simon Strantzas, among others.
Their first original anthology, Tales From Tartarus, was edited by R.B. Russell and Rosalie Parker and published in 1995. Since then, Strange Tales volumes 1-3 have come out, and the first volume won the World Fantasy Award in 2004.
Tartarus has been in existence for twenty years. Initially, the publications were inexpensive yet attractive stapled booklets of stories or articles limited to 25-50 copies. The press quickly graduated to publishing 100-250 copies of its more popular chapbooks, and by 1992 it was producing attractive hardbound books such as the collection Ritual and Other Stories by Arthur Machen. Now, in 2010, most of their print runs are 300-500 copies.
In addition the press published a price guide to first editions, and the journal Wormwood.
Multiple award-winning editor Ellen Datlow said, “I’ve been following the maturation of Tartarus Press for all these twenty years and eagerly await each book they publish. I’m thrilled that they’re finally being honored this way.”
When informed of the award, Tartarus had this to say: “Tartarus has only ever published writing that we, Ray Russell and Rosalie Parker, personally admire. It is a constant delight to us to find that others share our enthusiasms, whether it be readers, reviewers or the Board of Trustees of the Horror Writers Association!”
Past winners of the Specialty Press Award include Delirium Books, Earthling Publications, PS Publishing, and Blood Letting Press. Cemetery Dance won the first Specialty Press Award in 1997.
For more information: Tartarus Press
