The British Fantasy Society has announced the shortlist for the 2012 British Fantasy Awards. Determined by the 952 recommendations from BFS members and FantasyCon attendees and overseen by the BFS Award Jury, the shortlist is:

Novel

• The Heroes, Joe Abercrombie (Gollancz)
• 11.22.63, Stephen King (Hodder & Stoughton)
• Cyber Circus, Kim Lakin-Smith (NewCon Press)
• A Dance with Dragons, George RR Martin (Harper Voyager)
• The Ritual, Adam Nevill (Pan)
• Among Others, Jo Walton (Tor Books)

There will be two awards in the best Novel category: The August Derleth Award for best horror novel and The Robert Holdstock Award for best fantasy novel.

Novella

• Terra Damnata, James Cooper (PS Publishing)
• Ghosts with Teeth, Peter Crowther (A Book of Horrors, Jo Fletcher Books)
• King Death, Paul Finch (Spectral Press)
• Near Zennor, Elizabeth Hand (A Book of Horrors, Jo Fletcher Books)
• The Music of Bengt Karlsson, Murderer, John Ajvide Lindqvist (A Book of Horrors, Jo Fletcher Books)
• Gorel and the Pot Bellied God, Lavie Tidhar (PS Publishing)

Short Fiction

• “Dermot,” Simon Bestwick (Black Static)
• “Sad, Dark Thing,” Michael Marshall Smith (A Book of Horrors)
• “Florrie,” Adam Nevill (House of Fear)
• “Alice Through the Plastic Sheet,” Robert Shearman (A Book of Horrors)
• “The Coffin-Maker’s Daughter,” Angela Slatter (A Book of Horrors)

Anthology

• A Book of Horrors, editor Stephen Jones (Jo Fletcher Books)
• House of Fear, editor Jonathan Oliver (Solaris Books)
• The Weird, editors Jeff and Ann Vandermeer (Corvus Books)
• Gutshot, editor Conrad Williams (PS Publishing)

Collection

• Rumours of the Marvellous, Peter Atkins (Alchemy Press)
• Mrs Midnight, Reggie Oliver (Tartarus Press)
• Everyone’s Just So So Special, Robert Shearman (Big Finish)
• A Glass of Shadow, Liz Williams (NewCon Press)

Screenplay

• Midnight in Paris by Woody Allen
• Attack the Block by Joe Cornish
• The Awakening by Stephen Volk and Nick Murphy
• Melancholia by Lars Von Trier
• Kill List by Ben Wheatley and Amy Jump

Magazine/Periodical

• Black Static, ed. Andy Cox TTA Press
• Interzone, ed. Andy Cox TTA Press
• SFX, ed. Dave Bradley Future Publishing
• The Horror Zine, ed. Jeani Rector

Comic/Graphic Novel

Animal Man, Jeff Lemire and Travel Foreman (DC Comics)
Batwoman, JH Williams III and W Haden Blackman (DC Comics)
Locke and Key, Joe Hill and Gabriel Rodriguez (IDW Publishing)
The Unwritten, Mike Carey and Peter Gross (Vertigo)
The Walking Dead, Robert Kirkman and Charlie Adlard (Image)

The Locus Awards are being held June 15th – 16th, 2012 in Seattle, Washington.

Tickets are $40 and include all Locus events – including readings, a kickoff meet-and-greet, panels with leading authors, an autograph session, the lunch banquet, and the annual Hawai’ian shirt contest judged by the fabulous Connie Willis, who will MC the ceremony and present the Locus Awards – all followed by the Clarion West Party on Saturday night honoring Clarion West supporters, awards weekend ticket holders, and special guests. The events are held across the street from the Seattle Center, home to the SF Museum and the Experience Music Project, with excellent access to the light rail and trolley systems.

In addition, non-profit literary organization NW Media Arts is sponsoring special Awards Weekend writers workshops with James Patrick Kelly and Connie Willis at the nearby Richard Hugo House. Additional fees apply.

Special room rates, $131 per night, will be available from Wednesday, June 13 through Sunday June 17 at the Best Western Executive Inn at 200 Taylor Avenue North, Seattle WA 98109, directly across the street from the Seattle Center and Experience Music Project/SF Museum. For hotel reservations, call Joseph Ambler at (206) 674-6616 and mention the “Science Fiction Awards Group”, or you may call the general number at 1(800) 351-9444. Please make reservations by May 4, 2012 in order to secure the special room rate. If you need to book additional days, please e-mail Locus or call us at (510) 339-9196 and we will arrange it for you.

Tentative Schedule:

Friday, June 15

Evening: Author readings by Connie Willis and James Patrick Kelly in the Whidbey-Shaw Room at the Best Western Executive Inn, presented by NW Media Arts and University Book Store. Followed by an evening meet-and-greet in the lounge.

Saturday, June 16

• 10:00 a.m. to 10:45 a.m.: Panel with leading authors, topic TBA.
• 10:55 a.m. to 11:40 a.m.: Panel with leading authors, topic TBA.
• 12:00 p.m. to 12:30 p.m.: Autographing session with books available for purchase thanks to University Book Store.
• 12:45 p.m. to 3:30 p.m.: Locus Awards Lunch Banquet and Ceremony at the Best Western Executive Inn with M.C. Connie Willis, who will present the awards and judge the annual Hawai’ian Shirt Contest.

Evening: Clarion West Party in the Whidbey-Shaw Room at the Best Western Executive Inn.

Schedule is subject to change without notice. Don’t forget to wear your most outlandish Hawai’ian shirt to the Locus Awards!

You can register online here: The Locus Awards

The Horror Writers Association announced the winners of the 2011 Bram Stoker Awards™ at its annual awards banquet last weekend. This year’s presentation was held in Salt Lake City, Utah, at the World Horror Convention, and marks the 25th Anniversary of the awards.

Twelve new bronze haunted-house statuettes were handed over to the writers responsible for creating superior works of horror last year. This year’s winners are:

Superior Achievement in a Novel
Flesh Eaters by Joe McKinney (Pinnacle Books)

Superior Achievement in a First Novel
Isis Unbound by Allyson Bird (Dark Regions Press)

Superior Achievement in a Young Adult Novel (tie)
The Screaming Season by Nancy Holder (Razorbill)
Dust and Decay by Jonathan Maberry (Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers)

Superior Achievement in a Graphic Novel
Neonomicon by Alan Moore (Avatar Press)

Superior Achievement in Long Fiction
“The Ballad of Ballard and Sandrine” by Peter Straub (Conjunctions: 56)

Superior Achievement in Short Fiction
“Herman Wouk Is Still Alive” by Stephen King (The Atlantic Magazine, May 2011)

Superior Achievement in a Screenplay
American Horror Story, episode #12: “Afterbirth” by Jessica Sharzer (20th Century Fox Television)

Superior Achievement in a Fiction Collection
The Corn Maiden and Other Nightmares by Joyce Carol Oates (Mysterious Press)

Superior Achievement in an Anthology
Demons: Encounters with the Devil and his Minions, Fallen Angels and the Possessed edited by John Skipp (Black Dog and Leventhal)

Superior Achievement in Non-Fiction
Stephen King: A Literary Companion by Rocky Wood (McFarland & Company, Inc., Publishers)

Superior Achievement in a Poetry Collection
How to Recognize a Demon Has Become Your Friend by Linda Addison (Necon Ebooks)

The HWA, in conjunction with the Bram Stoker Family Estate and the Rosenbach Museum & Library, also presented the special one-time only Vampire Novel of the Century Award to:
Richard Matheson for his modern classic I Am Legend

In addition, HWA presented its annual Lifetime Achievement Awards and its Specialty Press Awards.

The Specialty Press Awards went to Derrick Hussey of Hippocampus Press and Roy Robbins of Bad Moon Books.

The Silver Hammer Award, for outstanding service to HWA, was voted by the organization’s board of trustees to Guy Anthony DeMarco.

The President’s Richard Laymon Service Award was given to HWA co-founder Karen Lansdale.

Works can be recommended by any member of the HWA. Juries in each category also compile their top picks, and members with Active status then vote works from both the member recommendations and the jury selections onto a preliminary ballot. From there the field is narrowed to the final ballot and Active members choose the winners from that. The award is named for Bram Stoker, best known as the author of Dracula. The trophy, which resembles a miniature haunted house, was designed by author Harlan Ellison and sculptor Steven Kirk.

Samhain Publishing served as the Platinum Sponsor for the event.

The International Thriller Writers has announced the finalists for the 2012 Thriller Awards.

Best Hard Cover Novel

• Joseph Finder – Buried Secrets (St. Martin’s Press)
• Jonathan Hayes – A Hard Death (Harper)
• Stephen King – 11/22/63 (Scribner)
• Michael Koryta – The Ridge (Little, Brown and Co.)
• Marcus Sakey – The Two Deaths Of Daniel Hayes (Dutton Adult)

Best Paperback Original

• Jeff Abbott – The Last Minute (Sphere/LittleBrown UK)
• John Gilstrap – Threat Warning (Pinnacle)
• Helen Grant – The Glass Demon (Delacorte Press)
• Steven James – The Queen (Revell)
• John Rector – Already Gone (Thomas & Mercer)

Best First Novel

• James Barney – The Genesis Key (Harper)
• Melinda Leigh – She Can Run (Montlake Romance)
• Paul McEuen – Spiral (The Dial Press)
• .T. Narea – The Fund (Forge Books)
• Leslie Tentler – Midnight Caller (Mira)

Best Short Story

• James Scott Bell – “One More Lie” (Compendium Press)
• Michael Lewin – “Anything to Win” (Strand Magazine)
• Twist Phelan – “Happine$$” (Mystery Writers Of America Presents The Rich And The Dead, Grand Central Publishing)
• Tim L. Williams – “Half-Lives” (Dell Magazine)
• Dave Zeltserman – “A Hostage Situation” (Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine)

Congratulations to all the finalists.

2012 Thriller Awards Winners to be announced at ThrillerFest VI July 14, 2012, Grand Hyatt, NYC.

Special thanks to:

Allen Wyler, VP Awards
Julie Korzenko, Awards Committee Chair
Liz Wolfe, Awards Coordinator
And the 2012 Thriller Awards Judges

The Horror Writers Association (HWA) has announced that it will webcast the Bram Stoker Awards™ presentation live today. The Banquet is being held in Salt Lake City and the event will begin live on the Internet at 9 p.m. (Mountain Daylight Savings Time). The ceremony will take about 1 ½ hours to complete.

The webcast will be presented at: Stoker Webcast

This year the Bram Stoker Awards celebrate 25 years as the leading writing Awards in the horror and dark fantasy genre. The Bram Stoker Awards Banquet is sponsored by Samhain Publishing.

Among the nominees are those for the Vampire Novel of the Century (a special Award to mark the centenary of the death of Bram Stoker, the author of Dracula) – they include Richard Matheson for I Am Legend, Stephen King for ‘Salem’s Lot and Anne Rice for Interview with the Vampire. This Award is sponsored by Jeremy Wagner.

Lifetime Achievement Awards will also be conferred on iconic horror writers Joe R Lansdale and Rick Hautala, both of whom will be in attendance to accept the Award. And this year’s presenters include Robert McCammon (Swan Song), one of the HWA’s Special Guests.

Bram Stoker Awards for Poetry, Non-Fiction, Fiction Collection, Anthology, Screenplay, Short Fiction, Long Fiction, Young Adult Novel, Graphic Novel, First Novel and Novel will be presented. Among the nominees in these categories are Stephen King, Joyce Carol Oates, Mike Mignola, Jonathan Maberry and Joe Hill. Episodes of The Walking Dead, American Horror Story and True Blood are nominated in the Screenplay category.

The HWA is the leading writer’s organization for horror and dark fantasy and has nearly 800 members worldwide.

The British Fantasy Society is delighted to announce that the 2012 British Fantasy Awards will be decided by a jury of five volunteers, a first in BFS history. The jury consists of:

James Barclay: James is the author of the two Raven trilogies: Chronicles of The Raven and Legends of The Raven, and the epic fantasy duology, The Ascendants of Estorea. He has written two novellas, Light Stealer and Vault of Deeds, and his latest book Elves: Once Walked With Gods is out now.

Hal Duncan: Hal’s debut Vellum was published in 2005, garnering nominations for the Crawford, Locus, BFS and World Fantasy Award, and winning the Gaylactic Spectrum, Kurd Lasswitz and Tähtivaeltaja. He’s since published the sequel Ink, the novella Escape from Hell!, various short stories, and a poetry collection.

Maura McHugh: Maura is a writer, freelance web designer and IT consultant. She’s currently writing two comic book series (Rk,isín Dubh and Jennifer Wilde) for Atomic Diner in Ireland, and she also works for the Irish Playwrights and Screenwriters Guild as their webmaster, blogger and newsletter editor.

Esther Sherman: Esther is a medical underwriter, burlesque performer, voracious reader, computer games addict and geek culture fan. She is co-editor of Nasty Snips 2, a horror anthology from Pendragon Press due in Autumn 2012.

Damien G. Walter: Damien is a writer of weird and speculative fiction. In 2005 he was shortlisted for the Douglas Coupland short fiction contest, and more recently won a grant from Arts Council England to work on his first novel. He writes and reviews for The Guardian and IO9 among others.

The jury will deliberate on a shortlist of four nominations as determined by the members of the BFS. The jury shall also have powers to add nominations where it identifies an egregious omission.

The British Fantasy Awards 2012 will be presented during FantasyCon, to be held in Brighton in September.

Horror Writers Association President Rocky Wood has announced that the Association’s stand-alone Bram Stoker Awards™ Weekend for 2013 will be held in New Orleans, Louisiana from June 13-16. The Bram Stoker Awards Banquet, the centerpiece of the convention, is part of a stand-alone HWA event in odd numbered years. The 2013 event will follow the very successful weekends held in Burbank in 2009 and Long Island in 2011, and part of HWA’s policy of rotating the location around the regions of North America.

“The HWA Board is particularly pleased to choose New Orleans, which has always been a literary city, for our premiere event. The literary community has worked hard to contribute to NOLA’s recovery since Hurricane Katrina and the horror literary community is proud to add to that effort,” Wood said. “The 26th Annual Bram Stoker Awards will be announced at the iconic Bram Stoker Awards Banquet on Saturday evening, June 15th.”

Local resident, author and HWA Active Member Greg Herren has been appointed Chair of the Organizing Committee and will have the full support of the HWA Board and Membership in delivering an outstanding horror convention. The HWA thanks Greg for volunteering for this role.

For more information on the 2013 event as it develops, please go to Stoker Awards™ Weekend 2013.