We’re continuing our special series of blogs presenting the 2008 Stoker Award Nominations.
Remember, if you are interested in any of the books below, click the mouse on the book cover to order it from an online bookseller.
The Stoker Awards (actually The Bram Stoker Awards — but they’re rarely called that) are presented each year by the Horror Writers Association (HWA). The Stoker Awards were instituted in 1987 and in 1988 the first awards were handed out for works published in 1987. They’ve continued uninterrupted ever since. Any member of the HWA can suggest a work for consideration but only active members (i.e., members who have met the publishing requirements) can vote to select the short list of nominations and cast the final vote.
Today we’ll look at the next two category of awards: Anthology and Collection.
Superior Achievement in an Anthology
 Like A Chinese Tattoo  |
Like A Chinese Tattoo: Twelve Inscrutably Twisted TalesEditor: Breedlove, Bill |
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Nominated for the 2008 Bram Stoker Award for Superior Achievement in an Anthology Unusual, weird and wonderful, herein are twelve stories from the minds of four supremely talented — and twisted — authors. From the curse of the living dead to vengeance from beyond the grave, from the darkest corner of Africa to the bowels of the local cemetery, these tales are as unique and as mysterious as . . . well, a Chinese Tattoo! Table of Contents:
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 Horror Library  |
Horror Library, Volume 3Editor: Lamberson, Gregory |
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Nominated for the 2008 Bram Stoker Award for Superior Achievement in an Anthology Horror Library, Volume 3 features the latest work form the hottest and most talented horror writers of our day. These are cutting edge selections running the spectrum of the genre, from the spooky spine tingler to the blood curdling screamer, this book covers it all — hence the name, Horror Library. Table of Contents:
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 Beneath the Surface  |
Beneath the Surface: 13+ Shocking Tales of TerrorEditor: Deal, Timothy |
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Nominated for the 2008 Bram Stoker Award for Superior Achievement in an Anthology By Timothy Deal, Scott Christian Carr, Derek M. Fox, Scott William Carter, Malon Edwards, Ian Whates, J.T. Glover, Philip Roberts, Richard Wright, Justin McMahon, Efraim Z. Graves, Marie Brennan, Angeline Hawkes, Jake Burrows. Shroud Publishing has compiled 13+ of the eeriest and most terrifying works of short fiction into a classically-themed trade paperback titled Beneath The Surface. Beneath The Surface represents the first in a series of limited edition anthologies intended for discerning horror readers. In this collection of stories, readers will be tantalized and thrilled by tales of supernatural beings, Gothic settings, shadowy creatures, and atmospheric haunts. Table of Contents:
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 Unspeakable Horror  |
Unspeakable Horror: From the Shadows of the ClosetEditors: Liaguno, Vince A. and Helder, Chad |
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Nominated for the 2008 Bram Stoker Award for Superior Achievement in an Anthology Something unspeakable is coming out of the closet . . . From the ghosts of dead lovers and malevolent queer faeries to devious doppelgangers and twisted psychopaths, an eclectic lineup of award-winning writers from the horror and GLBT literary communities come together in this groundbreaking collection of queer horror stories. These tales will surprise with their universally resonant themes while exploring the deeper aspects of the closet experience — coming out, staying in, and being haunted by. Join Lee Thomas, Sarah Langan, Jameson Currier, Rick R. Reed, Scott Nicholson, Kealan Patrick Burke and others as they throw open their literary closet doors with 23 chilling tales. Be prepared as these master dark scribes reveal what lurks in those shadowy corners at the back of our closets. And the horrors found there promise to be unspeakable. Table of Contents:
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Superior Achievement in a Collection
 Number 121 to Pennsylvania  |
Number 121 to Pennsylvania and OthersAuthor: Burke, Kealan Patrick |
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Nominated for the 2008 Bram Stoker Award for Superior Achievement in a Collection The lonesome sound of a long forgotten train draws an old man to memories of a horrific past . . . A journalist makes the mistake of visiting a website where real-life executions are the order of the day . . . At the foot of an old tree, an insidious evil awaits two boys digging for treasure . . . A browbeaten salesman finds hope and a possible escape from the banality of his world when he returns home to find a fairytale beanstalk sprouting from his garden . . . A man resists the social pressure to quit smoking and puts himself at an unimaginable risk . . . A high school student accepts a dare to ask out the ugliest girl in school and enters a world of pain and violence . . . A bunch of barflies doomed to murder sinners get together for one last drink in a dying town . . . These are some of the passengers, headed for a ride through the dark uncharted regions of the heart and mind, on a train unbound by any law but its own. All Aboard The Number 121 to Pennsylvania. There will be no stops. Table of Contents:
Saturday Night At Eddie’s was developed into a full novel titled Currency of Souls. It also contains the short story and screenplay versions of Mr. Goodnight. The book includes author’s notes about the stories within. |
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 Mama’s Boy and Other Dark Tales  |
Mama’s Boy and Other Dark TalesAuthor: Friel, Fran |
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Nominated for the 2008 Bram Stoker Award for Superior Achievement in a Collection This book also contains the author preferred version of Mama’s Boy, nominated for the 2006 Bram Stoker Award for Superior Achievement in Long Fiction. The Bram Stoker Award-nominated novella “Mama’s Boy” is the cornerstone of this 14-story collection from author Fran Friel and Apex Publications. A man whose mother’s demented love for him has turned him from an innocent boy to a serial killer to a near-comatose mental patient opens his world to a psychologist determined to reach him as a way of dealing with her own mother’s battle with Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder. But is she helping, or is there more damage to be done? In “Mashed,” a son’s simple request for potatoes with his birthday dinner opens up a world of past fears and childhood torments for his mother, while the flash fiction story “Close Shave” presents a horrifically funny solution to an everyday women’s issue. From mother and son to broader family ties, Friel explores the bonds of human connection into every dark turn. The humorous yet wickedly creepy “Under the Dryer” begins as a tale told by the family dog and ends in a bloodbath; “Special Prayers,” perhaps the most disturbing offering in the collection, exposes a family secret of abuse and power; and the tragically soft and beautiful “Orange and Golden” explores the purest form of the human-animal bond as the sun sets on a natural disaster. Table of Contents:
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 Just After Sunset  |
Just After Sunset: StoriesAuthor: King, Stephen |
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Nominated for the 2008 Bram Stoker Award for Superior Achievement in a Collection Who but Stephen King would turn a Port-O-San into a slimy birth canal, or a roadside honky-tonk into a place for endless love? A book salesman with a grievance might pick up a mute hitchhiker, not knowing the silent man in the passenger seat listens altogether too well. Or an exercise routine on a stationary bicycle, begun to reduce bad cholesterol, might take its rider on a captivating — and then terrifying-journey. Set on a remote key in Florida, “The Gingerbread Girl” is a riveting tale featuring a young woman as vulnerable — and resourceful — as Audrey Hepburn’s character in Wait Until Dark. In “Ayana”, a blind girl works a miracle with a kiss and the touch of her hand. For King, the line between the living and the dead is often blurry, and the seams that hold our reality intact might tear apart at any moment. In “N”, which recently broke new ground when it was adapted as a graphic digital entertainment, a psychiatric patient’s irrational thinking might create an apocalyptic threat in the Maine countryside — or keep the world from falling victim to it. Just After Sunset — call it dusk, call it twilight, it’s a time when human intercourse takes on an unnatural cast, when nothing is quite as it appears, when the imagination begins to reach for shadows as they dissipate to darkness and living daylight can be scared right out of you. It’s the perfect time for Stephen King. Table of Contents:
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 Mr. Gaunt and Other Uneasy Encounters  |
Mr. Gaunt and Other Uneasy EncountersAuthor: Langan, John |
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Nominated for the 2008 Bram Stoker Award for Superior Achievement in a Collection From award-nominated writer John Langan comes a collection of uneasy meetings. A frustrated professor and his graduate student assistant accompany a group of soldiers to a remote Scottish island to learn what is buried there. A man plays an audiotape left for him by his late father and is initiated into a family story of monstrous deeds. A student learns frightening lessons in a surreal tutoring center. A young couple struggles to make their stand against a group of inhuman pursuers in a ravaged landscape. And, in a new story, an artist discovers a mysterious statue whose completion becomes his obsession. |
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 Gleefully Macabre Tales |
Gleefully Macabre TalesAuthor: Strand, Jeff |
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Nominated for the 2008 Bram Stoker Award for Superior Achievement in a Collection Cemetery Dance magazine says that “No author working today comes close to Jeff Strand’s perfect mixture of comedy and terror.” Gleefully Macabre Tales compiles 32 of his most twisted blends of cringe-worthy horror and ghoulish humor, with a couple of serious pieces thrown in just to mess with you. This collection includes tales from his three chapbooks (Two Twisted Nuts, Socially Awkward Moments With An Aspiring Lunatic, and Funny Stories of Scary Sex) and numerous other stories both popular and obscure, including “Really, Really Ferocious” (the one with the wiener dog), “High Stakes” (the one with the slot machine), “Roasting Weenies by Hellfire” (the one with Satan), “The Bad Candy House” (the one with a very unpleasant old man at Halloween) and “The Socket” (the one with the eyeball socket). It also includes two of his entries in the World Horror Convention gross-out contest. But you don’t want to read them. So if you’re looking to laugh, gasp, gag, or do all three at the same time, making sort of a weird sound that hurts your lungs and elicits odd glances from nearby pedestrians, don’t miss Gleefully Macabre Tales! Partial Table of Contents:
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The 2008 Stoker Nominations Series:
Part 1 — Superior Achievement in a Novel and First Novel
Part 2 — Superior Achievement in Long Fiction and Short Fiction
Part 3 — Superior Achievement in an Anthology and a Collection
Part 4 — Superior Achievement in Nonfiction and Poetry
Part 5 — Bram Stoker Award for Lifetime Achievement and other awards
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