Pixel Scroll 3/2/24 Yeets of Eden

(1) HUGO NOMINATIONS CLOSE IN ONE WEEK. Nicholas Whyte, Glasgow 2024 Hugo Administrator and WSFS Division Head reminds members that they have until March 9 to submit nominations for this year’s Hugo Awards. Full information at “Hugo Awards – Nomination Ballot”.

They also are offering Chinese translation for the 2024 Hugo Award nomination process as a courtesy to the Chinese-speaking 2023 Chengdu WSFS members who have nomination rights for the 2024 Hugo Awards.

(2) HWA: MARUYAMA Q&A. The Horror Writers Association continues “Women in Horror Month 2024” in “An Interview with Kate Maruyama”.

Kate Maruyama. Photo by Rachael Warecki.

Do you make a conscious effort to include female characters and themes in your writing and if so, what do you want to portray?

I write all characters, but I am always trying to get inside women characters in a complex way that blows out the walls of archetypes. The old woman who is complex and funny and real (and swears! All the older women I admire swear), the ingenue aged woman who is brilliant, unpredictable, problem solving, and forward moving, the mother whose entire existence is not mothering, but is a whole person who happens to have kids, the little girl who is smart and weird and does not give a crap about boys.

What has writing horror taught you about the world and yourself?

We all have darkness in us, and if we can get inside it and open up our fears and where they come from, it can help people manage their very real lives.

(3) CHUCK TINGLE ON CAMP DAMASCUS CATEGORY. The Horror Writers Association moved Chuck Tingle’s novel Camp Damascus out of the YA category into the main Novel category. One of the responses earned this callout. (Whoever’s blog this is, I see there also were other comments supportive of Tingle’s book.)

(4) IWÁJÚ. Eddie Louise calls Iwájú on Disney+ — “Amazing science fiction for kids with deep cultural and societal commentary.” See trailer at the link.

“Iwájú” is an original animated series set in a futuristic Lagos, Nigeria. The exciting coming-of-age story follows Tola, a young girl from the wealthy island, and her best friend, Kole, a self-taught tech expert, as they discover the secrets and dangers hidden in their different worlds. Kugali filmmakers—including director Olufikayo Ziki Adeola, production designer Hamid Ibrahim and cultural consultant Toluwalakin Olowofoyeku—take viewers on a unique journey into the world of “Iwájú,” bursting with unique visual elements and technological advancements inspired by the spirit of Lagos. The series is produced by Disney Animation’s Christina Chen with a screenplay by Adeola and Halima Hudson. “Iwájú” features the voices of Simisola Gbadamosi, Dayo Okeniyi, Femi Branch, Siji Soetan and Weruche Opia.

(5) LIKE SAND THROUGH AN HOURGLASS. Maya St. Clair finds what time has done to the first Dune movie – not that a lot of time needed to have passed before the results were known: “Make Sci-Fi Cringe Again (Duneposting 1)”.

The other night, a friend and I went to an anniversary screening of David Lynch’s 1984 Dune. Its manmade horrors were consumed in the way God intended: on a towering screen, with a printout of the infamous Dune Terminology sheet balanced in my lap, as I inhaled a bucket of curly fries agleam with twice their weight in grease. Visually, Dune is an orgy of delights: a dense mannerist universe filled with gilt and wires and inbred animals/people. The voiceovers are camp, the editing ridiculous, the hairdos lofty and aggressive (Aquanet — like spice — must flow). Around the midpoint of the movie — when Sting steps out of a sauna in a codpiece —most people had come to the unspoken understanding that it was okay to laugh instead of sitting in respectful, cinephilic silence. The Harkonnen milking machine (i.e. a rat just duct-taped to a cat) brought down the house….

(6) DUNE PT. 2. [Item by SF Concatenation’s Jonathan Cowie.] Front Row on B Beeb Ceeb’s Radio 4 (a.k.a. the Home Service) first third sees a review of Dune Part II.

Now, while I concur (others may disagree) that for all its spectacle Part I was a little ponderous (go in with a medium or large real coffee Americana) it was faithful to the novel and the SFX far better than the Lynch offering… This last is, of course unfair, the Lynch offering came out four decades ago… Yes, just a decade short of half a century and so you’d expect as big an improvement in cinematography as there was between 1984 and films made towards the end of the war (that’s WWII in case you were wondering how old I was).

So, how did the Front Row review go?  Well, the first thing that surprised me was that one of the reviewers hates epic ‘sci-fi’.  Yes, for some in the arts, SF remains a ghetto genre.  (Or perhaps we at SF² Concatenation should swop our book review panel of ardent SF readers to those that loathe genre literature. Perhaps File 770 should be edited by someone outside of fandom? Perhaps Boris Johnson  should become Prime Minister…)

Be thrilled.  Be amazed.  The truth is out there….

You can listen to the first third of the programme here: “Front Row, Dune 2”.

(7) ABOUT THOSE LENSMEN. Steve J. Wright may not be treading new ground in “How the Other Half Lives”, but fascism, John W. Campbell Jr., and the Golden Age have been thoroughly plowed under by the time he’s done.

This is spilling out of a discussion over on File 770 (item 4 on the scroll), which in turn derived partly from Charles Stross’s “We’re Sorry we Created the Torment Nexus”. It also ties in, of course, to the ongoing “was John W. Campbell a fascist?” non-debate (because people who say no are not changing their minds, ever.)

“Fascist”, of course, is one of those terms linguisticians call “snarl words”, where the negative connotations have pretty much obscured the original usage…

…But were Golden Age SF writers in general, and John W. Campbell Jr. in particular, happy with elitism? Oh, you bet they were. The Gernsbackian ideal, as exemplified in Gernsback’s own ridiculous novel Ralph 124C41+, was a homogeneous, rationally-planned society in which government, if it existed at all, was strictly subordinated to the scientific elite – in the eponymous Ralph’s case, the “plus men”, entitled to that + sign on their names, whose unfettered experimentation led to an endless round of fresh discoveries and scientific benefits for the general populace. And you can’t throw a brick in Campbell-era SF without hitting an omni-competent super-science hero with world-transforming insights and the steely determination to push aside bureaucratic meddling and Get Things Done. Campbell himself regarded Astounding as not just a science fiction magazine, but a proving ground for the ideas that would shape the world of tomorrow. And he had plenty of sympathy from SF fans, who were happy to believe that their time would come, and they would be in the vanguard of the new elite. Granted, not many fans took it as far as the rather alarming Claude Degler, but if you said “fans are slans” at any fannish gathering of the times, you would see more than one head nodding in approval….

(8) REFERENCE DIRECTOR! Meanwhile, in Russia: “Alexei Navalny Was Buried to the Terminator 2 Theme Song”  — New York Magazine has the story.

…Navalny got in one last laugh at his funeral on Friday. As his coffin was lowered into the ground, the tune playing in the background wasn’t some funeral dirge, but the theme from his favorite movie, Terminator 2: Judgment Day. It was the refrain that plays during the movie’s famous final scene, as Arnold Schwarzenegger’s soulful killer cyborg gives a thumbs-up while he is lowered into a vat of molten steel, sacrificing himself to save the future….

(9) TODAY’S BIRTHDAY.

[Written by Cat Eldridge.]

Born March 2, 1966 Ann Leckie, 58. So let’s start with Lis Carey talking about her favorite work by our writer this Scroll, Ann Leckie:

Ann Leckie wins Hugo in 2014. Photo by Henry Harel.

Ann Leckie’s Imperial Radch trilogy, starting with Ancillary Justice in 2013, gives us a culture where biological sex is ignored, and only female pronouns are used. Breq, our protagonist throughout the trilogy, is the only survivor of a ship destroyed by treachery, and she’s the ship’s artificial intelligence, occupying an ancillary body, i.e., a body whose own personality has been erased and replaced with one more useful to the empire, and presenting herself as an officer. 

In her quest for revenge, she becomes more and more fully human, and more and more aware of what’s wrong with the empire she serves. We see glimpses of a galaxy beyond the Radch Empire, some of them fascinating.

We’re certainly not given the impression that the Radch are the good guys. In subsequent books and stories, we get looks at the Radch from the outside, and at the other human cultures trying to survive in a galaxy where the Radch are the major human power. It’s a wonderfully complex and layered universe, and it’s well worth exploring.

Ancillary Justice swept the awards field in 2014: a Hugo at Loncon 3, a British Fantasy Award, the Clarke a Kitschie, and a Nebula. The sequel, Ancillary Sword was nominated at Sasquan and won a BSFA Award; the final book in the trilogy, Ancillary Mercy, was a Hugo finalist at MidAmeriCon II. Her next book set in that universe, Provenance, novel garnered a Hugo nomination at Worldcon 76. 

Translation State, though also part of the Imperial Radch, is a pretty a stand-alone story. Yes, I liked it a lot. So let’s have Lis set the scene for you again…

It’s set in that universe, on the edge of human space, in a space station where the human polities including the Radch, and several alien polities, attempt to maintain calm and peaceful relations with the Presger, whom no one has ever seen, but who could destroy everyone if they got annoyed.

This is the book where we really get acquainted with the Presger translators, who appear to have been created from humans, but really aren’t, anymore.

It is, I would say, primarily a missing person case more than a murder mystery but it is both. It is a fascinating story. 

She’s also written an excellent fantasy novel, The Raven Tower, which I’ve been listening to of late. Adjoa Andoh narrates the audio version. She’s been on Doctor Who numerous times, mostly playing the mother of Martha Jones. She does a stellar performance here. 

Leckie has published a baker’s dozen short stories, two set in the Imperial Radch universe. I’ve not read any of them. Who has?

I look forward to seeing what she writes next. 

(10) COMICS SECTION.

  • Reality Check shows a fan pedant in (unwelcome!) action.
  • Close to Home has the most grotesque Pinocchio joke I’ve ever seen.
  • Tom Gauld mixes higher math with lower cuisine.

(11) GOOD OMENS VISUALS. Colleen Doran’s Funny Business is back with “Good Omens Peeks” – artwork at the link.

… I don’t know if, you know, getting cancer, going blind, smashing my face in, and generally having a really awful 2023 hasn’t been some weird sort of super-motivation, but I’m working very steady, and I actually think the art has gotten more solid as I go along.

I’m also very far behind schedule, but since the book was so far ahead to start, even though it’s going to be late, it won’t be horribly late. I set some pages aside and was unable to work on them for months, and that distance helped me work through some problems, too.

Anyhow, here’s some of my art in progress. And thanks for all the votes in the ComicScene awards for Good Omens as #1 crowdfund campaign of 2023….

(12) AFTER MIDNIGHT. Bitter Karella is back with the members of The Midnight Society, who are being a trial to Ursula K. Le Guin. Thread starts here.

(13) WAY AFTER MIDNIGHT. In “Seeing ‘Dune 2’ in 70mm Imax at 3:15 a.m. Was an Unforgettable Experience”, Variety’s Ethan Shanfeldfiles a snarky report about the ambiance.

…About 45 minutes into the movie, I thought for sure I was toast. Those gorgeous desert sand dunes reminded me of pillows, and I questioned what life choices I made that led me here, to seat H35. But then I saw a guy nod off two rows ahead of me, and I thought about how annoying it would be to have to see this movie again just to catch the parts I missed. I’m not weak like him, I thought, inhaling my Diet Coke. And, to even my own surprise, I powered through, savoring Paul Atreides’ larger-than-life odyssey all the way until the credits rolled at 6:18 a.m.

On the escalator down, I caught up with the three friends from New Jersey. “What are your plans this morning?” I asked, and they told me they were going to walk west to watch the sunrise over the Hudson. I didn’t have the heart (read: brain cells) to tell them the sun rises in the east.

(14) JUSTWATCH. Here are JustWatch’s charts of the most-viewed streaming movies and TV series of February 2024.

(15) SQUEAK IN DELIGHT. [Item by Bill Higgins.] Good news for all who love helium, Minneapolis in 73, and airships! Let us lift our high-pitched voices in song! “’A dream. It’s perfect’: Helium discovery in northern Minnesota may be biggest ever in North America” on CBS Minnesota.

Scientists and researchers are celebrating what they call a “dream” discovery after an exploratory drill confirmed a high concentration of helium buried deep in Minnesota’s Iron Range.

Thomas Abraham-James, CEO of Pulsar Helium, said the confirmed presence of helium could be one of the most significant such finds in the world.

“There was a lot of screaming, a lot of hugging and high fives. It’s nice to know the efforts all worked out and we pulled it off,” Abraham-James said….

…According to Abraham-James, the helium concentration was measured at 12.4%, which is higher than forecasted and roughly 30 times the industry standard for commercial helium.

(16) 2021 FLASHBACK: STRICTER RATINGS FOR THESE SFF MOVIES. The British Board of Film Classification ratings change to Mary Poppins (see Pixel Scroll 2/26/24 item #9) was just the latest to affect sff films as shown in this 2021 BBC News article: “Rocky and Flash Gordon given tighter age rating”. In 2021 the extended edition of The Lord Of The Rings: The Fellowship Of The Ring has also been moved up to a 12A for its “moderate fantasy violence and threat.”Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back was moved from Universal to PG.

Of the 93 complaints the board received last year, 27 were about 1980 space opera film Flash Gordon.

The movie’s 40th anniversary re-release was reclassified up to 12A partly due to the inclusion of “discriminatory stereotypes”.

The BBFC did not say what the stereotypes were. However Flash Gordon’s main villain, Ming the Merciless, was of East Asian appearance but played by Swedish-French actor Max von Sydow….

(17) VIDEO OF THE DAY. [Item by SF Concatenation’s Jonathan Cowie.] Back in the day at school — seems like half a century ago (hang on, it was) — there were a bunch of us whose aim in chemistry was to get the contents of one’s boiling tube to mark the ceiling… We were the back bench bucket chemists! Those were the days. Very much in that spirit, physics Matt O’Dowd asks “What Happens If We Nuke Space?” Come on, Bruce Willis has done it?

EMPs aren’t science fiction. Real militaries are experimenting on real EMP generators, and as Starfish Prime showed us, space nukes can send powerful EMPs to the surface. So what exactly is an EMP, and how dangerous are they?  

[Thanks to Cat Eldridge, SF Concatenation’s Jonathan Cowie, Kathy Sullivan, Daniel Dern, Lis Carey, Eddie Louise, JJ, Bill Higgins, Steven French, Mike Kennedy, Andrew Porter, John King Tarpinian, and Chris Barkley for some of these stories. Title credit belongs to File 770 contributing editor of the day Peace Is My Middle Name.]

Pixel Scroll 2/29/24 Scrollaris

(1) STOKER AWARD UPDATE SPARKS KERFUFFLE. [Item by Anne Marble.] The Horror Writers Association has realized that Camp Damascus by Chuck Tingle was in the wrong category in the list of finalists — it is not a YA novel. So they moved it to the Adult category – increasing the finalists there from five to six (i.e, nobody was dropped). And because of this change, they added a YA novel by author Kalynn Bayron to the YA category.

But as a result, some people are yelling at Kalynn Bayron on social media — apparently because they think she “stole” the nomination from Chuck Tingle. And Brian Keene has stepped in and asked people to yell at Mr. Keene instead. Let’s see if the people who were so eager to yell at Kalynn Bayron (a young Black YA author) are just as eager to yell at Brian Keene. (Somehow, I doubt it.)

(2) STOKERCON GOH NEWS. Paula Guran will be unable to attend StokerCon 2024 the convention announced today in a newsletter. A reason was not given; the committee hopes she will be able to join them at a future event.

The remaining GoHs are Justina Ireland, Nisi Shawl, Jonathan Maberry and Paul Tremblay.

(3) ANNUAL YARDSTICK. Publishers Weekly reports “New Lee & Low Diversity Baseline Survey Finds Minor Changes” in the publishing industry.

The third edition of Lee & Low Books’ quadrennial “Diversity Baseline Survey” found that the publishing industry has made incremental gains in broadening its workforce since the survey was introduced in 2015.

The survey’s top-line findings show that white people made up 72.5% of this year’s 8,644 respondents, down from 76% in 2019 and 79% in 2015. Those identifying as biracial/multiracial were the second largest group, at 8.3%—a significant increase over the 3% in 2019 who identified as biracial/multiracial. The percentage of respondents who were Asian/Native Hawaiian/Pacific Islander/South Asian/Southeast Indian rose slightly, to almost 8%, from 7% in 2019. Black respondents held even at about 5% of the publishing workforce, while those identifying as Hispanic/Latino/Mexican fell to 4.6%, from 6% in both 2019 and 2015….

(4) REACH OUT. Dream Foundry calls for donations to “Con or Bust”, which seeks to assist creators or fans of color with opportunities they can’t afford:

Con or Bust has received a slew of applications for extremely exciting opportunities that we are not currently able to fund or support. You can help us change that! Since late October, we’ve had to defer or decline 14 applications requesting over $25,000 in fiscal support. In most cases even a small portion of the request made as a grant would be a huge help to the applicant. Most fiscal grants we’ve made are $500, and that’s also the largest amount we’ve granted out of our unrestricted funds. …

…If you’ve ever been to an industry event that inspired, motivated, or nurtured you, then you know what these opportunities can mean. Help us bring that to more people!

(5) WRITERS AND ARTISTS, GET READY. Dream Foundry is also looking ahead to their annual Writing and Arts Contest which opens to submissions from April 1 through May 27, 2024.

(6) MACHINES IN TRAINING. Rivka Galchen is “Thinking About A.I. with Stanisław Lem” in The New Yorker.

…“Solaris” is mostly serious in tone, which makes it a misleading example of Lem’s work. More often and more distinctively, he is funny and madcap and especially playful on the level of language. A dictionary of his neologisms, published in Poland in 2006, has almost fifteen hundred entries; translated into English, his invented words include “imitology,” “fripple,” “scrooch,” “geekling,” “deceptorite,” and “marshmucker.” (I assume that translating Lem is the literary equivalent of differential algebra, or category theory.) A representative story, from 1965, is “The First Sally (A) or, Trurl’s Electronic Bard.” Appearing in a collection titled “The Cyberiad,” the story features Trurl, an engineer of sorts who constructs a machine that can write poetry. Does the Electronic Bard read as an uncanny premonition of ChatGPT? Sure. It can write in the style of any poet, but the resulting poems are “two hundred and twenty to three hundred and forty-seven times better.” (The machine can also write worse, if asked.)

It’s not Trurl’s first machine. In other stories, he builds one that can generate anything beginning with the letter “N” (including nothingness) and one that offers supremely good advice to a ruler; the ruler is not nice, though, so it’s good that Trurl put in a subcode that the machine will not destroy its maker. The Electronic Bard is not easy for Trurl to make. In thinking about how to program it, Trurl reads “twelve thousand tons of the finest poetry” but deems the research insufficient. As he sees it, the program found in the head of even an average poet “was written by the poet’s civilization, and that civilization was in turn programmed by the civilization that preceded it, and so on to the very Dawn of Time.” The complexity of the average poet-machine is daunting….

(7) THE ROOM WHERE IT HAPPENS. It was the club’s first in-person meeting outside of a Loscon since the pandemic. See photos at “We’re Back Baby! LASFS 1st Meeting in Years” on the Los Angeles Science Fantasy Website.

(8) OCTOTHORPE. Episode 104 of the Octothorpe podcast is “Groundbreaking and Great”. And humble!

Octothorpe 104 is here! We know you’ve eagerly been awaiting our takes on the Hugo Awards, so here they all are, as we discuss our favourite SF of 2023!

Hang on, what do you mean? Something else happened with the Hugo Awards and you thought we were talking about that? Well, er…maybe next time!

John is in the bottom-left, sitting in a chair, wearing a blue shirt and purple trousers, holding a can, and reading an ebook. Alison is in the upper-middle, lying down upside down, wearing a purple shirt and stripy trousers, and reading an ebook. Liz is in the bottom-right, wearing a pink shirt with green trousers, holding a mug of a hot beverage, and reading a physical book. They are surrounded by floating beer bottles, books, the Moon, a mug with a moose on it, and two cats. The word “Octothorpe” appears in scattered letters around the artwork, against a pinky-purple background.

(9) FREE READ. Worlds of If #177 is available as a free download for a limited time at the Worlds of If Magazine website. And the print version and t-shirts are also available for order there.

(10) JAIME LEE MOYER HAS DIED. Author and poet Jaime Lee Moyer was found dead today after friends requested a wellness check. C.C. Finlay announced on Facebook:

Dear friends of Jaime Lee Moyer, we have some very sad news. No one had heard from Jaime in more than ten days, which was concerning because her latest book was scheduled for release this week.

This morning we contacted her rental company and the East Lansing Police Department and asked them to perform a wellness check. They found Jaime deceased in her bedroom, apparently from natural causes. They’ve contacted her family to make formal arrangements. We only just received the news, and we don’t know any other information at this time.

Jaime has friends in the writing community all over the world. We thought this would be the best way to reach you. If you are a friend of hers, a client, or are waiting to hear an answer from her on anything else, we wanted you to know as soon as possible.

With love and grief,

Charlie and Rae

(11) TODAY’S BIRTHDAY.

[Written by Cat Eldridge.]

Born February 29, 1952 Tim Powers, 72. Now Tim Powers is a writer that I really admire. He’s decently prolific as he has twenty novels published. Now remember this essay is about what I like, so I may or may not mention what something that you, so please do t be too miffed by that. 

Where to start?  That’s easy as it has to be The Anubis Gates. Victorian London and Egypt. Ancient Egypt. Time travel. Anubis. Oh ymmm. It’s on my list of To Be Listened To list as I’ve already read it several times and the sample at Audible indicates Bronson Pinchot does a great job of narrating this. 

Tim Powers

Just as good in a very different manner is On Stranger Tides takes place during the so-called Golden Age of Piracy which was nothing of the kind, when an individual on his way from Britain to Haiti has a series of increasingly wild adventures. I know the novel was purchased to be part on the Pirates of Caribbean franchise. I’ve not seen the film, so I don’t know how much, if anything of his novel made it into the film, but I’m betting nothing except the name did.

Declare, a secret history of the Cold War, is extraordinary. I mean it really. When I was still actually reading novels as opposed to listening to them, as I’m doing now, I didn’t spend six to eight hours a day on one but I remember I did on Declare just to see where the story went. Stellar.

The Vickery and Castine series is just fun, and I mean that as a compliment. Set in contemporary LA, rogue federal agents Sebastian Vickery and Ingrid Castine can see ghosts and other things that are the secret reality of that city. It’s an ongoing series with four novels so far. Highly recommended. 

Then there’s Three Days to Never which I’m not convinced actually makes sense but is really fun to read with its wild mix of supernatural history of what actually happened, time travel and foreign agents. 

Ok, those are my picks as the Powers novels that I really like. So what’s your choices? 

(12) COMICS SECTION.

(13) TWO COMPANIONS CUT A RUG. Radio Times makes sure we don’t miss out when “Karen Gillan and Jenna Coleman share cute Doctor Who reunion”.

Amy Pond and Clara Oswald may have never met on-screen, but the former Doctor Who companions certainly look like they get along behind the camera.

Karen Gillan (Amy) and Jenna Coleman (Clara) were spotted together at an event in London last night, with former Doctor Who showrunner Steven Moffat also in attendance.

Gillan took to the opportunity to share a video of the trio on the dance floor on TikTok alongside the caption: “We might have had a few red wines… but look WHO it is!”…

@karengillan

We might have had a few red wines…but look WHO it is! #doctorwho

? original sound – Karen Gillan

(14) AGBABI Q&A. HAL interviews 2021 Clarke Award nominee Patience Agbabi, author of The Past Master, at Carbon-Based Bipeds.

HAL: Hello Patience, and congratulations to you on finishing your tetralogy. I’m curious, did you always know this would be a four-book cycle or did the project grow more organically?

PATIENCE: …In reality, a series made sense for lots of other reasons since I had too many ideas to fit into a single book: I wanted to explore the past as well as the future; to take different angles on ecological issues, becoming more covert as the series progressed; and also, I wanted to develop my hero, Elle, from a 3-leap girl to a 4-leap young woman. Elle is black, of Nigerian origin and autistic. It was a positive challenge to show the reader how she overcomes numerous obstacles to reach maturity. I originally submitted the manuscript as young YA but Canongate wanted to market it as middle-grade since my hero was 12 and children like to read up. But since my hero gets one year older with each instalment, I knew I’d be segueing into YA territory anyway, which demands a greater level of introspection.

(15) STRINGS ATTACHED. SOMETIMES. “Muppets, marionettes and magic: My life with puppets” – hear an interview with Basil Twist, who created puppets for the My Neighbour Totoro production by the Royal Shakespeare Company  at BBC Sounds.

Basil Twist’s fascination for puppets started as a child watching productions his mum put on as an amateur puppeteer. Basil built his own puppet characters of Star Wars as a kid and loved it, but became a ‘closeted puppeteer’ in his teens. It wasn’t cool anymore, and playing with dolls was seen as feminine. Basil pursued an education at college, but became unhappy and dropped out. Later moving to New York, Basil could finally embrace his puppetry passions. He scoured phone books and bashed phones to track down people involved in puppetry. His diligence took him around the world, winning awards and captivating crowds along the way. During the pandemic Basil found his biggest challenge to date – bringing the much-loved animated Japanese character Totoro to life for a live action stage show…. 

(16) OUTSIDE THE BOX. The Onion reports “Litter-Robot Recalls Thousands Of Self-Cleaning Litter Boxes That Accidentally Transported Cats To Year 1300”. (Could they be using the same version of the software as my comments section, which unaccountably tells people they’re in random years?)

(17) TODAY’S THING TO WORRY ABOUT. Jessica Grose wonders “Could Swifties or Trekkies Decide the Election?” in a New York Times opinion piece. (Well, maybe I exaggerate. I don’t think it really worries her.)

…Social media is where many young voters live — about a third of adults under 30 regularly get news from TikTok, according to Pew Research. And turning out young voters who are otherwise not particularly politically engaged will be key to winning elections up and down the ballot in November. The left-leaning Working Families Party isn’t exactly a threat to take the White House in 2024, but it is on to a new way of reaching Gen Z voters at a time when the old ways are increasingly useless.

As Marcela Valdes explained this week for The New York Times Magazine, young voters tend to have low turnout rates. “No one is more ambivalent about participating in elections than young people,” she wrote. (It’s worth noting, though, that turnout among Americans ages 18 to 29 was historically high in 2018, 2020 and 2022, according to C.I.R.C.L.E., the Center for Information and Research on Civic Learning and Engagement at Tufts University.)…

(18) TOMORROW’S THING TO WORRY ABOUT! Kathryn Schulz doubts we’re prepared for “What a Major Solar Storm Could Do to Our Planet” as she tells readers of The New Yorker.

…But “space-weather forecaster” is an optimistic misnomer; for the most part, he and his colleagues can’t predict what will happen in outer space. All they can do is try to figure out what’s happening there right now, preferably fast enough to limit the impact on our planet. Even that is difficult, because space weather is both an extremely challenging field—it is essentially applied astrophysics—and a relatively new one. As such, it is full of many lingering scientific questions and one looming practical question: What will happen here on Earth when the next huge space storm hits?

The first such storm to cause us trouble took place in 1859. In late August, the aurora borealis, which is normally visible only in polar latitudes, made a series of unusual appearances: in Havana, Panama, Rome, New York City. Then, in early September, the aurora returned with such brilliance that gold miners in the Rocky Mountains woke up at night and began making breakfast, and disoriented birds greeted the nonexistent morning.

This lovely if perplexing phenomenon had an unwelcome corollary: around the globe, telegraph systems went haywire. Many stopped working entirely, while others sent and received “fantastical and unreadable messages,” as the Philadelphia Evening Bulletin put it. At some telegraph stations, operators found that they could disconnect their batteries and send messages via the ambient current, as if the Earth itself had become an instant-messaging system.

Owing to a lucky coincidence, all these anomalies were soon linked to their likely cause. At around noon on September 1st, the British astronomer Richard Carrington was outside sketching a group of sunspots when he saw a burst of light on the surface of the sun: the first known observation of a solar flare. When accounts of the low-latitude auroras started rolling in, along with reports that magnetometers—devices that measure fluctuations in the Earth’s magnetic field—had surged so high they maxed out their recording capabilities, scientists began to suspect that the strange things happening on Earth were related to the strange thing Carrington had seen on the sun….

[Thanks to John King Tarpinian, Chris Barkley, Cat Eldridge, Daniel Dern, Kathy Sullivan, Lise Andreasen, JeffWarner, Anne Marble, Jean-Paul Garnier, Jeffrey Smith, SF Concatenation’s Jonathan Cowie, Steven French, Mike Kennedy, and Andrew Porter for some of these stories. Title credit belongs to File 770 contributing editor of the day JeffWarner.]

2023 Bram Stoker Awards Final Ballot Released

The Horror Writers Association (HWA) today announced the 2023 Bram Stoker Awards Final Ballot.

THE 2023 BRAM STOKER AWARDS® FINAL BALLOT

Superior Achievement in an Anthology

  • Aquilone, James – Shakespeare Unleashed (Crystal Lake Publishing, Monstrous Books)
  • Golden, Christopher, and Keene, Brian – The Drive-In: Multiplex (Pandi Press)
  • Hawk, Shane and Van Alst, Jr., Theodore C. – Never Whistle at Night: An Indigenous Dark Fiction Anthology (Vintage)
  • Peele, Jordan, and Adams,John Joseph – Out There Screaming (Random House)
  • Rowland, Rebecca – American Cannibal (Maenad Press)

Superior Achievement in a Fiction Collection

  • Files, Gemma – Blood from the Air (Grimscribe Press)
  • Keisling, Todd – Cold, Black, & Infinite (Cemetery Dance)
  • Malerman, Josh – Spin A Black Yarn (Del Rey)
  • Nogle, Christi – The Best of Our Past, the Worst of Our Future (Flame Tree Press)
  • Read, Sarah – Root Rot & Other Grim Tales (Bad Hand Books)

Superior Achievement in a First Novel

  • Carmen, Christa – The Daughters of Block Island (Thomas & Mercer)
  • Compton, Johnny – The Spite House (Tor Nightfire/Macmillan)
  • LaRocca, Eric – Everything the Darkness Eats (CLASH Books/Titan)
  • Leede, CJ – Maeve Fly (Tor Nightfire/Macmillan/Titan)
  • Rebelein, Sam – Edenville (William Morrow/Titan)

Superior Achievement in a Graphic Novel

  • Bunn, Cullen (author) and Leomacs (artist) – Ghostlore, Vol. 1 (BOOM! Studios)
  • Cesare, Adam (author) and Stoll, David (artist) – Dead Mall (Dark Horse Comics)
  • Chu, Amy (author) and Lee, Soo (artist) – Carmilla: The First Vampire (Dark Horse)  
  • Ito, Junji (author and artist) –Tombs (Viz Media)
  • Tanabe, Gou (author and artist) – H.P. Lovecraft’s The Shadow Over Innsmouth (Dark Horse Comics)

Superior Achievement in Long Fiction

  • Due, Tananarive – “Rumpus Room” (The Wishing Pool and Other Stories, Akashic Books)
  • Jiang, Ai – Linghun (Dark Matter INK)
  • Khaw, Cassandra – The Salt Grows Heavy (Tor Nightfire/Macmillan/Titan)
  • McCarthy, J.A.W. – Sleep Alone (Off Limits Press LLC)
  • Murray, Lee – Despatches (PS Publishing)

Superior Achievement in Long Nonfiction

  • Coleman, Robin R. Means and Harris, Mark H. – The Black Guy Dies First: Black Horror Cinema from Fodder to Oscar (Gallery/Saga Press)
  • Fitzpatrick, Claire (ed.) – A Vindication of Monsters: Essays on Mary Wollstonecraft and Mary Shelley (IFWG Publishing International)
  • Hartmann, Sadie – 101 Horror Books to Read Before You’re Murdered (Page Street Publishing)
  • Morton, Lisa – The Art of the Zombie Movie (Applause Books)
  • Murray, Lee and Smith, Angela Yuriko (eds.) – Unquiet Spirits: Essays by Asian Women in Horror (Black Spot Books)

Superior Achievement in a Middle Grade Novel

  • Henning, Sarah – Monster Camp (Margaret K. McElderry Books)
  • López, Diana – Los Monstruos: Felice and the Wailing Woman (Kokila)
  • Senf, Lora – The Nighthouse Keeper (Atheneum Books for Young Readers)
  • Tuma, Refe – Frances and the Werewolves of the Black Forest (HarperCollins)
  • Young, Suzanne – What Stays Buried (HarperCollins)

Superior Achievement in a Novel

  • Due, Tananarive – The Reformatory (Gallery/Saga Press/Titan)
  • Hendrix, Grady – How to Sell a Haunted House (Berkley/Titan)
  • Jones, StephenGraham – Don’t Fear the Reaper (Gallery/Saga Press/Titan)
  • LaValle, Victor – Lone Women (One World)
  • Wendig, Chuck – Black River Orchard (Del Rey/Penguin Random House)

Superior Achievement in Poetry

  • Gold, Maxwell Ian – Bleeding Rainbows and Other Broken Spectrums (Hex Publishers)
  • McHugh, Jessica – The Quiet Ways I Destroy You (Apokrupha Press)
  • Pichette, Marisca – Rivers in Your Skin, Sirens in Your Hair (Android Press)
  • Walrath, Holly Lyn – Numinous Stones (Aqueduct Press)
  • Wytovich, Stephanie M. – On the Subject of Blackberries (Raw Dog Screaming Press)

Superior Achievement in a Screenplay

  • Brooker, Charlie – Black Mirror: Beyond the Sea (Episode 03:06) (Zeppotron, Babieka, Banijay Entertainment, Broke and Bones, House of Tomorrow)
  • Cervera, Michelle Garza and Castillo, Abia – Huesera: The Bone Woman (Disruptiva Films, Machete Producciones, MalignoGorehouse)
  • Duffield, Brian – No One Will Save You (20th Century Studios, Star Thrower Entertainment)
  • Rugna, Demián – When Evil Lurks (Machaco Films, Aramos Cine, Shudder)
  • Yamazaki, Takashi – Godzilla Minus One (Robot Communications, Toho Studios)

Superior Achievement in Short Fiction

  • Daniels, L.E. – “Silk” (Hush, Don’t Wake the Monster: Stories Inspired by Stephen King, Twisted Wing Productions)
  • Jones, Rachael K. – “The Sound of Children Screaming” (Nightmare Magazine)
  • Miller, Sam J. – “If Someone You Love Has Become a Vurdalak” (The Dark)
  • O’Quinn, Cindy – “Quondam” (The Nightmare Never Ends, Exploding Head Fiction)
  • Tabing, Nadine Aurora – “An Inherited Taste” (No Trouble at All, Cursed Morsels Press)

Superior Achievement in Short Non-Fiction

  • Bissett, Carina – “Words Wielded by Women” (Apex Magazine)
  • Bulkin, Nadia – “Becoming Ungovernable: Latah, Amok, and Disorder in Indonesia,” (Unquiet Spirits: Essays by Asian Women in Horror, Black Spot Books)
  • Kulski, K.P. – “100 Livers” (Unquiet Spirits: Essays by Asian Women in Horror, Black Spot Books)
  • Murray, Lee – “Displaced Spirits” (Unquiet Spirits: Essays by Asian Women in Horror, Black Spot Books)
  • Wetmore Jr, Kevin – “A Theatre of Ghosts, A Haunted Cinema: The Japanese Gothic as Theatrical Tradition in Gurozuka” (The Wenshan Review of Literature and Culture: Special Issue on Asian Gothic)

Superior Achievement in a Young Adult Novel

  • Dimaline, Cherie – Funeral Songs for Dying Girls (Tundra Book Group)
  • Simmons, Kristen – Find Him Where You Left Him Dead (Tor Teen)
  • Smith, CynthiaLeitich – Harvest House (Candlewick Press)
  • Tingle, Chuck – Camp Damascus (Tor Nightfire/MacMillan/Titan)
  • Tran, Trang Thanh – She Is a Haunting (Bloomsbury YA)

Horror Writers Association members will have from March 1-15 to vote.

2023 Bram Stoker Awards Preliminary Ballot Announced

Bram Stoker Award trophy

The Horror Writers Association (HWA) today announced the 2023 Bram Stoker Awards Preliminary Ballot.

This is not the list of finalists, nor are they called nominees: it is the list which HWA members will choose from when they vote to determine the finalists.

The Final Ballot (Bram Stoker Award Nominees for the 2023 calendar year) will be announced on or around February 23, 2024.

THE 2023 BRAM STOKER AWARDS® PRELIMINARY BALLOT

Superior Achievement in an Anthology

  • Aquilone, James – Shakespeare Unleashed (Crystal Lake Publishing, Monstrous Books)
  • Bailey, Michael – Qualia Nous, Vol. 2 (Written Backwards)
  • Carl, Annie– Soul Jar: 31 Fantastical Tales by Disabled Authors (Forest Avenue Press)
  • Datlow, Ellen – Christmas and Other Horrors (Titan)
  • Future Dead Collective – Collage Macabre: An Exhibition of Art Horror (Future Dead Collective)
  • Golden, Christopher, and Keene, Brian – The Drive-In: Multiplex (Pandi Press)
  • Hawk, Shane and Van Alst, Jr., Theodore C. – Never Whistle at Night: An Indigenous Dark Fiction Anthology (Vintage)
  • Peele, Jordan, and Adams, John Joseph – Out There Screaming (Random House)
  • Rowland, Rebecca – American Cannibal (Maenad Press)
  • Walker, Alin, and Louzon, Monica – Darkness Blooms (The Dread Machine)

Superior Achievement in a Fiction Collection

  • Cade, Octavia – You are My Sunshine and Other Tales (Stelliform Press)
  • Chapman, Greg – Midnight Masquerade (IFWG Publishing International)
  • Duckworth, Jonathan Louis – Have You Seen the Moon Tonight? & Other Rumors (JournalStone Publishing)
  • Files, Gemma – Blood from the Air (Grimscribe Press)
  • Keisling, Todd – Cold, Black, & Infinite (Cemetery Dance)
  • Malerman, Josh – Spin A Black Yarn (Del Rey)
  • Nogle, Christi – The Best of Our Past, the Worst of Our Future (Flame Tree Press)
  • Read, Sarah – Root Rot & Other Grim Tales (Bad Hand Books)
  • Wehunt, Michael – The Inconsolables (Bad Hand Books)
  • White, Gordon B. – Gordon B. White Is Creating Haunting Weird Horror(s) (Trepidatio Publishing) 

Superior Achievement in a First Novel

  • Carmen, Christa – The Daughters of Block Island (Thomas & Mercer)
  • Compton, Johnny – The Spite House (Tor Nightfire/Macmillan) 
  • Córdova, Gerardo Sámano – Monstrilio (Zando)
  • LaRocca, Eric – Everything the Darkness Eats (CLASH Books)
  • Leede, CJ – Maeve Fly (Tor Nightfire/Macmillan) 
  • Najberg, Andrew – The Mobius Door (Wicked House Publishing)
  • Rebelein, Sam – Edenville (William Morrow)
  • Rumfitt, Alison – Tell Me I’m Worthless (Tor Nightfire/Macmillan)
  • Song, Jade – Chlorine (William Morrow)
  • Stephens, Caleb – The Girls in the Cabin (Joffe Books)

Superior Achievement in a Graphic Novel

  • Bunn, Cullen (author) and Leomacs (artist) – Ghostlore, Vol. 1 (BOOM! Studios)
  • Cesare, Adam (author) and Stoll, David (artist) – Dead Mall (Dark Horse Comics)
  • Chu, Amy (author) and Lee, Soo (artist) – Carmilla: The First Vampire (Dark Horse)  
  • Manzetti, Alessandro and Fantelli, Stefano (authors) & Cardoselli, Stefano (artist) – The Sixth Sentinel: Graphic Novel (Independent Legions Publishing)
  • McNamara, Jason (author) and Massaggia, Alberto (artist)– Past Tense(Dark Horse Comics)
  • Ito, Junji (author and artist) – Tombs (Viz Media)
  • Scott, Cavan (author) and Ponce, Andres (artist) – The Ward: Welcome to the Madhouse(Dark Horse Books)
  • Stark, Kyle (author) and Kowalski, Piotr (artist) – Where Monsters Lie (Dark Horse Comics)
  • Stuck, Kyle (author) and Orlandi, Enrico (artist) – Evil Cast (Ominious Media)
  • Tanabe, Gou (author and artist) – H.P. Lovecraft’s The Shadow Over Innsmouth(Dark Horse Comics)

Superior Achievement in Long Fiction

  • Cade, Octavia – “You Are My Sunshine” (You Are My Sunshine and Other Stories, Stelliform Press)
  • Due, Tananarive – “Rumpus Room” (The Wishing Pool and Other Stories, Akashic Books)
  • Jiang, Ai – Linghun (Dark Matter INK)
  • Khaw, Cassandra – The Salt Grows Heavy (Tor Nightfire/Macmillan)
  • McCarthy, J.A.W. – Sleep Alone (Off Limits Press LLC)
  • Murray, Lee – Despatches (PS Publishing)
  • Schattel, Polly – 8:59:29 (Trepidatio Publishing)
  • Sylvia, Morgan – “The Art of Devastation” (In the Cold, Cold Ground: An Anthology of New England Horror, Cemetery Dance Publications)
  • Warren, Kaaron – Bitters (Cemetery Dance Publications)
  • Wood, L. Marie – The Open Book (Falstaff Books)

Superior Achievement in Long Nonfiction

  • Anderson-Lopez, Jonina – All Kinds of Scary: Diversity in Contemporary Horror (McFarland)
  • Coleman, Robin R. Means and Harris, Mark H. – The Black Guy Dies First: Black Horror Cinema from Fodder to Oscar (Gallery/Saga Press)
  • Fitzpatrick, Claire (ed.) – A Vindication of Monsters: Essays on Mary Wollstonecraft and Mary Shelley (IFWG Publishing International)
  • Hamori, Esther J.– God’s Monsters: Vengeful Spirits, Deadly Angels, Hybrid Creatures, and Divine Hitmen of the Bible(Broadleaf Books)
  • Hartmann, Sadie – 101 Horror Books to Read Before You’re Murdered (Page Street Publishing)
  • Morton, Lisa – The Art of the Zombie Movie (Applause Books)
  • Murray, Lee and Smith, Angelo Yuriko (eds.) – Unquiet Spirits: Essays by Asian Women in Horror(Black Spot Books)
  • Petrocelli, Heather O. – Queer for Fear: Horror Film and the Queer Spectator (University of Wales Press)
  • Stred, Steve – The Color of Melancholy: An Examination of Andrew Pyper’s Novels as Intersected through My Life (Black Void Publishing)
  • Weinstock, Jeffrey Andrew – Gothic Things: Dark Enchantment and Anthropocene Anxiety (Fordham University Press)

Superior Achievement in a Middle Grade Novel

  • Atwood, Jude – Maybe There Are Witches (Fitzroy Books)
  • Bennett, Jenn – Grumbones (Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers)
  • Fournet, M. R. – Brick Dust and Bones (Feiwel & Friends)
  • Henning, Sarah – Monster Camp (Margaret K. McElderry Books)
  • López, Diana – Los Monstruos: Felice and the Wailing Woman (Kokila)
  • Marshall, Kate Alice – Extra Normal (Viking Books for Young Readers)
  • Moulton, Deke – Don’t Want to Be Your Monster (Tundra Books)
  • Senf, Lora – The Nighthouse Keeper (Atheneum Books for Young Readers)
  • Tuma, Refe – Frances and the Werewolves of the Black Forest (HarperCollins)
  • Young, Suzanne – What Stays Buried (HarperCollins)

Superior Achievement in a Novel

  • Due, Tananarive – The Reformatory (Gallery/Saga Press)
  • Hendrix, Grady – How to Sell a Haunted House (Berkley)
  • Jones, Stephen Graham – Don’t Fear the Reaper (Gallery/Saga Press)
  • Kingfisher, T. – A House with Good Bones (Tor Nightfire/Macmillan)
  • LaValle, Victor – Lone Women (One World)
  • Monroe, Katrina – Graveyard of Lost Children (Poisoned Pen Press)
  • Ottone, Robert P. – The Vile Thing We Created (Hydra Publications)
  • Sullivan, Andrew F. – The Marigold (ECW Press)
  • Wendig, Chuck – Black River Orchard (Del Rey/Penguin Random House)
  • Winning, Josh – Burn the Negative (G.P. Putnam’s Sons)

Superior Achievement in Poetry

  • Amanda Crum – The Taste of Butter (Self-published)
  • Gold, Maxwell Ian – Bleeding Rainbows and Other Broken Spectrums (Hex Publishers)
  • Hall, Luna Rey – The Patient Routine (Brigids Gate Press)
  • Irish, Jenny – Lupine (Black Lawrence Press)
  • McCabe, V.C. – Ophelia (Femme Salvé Books)
  • McHugh, Jessica – The Quiet Ways I Destroy You (Apokrupha Press)
  • Perret, Michael – The Chimera (Curious Corvid Publishing)
  • Pichette, Marisca – Rivers in Your Skin, Sirens in Your Hair (Android Press)
  • Walrath, Holly Lyn – Numinous Stones (Aqueduct Press)
  • Wytovich, Stephanie M. – On the Subject of Blackberries (Raw Dog Screaming Press)

Superior Achievement in a Screenplay

  • Brooker, Charlie – Black Mirror: Beyond the Sea (Episode 03:06) (Zeppotron, Babieka, Banijay Entertainment, Broke and Bones, House of Tomorrow)
  • Cervera, Michelle Garza and Castillo, Abia – Huesera: The Bone Woman (Disruptiva Films, Machete Producciones, Maligno Gorehouse)
  • Cognetti, Stephen – Hell House LLC Origins: The Carmichael Manor (Cognetti Films, Marylou’s Boys)
  • Duffield, Brian – No One Will Save You (20th Century Studios, Star Thrower Entertainment)
  • Moss, Laura and O’Brien, Brendan J. – Birth/Rebirth (Retrospecter Films, Shudder)
  • Poser, Toby; Adams, Zelda; and Adams, John – Where the Devil Roams (Wonder Wheel Productions)
  • Rugna, Demián – When Evil Lurks (Machaco Films, Aramos Cine, Shudder)
  • Sattler, Peter and Green, David Gordon – Exorcist: Believer (Universal Pictures, Blumhouse Pictures, Morgan Creek Entertainment)
  • Willinger, Byron and De Blasi, Philip – Creepshow (S4.E2 The Hat) (Shudder, The Cartel, AMC Studios, Cartel Pictures, Striker Entertainment, Talent One)
  • Yamazaki, Takashi – Godzilla Minus One (Robot Communications, Toho Studios)

Superior Achievement in Short Fiction

  • Anaxagoras, David – “Your Dasher Has Accidentally Awakened the Crawling Chaos by Gazing into the Loathsome Geometry of the Taco Pup Mega-muncher Meal Box” (The Dread Machine)
  • Daniels, L.E. – “Silk” (Hush, Don’t Wake the Monster: Stories Inspired by Stephen King, Twisted Wing Productions)
  • Jones, Rachael K. – “Sound of Children Screaming” (Nightmare Magazine)
  • King-Cargile, Gillian – “Chainsaw: As Is” (PseudoPod)
  • Kirby, Kristin – “Meat” (Negative Space 2: A Return to Survival Horror, Dark Peninsula Press)
  • Levy, Robert – “Giallo” (No One Dies from Love: Dark Tales of Loss & Longing, Word Horde)
  • Miller, Sam J. – “If Someone You Love Has Become a Vurdalak” (The Dark)
  • O’Quinn, Cindy – “Quondam” (The Nightmare Never Ends, Exploding Head Fiction)
  • O’Quinn, Cindy and McCullough, Nathan – “I’ll See You in Forever” (Sudden Fictions Podcast, Episode 6)
  • Tabing, Nadine Aurora – “An Inherited Taste” (No Trouble at All, Cursed Morsels Press)

Superior Achievement in Short Non-Fiction

  • Bissett, Carina – “Words Wielded by Women” (Apex Magazine)
  • Bulkin, Nadia – “Becoming Ungovernable: Latah, Amok, and Disorder in Indonesia,” (Unquiet Spirits: Essays by Asian Women in Horror, Black Spot Books)
  • Cade, Octavia – “Entering the Ecosystem: Human Identity, Biology, and Horror” (Horror and Philosophy: Essays on Their Intersection in Film, Television and Literature, McFarland)
  • Došen, Ana – “Heterotopic Hell Ride on The Midnight Meat Train” (Journeys into Terror: Essays from the Cinematic Intersection of Travel and Horror, McFarland)
  • Kachuba, John – “The Gothic Shapeshifter: Man, Monster, Myth” (The Gothique: Myriad Manifestations, Partridge India)
  • Kerestman, Katherine – “Cats and the Occult: A Canthropology” (The Weird Cat, WordCrafts Press)
  • Kulski, K.P. – “100 Livers” (Unquiet Spirits: Essays by Asian Women in Horror, Black Spot Books)
  • Murray, Lee – “Displaced Spirits” (Unquiet Spirits: Essays by Asian Women in Horror, Black Spot Books)
  • Weinstock, Jeffrey Andrew – “Miasma Theory, Particulate Matter and Modern Horror” (Female Identity in Contemporary Purgatorial Worlds, Bloomsbury Academic)
  • Wetmore Jr, Kevin – “A Theatre of Ghosts, A Haunted Cinema: The Japanese Gothic as Theatrical Tradition in Gurozuka” (The Wenshan Review of Literature and Culture: Special Issue on Asian Gothic)

Superior Achievement in a Young Adult Novel

  • Allen, Charlene – Play the Game (Katherine Tegen Books)
  • Bayron, Kalynn – You’re Not Supposed to Die Tonight (Bloomsbury YA)
  • Dimaline, Cherie – Funeral Songs for Dying Girls (Tundra Book Group)
  • Hollowell, Sarah – What Stalks Among Us (Clarion Books)
  • Lyle, Jennifer D. – Swarm (Sourcebooks Fire)
  • Sass, Adam – Your Lonely Nights Are Over (Viking Books for Young Readers)
  • Simmons, Kristen – Find Him Where You Left Him Dead (Tor Teen)
  • Smith, Cynthia Leitich – Harvest House (Candlewick Press)
  • Tingle, Chuck – Camp Damascus (Tor Nightfire/MacMillan)
  • Tran, Trang Thanh – She Is a Haunting (Bloomsbury YA)

Horror Writers Association members will now vote on these Preliminary Ballots, with voting closing on February 15, 2024 (only Active and Lifetime Members in good standing are eligible to vote).

2022 Bram Stoker Awards

The 2022 Bram Stoker Award winners were announced on June 17 during the Annual Bram Stoker Awards Banquet at StokerCon™ 2023 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. 

2022 BRAM STOKER AWARDS®  

Superior Achievement in a Novel

  • Iglesias, Gabino – The Devil Takes You Home (Mullholland Press)

Superior Achievement in a First Novel

  • Nogle, Christi – Beulah (Cemetery Gates Media)

Superior Achievement in a Middle Grade Novel

  • Kraus, Daniel – They Stole Our Hearts (Henry Holt and Co.)

Superior Achievement in a Graphic Novel

  • Aquilone, James (editor) – Kolchak: The Night Stalker: 50th Anniversary (Moonstone Books)

Superior Achievement in a Young Adult Novel

  • Ottone, Robert P. – The Triangle (Raven Tale Publishing)

Superior Achievement in Long Fiction

  • Katsu, Alma – The Wehrwolf (Amazon Original Stories)

Superior Achievement in Short Fiction

  • Yardley, Mercedes M. – “Fracture” (Mother: Tales of Love and Terror) (Weird Little Worlds)

Superior Achievement in a Fiction Collection

  • Khaw, Cassandra – Breakable Things (Undertow Publications)

Superior Achievement in a Screenplay

[TIE]

  • Derrickson, Scott and Cargill, C. Robert – The Black Phone (Blumhouse Productions, Crooked Highway, Universal Pictures)
  • Duffer Brothers, The – Stranger Things: Episode 04.01 “Chapter One: The Hellfire Club” (21 Laps Entertainment, Monkey Massacre, Netflix, Upside Down Pictures)

Superior Achievement in a Poetry Collection

  • Pelayo, Cynthia – Crime Scene (Raw Dog Screaming Press)

Superior Achievement in an Anthology

  • Datlow, Ellen – Screams from the Dark: 29 Tales of Monsters and the Monstrous (Tor Nightfire)

Superior Achievement in Non–Fiction

  • Waggoner, Tim – Writing in the Dark: The Workbook (Guide Dog Books)

Superior Achievement in Short Non–Fiction

  • Murray, Lee – “I Don’t Read Horror (& Other Weird Tales)” (Interstellar Flight Magazine) (Interstellar Flight Press)

Also presented at the ceremony:

LIFETIME ACHIEVEMENT AWARD 

  • Elizabeth Massie
  • Nuzo Onoh
  • John Saul

SPECIALTY PRESS AWARD

  • Undertow Publications

THE RICHARD LAYMON PRESIDENT’S AWARD

  • Meghan Arcuri

THE KAREN LANSDALE SILVER HAMMER AWARD

  • Karen Lansdale

MENTOR OF THE YEAR AWARD

  • David Jeffery

Bram Stoker Awards Rule Changes

The Horror Writers Association’s Bram Stoker Awards® Committee has announced two modifications to the award rules for the 2023 season and forward.


Increase in Number of Member Recommendations Required to Qualify for the Preliminary Ballot — In recognition of the remarkable growth in HWA membership during the past decade, the number of member recommendations required for a work to qualify for the Preliminary Ballot has been increased from five (5) to eight (8). The five-recommendation minimum was in place for many years, during which the number of HWA members who may recommend works for consideration grew from around 400 to around 1800. Raising the qualifying number of recommendations by a modest amount will help maintain the integrity of the Awards. The portion of the Awards rules governing this process now reads:

“At the end of each awards year, the five (5) works with the most member recommendations on the Bram Stoker Awards® Recommended Reading list proceed to the Preliminary Ballot. A work must have a minimum of eight (8) member recommendations to qualify. If there are fewer than five (5) works in a category with the minimum required recommendations, only those with the requisite minimum of eight (8) recommendations will proceed to the Preliminary Ballot. When five (5) works from the Recommended Reading list move to the preliminary ballot, they will be combined with the top five (5) selections from the jury for a total of ten (10) works in each category for the Preliminary Ballot. To comprise a minimum of ten (10) works total for each category on the Preliminary Ballot, any categories in which fewer than five (5) works from the Recommended Reading list have sufficient member recommendations to advance to the Preliminary Ballot, the balance will be drawn from jury selections.”

Expansion of the Poetry Category from “Poetry Collection” to “Poetry (Collection and Long Form)” — In recognition of member requests and a number of works submitted to the juries in recent years, the Bram Stoker Awards Committee has expanded the poetry category to include long-form works in verse in addition to collections. Prior to this change, works such as a novella or novel in verse or an epic poem published in a standalone format did not fit into any Bram Stoker Award category. This change allows such works direct consideration. The new language concerning poetry reads as follows:

“Poetry (Collection and Long Form): A poetry collection is defined as 30 pages or more by a single poet, or a collaboration of 48 pages or more by no more than four (4) poets. Each poet must contribute at least 10% of the poems or word count to the whole, with all works sharing a unified genre, theme, or approach. Long-form poetry is defined as a poem of more than 200 lines or a work in verse of more than 2,500 words. Publication must be in a book, single chapbook, or electronic book format, or for long form poetry only, an electronic magazine—a series of pamphlets or an online source such as a website that simply carry poetry by a single author or authors is not eligible. Individual poems within a collection may have been published prior to the award year, but the collection as a whole must be new. The package may include additional material, such as fiction, nonfiction, or illustrations. To be eligible for a Bram Stoker Award® in the Poetry (Collection and Long Form) category, the majority of the titles in a collection must be comprised of poetry and the fiction content must amount to less than 40,000 words. A single long form poem published in a collection or anthology may be eligible regardless of the prose content in the same publication.”

    The complete Bram Stoker Awards Rules for the 2023 season may also be viewed online here.

    2022 Bram Stoker Awards Final Ballot

    The Horror Writers Association (HWA) today announced the Bram Stoker Award® Nominees for the 2022 calendar year.

    The Bram Stoker Award winners will be announced on June 17 during the Annual Bram Stoker Awards Banquet at StokerCon™ 2023 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. 

    2022 BRAM STOKER AWARDS® FINAL BALLOT 

    Superior Achievement in a Novel

    • Iglesias, Gabino – The Devil Takes You Home (Mullholland Press)
    • Katsu, Alma – The Fervor (G.P. Putnam’s Sons)
    • Kiste, Gwendolyn – Reluctant Immortals (Saga Press)
    • Malerman, Josh – Daphne (Del Rey)
    • Ward, Catriona – Sundial (Tor Nightfire)

    Superior Achievement in a First Novel

    • Adams, Erin – Jackal (Bantam Books)
    • Cañas, Isabel – The Hacienda (Berkley)
    • Jones, KC – Black Tide (Tor Nightfire)
    • Nogle, Christi – Beulah (Cemetery Gates Media)
    • Wilkes, Ally – All the White Spaces (Emily Bestler Books/Atria/Titan Books)

    Superior Achievement in a Middle Grade Novel

    • Dawson, Delilah S. – Camp Scare (Delacorte Press)
    • Kraus, Daniel – They Stole Our Hearts (Henry Holt and Co.)
    • Malinenko, Ally – This Appearing House (Katherine Tegen Books)
    • Senf, Lora – The Clackity (Atheneum Books for Young Readers)
    • Stringfellow, Lisa – A Comb of Wishes (Quill Tree Books)

    Superior Achievement in a Graphic Novel

    • Aquilone, James (editor) – Kolchak: The Night Stalker: 50th Anniversary (Moonstone Books)
    • Gailey, Sarah (author) and Bak, Pius (artist) – Eat the Rich (Boom! Studios)
    • Manzetti, Alessandro (author) and Cardoselli, Stefano (artist/author) – Kraken Inferno: The Last Hunt (Independent Legions Publishing)
    • Tynion IV, James (author) and Dell’Edera, Werther (artist) – Something is Killing the Children, Vol. 4 (Boom! Studios)
    • Young, Skottie (author) and Corona, Jorge (artist) – The Me You Love in the Dark (Image Comics)

    Superior Achievement in a Young Adult Novel

    • Fraistat, Ann – What We Harvest (Delacorte Press)
    • Jackson, Tiffany D. – The Weight of Blood (Katherine Tegen Books)
    • Marshall, Kate Alice – These Fleeting Shadows (Viking)
    • Ottone, Robert P. – The Triangle (Raven Tale Publishing)
    • Schwab, V.E. – Gallant (Greenwillow Books)
    • Tirado, Vincent – Burn Down, Rise Up (Sourcebooks Fire)

    Superior Achievement in Long Fiction

    • Allred, Rebecca J. and White, Gordon B. – And in Her Smile, the World (Trepidatio Publishing)
    • Carmen, Christa – “Through the Looking Glass and Straight into Hell” (Orphans of Bliss: Tales of Addiction Horror) (Wicked Run Press)
    • Hightower, Laurel – Below (Ghoulish Books)
    • Katsu, Alma – The Wehrwolf (Amazon Original Stories)
    • Knight, EV – Three Days in the Pink Tower (Creature Publishing)

    Superior Achievement in Short Fiction

    • Dries, Aaron – “Nona Doesn’t Dance” (Cut to Care: A Collection of Little Hurts) (IFWG Australia, IFWG International)
    • Gwilym, Douglas – “Poppy’s Poppy” (Penumbric Speculative Fiction Magazine, Vol. V, No. 6)
    • McCarthy, J.A.W.  – “The Only Thing Different Will Be the Body” (A Woman Built by Man) (Cemetery Gates Media)
    • Taborska, Anna – “A Song for Barnaby Jones” (Zagava)
    • Taborska, Anna – “The Star” (Great British Horror 7: Major Arcane) (Black Shuck Books)
    • Yardley, Mercedes M. – “Fracture” (Mother: Tales of Love and Terror) (Weird Little Worlds)

    Superior Achievement in a Fiction Collection

    • Ashe, Paula D. – We Are Here to Hurt Each Other (Nictitating Books)
    • Joseph, RJ – Hell Hath No Sorrow Like a Woman Haunted (The Seventh Terrace)
    • Khaw, Cassandra – Breakable Things (Undertow Publications)
    • Thomas, Richard – Spontaneous Human Combustion (Keylight Books)
    • Veres, Attila – The Black Maybe (Valancourt Books)

    Superior Achievement in a Screenplay

    • Cooper, Scott – The Pale Blue Eye (Cross Creek Pictures, Grisbi Productions, Streamline Global Group)
    • Derrickson, Scott and Cargill, C. Robert – The Black Phone (Blumhouse Productions, Crooked Highway, Universal Pictures) Duffer Brothers, The – Stranger Things: Episode 04.01 “Chapter One: The Hellfire Club” (21 Laps Entertainment, Monkey Massacre, Netflix, Upside Down Pictures)
    • Garland, Alex – Men (DNA Films)
    • Goth, Mia and West, Ti – Pearl (A24, Bron Creative, Little Lamb, New Zealand Film Commission)

    Superior Achievement in a Poetry Collection

    • Bailey, Michael and Simon, Marge – Sifting the Ashes (Crystal Lake Publishing)
    • Lynch, Donna – Girls from the County (Raw Dog Screaming Press)
    • Pelayo, Cynthia – Crime Scene (Raw Dog Screaming Press)
    • Saulson, Sumiko – The Rat King: A Book of Dark Poetry (Dooky Zines)
    • Sng, Christina – The Gravity of Existence (Interstellar Flight Press)

    Superior Achievement in an Anthology

    • Datlow, Ellen – Screams from the Dark: 29 Tales of Monsters and the Monstrous (Tor Nightfire)
    • Hartmann, Sadie and Saywers, Ashley – Human Monsters: A Horror Anthology (Dark Matter Ink)
    • Nogle, Christi and Becker, Willow – Mother: Tales of Love and Terror (Weird Little Worlds)
    • Ryan, Lindy – Into the Forest: Tales of the Baba Yaga (Black Spot Books)
    • Tantlinger, Sara – Chromophobia: A Strangehouse Anthology by Women in Horror (Strangehouse Books)

    Superior Achievement in Non–Fiction

    • Cisco, Michael – Weird Fiction: A Genre Study (Palgrave Macmillan)
    • Hieber, Leanna Renee and Janes, Andrea – A Haunted History of Invisible Women: True Stories of America’s Ghosts (Citadel Press)
    • Kröger, Lisa and Anderson, Melanie R. – Toil and Trouble: A Women’s History of the Occult (Quirk Books)
    • Waggoner, Tim – Writing in the Dark: The Workbook (Guide Dog Books)
    • Wytovich, Stephanie M. – Writing Poetry in the Dark (Raw Dog Screaming Press)

    Superior Achievement in Short Non–Fiction

    • Murray, Lee – “I Don’t Read Horror (& Other Weird Tales)” (Interstellar Flight Magazine) (Interstellar Flight Press)
    • Pelayo, Cynthia – “This is Not a Poem” (Writing Poetry in the Dark) (Raw Dog Screaming Press)
    • Wetmore, Jr., Kevin J. – “A Clown in the Living Room: The Sinister Clown on Television” (The Many Lives of Scary Clowns: Essays on Pennywise, Twisty, the Joker, Krusty and More) (McFarland and Company)
    • Wood, L. Marie – “African American Horror Authors and Their Craft: The Evolution of Horror Fiction from African Folklore” (Conjuring Worlds: An Afrofuturist Textbook for Middle and High School Students) (Conjure World)
    • Wood, L. Marie, “The H Word: The Horror of Hair” (Nightmare Magazine, No. 118) (Adamant Press)

    2022 Bram Stoker Awards Preliminary Ballot Announced

    Bram Stoker Award trophy

    The Horror Writers Association (HWA) today announced the 2022 Bram Stoker Awards Preliminary Ballot.

    This is not the list of finalists, nor are they called nominees: it is the list which HWA members will choose from when they vote to determine the finalists.

    The Final Ballot (Bram Stoker Award Nominees for the 2022 calendar year) will be announced on or around February 23, 2023.

    THE 2022 BRAM STOKER AWARDS® PRELIMINARY BALLOT

    Superior Achievement in a Novel

    • Baxter, Alan – Sallow Bend (Cemetery Dance Publications)
    • Iglesias, Gabino – The Devil Takes You Home (Mullholland Press)
    • Ihli, Noelle W. –Ask for Andrea (Dynamite Books)
    • Katsu, Alma – The Fervor (G.P. Putnam’s Sons)
    • King, Stephen – Fairy Tale (Scribner)
    • Kiste, Gwendolyn – Reluctant Immortals (Saga Press)
    • Kraus, Daniel – The Ghost That Ate Us: The Tragic True Story of the Burger City Poltergeist (Raw Dog Screaming Press)
    • Malerman, Josh – Daphne (Del Rey)
    • Nix, Gwendolyn – I Have Asked to Be Where No Storms Came (Crystal Lake Publishing)
    • Roberts, Nick – The Exorcist’s House (Crystal Lake Publishing)
    • Ward, Catriona – Sundial (Tor Nightfire)

    Superior Achievement in a First Novel

    • Adams, Erin –Jackal (Bantam Books)
    • Cañas, Isabel –The Hacienda (Berkley)
    • Durgin, John –Cursed Among Us (Independently published)
    • Emerson, Ramona –Shutter (Soho Crime)
    • Fawcett, Jennifer –Beneath the Stairs (Atria Books)
    • Gray, John –Desecrated (Ellysian Press)
    • Hans, Sarah – Entomophobia (Omnium Gatherum)
    • Jones, KC –Black Tide (Tor Nightfire)
    • Nogle, Christi –Beulah (Cemetery Gates Media)
    • Wilkes, Ally –All the White Spaces (Emily Bestler Books/Atria)

    Superior Achievement in a Middle Grade Novel

    • Bayron, Kalynn – The Vanquishers (Bloomsbury Children’s Books)
    • Brown, Roseanne A. – Serwa Boateng’s Guide to Slaying Vampires (Rick Riordan Presents/Disney Hyperion)
    • Chow, Derrick – Ravenous Things (Disney Hyperion)
    • Dawson, Delilah S. – Camp Scare (Delacorte Press)
    • Hahn, Mary Downing – What We Saw (Clarion Books)
    • Kraus, Daniel – They Stole Our Hearts (Henry Holt and Co.)
    • Malinenko, Ally – This Appearing House (Katherine Tegen Books)
    • Poblocki, Dan – Tales to Keep You Up at Night (Penguin Workshop)
    • Senf, Lora – The Clackity (Atheneum Books for Young Readers)
    • Stringfellow, Lisa – A Comb of Wishes (Quill Tree Books)

    Superior Achievement in a Graphic Novel

    • Aquilone, James (editor) – Kolchak: The Night Stalker: 50th Anniversary (Moonstone Books)
    • Barnes, Rodney (author),Alexander, Jason Shawn (artist), NCT, Luis (artist), and Mitten, Chris (artist) – Killadelphia, Vol. 4 (Image Comics)
    • Gailey, Sarah (author) and Bak, Pius (artist) – Eat the Rich (Boom! Studios)
    • Lemire, Jeff (author)and Nguyen, Dustin (artist)– Little Monsters, Vol 1 (Image Comics)
    • Manzetti, Alessandro (author) and Cardoselli, Stefano (artist) – Kraken Inferno: The Last Hunt (Independent Legions Publishing)
    • Tynion IV, James (authors) and Brombal, Tate and Shehan, Chris (artist) – House of Slaughter, Vol. 1 (Boom! Studios)
    • Tynion IV, James (author) and Bueno, Alvaro Martinez (artist) – The Nice House on the Lake, Vol. 1 (DC Comics)
    • Tynion IV, James (author) and Dell’Edera, Werther (artist) – Something is Killing the Children, Vol. 4 (Boom! Studios)
    • Tynion IV, James (author), Fullerton, Gavin (artist), and O’Halloran, Chris (artist) – The Closet, Vol. 1 (Image Comics)
    • Young, Skottie (author) and Corona, Jorge (artist) – The Me You Love in the Dark (Image Comics)

    Superior Achievement in a Young Adult Novel

    • Anderson, Lily –Scout’s Honor (Henry Holt and Co.)
    • Fraistat, Ann –What We Harvest (Delacorte Press)
    • Jackson, Tiffany D. –The Weight of Blood (Katherine Tegen Books)
    • Lesperance, Nicole –The Depths (Razorbill)
    • Marshall, Kate Alice –These Fleeting Shadows (Viking)
    • Ottone, Robert P. –The Triangle (Raven Tale Publishing)
    • Parker, Amy Christine –Flight 171 (Underlined)
    • Schwab, V.E. –Gallant (Greenwillow Books)
    • Tirado, Vincent –Burn Down, Rise Up (Sourcebooks Fire)
    • White, Andrew Joseph –Hell Followed with Us (Peachtree Teen)

    Superior Achievement in Long Fiction

    • Allan, Lucy Elizabeth–Skin Grows Over (Ghost Orchid Press)
    • Allred, Rebecca J. and White, Gordon B. –And in Her Smile, the World (Trepidatio Publishing)
    • Campbell, Rebecca –The Talosite (Undertow Publications)
    • Carmen, Christa – “Through the Looking Glass and Straight into Hell” (Orphans of Bliss: Tales of Addiction Horror) (Wicked Run Press)
    • Hightower, Laurel – Below (Ghoulish Books)
    • Katsu, Alma –The Wehrwolf (Amazon Original Stories)
    • Knight, EV – Three Days in the Pink Tower(Creature Publishing)
    • Kulski, K.P. –House of Pungsu (Bizarro Pulp Press)
    • Ruthnum, Naben – Helpmeet (Undertow Publications)
    • Shaw, M. – One Hand to Hold, One Hand to Carve (Tenebrous Press)

    Superior Achievement in Short Fiction

    • Baglio, Joy – “They Could Have Been Yours” (The Missouri Review, No. 45.1)
    • Benedetto, Warren – “Blame” (The Dread Machine)
    • Dries, Aaron – “Nona Doesn’t Dance” (Cut to Care: A Collection of Little Hurts) (IFWG Australia, IFWG International)
    • Gwilym, Douglas – “Poppy’s Poppy” (Penumbric Speculative Fiction Magazine, Vol. V, No. 6)
    • Hinkle, Larry – “That’s What Friends Are For” (Dark Recesses Press, Vol. 6, No. 16) (Dark Recesses Press)
    • McCarthy, J.A.W.  – “The Only Thing Different Will Be the Body” (A Woman Built by Man) (Cemetery Gates Media)
    • Rigole, Emily – “The Bear Across the Way” (PseudoPod) (Escape Artists Foundation)
    • Taborska, Anna – “A Song for Barnaby Jones” (Zagava)
    • Taborska, Anna – “The Star” (Great British Horror 7: Major Arcane) (Black Shuck Books)
    • Yardley, Mercedes M – “Fracture” (Mother: Tales of Love and Terror) (Weird Little Worlds)

    Superior Achievement in a Fiction Collection

    • Ashe, Paula D. – We Are Here to Hurt Each Other (Nictitating Books)
    • Burnett, Justin A. The Puppet King and Other Atonements (Trepidatio Publishing)
    • Couturier, Scott J– The Box (Hybrid Sequence Media)
    • Joseph, RJ – Hell Hath No Sorrow Like a Woman Haunted (The Seventh Terrace)
    • Khaw, Cassandra – Breakable Things (Undertow Publications)
    • Raglin, Eric – Extinction Hymns (Brigids Gate Press)
    • Schwaeble, Hank – Moonless Nocturne (Esker & Riddle Press)
    • Stephens, Caleb – If Only a Heart and Other Tales of Terror (Salt Heart Press)
    • Thomas, Richard – Spontaneous Human Combustion(Keylight Books)
    • Veres, Attila– The Black Maybe (Valancourt Books)

    Superior Achievement in a Screenplay

    • Coggeshall, David – Orphan: First Kill (Dark Castle Entertainment, Eagle Vision, Entertainment One)
    • Cooper, Scott – The Pale Blue Eye (Cross Creek Pictures,Grisbi Productions, Streamline Global Group)
    • Derrickson, Scott and Cargill, C. Robert – The Black Phone (Blumhouse Productions, Crooked Highway, Universal Pictures)
    • Duffer Brothers, The – Stranger Things: Episode 04.01 “Chapter One: The Hellfire Club” (21 Laps Entertainment, Monkey Massacre, Netflix, Upside Down Pictures)
    • Garland, Alex – Men (DNA Films)
    • Goth, Mia and West, Ti – Pearl (A24,Bron Creative, Little Lamb, New Zealand Film Commission)
    • Kahn, Lauryn –Fresh (Hyperobject Industries, Legendary Entertainment,Searchlight Pictures)
    • Lee, Vivian and Griffin, John – From: Episode 01.07 “All Good Things” (AGBO,Epix Studios, MGM, Midnight Radio)
    • Murphy, Ryan and Brennan, Ian –Dahmer—Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story: Episode 01.02 “Please Don’t Go” (Netflix, Prospect Films, Ryan Murphy Productions)
    • Tafdrup, Mads and Tafdrup, Christian – Speak No Evil (Det Danske Filminstitut,FilmFyn, Netherlands Film Production Incentive, Oak Motion Pictures, Profile Pictures)

    Superior Achievement in a Poetry Collection

    • Bailey, Michael and Simon, Marge – Sifting the Ashes (Crystal Lake Publishing)
    • Bolivar, Adam – Ballads for the Witching Hour (Hippocampus Press)
    • Cowen, David E. – The Hand That Wounds (Weasel Press)
    • Lynch, Donna – Girls from the County(Raw Dog Screaming Press)
    • Oliver, Jeff and Reilly, Gordon – Venomous Words (Hellbound Books)
    • O’Quinn, Cindy and Ellis, Stephanie – Foundlings (Independently Published)
    • Pelayo, Cynthia – Crime Scene (Raw Dog Screaming Press)
    • Manzetti, Alessandro and Runge, Karen – Kubrick Rhapsody (Independent Legions Publishing)
    • Margariti, Avra – The Saint of Witches (Weasel Press)
    • Saulson, Sumiko – The Rat King: A Book of Dark Poetry (Independently Published)
    • Singh, Hamant – The Sybil (Partridge Publishing Singapore)
    • Sng, Christina – The Gravity of Existence (Interstellar Flight Press)

    Superior Achievement in an Anthology

    • Carmen, Christa and Daniels, L.E.– We Are Providence: Tales of Horror from the Ocean State (Weird House Press)
    • Datlow, Ellen – Screams from the Dark: 29 Tales of Monsters and the Monstrous (Tor Nightfire)
    • Hartmann, Sadie and Saywers, Ashley – Human Monsters: A Horror Anthology (Dark Matter Ink)
    • Jenkins, James D. and Cagle, Ryan – The Valancourt Book of World Horror Stories, Volume 2 (Valancourt Books)
    • Lagoe, Red – Nightmare Sky: Stories of Astronomical Horror (Death Knell Press)
    • Murano, Doug –The Hideous Book of Hidden Horrors (Bad Hand Books)
    • Nogle, Christi and Becker, Willow – Mother: Tales of Love and Terror (Weird Little Worlds)
    • Ryan, Lindy – Into the Forest: Tales of the Baba Yaga (Black Spot Books)
    • Taff, John F.D. – Dark Stars (Tor Nightfire)
    • Tantlinger, Sara – Chromophobia: A Strangehouse Anthology by Women in Horror (Strangehouse Books)

    Superior Achievement in Non–Fiction

    • Cardin, Matt –What the Daemon Said: Essays on Horror Fiction, Film, and Philosophy (Hippocampus Press)
    • Cisco, Michael – Weird Fiction: A Genre Study(Palgrave Macmillan)
    • Edwards, Justin D., Graulund, Rune and Höglund, Johan – Dark Scenes from Damaged Earth: The Gothic Anthropocene (University of Minnesota Press)
    • Grafius, Brandon R. –Lurking Under the Surface: Horror, Religion, and the Questions that Haunt Us (Broadleaf Books)
    • Hieber, Leanna Renee and Janes, Andrea–A Haunted History of Invisible Women: True Stories of America’s Ghosts (Citadel Press)
    • Kröger, Lisa and Anderson, Melanie R. –Toil and Trouble: A Women’s History of the Occult (Quirk Books)
    • Ocker, J.W. – The United States of Cryptids: A Tour of American Myths and Monsters (Quirk Books)
    • Shapiro, Stephen and Storey, Mark–The Cambridge Companion to American Horror (Cambridge University Press)
    • Waggoner,Tim –Writing in the Dark: The Workbook (Guide Dog Books)
    • Wytovich, Stephanie M. –Writing Poetry in the Dark (Raw Dog Screaming Press)

    Superior Achievement in Short Non–Fiction

    • Davis, Chelsea – “Polychromatic Perversity: Hypercolor, Vice, and Violence in Horror” (Tor Nightfire)
    • Kerestman, Katherine – “Dracula: Bram Stoker’s Love Letter to the Human Race” (Penumbra, no. 3) (Hippocampus Press)
    • Murray, Lee – “I Don’t Read Horror (& Other Weird Tales)” (Interstellar Flight Magazine) (Interstellar Flight Press)
    • Nzondi – “When Writing About Mental Illness, Handle with Care” (Books & Buzz Magazine Vol. 4, No. 9) (ChapterBuzz Author Community)
    • Ottone, Robert P. – “The Lingering Terror of Silent Hill” (Weird House Magazine, No. 1) (Weird House Press)
    • Pelayo, Cynthia – “This is Not a Poem” (Writing Poetry in the Dark) (Raw Dog Screaming Press)
    • Ranglin, Eric – “The H Word: A Celebration of Sonic Horror” (Nightmare Magazine, No. 123) (Adamant Press)
    • Wetmore, Jr., Kevin J. – “A Clown in the Living Room: The Sinister Clown on Television” (The Many Lives of Scary Clowns: Essays on Pennywise, Twisty, the Joker, Krusty and More) (McFarland and Company)
    • Wood, L. Marie – “African American Horror Authors and Their Craft: The Evolution of Horror Fiction from African Folklore” (Conjuring Worlds: An Afrofuturist Textbook for Middle and High School Students) (Conjure World)
    • Wood, L. Marie, “The H Word: The Horror of Hair” (Nightmare Magazine, No. 118) (Adamant Press)

    Pixel Scroll 7/14/22 You’ve Got To — Accentuate The Positronic

    (1) SMACK IN THE MIDDLE (EARTH) WITH YOU. Amazon Prime put out “The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power” main teaser today.

    Prime Video’s The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power brings to screens for the very first time the heroic legends of the fabled Second Age of Middle-earth’s history. This epic drama is set thousands of years before the events of J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings, and will take viewers back to an era in which great powers were forged, kingdoms rose to glory and fell to ruin, unlikely heroes were tested, hope hung by the finest of threads, and the greatest villain that ever flowed from Tolkien’s pen threatened to cover all the world in darkness. Beginning in a time of relative peace, the series follows an ensemble cast of characters, both familiar and new, as they confront the long-feared re-emergence of evil to Middle-earth. From the darkest depths of the Misty Mountains, to the majestic forests of the elf-capital of Lindon, to the breathtaking island kingdom of Númenor, to the furthest reaches of the map, these kingdoms and characters will carve out legacies that live on long after they are gone.

    (2) WESTERCON COVID TALLY. Westercon 74, held in Tonopah, asked that any person who contracted COVID-19 during the con or for one week following send them an email so they could track any outbreak.  Kevin Standlee reports that at the end of the week 11 members reported positive COVID-19 tests. That represents 7% of the members who picked up their badges and attended the convention. The contact reports by those who gave permission to have their information published are at http://westercon74.org/covid/.

    (3) STOKING THE FLAMES. LitReactor interviewed Bram Stoker Awards administrator James Chambers to find out “Everything You Ever Wanted to Know About the Bram Stoker Awards® | LitReactor

    Each year there’s an official Stoker reading list. I have used this list a lot both to make recommendations and to read recommended works. A few questions about the list: Is it open for public viewing?

    Yes, a public version of the list for works published in 2022 is available here. Members recommend works they think merit consideration for a Bram Stoker Award, and we share their selections with the public. It’s a great resource for anyone looking for reading suggestions or wondering what’s new that year. Libraries sometimes refer to this list to make book selections for their patrons. Anyone, HWA member or not, can view this record of horror publishing from year to year. Last year’s list is available here.

    Who is allowed to recommend books to the list?

    Any member of the HWA in good standing may recommend books….

    (4) GETTING TO KNOW YOU. Kelley Armstrong discusses the historical research she did for her time travel mystery A Rip Through Time in “Adventures in Writing Time Travel” at CrimeReads.

    …I decided to try a time-travel mystery… with a modern detective, transported into the body of a housemaid working for an undertaker-turned-early-forensic-scientist in 1869 Edinburgh. That meant researching domestic service, undertaking, law enforcement, medicine, forensics and so much more, all of it in Scotland while most of the resources are English.

    I quickly learned that secondary resources aren’t necessarily reliable. I spent the first quarter of the book referring to my local police detective as Inspector McCreadie, based on secondary sources that insisted that was the proper title in both England and Scotland. Then I started poring over firsthand police accounts and contemporary newspapers, only to discover the correct title was Detective….

    (5) PUPPY PUPPETRY [Item by Martin Morse Wooster.] In the Financial Times behind a paywall, Sarah Hemming discusses a new musical version of 101 Dalmatians, which is playing at the Open Air Theatre (openairtheatre.com) in Regent’s Park through August 28.  She interviews the theatre’s artistic director, Timothy Sheader.

    “There is the matter of 101 spotty dogs. And that’s before you get to the canine alliance that springs into action to rescue the stolen pups.  A pack of hounds on stage, park or no park, seems inadvisable, so while there might be a fleeting glimpse of a real puppy–‘things may get changed in previews,’ says Sheader — the vast majority of dog action will be down to puppets and children — ‘We have 96 puppets, four children, and a dog.’

    For Sheader, puppets are not just a practical solution:  they also invite you to identify with the dogs.  ‘What the cartoon does brilliantly is what the novel does:  it manages to be from the perspective of the dogs,’ he says. ‘And when you go to (actual) dogs that can’t talk, they get sidelined.  We have managed to control the dogs like the cartoon. What I like about puppetry is the invitation to an audience to use their imaginations.'”

    (6) A FAMILY TRADITION. “Long before Frank Oz brought many Muppets to life, his father, an amateur Dutch puppeteer, made a Hitler marionette as an act of defiance. He buried it during the war.” “The Saga of a World War II Ancestor of Miss Piggy, Bert and Yoda” in the New York Times.

    A marionette of Hitler that was created in the 1930s as an instrument of parody by Frank Oz’s father, Isidore (Mike) Oznowicz, will be displayed at the Contemporary Jewish Museum in San Francisco.via Frank Oznowicz, Jenny Oznowicz and Ronald Oznowicz; Jason Madella

    The puppet stands 20 inches tall, hand-painted and carved out of wood, its uniform tattered and torn. But for all it has endured over more than 80 years — buried in a backyard in Belgium at the outset of World War II, dug up after the war and taken on a nine-day cross-Atlantic journey, stored and almost forgotten in an attic in Oakland, Calif. — it remains, with its black toothbrush mustache and right arm raised in a Nazi salute, immediately and chillingly recognizable.

    It is a depiction of Hitler, hand-carved and painted in the late 1930s by an amateur Dutch puppeteer, Isidore (Mike) Oznowicz, and clothed by his Flemish wife, Frances, as they lived in prewar Belgium.

    The Hitler marionette, an instrument of parody and defiance, offers an intriguing glimpse into the strong puppetry tradition in the family of the man who retrieved it from that attic: Frank Oz, one of its creators’ sons, who went on to become one of the 20th century’s best-known puppeteers, bringing Cookie Monster, Bert, Miss Piggy and others to life through his collaborations with Jim Henson, and later becoming a force in the Star Wars movies, giving voice to Yoda. The marionette will be shown publicly for the first time later this month at the Contemporary Jewish Museum in San Francisco….

    (7) CHECKED OUT FOR GOOD. A local library is a casualty of the culture wars. “What’s Happening With The Vinton Public Library” asks the Iowa Starting Line.

    Residents of a small Iowa town criticized their library’s LGBTQ staff and their displaying of LGBTQ-related books until most of the staff quit. Now, the town’s library is closed for the foreseeable future.

    After having the same library director for 32 years, the Vinton Public Library can’t seem to keep the position filled anymore. Since summer 2021, the Vinton Public Library has gone through two permanent directors and an interim director who has served in that role twice. 

    Located about 40 miles northwest of Cedar Rapids, the doors of the Vinton Public Library—housed in a brick and stone Carnegie—have been open to the public since 1904, but were shuttered on Friday, July 8, while the Vinton Library Board tries to sort out staffing issues seemingly brought on by local dalliances with the national culture wars….  

    (8) MEMORY LANE.  

    1999 [By Cat Eldridge.] Muppets in Space which premiered on this day was the first film released after the death of Jim Henson. As such, it came with great hope and quite a few individuals expected it to, well, fail as it didn’t have the magic of Jim Henson in it. 

    It was written by written by Jerry Juhl, Joseph Mazzarino, and Ken Kaufman. Juhl wrote every Muppets films that had been done as well as the chief writer on The Muppets, Mazzarino was the chief writer on Head Writer and Director on Sesame Street.  So serious writing creds here. Well excepting Kaufman who had none.

    SPOILERS HERE! 

    The plot is an SF one with Gonzo being told by a pair of cosmic knowledge fish, that he is an alien from outer space. Yes, I’m serious as he really as we will see an entire ship full of gonzo beings. Now having said that very weird tidbit, I’m not going to say another word about the story.

    SPOILERS END!

    One of the co-writers, Mazzarino. has repeatedly said that he left the film before shooting started, due to changes made to his draft of the screenplay. He said that his draft included parodies of AlienContact and  Men in Black but most of that got removed on the request of the studio. 

    Reception was decidedly mixed. Robert Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Tribune said, “Muppets from Space is just not very good.” However, Robin Rauzi of the Los Angeles Times exclaimed “The magic is back.” Frank Oz, who was not there for the filming, kvetched that it was “not the movie that we wanted it to be.”   

    Indeed, it lost money, not much, as it made just about two million less than the twenty-four that it cost to make.   

    Audience reviewers at Rotten Tomatoes give it an excellent sixty-three percent rating.   

    (9) TODAY’S BIRTHDAYS.

    [Compiled by Cat Eldridge.]

    • Born July 14, 1906 Abner J. Gelula. One of the many authors* of Cosmos, a serialized novel that appeared first in Science Fiction Digest in July 1933 and then has a really complicated publication that I won’t detail here. It was critiqued as “the world’s most fabulous serial,” “one of the unique stunts of early science fiction,” and conversely “a failure, miserable and near-complete.” The entire text, chapter by chapter, can be read here. [*To be precise, Earl Binder, Otto Binder. Arthur J. Burks, John W. Campbell, Jr., Lloyd Arthur Eshbach, Ralph Milne Farley, Francis Flagg, J. Harvey Haggard, Edmond Hamilton, David H. Keller, M.D., Otis Adelbert Kline, A. Merritt, P. Schuyler Miller, Bob Olsen, Raymond A. Palmer, E. Hoffmann Price and Edward E. Smith. Gulp!] (Died 1985) 
    • Born July 14, 1910 William Hanna. American animator, voice actor, cartoonist, and who was the co-creator with Joseph Barbera of Tom and Jerry as well as the creator of the animation studio and production company Hanna-Barbera. He’s also responsible for The Flintstones and Jetsons. (Died 2001.)
    • Born July 14, 1926 Harry Dean Stanton. My favorite genre role for him? The tarot card player in them video for Procul Harum’s “A Whiter Shade of Pale”. No, I’m not kidding.  He also played Paul of Tarsus in The Last Temptation of Christ, Harold “Brain” Hellman in Escape from New York, Detective Rudolph “Rudy” Junkins in Christine, Bud in Repo Man, Carl Rod in Twin Peaks twice, Toot-Toot in The Green Mile, Harvey in Alien Autopsy and a Security Guard in The Avengers. He didn’t do a lot of genre tv, one episode of The Wild Wild West as Lucius Brand in “The Night of The Hangman” and a character named Lemon on Alfred Hitchcock Presents in the “Escape to Sonoita” episode. (Died 2017.)
    • Born July 14, 1943 Christopher Priest, 79. This is the Birthday of the One and True Christopher Priest. If I was putting together an introductory reading list to him, I’d start with The Prestige, add in the Islanders (both of which won BSFAs) and its companion volume, The Dream Archipelago. Maybe Inverted World as well. How’s that sound?  What would you add in? 
    • Born July 14, 1964 Jane Espenson, 58. She had a five-year stint as a writer and producer on Buffy the Vampire Slayer where she shared a Hugo Award at Torcon 3 (2003) for her writing on the “Conversations with Dead People” episode, and she shared another Hugo at Chicon 7 (2012) for Game of Thrones, season one. She was on the writing staff for the fourth season of Torchwood and executive produced Caprica. And yes, she had a stint on the rebooted Galactica.
    • Born July 14, 1966 Brian Selznick, 56. Illustrator and writer best known as the writer of The Invention of Hugo Cabret which may or may not be genre. You decide. His later work, Wonderstruck, definitely is. The Marvels, a story of a traveling circus family is magical in its own right though not genre. His next work, Kaleidoscopic, due out this autumn looks to just as fantastic. 
    • Born July 14, 1987 Sara Canning, 35. Major roles in A Series of Unfortunate Events, Primeval: New World and The Vampire Dairies, she also appeared in Once Upon a TimeWar for the Planet Of The ApesAndroid EmployedSupernatural and Smallville to name some of her other genre work.

    (10) COMICS SECTION.

    • Some JWST humor from Shane Bevin.

    (11) NARRATIVE HOOK. Molly Odintz interviews Liz Michalski “Liz Michalski On Peter Pan, Motherhood, and the Meaning of Perpetual Youth” at CrimeReads.

    In Darling Girl, Wendy Darling was merely the first of many generations of women to be visited by the perpetually youthful Pan. Is this a stand-in for generational trauma?

    I was thinking more along the lines of the Me Too movement and what a struggle it has been for women to be heard. Peter Pan’s story has been told for years — now it’s the turn of the Darling women.

    (12) USUAL THINGS. Once again – don’t let people work con security who want to work con security: “’Stranger Things’ Fans Brought Joseph Quinn to Tears After Security Yelled at Him for Speaking to Them”Yahoo! relays the latest example why.

    Stranger Things” breakout Joseph Quinn broke down in tears during a recent appearance at London Film and Comic Con. The actor, who became an instant fan favorite thanks to his performance as Hellfire Club leader Eddie on the fourth season of the Netflix series, couldn’t hold tears back after a fan stood up to thank him for sharing his time with fans.

    Reports surfaced on social media during London Film and Comic Con that security hounded Quinn for interacting with fans for too long while signing memorabilia (via BuzzFeed). The event reportedly oversold tickets to Quinn’s meet-and-greet, and thus wanted to filter guests in and out quickly. Quinn apparently was chatting with his fans for longer than security would have liked.

    “The way Joseph Quinn was treated at LFCC is fucking disgusting,” one attendee wrote on social media “Staff fully yelled at him to shut the fuck up and to just sign and not to interact with fans [because] they over sold and couldn’t get all people seen.”

    During a larger Q&A session with Quinn, one fan stood up and said, “Mine’s not really a question, it’s just more an extension of gratitude. A lot of us have heard of what happened yesterday, whether it’s true or not, about how you were treated. I really want to say, we’re really grateful that you’re sharing your time. Thank you for signing our things, for spending time with us and making our summer.”

    (13) OVERDRAWN AT THE BLADE BANK. “House of the Dragon Iron Throne prop had to borrow swords” says SYFY Wire.

    We regret to inform you that the supply chain issues caused by the COVID-19 health crisis have finally reached Westeros. Speaking with Entertainment Weekly for a lengthy feature about the upcoming House of the Dragon (premiering on HBO and HBO Max late next month), co-showrunner, executive producer, and series director Miguel Sapochnik estimated that around 2,500 swords were used to build the show’s interpretation of the coveted Iron Throne.

    Construction on this prop required so many blades, in fact, that the Game of Thrones prequel was forced to borrow a few sabres from other fantasy projects like Netflix’s The Witcher and Duncan Jones’ Warcraft movie.

    The resultant amalgamation of steel representing the epicenter of Targaryen power isn’t just a harmless bit of set dressing — it could actually take an eye out. “Literally we had to put [up] fences when we first built it,” Sapochnik revealed. “Some of them are real swords. It is as dangerous as it is [described] in the books.” While the crew could have gotten away with recycling the Iron Throne created for GoT, they decided to build something that felt more accurate to the one described in the books penned by George R.R. Martin.

    (14) ALTERNATIVE TO RUSSIAN LAUNCHER. “Successful debut flight for Europe’s Vega-C rocket” reports BBC News.

    The medium-lift vehicle was sent up from French Guiana to deliver seven satellites to orbit, the largest of which will test Einstein’s general theory of relativity.

    Vega-C has enormous importance for Europe’s continued access to space.

    It’s needed to fill a big gap in capability now that Russian rockets are no longer available because of the war in Ukraine.

    The withdrawal from the market of Moscow’s Soyuz launchers earlier this year left European institutional and commercial satellites scrambling for alternative rides.

    Vega-C will be the obvious option for many, although even before Wednesday’s successful maiden flight, the new Italian-led rocket system was fully booked through 2023, 2024 and 2025.

    And there’s a further reason why Vega-C’s entry into the launcher business is critical. Its first stage, the segment of the vehicle that gets it up off the ground, is also going to be used on Europe’s forthcoming heavy-lift rocket, the Ariane-6.

    Sharing the stage technology across both launcher systems is expected to lead to significant cost savings…

    (15) THIRD FIFTH. The Season 5 teaser for The Handmaid’s Tale dropped today.

    In Season 5, June faces consequences for killing Commander Waterford while struggling to redefine her identity and purpose. The widowed Serena attempts to raise her profile in Toronto as Gilead’s influence creeps into Canada. Commander Lawrence works with Aunt Lydia as he tries to reform Gilead and rise in power. June, Luke, and Moira fight Gilead from a distance as they continue their mission to save and reunite with Hannah.

    (16) SPLISH SPLASH. [Item by Mike Kennedy.] It could be Waterworld Part II  if Kevin Costner, Dennis Hopper, Jeanne Tripplehorn, et al. were anime characters. (Well, I hope I’m mistaken.): “Netflix’s ‘Drifting Home’ trailer introduces a mysterious, water-filled anime world”. Available to stream on September 16.

    …The film follows two childhood friends who go to play in the now-abandoned apartment building where they grew up, only to suddenly find themselves floating through a watery world with their old neighbourhood no longer in sight.

    (17) VIDEO OF THE DAY. [Item by Martin Morse Wooster.] In “Honest Trailers: Stranger Things (Season 4),” the Screen Junkies say that Stranger Things has run out of Stephen King material to copy, so they’re riffing off of heavy metal album covers and ’90s movies.  The character David Harbour plays “should be dead.  But someone wanted David Harbour tortured–a lot.”  And what rocker in the ’80s preferred Kate Bush to Lynyrd Skynyrd?

    [Thanks to JJ, John King Tarpinian, Andrew Porter, Todd Mason, SF Concatenation’s Jonathan Cowie, Jennifer Hawthorne, Chris Barkley, Michael Toman, Cat Eldridge, Mike Kennedy, and Martin Morse Wooster for some of these stories. Title credit belongs to File 770 contributing editor of the day Daneel Dern.]

    2021 Bram Stoker Awards

    The Horror Writers Association (HWA) announced the Bram Stoker Award® winners for the 2021 calendar year on May 14 at StokerCon 2022 in Denver.

    SUPERIOR ACHIEVEMENT IN A NOVEL

    • Jones, Stephen Graham – My Heart Is a Chainsaw (Gallery/Saga Press)

    SUPERIOR ACHIEVEMENT IN A FIRST NOVEL

    • Piper, Hailey – Queen of Teeth (Strangehouse Books)

    SUPERIOR ACHIEVEMENT IN A GRAPHIC NOVEL

    • Manzetti, Alessandro (author) and Cardoselli, Stefano (artist) – The Inhabitant of the Lake (Independent Legions Publishing)

    SUPERIOR ACHIEVEMENT IN A YOUNG ADULT NOVEL

    • Waters, Erica – The River Has Teeth (HarperTeen)

    SUPERIOR ACHIEVEMENT IN LONG FICTION

    • Strand, Jeff – “Twentieth Anniversary Screening” (Slice and Dice) (Independently published)

    SUPERIOR ACHIEVEMENT IN SHORT FICTION

    • Murray, Lee – “Permanent Damage” (Attack From the ’80s) (Raw Dog Screaming Press)

    SUPERIOR ACHIEVEMENT IN A FICTION COLLECTION

    • Files, Gemma – In That Endlessness, Our End (Grimscribe Press)

    SUPERIOR ACHIEVEMENT IN A SCREENPLAY

    • Flanagan, Mike; Flanagan, James; and Howard, Jeff – Midnight Mass, Season 1, Episode 6: “Book VI: Acts of the Apostles” (Intrepid Pictures)

    SUPERIOR ACHIEVEMENT IN A POETRY COLLECTION

    • Sng, Christina; Yuriko Smith, Angela; Murray, Lee; and Flynn, Geneve – Tortured Willows: Bent. Bowed. Unbroken. (Yuriko Publishing)

    SUPERIOR ACHIEVEMENT IN AN ANTHOLOGY

    • Datlow, Ellen – When Things Get Dark: Stories Inspired by Shirley Jackson (Titan Books) 

    SUPERIOR ACHIEVEMENT IN NON-FICTION

    • Knost, Michael – Writers Workshop of Horror 2 (Hydra Publications)

    SUPERIOR ACHIEVEMENT IN SHORT NON-FICTION

    • Yuriko Smith, Angela – “Horror Writers: Architects of Hope” (The Sirens Call, Halloween 2021, Issue 55) (Sirens Call Publications)

    Also recognized during tonight’s ceremony were these previously announced HWA service and specialty award winners.

    LIFETIME ACHIEVEMENT

    • Jo Fletcher
    • Nancy Holder
    • Koji Suzuki

    SPECIALTY PRESS

    • Valancourt Books

    THE RICHARD LAYMON PRESIDENT’S AWARD

    • Sumiko Saulson

    THE SILVER HAMMER AWARD

    • Kevin J. Wetmore

    MENTOR OF THE YEAR

    • Michael Knost