StokerCon Wrap Up: Bram Stoker Awards, Summer Scares, and Me!

 Well I had a weekend! It was months in the making, but somehow a group of us all pulled off a completely Virtual StokerCon and it was a HUGE success! Even the Co-Chairs, who worked tirelessly, were shocked at how it all went so well.

Thank you to all who attended and look for an email soon about extended access to recorded panels.

But even those who didn't join us, I wanted to report of a few things of note.

First of all, StokerCon is the annual kick off of Summer Scares. Although we have already matched many of the authors with libraries, this is the day our video content goes live.

Please visit the Summer Scares playlist for an explanation of how to use the Programming Guide and 3 videos featuring most of the Summer Scares authors in conversation with committee members. I took on YA duties this year covering for our YA expert Kelly Jensen who is on maternity leave. I have to say, I might have enjoyed my self a little too much. You be the judge though.

These videos are completely free and can be use and promoted by your library as a program for your patrons. When an author is chosen they agree to these conditions and we are so appreciative that so far not a single selected author has refused.

Now on to the Bram Stoker Awards. You can watch the live video presentation of the winners including taped acceptance speeches by the winners here. I also live tweeted the event on this thread here.

Here is the official press release of the winners and nominees. I would like to point out that quite a few of these winners were reviewed by me. I don't do this to brag, but to remind you that you can trust my recommendations of what horror is worth your time, even when it comes from smaller presses.

Click here for the full list, but here are the titles that won, which I have reviewed:

• Novel: The Only Good Indians by Stephen Graham Jones: my number one read of all of 2020. But I also favorably reviewed 3 of the 4 finalists.
• YA: Clown in a Cornfield by Adam Cesare
• Novella: The Night of the Mannequins by Stephen Graham Jones 
• Short Fiction: "One Last Transformation" by Josh Malerman from Miscreations: Gods, Monstrosities, and Other Horrors edited by Doug Murano and Michael Bailey
• Poetry: A Collection of Dreamscapes by Christina Sng-- the book that began the #HorrorForLibraries giveaway.
• Anthology: Black Cranes: Take of Unquiet Women edited by Lee Murray and Geneve Flynn
• Nonfiction: Writing in the Dark by Tim Waggoner which is also on my list of of my favorite horror resources for all libraries.

And finally, because it would be weird if I didn't mentioned it. During the Bram Stoker Awards broadcast [at the 1hr 13 min mark] I received the Richard Laymon President's Award. You can watch President John Palisano present it and me accept it here. And here is the official press release.

Quick clarification, I convinced John NOT to give me the award last year [pre-Covid] because with the convention planned for the UK we knew there would be no Librarians' Day at the Con itself, and as that was one of the main reasons I was winning the award, I respectfully asked him to rethink giving me the award for a time when there was an LD if he still wanted to. But I was especially touched that he called out my work to make the HWA more transparent in our work to support marginalized voices. That I was not expecting.

No back to the rest of my life which has been on the back burner for a few weeks, including working on some promotion for my own new book. See the top of any page on either blog for a coupon and a link to pre-order.