This is part of my ongoing series on "Using Awards Lists as a RA Tool." Click here for all posts in the series in reverse chronological order. Click here for the first post which outlines the details how to use awards lists as a RA tool.
If forced to pick a favorite award for all of literature I would pick the Shirley Jackson Awards [and I wouldn't hesitate]. This award does not worry about genre, just the feel of a book, recognizing works that capture the enduring and genre-defying appeal of Jackson's writing.
Below are this year's nominees, announced on June 30th. Please use them in all of the ways I outline in the series as listed above, especially by adding them to your collections and promoting them to readers from psychological suspense to horror and beyond. And click here for easy access to all past nominees because these backlist options are fantastic and unique suggestion opportunities.
Many of these titles were reviewed by me in the last year. I went out of my way to link to my reviews in the titles below, because some of these works are less mainstream and I had nothing but great things to say about all of the linked titles. In just the "Anthology" category alone I reviewed more than half the nominees!
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Boston, MA (June 2021) — In recognition of the legacy of Shirley Jackson’s writing, and with permission of the author’s estate, The Shirley Jackson Awards, Inc. has been established for outstanding achievement in the literature of psychological suspense, horror, and the dark fantastic.
The Shirley Jackson Awards are voted upon by a jury of professional writers, editors, critics, and academics. The awards are given for the best work published in the preceding calendar year in the following categories: Novel, Novella, Novelette, Short Fiction, Single-Author Collection, and Edited Anthology.
The nominees for the 2020 Shirley Jackson Awards are:
NOVEL
Sisters by Daisy Johnson (Jonathan Cape)
Death in Her Hands by Ottessa Moshfegh (Penguin Press)
Mexican Gothic by Silvia Moreno-Garcia (Del Rey / Penguin Random House)
Plain Bad Heroines by Emily M. Danforth (William Morrow)
The Only Good Indians by Stephen Graham Jones (Saga Press, Gallery Books)
True Story by Kate Reed Petty (Viking)
NOVELLA
The Best of Both Worlds by S. P. Miskowski (Trepidatio Publishing)
History of an Executioner by Clancy McGilligan (Miami University Press)
Night of the Mannequins by Stephen Graham Jones (Tordotcom Publishing)
Ring Shout by P. Djèlí Clark (Tordotcom Publishing)
Agatha’s Barn: A Carpenter’s Farm Story by Michael Bailey (Written Backwards)
Her Mad Song by C J Halbard (Man on Fire Press)
NOVELETTE
“I Will Find You, Even in the Dark” by Jessica Landry (Dim Shores Presents Vol. 1)
Many Restless Concerns: The Victims of Countess Bathory Speak in Chorus (A Testimony)by Gayle Brandeis (Black Lawrence Press)
The Attic Tragedy by J. Ashley-Smith Meerkat Press)
Faith by Sayaka Murata, translated by Ginny Tapley Takemori (Granta)
“Heritage Hill” by Matthew R. Davis (Outback Horrors Down Under: An Anthology of Antipodean Terrors)
“Pale Toes” by Marko Hautala, translated by Sanna Terho (The Valancourt Book of World Horror Stories)
“Señor Ligotti” by Bernardo Esquinca, translated by James D. Jenkins (The Valancourt Book of World Horror Stories)
SHORT FICTION
“Holes” by R.A. Busby (Graveyard Smash: Women of Horror Anthology Vol.2 collection)
Graceful Burdens by Roxane Gay (Amazon Original Stories)
“Isn’t Your Daughter Such a Doll” by Tobi Ogundiran (Shoreline of Infinity 18)
“Not the Man I Married” by R. A. Busby (Black Petals Issue #93 Autumn, 2020)
“Room and Board Included, Demonology Extra” by Eden Royce (Broken Eye Books)
“The Memory Game” by Franki Haber (The Gravity of the Thing)
SINGLE-AUTHOR COLLECTION
Settling the World: Selected Stories by M. John Harrison (Comma Press)
Mannequin and Wife by Jen Fawkes (LSU Press)
Thin Places by Kay Chronister (Undertow Publications)
Velocities: Stories by Kathe Koja (Meerkat Press)
Moonflower, Nightshade, All the Hours of the Day by JD Scott (Lake Forest College Press)
Aftermath of an Industrial Accident: Stories by Mike Allen (Mythic Delirium Books)
EDITED ANTHOLOGY
After Sundown, edited by Mark Morris (Flame Tree Press)
Black Cranes: Tales of Unquiet Women, edited by Lee Murray & Geneve Flynn (Omnium Gatherum)
Miscreations: Gods, Monstrosities & Other Horrors, edited by Doug Murano & Michael Bailey (Written Backwards)
The Night Bazaar Venice: Thirteen Tales of Forbidden Wishes and Dangerous Desires, edited by Lenore Hart (Northampton House Press)
Lullabies for Suffering: Tales of Addiction Horror, edited by Mark Matthews (Wicked Run Press)
Shadows & Tall Trees, Vol. 8, edited by Michael Kelly (Undertow Publications)
Tiny Nightmares, edited by Lincoln Michel and Nadxieli Nieto (Catapult)
Shirley Jackson (1916-1965) wrote such classic novels as The Haunting of Hill House and We Have Always Lived in the Castle, as well as one of the most famous short stories in the English language, “The Lottery.” Her work continues to be a major influence on writers of every kind of fiction, from the most traditional genre offerings to the most innovative literary work.
The 2020 Shirley Jackson Awards will be presented as a pre-recorded event on Sunday, August 15, 2021, at Readercon 31, Conference on Imaginative Literature.
Websites: ShirleyJacksonAwards.org, Readercon.org
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