Using Awards Lists As a RA Tool: Splatterpunk Awards Edition

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.    

As reported here in File 770, The 2026 Splatterpunk Award nominees were announced January 10. The awards honor superior achievement in the literary sub-genres of Splatterpunk and Extreme Horror fiction.

The Splatterpunk Awards are a great way to get more extreme horror into your library because these are judged as among the best. You can see this year's nominees here or below. And you can use this link courtesy of Locus Magazine to see all past nominees and winners.

In general, if you are a library who carries erotica (which is all of you), you should have extreme horror as well. However, it is mostly coming out from smaller presses and is not widely reviewed-- not because it is not worthy of  reviews, but because it is hard enough to get the mainstream Horror titles review. But with this award, you now have a vetted list of current titles and backlist options with just a click.

If you still need more arguments as yo why these books are 100% for your library, look at the nominees below. We have Stephen Graham Jones, Eric LaRocca, Mary Sangiovanni, Hailey Piper, Joe Lansdale, Bracken MacLeod and multiple stories from the Stand anthology all listed there. Authors whose books you already have on your shelves. Some NYT Bestsellers.

I added links to my reviews of the books where applicable to help you understand how mainstream these titles are.

These books are not just for extreme horror fans, they are for everyone.  See below for the full list of nominees via Locus Magazine.

2026 Splatterpunk Awards Nominees

Best Novel

• Janitors vs. The Living Dead, Michelle Garza & Melissa Lason (Death’s Head)
• The Buffalo Hunter Hunter, Stephen Graham Jones (Saga)
• At Dark, I Become Loathsome, Eric LaRocca (Blackstone)
• The Home, Judith Sonnet (Madness Heart)
• Music to Sacrifice Virgins To, Kristopher Triana (Bad Dream)

Best Novella

• Playground: Child of Divorce, Aron Beauregard (Bad Dream)
• Disco Rice, Robert Essig (Infected Voices)
• Strange Stones, Edward Lee & Mary SanGiovanni (Clash)
• The Freakshow: Rebirth in Drayton Falls, Bryan Smith (Grindhouse)
• Runts, Daniel J. Volpe (Bad Dream)

Best Short Story

• “Wrong Fucking Place, Wrong Fucking Time”, C. Robert Cargill (The End of the World As We Know It: New Tales of Stephen King’s The Stand)
• Red Womb, C.M. Guidroz (self-published)
• “And She Was Made of Glass”, Lucas Milliron (Full Throttle)
• “Executive Decision”, Christine Morgan (Full Throttle)
• “The Tripps”, Wrath James White (The End of the World As We Know It: New Tales of Stephen King’s The Stand)

Best Collection

• The Essential Horror of Joe R. Lansdale, Joe R. Lansdale (Tachyon)
• Let Not Your Sorrow Die, Bracken MacLeod (Bad Hand)
• Violent Nights, Candace Nola (Uncomfortably Dark)
• Teenage Girls Can Be Demons, Hailey Piper (Titan)
• This Is Splatterpunk: The John Skipp Primer, John Skipp (Fungasm)

Best Anthology

• Splatterpunk’s She Dotted Her Eyes, Jack Bantry, ed. (self-published)
• The Rack II: More Stories Inspired by Vintage Horror Paperbacks, Tom Deady, ed. (Greymore)
• Choices: An Anthology of Reproductive Horror, Dianna Gunn, ed. (Renaissance)
• Full Throttle, Candace Nola, ed. (Uncomfortably Dark)
• Stories From The Motel Sick, Michael Allen Rose, ed. (RoShamBo)

J.F. Gonzalez Lifetime Achievement Award

• Ryan Harding
• Christine Morgan

The awards will be presented at the 2026 KillerCon, to be held from November 6-8, 2026 in Austin TX. For more, see the official web page.