Using Awards List As a RA Tool: Shirley Jackson 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.  

I am on record, multiple times, saying that the Shirley Jackson Award is my favorite award. If I had to pick only 1 award for fiction, this would be it. And that is saying a lot because I love awards, hence this series.

But why this one? A few reasons,

First, the Shirley Jackson Awards are an excellent RA tool not only for the normal reasons I outline with the links to start this post, but also because they are an award that is NOT bound by genre. The entire point of the books that are nominated for and win this award is that they represent the legacy of Jackson, herself. Books that are darkly speculative and/or are intensely psychological; books that defy conventions but are great.  Each and every year titles are honored that are amazing reads but are almost always overlooked by genre awards, not because they aren't great [because they are], but because when push comes to shove, they do not fit as easily into the genre box as the other options.

Second, because books that win the Shirley Jackson Award already live on the fringes, the jurors and the titles they choose are more diverse than your average award.

Third, this award can be used as a "readalike" list on its own. Why? Because the main thing these nominated titles all share is a connection to Jackson and her brand of storytelling; thus, they all have an appeal connection that other awards can not promise in the same way.

Fourth, the entire concept of the books, being "genreless," means you have a very WIDE audience to handsell these titles to. 

And fifth, this is collection development gold. You want to have the best dark speculative titles, authors, collections, and anthologies for your patrons? Here is an easy purchasing list. And not only is the list diverse in terms of the identity of the writers themselves, but also the range of publishers here is wide. You can learn about some excellent small presses, putting out award worthy material. Just receiving a SJA nomination alone, is a reason to check these new to you publishers out. 

Which reminds me, sixth, the Shirley Jackson Awards not only have annual jurors who rotate every year but they also have a board of directors and an advisory board. You can access all of those people and their bios on this one page. Every single one of those authors is also readlaike option.

Speaking of, a few years ago I was asked to be on the SJA Advisory Board which has been amazing. As a member of the Advisory Board, I am able to nominate titles to be read by the Jury (which changes every year), If I nominate a title it will put into the pool that the jury considers. I take this advisory role very seriously, and every year I see titles I passed on make it to the nominee list.

And of course seventh, the super easy backlist access of nominees and winners going back to 2007, all avaiable with 1 easy click. 

You want a display of weird, unsettling, and compelling titles, look no further than these tales, all of which are singled out for outstanding achievement in the literature of psychological suspense, horror, and the dark fantastic. Those nominated for this year and all past years. There are so many options you will never run out of a suggestion for your patrons searching out this type of read.

Before I get to this year's nominees, which like all past years are amazing and I have read and reviewed many of them, I want to also shout out the physical prize. Not only do the winners get that very cool sundial award above, but every single nominees gets a stone. If you don't know why, first go read "The Lottery," If you either know why, or don't care about knowing on the of best twists in all of literature ever, click here for an article about the tradition from LitHub.

Now here are this year's Shirley Jackson Award Nominees. All of them are worth your time.

Boston, MA (May 2026) — 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 2025 Shirley Jackson Awards are: 

NOVEL

• Bat Eater and Other Names for Cora Zeng by Kylie Lee Baker (Harlequin Trade Publishing / Hanover Square Press)
• How to Fake a Haunting by Christa Carmen (Thomas & Mercer)
• The Lamb by Lucy Rose (HarperCollins Publishers)
• Moonflow by Bitter Karella (Run For It [Orbit, Hachette Book Group])
• Old Soul by Susan Barker (Penguin Random House/G.P. Putnam’s Sons)
• Witchcraft for Wayward Girls by Grady Hendrix (Berkley, Penguin Random House)

NOVELLA

• The Cold House by A. G. Slatter (Titan Books)
• The Death of Mountains by Jordan Kurella (Lethe Press)
• DuMort by Michelle Tang (Ghost Orchid Press)
• The Glass Garden by Jessica Lévai (Lanternfish Press)
• Psychopomp & Circumstance by Eden Royce (Tordotcom Publishing/Tor Publishing Group)

NOVELETTE

• The Confirmed Bachelors by Stephen Volk (Black Shuck Books)
• “Emily” by Vanessa Santos (Make a Home of Me)
• Letter Slot by Owen King (Amazon Original Stories)
• “The Millay Illusion” by Sarah Pinsker (Uncanny Magazine Issue Sixty-Seven)
• “The Severity of Things” by Mo Moshaty (Clairviolence: Tales of Tarot and Torment) 

SHORT FICTION

• “Bitter Skin” by Kaaron Warren (Night & Day)
• “Lapse” by Kirsty Logan (Unquiet Guests)
• “Mother’s Mother’s Daughter” by Audrey Zhou (Silk and Sinew: A Collection of Folk Horror from the Asian Diaspora)
• “Room 24” by Caroline Kepnes (The End of the World As We Know It)
• “Silver Boots” by Donna Lynch (HOWL: An Anthology of Werewolves from Women-in-Horror)

SINGLE-AUTHOR COLLECTION

• Clairviolence: Tales of Tarot and Torment by Mo Moshaty (Tenebrous Press)
• Good and Evil and Other Stories by Samanta Schweblin, translated by Megan McDowell (Alfred A. Knopf)
• Issues with Authority by Nadia Bulkin (Ghoulish Books)
• Moon Songs: The Selected Stories of Carol Emshwiller by Carol Emshwiller (Third Man Books)
• Portalmania: Stories by Debbie Urbanski (Simon & Schuster)

EDITED ANTHOLOGY

• Night & Day, edited by Ellen Datlow (Saga Press)
• Roots of My Fears, edited by Gemma Amor (Titan Books)
• Silk and Sinew: A Collection of Folk Horror from the Asian Diaspora, edited by Kristy Park Kulski (Bad Hand Books)
• Unquiet Guests, edited by Dan Coxon (Dead Ink Books)
• Were Wolf Short Stories, edited by Gillian Whitaker, Catherine Taylor & Nick Wells (Flame Tree Publishing)

 

The 2025 Shirley Jackson Awards will be presented in-person on Saturday, July 11, 2026, at 8pm at Readercon 35, Conference on Imaginative Literature, in Burlington, Massachusetts. Readercon 35 Guests of Honor P. Djèlí Clark and David Gerrold will host the ceremony. 

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.

Using Awards List As a RA Tool: Shirley Jackson 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.  

I am on record, multiple times, saying that the Shirley Jackson Award is my favorite award. If I had to pick only 1 award for fiction, this would be it. And that is saying a lot because I love awards, hence this series.

But why this one? A few reasons,

First, the Shirley Jackson Awards are an excellent RA tool not only for the normal reasons I outline with the links to start this post, but also because they are an award that is NOT bound by genre. The entire point of the books that are nominated for and win this award is that they represent the legacy of Jackson, herself. Books that are darkly speculative and/or are intensely psychological; books that defy conventions but are great.  Each and every year titles are honored that are amazing reads but are almost always overlooked by genre awards, not because they aren't great [because they are], but because when push comes to shove, they do not fit as easily into the genre box as the other options.

Second, because books that win the Shirley Jackson Award already live on the fringes, the jurors and the titles they choose are more diverse than your average award.

Third, this award can be used as a "readalike" list on its own. Why? Because the main thing these nominated titles all share is a connection to Jackson and her brand of storytelling; thus, they all have an appeal connection that other awards can not promise in the same way.

Fourth, the entire concept of the books, being "genreless," means you have a very WIDE audience to handsell these titles to. 

And fifth, this is collection development gold. You want to have the best dark speculative titles, authors, collections, and anthologies for your patrons? Here is an easy purchasing list. And not only is the list diverse in terms of the identity of the writers themselves, but also the range of publishers here is wide. You can learn about some excellent small presses, putting out award worthy material. Just receiving a SJA nomination alone, is a reason to check these new to you publishers out. 

Which reminds me, sixth, the Shirley Jackson Awards not only have annual jurors who rotate every year but they also have a board of directors and an advisory board. You can access all of those people and their bios on this one page. Every single one of those authors is also readlaike option.

Speaking of, two years ago I was asked to be on the SJA Advisory Board which has been amazing. As a member of the Advisory Board, I am able to nominate titles to be read by the Jury (which changes every year), If I nominate a title it will be acquired by the adminstrator for the awards and put into the pool that the jury considers. I take this advisory role very seriously. This year I am so happy to see books I suggested make the Nominees list below.

And of course seventh, the super easy backlist access of nominees and winners going back to 2007, all avaiable with 1 easy click. 

You want a display of weird, unsettling, and compelling titles, look no further than these tales, all of which are singled out for outstanding achievement in the literature of psychological suspense, horror, and the dark fantastic. Those nominated for this year and all past years. There are so many options you will never run out of a suggestion for your patrons searching out this type of read.

Before I get to this year's nominees, which like all past years are amazing and I have read and reviewed many fathom, I want to also shout out the physical prize. Not only do the winners get that very cool sundial award above, but every single nominees gets a stone. If you don't know why, first go read "The Lottery," If you either know why, or don't care about knowing on the of best twists in all of literature ever, click here for an article about the tradition from LitHub.

Now here are this year's Shirley Jackson Award Nominees with links to those for which I have a review. And spoiler alert, I really enjoyed a lot of these stories last year: 

Boston, MA (June 2025) — 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 2024 Shirley Jackson Awards are:
 
NOVEL

• Curdle Creek: A Novel by Yvonne Battle-Felton (Henry Holt & Co)
• The Eyes are the Best Part by Monika Kim (Erewhon Books)
• Eynhallow by Tim McGregor (Raw Dog Screaming Press)
• The Haunting of Velkwood by Gwendolyn Kiste (Saga Press)
• The House of Last Resort by Christopher Golden (St. Martin’s Press-US/Titan Books-UK)
• Smothermoss by Alisa Alering (Tin House)

 
NOVELLA

• Coup de Grâce by Sofia Ajram (Titan Books)
• Hollow Tongue by Eden Royce (Raw Dog Screaming Press)
• Red Skies in the Morning by Nadia Bulkin (Dim Shores)
• A Scout is Brave by Will Ludwigsen (Lethe Press)
• A Voice Calling by Christopher Barzak (Psychopomp)

 
NOVELETTE

• “All the Parts of You That Won’t Easily Burn” by Eric LaRocca (This Skin Was Once Mine and Other Disturbances)
• “The Girl with Barnacles for Eyes” by Lyndsey Croal (Split Scream Volume Five)
• His Unburned Heart by David Sandner (Raw Dog Screaming Press)
• “Ready Player (n+1)” by M. Shaw (All Your Friends Are Here)
• Stay on the Line by Clay McLeod Chapman (Shortwave Publishing)
• The Thirteen Ways We Turned Darryl Datson Into A Monster by Kurt Fawver (Dim Shores)

 
SHORT FICTION

• “Kamchatka” by Kristina Ten (Washington Square Review, Issue 51, Spring 2024)
• “Strike” by Jessica P. Wick (Monsters in the Mills)
• “MAMMOTH” by Manish Melwani (Nightmare Magazine, June 2024)
• “Moon Rabbit Song” by Caroline Hung (Nightmare Magazine, November 2024)
• “Three Faces of a Beheading” by Arkady Martine (Uncanny Magazine #58)

 
SINGLE-AUTHOR COLLECTION

• The Bone Picker: Native Stories, Alternate Histories by Devon A. Mihesuah (University of Oklahoma Press)
• Dead Girl, Driving and Other Devastations by Carina Bissett (Trepidatio Publishing)
• Midwestern Gothic by Scott Thomas (Inkshares)
• A Place Between Waking and Forgetting by Eugen Bacon (Raw Dog Screaming Press)
• These Things That Walk Behind Me by David Surface (Lethe Press)

EDITED ANTHOLOGY

• Bury Your Gays: An Anthology of Tragic Queer Horror, edited by Sofia Ajram (Ghoulish Books)
• The Crawling Moon, edited by dave ring (Neon Hemlock)
• Monsters in the Mills, edited by Christa Carmen and L.E. Daniels (IP [Interactive Publications Pty Ltd])
• The White Guy Dies First, edited by Terry J. Benton-Walker (Tor Publishing Group)
• Why Didn’t You Just Leave, edited by Julia Rios and Nadia Bulkin (Cursed Morsels Press)

The 2024 Shirley Jackson Awards will be presented in-person on Saturday, July 19 at 8pm at Readercon 34, Conference on Imaginative Literature, in Quincy, Massachusetts.

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.

What I'm Reading: Booklist June 2025 Issue

As I mentioned yesterday, the June 2025 issue of Booklist is the spotlight on Science Fiction, Fantasy, and Horror. It is filled with goodies that you can access through that post.

Today I have the two STARRED reviews I contributed to this issue. They are wildly different but both awesome.

First up: 

STAR
Killer on the Road/The Babysitter Lives
By Stephen Graham Jones

July 2025. Saga, paper, $19.99 (9781982167677). 

First published June 1, 2025 (Booklist).

Jones returns with a single volume featuring 2 short novels, reminiscent of taking in a double feature by a favorite horror director. On the surface they appear vastly different in tone, gore, and scare level, yet both are firmly united by Jones' unique narrative voice and his unique ability to pull fresh takes from established tropes–  in this case the hitchhiking serial killer and the hungry haunted house. The never before published “Killer on the Road,” is the action driven, visceral, in your face, final girl tale of Harper as she attempts to run away but ends up in a fight for her life at high speeds on Interstate 80 headed west from Laramie. While in the previously audio-only “The Babysitter Lives,” readers watch helplessly as Charlotte’s routine babysitting job sets her on a harrowing hunt through a house of inexplicable terror. Both stories will hold readers rapt, with their sympathetic and well developed heroines, begging them to finish each in as few sittings as possible, even as their emotions are put through the wringer, while simultaneously forcing them to confront a fear that jumps off the page, straight into their guts. But, they will love every second of it. 

YA Statement: Jones, the recipient of numerous Alex Awards, will see readers flock to his latest as it features two strong, but very different, teen girls at their center.

Three Words That Describe This Volume (2 novellas): cinematic, new takes on established tropes, strong teen girl narrators

Further Appeal: First of all, how cool are these double shot books from Saga (there will be more). It is like getting 2 paperback horror titles in one. And you have to physically flip the book around when you finish the first one. And the order is your choice. So cool.

SGJ is here doing what he does best– taking a trope– the hitchhiking serial killer and the haunted house– and not only making it new but breaking it down and explaining why it existed in the first place and how it is “real.”

Killer was never before published, Babysitter only in audio. 2 very different teenaged girl narrators. One a “bad” girl with no future with nothing to lose (Killer), the other a studious rule follower on her way to college with everything to lose (Babysitter). They also come to very different ends in each story. 

They are very different in tone and scares and gore. Killer is high octane, action driven, in your face danger and terror. High body count. High speed chases. Race against time. Babsysitter is quieter, the horror slower to build but the danger intense. The overall feel is harrowing and upsetting but the gore level– technically low. I would argue though, that Babysitter is way more frightening and upsetting.

I have included my notes from when I first listened to Babysitter as well. 

Notes from Babysitter personal review: 3 words that describe this book: disorienting, character centered, original haunted house. This is a terrifying story of a haunted house but a super original haunted house. 

Charlotte is a great character. Is this an actual haunted house story or is Charlotte, strong Charlotte who is trying to manage being Native and a high achiever and gay and do it all- is it finally too much. 

This story is gripping, the horror elements immersive and compelling. I don’t want to give any details away but this is a haunted house with a backstory and it can eat people. 

The trippy storyline and looping of time and space is the key. It could have been a gimmick but it all works. And the ending is horror perfection. 

Readalikes: in my word count, I had no room to include them above but I gave my editor a list for the side bar of the online version-- My Best Friend’s Exorcism by Hendrix, A Head Full of Ghosts by Tremblay, You’re Not Supposed to Die Tonight by Bayron (YA), The Weight of Blood by Jackson (YA), Clown in a Cornfield by Cesare (YA),  Nothing But Blackened Teeth by Khaw, but also if I had to pick 1 of each of SGJ’s I would link Babysitter with Mapping the Interior and Killer with I Was a Teenaged Slasher.

Next up: 

STAR 

Lucky Day

By Chuck Tingle

July 2025. 304p. Tor Nightfire, $27.99  (9781250398659); e-book (9781250398666). First published June 1, 2025 (Booklist).

Tingle’s latest is an absurd romp, but underneath the off-the-wall mayhem lies his most sophisticated work to date. Vera, a statistics professor, is celebrating the release of her first book– about a casino in Las Vegas where, impossibly, the odds are tipped in the visitor’s favor– when the world experiences the Low Probability Event [LEP], a convergence of the most unlikely things that kills almost 8 million people. Four years later, as Vera is still struggling to come to terms with what happened, Federal LEP Agent Layne convinces her to join the investigation into how the casino is involved. Vera must overcome her own worst fears and use her mathematical gifts to rebalance the scales of luck before it is too late. Tingle brilliantly allows the more bonkers and visceral scenes to give readers the space and time necessary to emotionally handle the existentially bleak and terrifying reality staring them in the face. Even if “nothing” matters, readers know not to fear because love always wins when Tingle is in charge. For fans of satirical, tongue-firmly- planted-in-cheek speculative works as wide ranging as Everett’s Dr. No, Fforde’s Lost in a Good Book, and the novels of Jason Pargin.

Three Words That Describe This Book: existentially terrifying, absurdly fun, bleak undertones despite love winning

Further Appeal: I have enjoyed (and starred) every one of Tingles three books for Nightfire, and this, the third, is his best yet-- in every way. It is the most thought-provoking, sophisticated, and darkest. What price does humanity have to pay when luck is manipulated for corporate greed?

Other words I could have picked from for the 3 words: witty, off beat, satire, tongue in cheek, thought provoking– there are some serious undertones and issues here– amidst the fun.

I also think this book is a great introduction to the ideas and concepts of Cosmic Horror. IT could lead people to try more in that subgenre.

I kept it out of the review because I think it cheapens the story but you can totally book talk this one as – What happens in Vegas most certainly does not stay in Vegas. Which is part of the brilliance here because DUH, and it never did, but also, Tingle takes that tagline to existentially terrifying places.

This is a bleak and visceral story, but readers will not mind it as much as other tales with that tone and level of squishy, gorey descriptions because Tingle’s offbeat plot and promise to readers is that love will win. A “happyish” ending will always come to fruition

Even though Vera comes to understand that nothing matters, readers know not to fear because despite this bleak realization at the heart of Lucky Day, Tingle keeps his promise that that love will always win in his novels.

Vera and Agent Layne have great Mulder and Scully vibes, but this is a Horror novel– not a SF cop show. 

Vera is a great narrator. She explains how statistics work in a way that makes even the number challenged understand. The entire book is centered around the math of statistics and Tingle does a great job not losing that important thread. Even as absurd things are happening, even as there is a very Blake Crouch esque scientific explanation, even as "nothing" becomes something, even as people die in bonkers ways (must have been fun to write), Vera keeps the story grounded-- in the science and in her humanity.

A great description of what it would feel like to live through an apocalyptic event-- 8 million people died-- and just be unable to deal-- to keep existing but in a suspended state of not handling it. And then how she slowly is brought out of it.

It is important to note that Tingle does not tell the reader-- don't worry, things matter. Rather the acknowledgement that nothing matters and yet Vera still wants to live and thrive and love-- that is a very important distinction here. 

Libraries should have ALL OF THEM. Because he promises and delivers on an ending where "Love is Real," you can give these confidently to a wide range of readers-- especially those who want to give today's horror a try. This is not a cozy horror story. It is bleak, and upsetting, and visceral throughout- but especially with this new one-- the absurdity provides enough of a buffer to give readers distance while they are reading while still allowing them to think about the important dark themes after-- just with some space-- and you can assure them that love will win in the end.

Readalikes: Besides the ones above, I also felt like The Haunting of Velkwood by Kiste and Blake Crouch fans would also like this book– Dark Matter the best fit. But those two have none of the satire/humor like the three above so I did not include them in the review.

Using Awards Lists As a RA Tool: The Bram Stoker 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.  

Yesterday, the 2024 Bram Stoker Awards® Final Ballot was released. These are for books and stories published in 2024.

It is a strong ballot. I have included every nominee in all 13 categories here on the blog so that the authors and titles are searchable, but in particular, I want to note that Novel, Long Fiction (novella), and First Novel are stacked. I have reviewed I reviewed 12 of the 15 nominees.

Full disclosure, I am an active member of the HWA and will be voting but honestly, I am going to have to really think about my vote. I am not kidding when I say this-- those categories could come down to a single vote. 

As resource, the Bram Stoker Awards® are one of the best, and I don't just say this because I am on the Board for the HWA (The Awards are administered by a separate committee and I have no contact with the voting process). The awards have their own separate website that is there to use to keep track of every award winner, for every year. But you can also search by author and title. 

For example, if you want to see all the times Stephen Graham Jones has been nominated and won, you can put his name in the search box and then go to this page with all of the information in one place.

Also there is a timeline on the left side bar when you click on the menu for "Winners/Nominees." Simply click on a date to see who was nominated and won that year.

So many ways to search to find a treasure trove of critically acclaimed horror titles to showcase in your library or add to your collections. It is one of the top resources for you, the library worker, as you assist patrons looking for their next scary read.

The 2024 Bram Stoker Awards® Final Ballot

The Horror Writers Association (HWA) is pleased to announce the Final Ballot for the 2024 Bram Stoker Awards®. The HWA (http://www.horror.org/) is the premier writers organization in the horror and dark fiction genre, with more than 2,000 members. We have presented the Bram Stoker Awards in various categories since 1987 (see http://www.thebramstokerawards.com/).

Works appearing on this Ballot are Bram Stoker Award Nominees for Superior Achievement in their Category, e.g., Novel, and everyone may refer to them as such immediately after the announcement.

The HWA Board and the Bram Stoker Awards® Committee congratulate all those appearing on the Final Ballot. Notes about the voting process appear after the ballot listing.

If your work appears on this ballot and you would like to offer it to voting members of the HWA in the Internet Mailer to be sent on or around February 26, please see important information following the ballot.

The 2024 Bram Stoker Awards® Final Ballot

Superior Achievement in an Anthology

●       Ajram, Sofia — Bury Your Gays: An Anthology of Tragic Queer Horror (Ghoulish Books)

●       Costello, Rob — We Mostly Come Out at Night: 15 Queer Tales of Monsters, Angels & Other Creatures(Running Press)

●       Gyzander, Carol and Taborska, Anna — Discontinue If Death Ensues: Tales from the Tipping Point (Flame Tree Publishing)

●       Murano, Doug and Bailey, Michael — Long Division: Stories of Social Decay, Societal Collapse, and Bad Manners (Bad Hand Books)

●       Ryan, Lindy — Mother Knows Best: Tales of Homemade Horror (A Women in Horror Anthology) (Black Spot Books)

Superior Achievement in a Fiction Collection

●       Barron, Laird — Not a Speck of Light (Bad Hand Books)

●       Enriquez, Mariana — A Sunny Place for Shady People (Penguin)       

●       Sylvaine, Angela — The Dead Spot: Stories of Lost Girls (Dark Matter Ink)

●       Waggoner, Tim — Old Monsters Never Die (Winding Road Stories)                                   

●       Yardley, Mercedes M. — Love is a Crematorium and Other Tales (Cemetery Dance)

Superior Achievement in a First Novel

●       Coles, Donyae — Midnight Rooms (Amistad)

●       Drake-Thomas, Jessica — Hollow Girls (Cemetery Dance Publications)

●       Kiefer, Jenny — This Wretched Valley (Quirk Books)

●       Kim, Monika — The Eyes Are the Best Part (Erewhon Books)

●       Ryan, Lindy — Bless Your Heart (Minotaur Books)

Superior Achievement in a Graphic Novel

●       Ha, Robin (writer/artist) — The Fox Maidens (HarperCollins Children’s Books)

●       Hetland, Beth (writer/artist) — Tender (Fantagraphics Books)

●       Horvath, Patrick (writer/artist) — Beneath the Trees Where Nobody Sees (Penguin Random House)

●       Tanabe, Gou (writer/artist) — H. P. Lovecraft’s The Call of Cthulhu (Dark Horse Books)

●       Umber, Maggie (writer/artist) — Chrysanthemum Under the Waves (Maggie Umber LLC)

Superior Achievement in Long Fiction

●       Ajram, Sofia – Coup de Grâce (Titan Books)

●       Cassidy, Nat – Rest Stop (Shortwave Publishing)

●       Chapman, Clay McLeod – Kill Your Darling (Bad Hand Books)

●       LaRocca, Eric – “All The Parts of You That Won’t Easily Burn” (This Skin Was Once Mine and Other Disturbances) (Titan Books)

●       Royce, Eden – Hollow Tongue (Raw Dog Screaming Press)

Superior Achievement in Long Non-Fiction

●       Bogutskaya, Anna — Feeding the Monster: Why Horror Has a Hold on Us (Faber & Faber)

●       Dauber, Jeremy —American Scary: A History of Horror, from Salem to Stephen King and Beyond (Algonquin Books of Chapel Hill)

●       Honeycutt, Heidi — I Spit on Your Celluloid: The History of Women Directing Horror Movies (HeadPress)

●       Hughes, Emily C.  — Horror for Weenies: Everything You Need to Know About the Films You’re Too Scared to Watch (Quirk Books)

●       Sachar, Cassandra O’Sullivan, ed. — No More Haunted Dolls: Horror Fiction that Transcends the Tropes(Vernon Press)

Superior Achievement in a Middle Grade Novel

●       Averling, Mary – The Curse of Eelgrass Bog (Razorbill)

●       Collings, Michaelbrent – The Witch in the Woods (Shadow Mountain Publishing)

●       Cuevas, Adrianna – The No-Brainer’s Guide to Decomposition (HarperCollins Children’s Books)

●       Ottone, Robert P. – There’s Something Sinister in Center Field (Cemetery Gates Media)

●       Royce, Eden – The Creepening of Dogwood House (Walden Pond Press, an imprint of HarperCollins Publishers)

Superior Achievement in a Novel

●       Iglesias, Gabino — House of Bone and Rain (Mulholland Books in US; Titan Books in UK)

●       Jones, Stephen Graham — I Was a Teenage Slasher (S&S/Saga Press in US; Titan Books in UK)

●       Kiste, Gwendolyn —  The Haunting of Velkwood (S&S/Saga Press)

●       Malerman, Josh — Incidents Around the House (Del Rey)

●       Tremblay, Paul — Horror Movie (William Morrow in US; Titan Books in UK)

Superior Achievement in Poetry

●       Hodge, Jamal – The Dark Between the Twilight (Crystal Lake Publishing)                             

●       Iniguez, Pedro – Mexicans on the Moon: Speculative Poetry from a Possible Future (Space Cowboy Books)                                               

●       Murray, Lee – Fox Spirit on a Distant Cloud (The Cuba Press)         

●       Saulson, Sumiko – Melancholia: A Book of Dark Poetry (Bludgeoned Girls Press)

●       Wood, L. Marie – Imitation of Life (Falstaff Books)

Superior Achievement in a Screenplay

●       Beck, Scott and Woods, Bryan — Heretic (A24, Shiny Penny, Beck/Woods)

●       Eggers, Robert; Galeen, Henrik; and Stoker, Bram — Nosferatu (Focus Features, Maiden Voyage Pictures, Studio 8)

●       Fargeat, Coralie — The Substance (Working Title Film, Good Story, Blacksmith)

●       Perkins, Osgood — Longlegs (C2 Motion Picture Group, Cweature Features, Oddfellow Entertainment)

●       Schoenbrun, Jane — I Saw the TV Glow (A24, Fruit Tree, Smudge Films)

Superior Achievement in Short Fiction

●       Barron, Laird — “Versus Versus” (Long Division: Stories of Social Decay, Societal Collapse, and Bad Manners) (Bad Hand Books)

●       Bolton, Rachel — “And She Had Been So Reasonable” (Apex Magazine Issue 147) (Apex Book Company)

●       Brown, Sasha — “To the Wolves” (Weird Horror #9) (Undertow Publications)

●       Busby, R. A. — “Ten Thousand Crawling Children” (Nightmare Magazine January 2024) (Adamant Press)

●       Jakubowski, Raven — “She Sheds Her Skin” (Nightmare Magazine November 2024) (Adamant Press)

Superior Achievement in Short Non-Fiction

●       Arnzen, Michael — “Screamin’ in the Rain: The Orchestration of Catharsis in William Castle’s The Tingler“(What Sleeps Beneath)

●       Liaguno, Vince — “The Horror of Donna Berzatto and Her Feast of the Seven Fishes” (You’re Not Alone in the Dark) (Cemetery Dance Publications)

●       Weinstock, Jeffrey Andrew — “Hidden Histories: The Many Ghosts of Disney’s Haunted Mansion” (Disney Gothic: Dark Shadows in the House of Mouse) (Rowman & Littlefield Publishing Group, Inc.)

●       Wetmore, Kevin J., Jr. — “Jackson and Haunting of the Stage” (Journal of Shirley Jackson Studies Vol. 2 No. 1) (Shirley Jackson Society)

●       Wood, Lisa — “Blacks in Film and Cultivated Bias” (No More Haunted Dolls: Horror Fiction that Transcends the Tropes) (Vernon Press)

Superior Achievement in a YA Novel

●       Cesare, Adam — Clown in a Cornfield 3: The Church of Frendo (HarperCollins Children’s Books)

●       Fraistat, Ann — A Place for Vanishing (Delacorte Press)

●       Parker, Natalie C. — Come Out, Come Out (G.P. Putnam’s Sons)

●       Senf, Lora — The Losting Fountain (Union Square & Co.)

●       Wellington, Joelle — The Blonde Dies First (Simon & Schuster)