LOGAN ON THE STOKER AWARDS!

The HWA had Stoker Con over the weekend, and handed out their yearly awards recognizing outstanding achievements in the horror writing industry.

Over the weekend was the pinnacle of events when it comes to horror writing. Stokercon is where the who’s who of the horror publishing world all gather to honor the achievements of members throughout the year.

The Pinnacle of Horror comes in the Bram Stoker Awards. They are always awarded to those who showed exceptional work in the previous year of horror. Up for awards were books such as King Sorrow, The Buffalo Hunter Hunter (My personal favorite read of last year.) Shiny Happy People, Sinners, (Yes, the movie) The October Film Haunt, these are just a few of the fantastic books that were getting recognition this year.

As a member of the Horror Writers Association, it is what all of us writers shoot for, the moon were shooting for, and all these authors have achieved it. This year there were so many fantastic authors among those who made it to the final ballot.  Stephen Graham Jones, Clay Mcleod Chapman, Brian Kean, Christopher Golden, John Langan, Grady Hendrix, Joe Hill, Tananarive Due, just to name a few. Every nominee deserved the accolade, and we want to wish all the winners and nominees congratulations.

Now here’s another great year of horror writing, and I look forward to seeing who goes the distance next year.

Below is the full list of nominees and winners.

The 2025 Bram Stoker Awards® Final Ballot

Superior Achievement in an Anthology

Day, Julie C.; Bissett, Carina; and Gidney, Craig Laurance, eds. — Storyteller: A Tanith Lee Tribute Anthology (Essential Dreams Press)

Golden, Christopher and Keene, Brian, eds. — The End of the World As We Know It: New Tales of Stephen King’s The Stand (Gallery Books)

WINNER: Kulski, Kristy Park, ed. — Silk & Sinew: A Collection of Folk Horror from the Asian Diaspora (Bad Hand Books)

Murray, Lee and Jeffery, Dave, eds. — This Way Lies Madness: Stories from the Edge of Darkness (Flame Tree Publishing)

Ryan, Lindy and Wytovich, Stephanie M., eds. — HOWL: An Anthology of Werewolves from Women-in-Horror (Black Spot Books)

Superior Achievement in a Fiction Collection

Chapman, Clay McLeod — Acquired Taste (Titan Books)

Files, Gemma — Little Horn: Stories (Shortwave)

WINNER: Langan, John — Lost in The Dark and Other Excursions (Word Horde)

Piper, Hailey — Teenage Girls Can Be Demons (Titan Books)

Tantlinger, Sara — Cyanide Constellations (Dark Matter INK)

Superior Achievement in a First Novel

Daly, Grace — The Scald-Crow (Creature Publishing)

Karella, Bitter — Moonflow (Run For It)

Pell, Tanya — Her Wicked Roots (Gallery Books)

Steel, Hester — The Faceless Thing We Adore (Page Street Horror)

Tennison, Kathryn — Molting (Uncomfortably Dark Horror)

Viel, Neena — Listen to Your Sister (St. Martin’s Griffin / Titan Books)

WINNER: Wehunt, Michael — The October Film Haunt (St. Martin’s Press)

Superior Achievement in a Graphic Novel

Bunn, Cullen (writer) and Luckert, Danny (artist) – Jumpscare (Dark Horse Comics)

King, Sandy (editor) – John Carpenter’s Tales for a HalloweeNight, Volume 11 (Storm King Comics)

Kraus, Daniel (writer) and Dani (artist) – Athanasia (VAULT Comics)

WINNER: Mignola, Mike – Bowling With Corpses and Other Tales from Lands Unknown (Dark Horse Comics)

Tynion IV, James (writer), Foxe, Steve (writer), and Kowalski, Piotr (artist) – Let This One Be a Devil – (Dark Horse Comics & Tiny Onion Studios)

Superior Achievement in Long Fiction (tie)

WINNER: Ballingrud, Nathan — Cathedral of the Drowned (Tor Nightfire  / Titan Books)

Ha, Thomas — “Uncertain Sons” (Uncertain Sons and Other Stories, Undertow Publications)

Langan, Sarah — “Squid Teeth”(Reactor)

Langan, Sarah — Pam Kowolski is a Monster! (Raw Dog Screaming Press)

WINNER: Wise, A.C. — “Wolf Moon, Antler Moon” (Reactor)

Superior Achievement in Long Non-Fiction

Borwein, Naomi Simone, ed. — Global Indigenous Horror (University Press of Mississippi)

Grafius, Brandon R. and Morehead, John W., eds. — The Oxford Handbook of Biblical Monsters (Oxford University Press)

Hieber, Leanna Renee and Janes, Andrea — America’s Most Gothic (Kensington Publishing)

Scrivner, Coltan — Morbidly Curious: A Scientist Explains Why We Can’t Look Away (Penguin Random House)

WINNER: Spratford, Becky Siegel, ed. — Why I Love Horror: Essays on Horror Fiction (Saga Press)

Superior Achievement in a Middle Grade Novel

WINNER: Dawson, Delilah S. — Ride or Die (Delacorte Press)

Kuyatt, Meg Eden — The Girl in the Walls (Scholastic Press)

Malinenko, Ally — Broken Dolls (HarperCollins Children’s Books)

Oh, Ellen — The House Next Door (HarperCollins Children’s Books)

Russell, Ally — Mystery James Digs Her Own Grave (Delacorte Press)

Superior Achievement in a Novel

Hendrix, Grady — Witchcraft for Wayward Girls (Berkley)

Hill, Joe — King Sorrow (William Morrow)

WINNER: Jones, Stephen Graham — The Buffalo Hunter Hunter (Saga Press / Titan Books)

Moreno-Garcia, Silvia — The Bewitching (Del Rey)

Wagner, Wendy N. — Girl in the Creek (Tor Nightfire)

Superior Achievement in Poetry (Collection and Long Form)

WINNER: Addison, Linda D. and Hodge, Jamal — Everything Endless (Raw Dog Screaming Press)

Gold, Maxwell I. — Songs of Enough: An Inferno All My Own (Hippocampus Press)

Kearns, Shannon — The Uterus is an Impossible Forest (Raw Dog Screaming Press)                                               

Peebles, Cate — The Haunting (Tupelo Press)

Raguso, MarieAnn C, PhD — Allegories of Beauty & Violence: a collection of Gothic Romance Poems (Analyze This)

Superior Achievement in a Screenplay

WINNER: Coogler, Ryan — Sinners  (Warner Bros. / Domain / Proximity)

Cregger, Zach — Weapons (New Line Cinema / Domain / Subconscious)

Garland, Alex — 28 Years Later (Sony / Columbia Pictures / TSG Entertainment)

Hancock, Drew — Companion (New Line Cinema / BoulderLight Pictures / Vertigo Entertainment)

Philippou, Danny and Hinzman, Bill — Bring Her Back (Causeway Films / Salmira Productions / The South Australian Film Corporation)

Superior Achievement in Short Fiction

Daniels, L.E. — “Stomata” (Darkness Most Fowl, The Godmother of Horror Press)

WINNER: Joseph, RJ – “Inheritance” (Full Throttle: A Dark Dozen Anthology, Uncomfortably Dark Publishing)

Szczepaniak-Gillece, Jocelyn — “Saint Dymphna’s School for Borderland Girls”  (Weird Horror #10, Undertow Publications)

Taborska, Anna — “[Ir]reversible” (Witches and Witchcraft: An Anthology of Stories, Poems, and Essays, Hippocampus Press)

Wongsatayanont, Champ – “Autogas Ferryman” (Nightmare Magazine #156, Adamant Press)

Superior Achievement in Short Non-Fiction

Barb, Patrick — “Deathwish Wolf Man: The Tragic Hero at the Heart of the Universal Monster” (Interstellar Flight Magazine) (Interstellar Flight Press)

WINNER – Due, Tananarive — “My Long Road to Horror” (Why I Love Horror: Essays on Horror Fiction, Saga Press)

Jones, Stephen Graham — “Why Horror” (Why I Love Horror: Essays on Horror Fiction, Saga Press)

Moshaty, Mo — “Haunted Thresholds: Liminal Horror and the Psychological Disintegration of Women from Post-Partum, Grief, Trauma and Religious Fanaticism” (Darkest Margins: 24 Essays on Liminality and Liminal Spaces in the Horror Genre) (1428 Publishing Ltd)

Pelayo, Cynthia — “My Mother Was Margaret White” (Why I Love Horror: Essays on Horror Fiction, Saga Press)

Superior Achievement in a Young Adult Novel

WINNER: Chapman, Clay McLeod – Shiny Happy People (Delacorte Press)

Cheng, Linda —Beautiful Brutal Bodies (Roaring Brook Press)                                     

Chupeco, Rin — We’re Not Safe Here (Sourcebooks)

Rodriguez Wallach, Diana — The Silenced (Delacorte Press)

Roux, Madeleine — A Girl Walks Into The Forest (Quill Tree Books)

SPECIALTY AWARDS

Specialty Press Award: Bad Hand Books

Richard Laymon President’s Award: Marc L. Abbott

Karen Lansdale Silver Hammer Award: Sarah Read

Mentor of the Year Award: Eric Guignard

Lifetime Achievement Award Winners: Lisa Morton, Jonathan Maberry

Logan Patrick has earned an MFA in Creative Writing from Southern New Hampshire University. He is a member of the Horror Writers Association, and author of The Disappearing of Three Forks, and has been included in the Horrorzine. As well as a collection, Marked: Tales of S.T.A.N.G.E., Logan has a background in theater, from acting to directing. As well as a play that is still in development.

PLEASE NOTE: The views and opinions of the staff of Memento Mori Ink do not necessarily represent those of Memento Mori Ink or Crystal Lake Publishing. Thank you for understanding.