The Anthony Awards are the major award in the mystery field. We don’t normally cover them at SFScope because we don’t do mystery. But we just got word from Alexandra Sokoloff, that “my debut horror novel, The Harrowing (published by St. Martin’s Press in September 2006), which was nominated for a Bram Stoker award for Superior Achievement in a First Novel, has just been nominated for an Anthony award for Best First Novel as well.”
She goes on to say that “it’s already become a controversial nomination because the Anthony is very much a mystery award, and The Harrowing is not at all a traditional mystery, but a ghost story (and more!) with some mystery elements. In addition to being personally very gratified by the nod, I think it’s a great thing for the horror genre when one of our books can lure fans of other genres over to the darker side.”
The Anthonys will be awarded at Bouchercon, which will be held this year in Anchorage, Alaska, 27-30 September. For more information on the convention, see this page. The full list of Anthony nominees is on this page.