The Horror Writers Association (HWA) announced their final ballot for this year’s Bram Stoker Awards for Superior Achievement (for stories published in 2009). From this ballot, the organization’s Active members will select the winners. Voting will close on 3 March, and the awards will be presented this year at a gala banquet on Saturday evening, 27 March, at the World Horror Convention in Brighton, UK. (We listed the preliminary ballot, from which this year’s nominees were chosen, in this article.)
The final ballot is:
Superior Achievement in a Novel:
Audrey’s Door by Sarah Langan (published by Harper)
Patient Zero by Jonathan Maberry (St. Martin’s Griffin)
Quarantined by Joe McKinney (Lachesis Publishing)
Cursed by Jeremy Shipp (Raw Dog Screaming Press)
Superior Achievement in a First Novel:
Breathers by S.G. Browne (Broadway Books)
Solomon’s Grave by Daniel G. Keohane (Dragon Moon Press)
Damnable by Hank Schwaeble (Jove)
The Little Sleep by Paul Tremblay (Henry Holt)
Superior Achievement in Long Fiction:
“Dreaming Robot Monster” by Mort Castle (published in Mighty Unclean)
The Hunger of Empty Vessels by Scott Edelman (Bad Moon Books)
The Lucid Dreaming by Lisa Morton (Bad Moon Books)
Doc Good’s Traveling Show by Gene O’Neill (Bad Moon Books)
Superior Achievement in Short Fiction:
“Keeping Watch” by Nate Kenyon (Monstrous: 20 Tales of Giant Creature Terror)
“The Crossing of Aldo Ray” by Weston Ochse (The Dead that Walk)
“In the Porches of My Ears” by Norman Prentiss (Postscripts #18)
“The Night Nurse” by Harry Shannon (Horror Drive-in)
Superior Achievement in Fiction Collection:
Martyrs and Monsters by Robert Dunbar (DarkHart Press)
Got to Kill Them All and Other Stories by Dennis Etchison (Cemetery Dance)
A Taste of Tenderloin by Gene O’Neill (Apex Book Company)
In the Closet, Under the Bed by Lee Thomas (Dark Scribe Press)
Superior Achievement in Anthology (Editing):
He is Legend: An Anthology Celebrating Richard Matheson edited by Christopher Conlon (Gauntlet Press)
Lovecraft Unbound edited by Ellen Datlow (Dark Horse Books)
Poe edited by Ellen Datlow (Solaris)
Midnight Walk edited by Lisa Morton (Darkhouse Publishing)
Superior Achievement in Nonfiction:
Writers Workshop of Horror by Michael Knost (Woodland Press)
Cinema Knife Fight by L.L. Soares and Michael Arruda (Fearzone)
The Stephen King Illustrated Companion by Bev Vincent (Fall River Press)
Stephen King: The Non-fiction by Rocky Wood and Justin Brook (Cemetery Dance)
Superior Achievement in Poetry Collection:
Double Visions by Bruce Boston (Dark Regions)
North Left of Earth by Bruce Boston (Sam’s Dot)
Barfodder by Rain Graves (Cemetery Dance)
Chimeric Machines by Lucy A. Snyder (Creative Guy Publishing)