Best of the community: the Stoker Award winners for 2022

Best of the community: the Stoker Award winners for 2022

By Lauren McMenemy

 

The time has come and gone—”horror prom” was a few days ago, which means the winners of the 2022 Bram Stoker Awards are now public. Winners reflected the diversity of the horror community, including the first, then second, ever Puerto Rican-born winners of a Stoker—much-loved community heroes Cynthia (Cina) Pelayo and Gabino Iglesias.

Celebrating this huge achievement and milestone, Cina wrote on Twitter: 

“Last night, Gerard Pelayo said: “You and Gabino Iglesias are trailblazers and are opening the doors for others.” We will hold that door open for all of us. Also, I know the spirit of J.F. Gonzalez was there. He was there before us.”

Gabino responded: “Folks like J.F. Gonzalez and Linda Addison started paving the way. We must keep pushing forward, lifting Others (you know the capital O was intentional). Diversity matters. Let’s keep fighting the good fight.”

 

Others recognised for their outstanding work in 2022 include: Cassandra Khaw, Alma Katsu, Lee Murray, and Robert P. Ottone. Dave Jeffery was named Mentor of the Year; 

Undertow Publications received the award for Specialty Press, and Lifetime Achievement Awards went to Elizabeth Massie, Nuzo Onoh, and John Saul.

The winners, in full

The 2022 Bram Stoker Award winners were announced on June 17 during the Annual Bram Stoker Awards Banquet at StokerCon™ 2023 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Below is a recap of nominees in each category, with the eventual winner in bold. All nominees are well worth checking out—ditto the long list! Congratulations to all those recognised for their work in the last year of horror fiction.

Superior Achievement in a Novel 

WINNER: Iglesias, Gabino – The Devil Takes You Home (Mullholland Press) 

Katsu, Alma – The Fervor (G.P. Putnam’s Sons) 

Kiste, Gwendolyn – Reluctant Immortals (Saga Press) 

Malerman, Josh – Daphne (Del Rey) 

Ward, Catriona – Sundial (Tor Nightfire) 

Superior Achievement in a First Novel 

Adams, Erin – Jackal (Bantam Books) 

Cañas, Isabel – The Hacienda (Berkley) 

Jones, KC – Black Tide (Tor Nightfire) 

WINNER: Nogle, Christi – Beulah (Cemetery Gates Media) 

Wilkes, Ally – All the White Spaces (Emily Bestler Books/Atria/Titan Books) 

Superior Achievement in a Middle Grade Novel 

Dawson, Delilah S. – Camp Scare (Delacorte Press) 

WINNER: Kraus, Daniel – They Stole Our Hearts (Henry Holt and Co.) 

Malinenko, Ally – This Appearing House (Katherine Tegen Books) 

Senf, Lora – The Clackity (Atheneum Books for Young Readers) 

Stringfellow, Lisa – A Comb of Wishes (Quill Tree Books) 

Superior Achievement in a Graphic Novel 

WINNER: Aquilone, James (editor) – Kolchak: The Night Stalker: 50th Anniversary (Moonstone Books) 

Gailey, Sarah (author) and Bak, Pius (artist) – Eat the Rich (Boom! Studios) 

Manzetti, Alessandro (author) and Cardoselli, Stefano (artist/author) – Kraken Inferno: The Last Hunt (Independent Legions Publishing) 

Tynion IV, James (author) and Dell’Edera, Werther (artist) – Something is Killing the Children, Vol. 4 (Boom! Studios) 

Young, Skottie (author) and Corona, Jorge (artist) – The Me You Love in the Dark(Image Comics) 

Superior Achievement in a Young Adult Novel 

Fraistat, Ann – What We Harvest (Delacorte Press) 

Jackson, Tiffany D. – The Weight of Blood (Katherine Tegen Books) 

Marshall, Kate Alice – These Fleeting Shadows (Viking) 

WINNER: Ottone, Robert P. – The Triangle (Raven Tale Publishing)

Schwab, V.E. – Gallant (Greenwillow Books) 

Tirado, Vincent – Burn Down, Rise Up (Sourcebooks Fire) 

Superior Achievement in Long Fiction 

Allred, Rebecca J. and White, Gordon B. – And in Her Smile, the World (Trepidatio Publishing) 

Carmen, Christa – “Through the Looking Glass and Straight into Hell” (Orphans of Bliss: Tales of Addiction Horror) (Wicked Run Press) 

Hightower, Laurel – Below (Ghoulish Books) 

WINNER: Katsu, Alma – The Wehrwolf (Amazon Original Stories) 

Knight, EV – Three Days in the Pink Tower (Creature Publishing) 

Superior Achievement in Short Fiction 

Dries, Aaron – “Nona Doesn’t Dance” (Cut to Care: A Collection of Little Hurts) (IFWG Australia, IFWG International) 

Gwilym, Douglas – “Poppy’s Poppy” (Penumbric Speculative Fiction Magazine, Vol. V, No. 6) 

McCarthy, J.A.W.  – “The Only Thing Different Will Be the Body” (A Woman Built by Man) (Cemetery Gates Media) 

Taborska, Anna – “A Song for Barnaby Jones” (Zagava) 

Taborska, Anna – “The Star” (Great British Horror 7: Major Arcane) (Black Shuck Books) 

WINNER: Yardley, Mercedes M. – “Fracture” (Mother: Tales of Love and Terror) (Weird Little Worlds) 

Superior Achievement in a Fiction Collection 

Ashe, Paula D. – We Are Here to Hurt Each Other (Nictitating Books) 

Joseph, RJ – Hell Hath No Sorrow Like a Woman Haunted (The Seventh Terrace) 

WINNER: Khaw, Cassandra – Breakable Things (Undertow Publications) 

Thomas, Richard – Spontaneous Human Combustion (Keylight Books) 

Veres, Attila – The Black Maybe (Valancourt Books) 

Superior Achievement in a Screenplay 

Cooper, Scott – The Pale Blue Eye (Cross Creek Pictures, Grisbi Productions, Streamline Global Group) 

WINNER (TIE): Derrickson, Scott and Cargill, C. Robert – The Black Phone(Blumhouse Productions, Crooked Highway, Universal Pictures) 

WINNER (TIE): Duffer Brothers, The – Stranger Things: Episode 04.01 “Chapter One: The Hellfire Club” (21 Laps Entertainment, Monkey Massacre, Netflix, Upside Down Pictures) 

Garland, Alex – Men (DNA Films) 

Goth, Mia and West, Ti – Pearl (A24, Bron Creative, Little Lamb, New Zealand Film Commission) 

Superior Achievement in a Poetry Collection 

Bailey, Michael and Simon, Marge – Sifting the Ashes (Crystal Lake Publishing) 

Lynch, Donna – Girls from the County (Raw Dog Screaming Press) 

WINNER: Pelayo, Cynthia – Crime Scene (Raw Dog Screaming Press) 

Saulson, Sumiko – The Rat King: A Book of Dark Poetry (Dooky Zines) 

Sng, Christina – The Gravity of Existence (Interstellar Flight Press) 

Superior Achievement in an Anthology 

WINNER: Datlow, Ellen – Screams from the Dark: 29 Tales of Monsters and the Monstrous (Tor Nightfire) 

Hartmann, Sadie and Saywers, Ashley – Human Monsters: A Horror Anthology (Dark Matter Ink) 

Nogle, Christi and Becker, Willow – Mother: Tales of Love and Terror (Weird Little Worlds) 

Ryan, Lindy – Into the Forest: Tales of the Baba Yaga (Black Spot Books) 

Tantlinger, Sara – Chromophobia: A Strangehouse Anthology by Women in Horror(Strangehouse Books) 

Superior Achievement in Non–Fiction 

Cisco, Michael – Weird Fiction: A Genre Study (Palgrave Macmillan) 

Hieber, Leanna Renee and Janes, Andrea – A Haunted History of Invisible Women: True Stories of America’s Ghosts (Citadel Press) 

Kröger, Lisa and Anderson, Melanie R. – Toil and Trouble: A Women’s History of the Occult (Quirk Books) 

WINNER: Waggoner, Tim – Writing in the Dark: The Workbook (Guide Dog Books) 

Wytovich, Stephanie M. – Writing Poetry in the Dark (Raw Dog Screaming Press) 

Superior Achievement in Short Non–Fiction 

WINNER: Murray, Lee – “I Don’t Read Horror (& Other Weird Tales)” (Interstellar Flight Magazine) (Interstellar Flight Press) 

Pelayo, Cynthia – “This is Not a Poem” (Writing Poetry in the Dark) (Raw Dog Screaming Press) 

Wetmore, Jr., Kevin J. – “A Clown in the Living Room: The Sinister Clown on Television” (The Many Lives of Scary Clowns: Essays on Pennywise, Twisty, the Joker, Krusty and More) (McFarland and Company) 

Wood, L. Marie – “African American Horror Authors and Their Craft: The Evolution of Horror Fiction from African Folklore” (Conjuring Worlds: An Afrofuturist Textbook for Middle and High School Students) (Conjure World) 

Wood, L. Marie, “The H Word: The Horror of Hair” (Nightmare Magazine, No. 118) (Adamant Press) 

Lifetime Achievement Awards

• Elizabeth Massie
• Nuzo Onoh
• John Saul

Specialty Press Award

• Undertow Publications

The Richard Laymon President’s Award

• Meghan Arcuri

The Karen Lansdale Silver Hammer Award

• Karen Lansdale

Mentor of the Year Award

• David Jeffery