Author: admin

Iniguez, Pedro

Nominations:

Mexicans on the Moon: Speculative Poetry from a Possible Future (Space Cowboy Books), Poetry Collection, 2024

BIO: Pedro Iniguez is a Bram Stoker Award-nominated Mexican-American horror and science-fiction writer from Los Angeles, California.

He is the author of MEXICANS ON THE MOON: SPECULATIVE POETRY FROM A POSSIBLE FUTURE (Space Cowboy Books), and the horror fiction collection FEVER DREAMS OF A PARASITE (Raw Dog Screaming Press). Forthcoming projects include his horror comic, CATRINA’S CARAVAN: BLOOD CYCLES (Chispa Comics), his SFF collection, ECHOES AND EMBERS: SPECULATIVE STORIES (Stars and Sabers Publishing), and his children’s picture book, THE FIB (Gloo Books), which are slated for 2025 releases.

Cuevas, Adrianna

Nominations:

The No-Brainer’s Guide to Decomposition (HarperCollins Children’s Books), Middle Grade Novel, 2024

BIO: Adrianna Cuevas is the author of the Pura Belpre honor book The Total Eclipse of Nestor Lopez,the Edgar Award winning The Ghosts of Rancho Espanto, and many other popular middle grade titles. She is a first-generation Cuban-American originally from Miami, Florida. A former Spanish and ESOL teacher, Adrianna currently resides outside of Austin, Texas with her husband and son. When not substitute teaching at her local high school, cheering for the Florida Panthers hockey team, and setting off the smoke alarm in her kitchen, she is writing her next middle grade novel.

Averling, Mary

Nominations:

The Curse of Eelgrass Bog (Razorbill), Middle Grade Novel, 2024

BIO: Mary Averling grew up across England and Canada, never far from the woods. She has degrees from the University of Victoria and Lucy Cavendish College, Cambridge. Her debut, The Curse of Eelgrass Bog, was a Junior Library Gold Standard Selection, an ALA Rainbow List Pick, and one of BookPage’s Top 10 Books of 2024. Since she can’t stay away from libraries for very long, she is currently working toward her PhD in Ontario, where she lives surrounded by all the magical, spooky, heartfelt books she can find.

Sachar, Cassandra O’Sullivan

Nominations:

No More Haunted Dolls: Horror Fiction that Transcends the Tropes (Vernon Press), Non-fiction, 2024

BIO: Cassandra O’Sullivan Sachar is a writer and associate English professor in Pennsylvania who teaches creative writing, composition, and composition theory courses. A former secondary English teacher in Delaware public schools, she received her Doctorate of Education with a Literacy Specialization from the University of Delaware and her MFA in Creative Writing with a focus on horror fiction from Wilkes University. She has curated and edited the multi-author volume on horror scholarship No More Haunted Dolls: Horror Fiction that Transcends the Tropes (Vernon Press, 2024) and the horror anthology Wicked Universe: A Wicked House Publishing Anthology (Wicked House Publishing, 2024). She has served as the fiction editor for River & South Review and is taking over as co-editor-in-chief and creative prose editor of Pennsylvania English.

Sachar has authored the Regal Summit Book Award-winning dark suspense novel Darkness There but Something More (Wicked House Publishing, 2024), the short horror story collection Keeper of Corpses and Other Dark Tales (Velox Books, 2024), the middle-grade mystery The Hidden Diary (Baynam Books Press, 2024), the horror novella Close the Door (Baynam Books Press, 2025), and the young adult thriller Lake of Secrets (Horrorsmith Publishing, 2025). A member of the Horror Writers Association, she has written dozens of short horror stories and essays that have appeared in publications including The Horror Zine, Wyldblood Magazine, HorrorAddicts.net, The Angry Gable, The Chamber Magazine, and Tales from the Moonlit Path. Read her work at https://cassandraosullivansachar.com/.