Category: Front Page

The 2023 Bram Stoker Awards® Winners

The 2023 Bram Stoker Award winners were announced on June 1 during the Annual Bram Stoker Awards Banquet at StokerCon™ 2024 in San Diego.

Superior Achievement in an Anthology

Aquilone, James – Shakespeare Unleashed (Crystal Lake Publishing, Monstrous Books)

Golden, Christopher, and Keene, Brian – The Drive-In: Multiplex (Pandi Press)

Hawk, Shane and Van Alst, Jr., Theodore C. – Never Whistle at Night: An Indigenous Dark Fiction Anthology (Vintage)

Peele, Jordan, and Adams,John Joseph – Out There Screaming (Random House) – WINNER

Rowland, Rebecca – American Cannibal (Maenad Press)

Superior Achievement in a Fiction Collection

Files, Gemma – Blood from the Air (Grimscribe Press) – WINNER

Keisling, Todd – Cold, Black, & Infinite (Cemetery Dance)

Malerman, Josh – Spin A Black Yarn (Del Rey)

Nogle, Christi – The Best of Our Past, the Worst of Our Future (Flame Tree Press)

Read, Sarah – Root Rot & Other Grim Tales (Bad Hand Books)

Superior Achievement in a First Novel

Carmen, Christa – The Daughters of Block Island (Thomas & Mercer) – WINNER

Compton, Johnny – The Spite House (Tor Nightfire/Macmillan)

LaRocca, Eric – Everything the Darkness Eats (CLASH Books/Titan)

Leede, CJ – Maeve Fly (Tor Nightfire/Macmillan/Titan)

Rebelein, Sam – Edenville (William Morrow/Titan)

Superior Achievement in a Graphic Novel

Bunn, Cullen (author) and Leomacs (artist) – Ghostlore, Vol. 1 (BOOM! Studios)

Cesare, Adam (author) and Stoll, David (artist) – Dead Mall (Dark Horse Comics)

Chu, Amy (author) and Lee, Soo (artist) – Carmilla: The First Vampire (Dark Horse)  – WINNER

Ito, Junji (author and artist) –Tombs (Viz Media)

Tanabe, Gou (author and artist) – H.P. Lovecraft’s The Shadow Over Innsmouth (Dark Horse Comics)

Superior Achievement in Long Fiction

Due, Tananarive – “Rumpus Room” (The Wishing Pool and Other Stories, Akashic Books)

Jiang, Ai – Linghun (Dark Matter INK) – WINNER

Khaw, Cassandra – The Salt Grows Heavy (Tor Nightfire/Macmillan/Titan)

McCarthy, J.A.W. – Sleep Alone (Off Limits Press LLC)

Murray, Lee – Despatches (PS Publishing)

Superior Achievement in Long Nonfiction

Coleman, Robin R. Means and Harris, Mark H. – The Black Guy Dies First: Black Horror Cinema from Fodder to Oscar (Simon & Schuster/Saga Press)

Fitzpatrick, Claire (ed.) – A Vindication of Monsters: Essays on Mary Wollstonecraft and Mary Shelley (IFWG Publishing International)

Hartmann, Sadie – 101 Horror Books to Read Before You’re Murdered (Page Street Publishing) – WINNER

Morton, Lisa – The Art of the Zombie Movie (Applause Books)

Murray, Lee and Smith, Angela Yuriko (eds.) – Unquiet Spirits: Essays by Asian Women in Horror (Black Spot Books)

Superior Achievement in a Middle Grade Novel

Henning, Sarah – Monster Camp (Margaret K. McElderry Books)

López, Diana – Los Monstruos: Felice and the Wailing Woman (Kokila)

Senf, Lora – The Nighthouse Keeper (Atheneum Books for Young Readers) – WINNER

Tuma, Refe – Frances and the Werewolves of the Black Forest (HarperCollins)

Young, Suzanne – What Stays Buried (HarperCollins)

Superior Achievement in a Novel

Due, Tananarive – The Reformatory (Simon & Schuster/Saga Press/Titan) – WINNER

Hendrix, Grady – How to Sell a Haunted House (Berkley/Titan)

Jones, Stephen Graham – Don’t Fear the Reaper (Simon & Schuster/Saga Press/Titan)

LaValle, Victor – Lone Women (One World)

Tingle, Chuck – Camp Damascus (Tor Nightfire/MacMillan/Titan)

Wendig, Chuck – Black River Orchard (Del Rey/Penguin Random House)

Superior Achievement in Poetry

Gold, Maxwell Ian – Bleeding Rainbows and Other Broken Spectrums (Hex Publishers)

McHugh, Jessica – The Quiet Ways I Destroy You (Apokrupha Press)

Pichette, Marisca – Rivers in Your Skin, Sirens in Your Hair (Android Press)

Walrath, Holly Lyn – Numinous Stones (Aqueduct Press)

Wytovich, Stephanie M. – On the Subject of Blackberries (Raw Dog Screaming Press) – WINNER

Superior Achievement in a Screenplay

Brooker, Charlie – Black Mirror: Beyond the Sea (Episode 03:06) (Zeppotron, Babieka, Banijay Entertainment, Broke and Bones, House of Tomorrow)

Cervera, Michelle Garza and Castillo, Abia – Huesera: The Bone Woman (Disruptiva Films, Machete Producciones, MalignoGorehouse)

Duffield, Brian – No One Will Save You (20th Century Studios, Star Thrower Entertainment)

Rugna, Demián – When Evil Lurks (Machaco Films, Aramos Cine, Shudder)

Yamazaki, Takashi – Godzilla Minus One (Robot Communications, Toho Studios) – WINNER

Superior Achievement in Short Fiction

Daniels, L.E. – “Silk” (Hush, Don’t Wake the Monster: Stories Inspired by Stephen King, Twisted Wing Productions)

Jones, Rachael K. – “The Sound of Children Screaming” (Nightmare Magazine)

Miller, Sam J. – “If Someone You Love Has Become a Vurdalak” (The Dark)

O’Quinn, Cindy – “Quondam” (The Nightmare Never Ends, Exploding Head Fiction) – WINNER

Tabing, Nadine Aurora – “An Inherited Taste” (No Trouble at All, Cursed Morsels Press)

Superior Achievement in Short Non-Fiction

Bissett, Carina – “Words Wielded by Women” (Apex Magazine)

Bulkin, Nadia – “Becoming Ungovernable: Latah, Amok, and Disorder in Indonesia,” (Unquiet Spirits: Essays by Asian Women in Horror, Black Spot Books) – WINNER

Kulski, K.P. – “100 Livers” (Unquiet Spirits: Essays by Asian Women in Horror, Black Spot Books)

Murray, Lee – “Displaced Spirits” (Unquiet Spirits: Essays by Asian Women in Horror, Black Spot Books)

Wetmore Jr, Kevin – “A Theatre of Ghosts, A Haunted Cinema: The Japanese Gothic as Theatrical Tradition in Gurozuka” (The Wenshan Review of Literature and Culture: Special Issue on Asian Gothic)

Superior Achievement in a Young Adult Novel

Bayron, Kalynn – You’re Not Supposed to Die Tonight (Bloomsbury YA)

Dimaline, Cherie – Funeral Songs for Dying Girls (Tundra Book Group)

Simmons, Kristen – Find Him Where You Left Him Dead (Tor Teen)

Smith, Cynthia Leitich – Harvest House (Candlewick Press)

Tran, Trang Thanh – She Is a Haunting (Bloomsbury YA) – WINNER

The 2022 Bram Stoker Award winners

From left to right: Robert P. Ottone, Christi Nogle, Alma Katsu, Gabino Iglesias, Lee Murray, Tim Waggoner, Elizabeth Massie, Daniel Kraus, Cynthia Pelayo, Ellen Datlow, Joe Lansdale, James Aquilone, and Meghan Arcuri.

The 2022 Bram Stoker Award winners were announced on June 17 during the Annual Bram Stoker Awards Banquet at StokerCon™ 2023 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. 

2022 BRAM STOKER AWARDS®  

Superior Achievement in a Novel

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

Superior Achievement in a First Novel

  • Nogle, Christi – Beulah(Cemetery Gates Media)

Superior Achievement in a Middle Grade Novel

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

Superior Achievement in a Graphic Novel

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

Superior Achievement in a Young Adult Novel

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

Superior Achievement in Long Fiction

  • Katsu, Alma – The Wehrwolf (Amazon Original Stories)

Superior Achievement in Short Fiction

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

Superior Achievement in a Fiction Collection

  • Khaw, Cassandra – Breakable Things (Undertow Publications)

Superior Achievement in a Screenplay

[TIE]

  • Derrickson, Scott and Cargill, C. Robert – The Black Phone (Blumhouse Productions, Crooked Highway, Universal Pictures)
  • Duffer Brothers, The – Stranger Things: Episode 04.01 “Chapter One: The Hellfire Club” (21 Laps Entertainment, Monkey Massacre, Netflix, Upside Down Pictures)

Superior Achievement in a Poetry Collection

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

Superior Achievement in an Anthology

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

Superior Achievement in Non–Fiction

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

Superior Achievement in Short Non–Fiction

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

Also presented at the ceremony:

LIFETIME ACHIEVEMENT AWARD 

  • 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

Mentor of the Year Award 2022: Dave Jeffery

The HWA is pleased to announce the winner of the Mentor of the Year Award: Dave Jeffery.

The HWA’s Mentor Program is available to all members of the organization. This popular program pairs newer writers with established professionals for an intensive four-month-long partnership. For new writers, the Program offers mentees a personal, one-on-one experience with a seasoned writer, tailor-made to help them grow in their writing and better market their work. For experienced writers, it is an opportunity to pay forward the assistance and encouragement other writers gave them when they were starting out. In addition, there is the added benefit of growing as a writer oneself through the act of teaching others. In short, the Program benefits all who participate, regardless of their role.

Established in 2014, the Mentor of the Year Award recognizes one mentor in the Program who has done an outstanding job of helping new writers. The award is chosen by the current manager of the Program.

Congratulations to Dave!

***

Dave Jeffery epitomizes what a mentor should be. He is dedicated to helping other writers improve their craft and always eager to participate in the Program each semester. The writers he’s worked with have nothing but great things to say about him, as evidenced by this quote from one of his recent mentees:

“Dave deserves praise and was everything one could ask for as a mentor. He was kind, he offered his expertise in a way that I could apply to my work, he made himself readily available, and he tailored his feedback and suggestions to my aspirations as a writer. In short, Dave was an excellent ambassador for the HWA and writers in general.”

It’s been a pleasure for me to work with Dave these past several years, and I would like to point out that he also helps writers in other ways, as he is the co-chair of the HWA’s Wellness Committee. Without members like Dave, the Mentor Program would not exist. – JG Faherty, HWA Mentorship Program Manager

***

Dave Jeffery is the author of 18 novels, two collections, and numerous short stories. His Necropolis Rising series and yeti adventure Frostbite have both featured on the Amazon #1 bestseller list. His YA work features the critically acclaimed Beatrice Beecham supernatural mystery and A Quiet Apocalypse series. His screenwriting credits include award-winning short films ASCENSION and DERELICT.

Dave is a former registered mental health professional who specialized in the field of mental health nursing and risk management. His novel Finding Jericho is based on his experiences working with service users who have experienced stigma and social exclusion due to their mental illness. Dave is a member of the Society of Authors and British Fantasy Society, and is both a mentor and the co-chair of the Wellness Committee for the HWA. An avid reader and book reviewer, he resides in Worcestershire, UK.

The 2022 Bram Stoker Awards® Final Ballot

The 2022 Bram Stoker Awards® Final Ballot and Winners

Superior Achievement in a Novel
Iglesias, Gabino – The Devil Takes You Home (Mullholland Press) – WINNER
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)
Nogle, Christi – Beulah (Cemetery Gates Media) – WINNER
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)
Kraus, Daniel – They Stole Our Hearts (Henry Holt and Co.) – WINNER
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
Aquilone, James (editor) – Kolchak: The Night Stalker: 50th Anniversary (Moonstone Books) – WINNER
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)
Ottone, Robert P. – The Triangle (Raven Tale Publishing) – WINNER
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)
Katsu, Alma – The Wehrwolf (Amazon Original Stories) – WINNER
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)
Yardley, Mercedes M. – “Fracture” (Mother: Tales of Love and Terror) (Weird Little Worlds) – WINNER

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)
Khaw, Cassandra – Breakable Things (Undertow Publications) – WINNER
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)
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) – WINNER (tie)
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)
Pelayo, Cynthia – Crime Scene (Raw Dog Screaming Press) – WINNER
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
Datlow, Ellen – Screams from the Dark: 29 Tales of Monsters and the Monstrous (Tor Nightfire) – WINNER
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)
Waggoner, Tim – Writing in the Dark: The Workbook (Guide Dog Books) – WINNER
Wytovich, Stephanie M. – Writing Poetry in the Dark (Raw Dog Screaming Press)

Superior Achievement in Short Non–Fiction
Murray, Lee – “I Don’t Read Horror (& Other Weird Tales)” (Interstellar Flight Magazine) (Interstellar Flight Press) – WINNER
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)

Announcing the Karen Lansdale Silver Hammer Award

LOS ANGELES, CA — September, 2022 


The HORROR WRITERS ASSOCIATION is delighted to announce the immediate renaming of the Silver Hammer award to the Karen Lansdale Silver Hammer award in honor of the tremendous amount of work Karen did starting the HWA. This information will now be a part of the HWA’s permanent archives at Horror.org and elsewhere.

Our physical award will also be updated. Instead of a hammer, a new stylized sculpture is being designed and will be cast by the same company that mints our Bram Stoker Award statues. We look forward to sharing the new design as soon as it’s finalized.

Karen Lansdale will be the first recipient of the renamed award, to be presented to Karen in October 2022.

From Joe R. Lansdale:

“HOW THE HORROR WRITERS’ ASSOCIATION CAME TO BE.

Once upon a time dear hearts, there wasn’t a Horror Writers Association, and the writers who specialized in horror fiction existed random of one another, like stars, and they were lost in a dark void.

And then Karen Lansdale came along, and the void was filled.

Let me explain how that happened. Let me try and put a continuous misunderstanding aside so that it might die in a field alone, and let true credit be given where credit is due.

Robert R. McCammon, who was very much involved in the horror field back when it was in its boom, along with his then wife, Sally, met Karen and me in an elevator at a World Fantasy Convention. Hearing me speak to Karen, Rick said, “I bet you’re Joe R. Lansdale. I can tell by the accent.”

Took one Southerner to recognize another. The elevator was slow, but the McCammons and Lansdales hit up an immediate friendship, right then and there.

The elevator stopped, and we sat and visited, and Rick, as McCammon preferred to be called, said he had an idea that since horror was growing, and had become a recognized commercial genre, it should have an organization. He called the idea HOWL. Horror Occult Writer’s League, which to this day I prefer to the soberer Horror Writers Association. He was talking about something along the lines of The Mystery Writers of America, Science Fiction Writers of America, Western Writers of America, and so on.

But there was a problem. He didn’t have the time.

Karen immediately said, “I’ll do it.”

It would be easy to say the rest was history, but it didn’t quite work out that way.

It went like this. 

Karen, at that convention, began to make a list of names and addresses of writers who might be interested in such an organization. Rick had come up with the idea, but was too busy to pursue. He had the seed, but Karen planted and water and fertilized it until it grew into a tree.

She went home with names and addresses, and pretty soon we began to receive mail (the old-fashioned kind, as there was no Email) and phone calls from people who wanted to be members. 

A plan for what it took to become a member was put into place, ideas coming from me and Rick, and many others, and once that was done, Karen began to put together newsletters. This took time, and it was made up of letters and articles from the new members and Karen ghosted articles and plums of interest for those in the horror field, and soon the newsletters were born.

This was done by using Xerox machines in town at nickel a page, paid by her. Tedious, and ultimately, expensive work. And keep in mind, at that time she held a full time and demanding job,

Karen wrote a few articles for Mystery Scene Magazine about the horror writers’ organization, which by this time had become The Horror Writers of America. Many felt it sounded more professional than HOWL.

Karen was not among them. Me either. I still like HOWL. Sometimes written as H.O.W.L.

But this went on for months, Karen receiving an avalanche of letters, phone calls, and when we went to World Fantasy Conventions, we would set aside time to have members and would-be members, group up and talk up new ideas, and so on.

Karen made notes. When she got home, they went into the newsletter. Members began to contribute more. The organization was real now, still wet from the womb, but kicking its little legs.

The association continued for a time as part of the World Fantasy Convention, eventually morphing into the World Horror Convention, so as to have its own platform.

At some point, Dean Koontz suggested to us that he put some money into the newsletters, take it over, make it more professional. He did and it did.

Karen, by this time, long overwhelmed with Xeroxing and organizing, was ready to let it go. Fly little organization, fly out into the world, your mama lets you go.

So, let it be known, it was she, not Rick, not me, not Dean, who created the organization which continued to grow and became the Horror Writers Association. It leaped from our kitchen table, where Karen operated, and flew out into the ether to eventually become world-wide. That’s impressive.

Karen is proud of that.

I am proud of her.

Alas, her modesty has led to her not receiving the credit she deserves, to be set aside in favor of bigger names, all male, mind you, and she is not even mentioned in the history of the Horror Writers Association. This is a travesty. 

She proudly received, many years later, a Richard Laymon award for her contributions, but that is not enough. She didn’t just Xerox and staple, she created.

Her efforts were soon forgotten, pushed aside even. The history is still improperly written. It needs to be revised to reflect the truth. Rick and Dean, and many others contributed, but the mojo that caused it to come into being, was the mojo Karen Lansdale put into it.

I love Karen for her humility all these years, but it frustrates me as well.

Rick had the idea, Dean had the money to broaden the newsletter and the organization’s appeal, but Karen Lansdale founded the Horror Writers Association.

That’s the in and the out of it, the alpha and the omega.

Joe R. Lansdale

Her proud husband and fan. 

“Karen Lansdale performed an invaluable service for HWA at the organization’s birth, and every HWA member around the world should be appreciative of the great work she did.”

 ––Robert McCammon

The Horror Writers Association (HWA) periodically gives the Karen Lansdale Silver Hammer Award to an HWA volunteer who has done a truly massive amount of work for the organization, often unsung and behind the scenes. It was instituted in 1996, and is decided by a vote of HWA’s Board of Trustees.

The award is so named because it represents the careful, steady, continuous work of building HWA’s “house” — the many institutional systems that keep the organization functioning on a day-to-day basis. 

The Horror Writers Association is a worldwide organization promoting dark literature and its creators. It has over 700 members who write, edit and publish professionally in fiction, nonfiction, video games, films, comics, and other media.


Silver Hammer Award – The Bram Stoker Awards

HWA Announces 2021 Service Award Winners Michael Knost, Sumiko Saulson, and Kevin J. Wetmore, Jr.

THE RICHARD LAYMON PRESIDENT’S AWARD

The HWA is pleased to announce the winner of the Richard Laymon President’s Award for Service: Sumiko Saulson.

The Richard Laymon President’s Award for Service was instituted in 2001 and is named in honor of Richard Laymon, who died in 2001 while serving as HWA’s President. As its name implies, it is given by HWA’s sitting President.

The award is presented to a volunteer who has served HWA in an especially exemplary manner and has shown extraordinary dedication to the organization.

Congratulations to Sumiko!

Sumiko Saulson

Sumiko Saulson (they/them), Social Media Manager for the Horror Writers Association, is an award-winning author of Afrosurrealist and multicultural sci-fi and horror whose latest novel Happiness and Other Diseases (book one of the Metamorphoses of Flynn Keahi) is available on Mocha Memoirs Press.  Other works include the non-fiction title 100+ Black Women in Horror Fiction, novels Solitude, Warmth, and Moon Cried Blood. Their short stories have appeared in numerous anthologies including Tales For The Campfire, Clockwork Wonderland, Tales From the Lake Vol 3, Beasts and Babes, Scierogenous 2,  Colors In Darkness: Forever Vacancy, and Slay: Tales of the Vampire Noire. Their poetry has appeared in Infectious Hope, Siren’s Call Magazine, and HWA Poetry Showcase VII and VIII.  They are the editor of the anthologies Black Magic Women (2018), Scry of Lust (2019), Wickedly Abled (2020) and Scry of Lust 2 (2021), and the collection Black Celebration. They are a comic zine maker and author/illustrator of the graphic novels/comic books Agrippa (2013), Dreamworlds (2016), and The Complete Mauskaveli (2020).  They are the illustrator of Living a Lie (2015).

Winner of the Afrosurrealist Writers Award (2018), Grand Prize 2017 BCC Voice “Reframing the Other” contest, 2nd Place Carry The Light Sci-fi/Fantasy Award (2016), 2017 Mixy Award, 6th Place in the Next Great Horror Writers Contest (2017). They are the recipient of the 2002 STAND Grant for First Time Directors, 2016 HWA StokerCon “Scholarship from Hell”, 2018 Ara Joe Grant for Zinemakers, 2020 HWA Diversity Grant recipient, and 2021 Ladies in Horror Fiction grant.

Sumiko has an AA in English from Berkeley City College, writes a column called “Writing While Black” for a national Black Newspaper, the San Francisco BayView, writes for Search Magazine, is the host of the SOMA Leather and LGBT Cultural District’s “Erotic Storytelling Hour,” and teaches courses at the Speculative Fiction Academy.

THE SILVER HAMMER AWARD

The HWA is pleased to announce the winner of the Silver Hammer Award: Kevin J. Wetmore.

The HWA periodically gives the Silver Hammer Award to an HWA volunteer who has done a truly massive amount of work for the organization, often unsung and behind the scenes. It was instituted in 1996, and is decided by a vote of HWA’s Board of Trustees.

The award is so named because it represents the careful, steady, continuous work of building HWA’s “house” — the many institutional systems that keep the organization functioning on a day-to-day basis. The award itself is a chrome-plated hammer with an engraved plaque on the handle. The chrome hammer is also a satisfying allusion to The Beatles’ song, “Maxwell’s Silver Hammer”, a miniature horror story in itself.

Congratulations to Kevin!

Kevin J. Wetmore

Kevin J. Wetmore, Jr. is the author, editor or co-editor of twenty-seven books, including Bram Stoker Award nominees Uncovering Stranger Things, The Streaming of Hill House, Devil’s Advocates: The Conjuring, and Eaters of the Dead: Myths and Realities of Cannibal Monsters. He is also the author of over a hundred articles and three dozen short stories found in magazines and anthologies such as Cemetery Dance, Mothership Zeta, Nonbinary Review, Midian Unmade and The Cackle of Cthulhu. He is the co-chair of HWA’s Los Angeles Chapter, has twice co- chaired StokerCon and served as StokerCon’s volunteer coordinator, in addition to serving as curator for the HWA blog Halloween Haunts and chair of the Lifetime Achievement Award committee. In his other life he is a professor of Theatre Arts at Loyola Marymount University where he teaches horror theatre, horror cinema, Japanese theatre, African theatre, Shakespeare and stage combat.

MENTOR OF THE YEAR

The HWA is pleased to announce the winner of the Mentor of the Year Award: Michael Knost.

The HWA’s Mentor Program is available to all members of the organization. This popular program pairs a newer writer with an established professional for an intensive four-month long partnership. For new writers, the Program offers mentees a personal, one-on-one experience with a professional writer, tailor-made to help them grow in their writing and teach them how to better market their work. For experienced writers, the Program allows mentors a chance to pay forward the experience and encouragement other writers gave them when they were starting out. In addition, there is the added benefit of growing as a writer oneself through the act of teaching others. In short, the Program benefits all who participate, regardless of their roles.

Inaugurated in 2014, the Mentor of the Year Award recognizes one mentor in the Mentor Program who has done an outstanding job of helping newer writers. The award is chosen by the current chair of the Mentor Program.

Congratulations to Michael!


Michael Knost 

“Michael Knost epitomizes what a mentor should be. He is always willing to help writers improve their craft, as both an HWA mentor and outside of the program, as both a teacher and an editor. Writers who have worked with him, or trained under him, universally praise Michael for his honesty, knowledge, and encouragement. This is probably recognition that is long overdue, but Michael’s contributions to the HWA, and the horror genre’s up-and-coming writers, has always been recognized and appreciated.” – JG Faherty, HWA Mentorship Program Manager.

Michael Knost is a Bram Stoker Award®-winning editor and author of science fiction, fantasy, horror, and supernatural thrillers. He has written in various genres and helmed multiple anthologies. He received the Horror Writers Association’s Silver Hammer Award in 2015 for his work as the organization’s mentorship chair. He also received the prestigious J.U.G. (Just Uncommonly Good) Award from West Virginia Writer’s Inc. His Return of the Mothman is currently being filmed as a movie adaption. He has taught writing classes and workshops at several colleges, conventions, online, and currently resides in Chapmanville, West Virginia with his wife, daughter, and a zombie goldfish.