LibGuides: Bram Stoker Awards: First Novel (1987- )

Bram Stoker Awards
Superior Achievement in a First Novel

2020-2029

WINNER

The Fourth Whore by E.V. Knight

FINALISTS

The Taxidermist's Lover by Polly Hall
The Return by Rachel Harrison
Tome by Ross Jeffery
True Story by Kate Reed Petty

The Return by Rachel Harrison
Call Number: FIC HARRI RAC RE Ebook (OverDrive)
ISBN: 9780593098684
Publication Date: 2020-03-24
Julie is missing, and no one believes she will ever return—except Elise. Elise knows Julie better than anyone, and feels it in her bones that her best friend is out there and that one day Julie will come back. She’s right. Two years to the day that Julie went missing, she reappears with no memory of where she’s been or what happened to her. Along with Molly and Mae, their two close friends from college, the women decide to reunite at a remote inn. But the second Elise sees Julie, she knows something is wrong—she’s emaciated, with sallow skin and odd appetites. And as the weekend unfurls, it becomes impossible to deny that the Julie who vanished two years ago is not the same Julie who came back. But then who—or what—is she?

True Story by Petty, Kate Reed
Call Number: FIC PETTY KATR T (Adult Fiction)
ISBN: 9781984877680
Publication Date: 2020-08-04
A gifted and reclusive ghostwriter, Alice Lovett makes a living helping other people tell their stories. But she is haunted by the one story she cannot tell: the story of, as she puts it, "the things that happened while I was asleep." Back in 1999, Nick Brothers and his high school lacrosse team return for their senior year in a well-to-do Baltimore suburb as the reigning state champs. The afterglow of their big win is bound to last until graduation; not even the pressure of college applications can get in the way of their fun. But when a private school girl attempts suicide in the wake of one of the team's "legendary" parties, and a rumor begins to circulate that two of Nick's teammates sexually assaulted her, it seems like it might ruin everything--until the team circles the wagons, casts doubt on the story, and the town m

WINNER

Queen of Teeth by Hailey Piper

Due to a tie in fifth place, there are six nominees in this category.

FINALISTS:

Helminth by S. Alessandro Martinez
When the Reckoning Comes by LaTanya McQueen
Rabbits by Terry Miles
The Forest by Lisa Quigley
Tidepool by Nicole Willson

When the Reckoning Comes by LaTanya McQueen
Call Number: FIC MQUEE LAT WH (Adult fiction)
ISBN: 9780063035041
Publication Date: 2021-08-03
More than a decade ago, Mira fled her segregated hometown of Kipsen, leaving behind her best friend, the white Celine, and Woodsman Plantation--rumored to be haunted by the spirits of slaves. Now, Mira is back in Kipsen for Celine's wedding weekend at that same plantation. Mira hopes to reconnect with her old friends, especially Jesse, the boy she secretly loved. Woodsman remains a monument to its racist history and the darkest elements of the plantation's past--that slaves were tortured mercilessly--have been carefully erased. As the weekend unfolds, Mira, Celine, and Jesse are forced to acknowledge their history together and to save themselves from what it to come.
Rabbits by Terry Miles
Call Number: FIC MILES TER R (Adult fiction)
ISBN: 9781984819659
Publication Date: 2021-06-08
Conspiracies abound in this surreal and yet all-too-real technothriller, detailing an underground alternate reality game, set in the same world as the popular Rabbits podcast. Rabbits is a secret, dangerous, and occasionally fatal underground alternate reality game, where the prizes are unclear but may involve vast sums of money, NSA or CIA recruitment, or perhaps even the key to unlocking the secrets of the universe itself. Since the game first started in 1959, ten iterations have appeared and nine winners have been declared. No one knows the true identity of these winners--just their now-famous user names. And everyone is waiting for the eleventh round to begin. K is an expert on the game, although he's never played it himself. He runs information sessions for amateurs at an historic, grungy arcade. But when he is approached by billionaire Alan Scarpio--the alleged winner of the sixth iteration--his world is turned upside down. Because Scarpio wants his help fixing the game, which he claims has become corrupted. And if the eleventh iteration begins before the game is repaired, he claims, all hell will break loose. Soon K is in way over his head, chasing down a myserious rabbit hole that is getting stranger and twistier and more perilous by the day. Because, as it happens, he blows the deadline, Eleven begins ... and suddenly there is far more than just his own life at risk.
The Forest by Lisa Quigley
Call Number: FIC QUIGL LIS FO (Adult fiction)
ISBN: 9781943720620
Publication Date: 2021
Everyone in Edgewood believes their annual tithes at the fall festival are what purchase Edgewood's safety, but as Faye and her husband prepare to take over as town stewards-a long tradition carried out by her family for generations-they learn the terrible truth: in order to guarantee the town's safety, the forest demands an unthinkable sacrifice. In the midst of everything, Faye is secretly battling debilitating postpartum anxiety that makes her all the more terrified to leave the safe cocoon of her enchanted town. When everyone turns against her-including her own husband-Faye is forced to flee with her infant son into the forest. She must face whatever lurks there and, perhaps most frightening of all, the dark torments of her own mind.
Tidepool by Nicole Willson
Call Number: FIC WILLS NIC TI (Adult fiction)
ISBN: 9781956136005
Publication Date: 2021-08-03
If ye give not willingly, the Lords will rise...In 1913, Henry Hamilton disappears while on a business trip, and his sister, Sorrow, won't rest until she finds him. Defying her father's orders to remain at home, she travels to Tidepool, the last place Henry visited. Residents of the small, shabby oceanside town can't quite meet Sorrow's eyes when she questions them about Henry. When corpses wash up on shore looking as if they've been torn apart by something not quite human, Sorrow is ready to return to Baltimore and let her father send in the professional detectives. Then, she meets Mrs. Ada Oliver, a widow whose black silk dresses and elegant manners set her apart from other Tidepool residents. After a terrifying encounter involving Mrs. Oliver, Sorrow discovers Tidepool's dark, deadly secret, and the town's denizens -- human and otherwise -- are hell-bent on making sure she never leaves.

PRELIMINARY BALLOT:

Smithy by Amanda Desiree
Indie Saint by V. K. Fox
Rules of the Road by C. B. Jones
The Thing Between Us by Gus Moreno

Smithy by Amanda Desiree
Call Number: FIC DESIR AMA SMA (Adult fiction)
ISBN: 9781950301218
Publication Date: 2021-04-27
In the tumultuous summer of 1974, in the shadowy rooms of a rundown mansion in Rhode Island, renowned psychologist Dr. Piers Preis-Herald brings together a group of seven collegiate researchers to study the inner lives of man's closest relative--the primate. They set out to teach their subject, who would eventually be known to the world as Smithy, American Sign Language. But as the summer deepens and the history of the mansion manifests, the messages signed by their research subject become increasing spectral. Nearly twenty-five years after the Smithy Project ended in tragedy at Trevor Hall, questions remain: Was Smithy a hoax? A clever mimic? A Rorschach projection of humanity's greatest hopes and fears? Or was he indeed what devotees of metaphysics have claimed for so long: a link between our world and the next?
The Rules of the Road by C. B. Jones
Call Number: FIC JONES CB RU (Adult fiction)
ISBN: 9781737488606
Publication Date: 2021-08-24
Do you ever wonder why it is you sometimes see a single shoe on the side of the road? What happens if you don?t hold your breath when you pass a cemetery? Why should you pay careful attention to that strange speed limit sign, the one that reads 67 MPH? When an amateur journalist encounters a mysterious radio program while driving alone one late night, he is presented with a set of instructions with potentially fatal consequences. After escaping with his life, obsession takes hold and he is determined to find out who is behind the broadcast and who else it has affected. His investigation leads him to speak with travelers and truckers, vagabonds and vacationers, models and rock stars, each with their own sinister encounter with the strange program. His search draws him into a world of deadly discovery from which there is no turning back.
This Thing Between Us by Gus Moreno
Call Number: FIC MOREN GUS TH (Adult fiction)
ISBN: 9780374539238
Publication Date: 2021-10-12
It was Vera's idea to buy the Itza. The "world's most advanced smart speaker!" didn't interest Thiago, but Vera thought it would be a bit of fun for them amidst all the strange occurrences happening in the condo: scratching in the walls, peculiar packages showing up, eerie music at odd hours. It was funny-- right up until Vera was killed. Now Thiago wants to get far away from Chicago, and a secluded cabin in Colorado seemed like the perfect place to hole up with his crushing grief. But there is an evil hunting him, feeding on his grief, looking for a way into this world.

WINNER

Beulah by Christi Nogle

FINALISTS:

Jackal by Erin Adams
The Hacienda by Isabel Cañas
Black Tide by K. C. Jones
All the White Spaces by Ally Wilkes

The Hacienda by Isabel Cañas
Call Number: FIC CANAS ISA HA (Adult fiction)
ISBN: 9780593436691
Publication Date: 2022-05-03
In the overthrow of the Mexican government, Beatriz's father is executed and her home destroyed. When handsome Don Rodolfo Solórzano proposes, Beatriz ignores the rumors surrounding his first wife's sudden demise, choosing instead to seize the security his estate in the countryside provides. She will have her own home again, no matter the cost. But Hacienda San Isidro is not the sanctuary she imagined. When Rodolfo returns to work in the capital, visions and voices invade Beatriz's sleep. The weight of invisible eyes follows her every move. Rodolfo's sister, Juana, scoffs at Beatriz's fears--but why does she refuse to enter the house at night? Why does the cook burn copal incense at the edge of the kitchen and mark its doorway with strange symbols? What really happened to the first Doña Solórzano? Beatriz only knows two things for certain. Something is wrong with the hacienda. And no one there will help her. Desperate for help, she clings to the young priest, Padre Andrés, as an ally. No ordinary priest, it will take Andrés's skills as a witch to battle the malevolent presence haunting the hacienda. Far from a refuge, San Isidro may be Beatriz's doom.
The Hacienda [E-Book] by Isabel Cañas
Call Number: Ebook (OverDrive)
ISBN: 9780593436714
Publication Date: 2022

2010-2019

WINNERS (Tie)

Black and Orange by Benjamin Kane Ethridge
The Castle of Los Angeles by Lisa Morton

FINALISTS

A Book of Tongues by Gemma Files
Spellbent by Lucy Snyder

WINNER

Isis Unbound by Allyson Bird

FINALISTS

Southern Gods by John Hornor Jacobs
The Lamplighters by Frazer Lee
The Panama Laugh by Thomas Roche
That Which Should Not Be by Brett J. Talley

WINNER

Life Rage by L. L. Soares

FINALISTS

Charlotte Markham and the House of Darkling by Michael Boccacino
Wide Open by Deborah Coates
The Legend of the Pumpkin by Charles Day
A Requiem for Dead Flies by Peter Dudar
Bad Glass by Richard Gropp

WINNER

The Evolutionist by Rena Mason

FINALISTS

Candy House by Kate Jonez
The Year of the Storm by John Mantooth
Redheads by Jonathan Moore
Stoker's Manuscript by Royce Prouty

WINNER

Mr. Wicker by Maria Alexander

FINALISTS

Forsaken by J. D. Barker
Consumered by David Cronenberg
Return of the Mothman by Michael Knost
Bird Box by Josh Malerman

Bird Box [E-Book] by Josh Malerman
Call Number: FIC MALER JOS BI Audiobk (OverDrve)
Publication Date: 2014
Something is out there . . . Something terrifying that must not be seen. One glimpse and a person is driven to deadly violence. No one knows what it is or where it came from. Five years after it began, a handful of scattered survivors remain, including Malorie and her two young children. Living in an abandoned house near the river, she has dreamed of fleeing to a place where they might be safe. Now, that the boy and girl are four, it is time to go. But the journey ahead will be terrifying: twenty miles downriver in a rowboat—blindfolded—with nothing to rely on but her wits and the children’s trained ears. One wrong choice and they will die. And something is following them. But is it man, animal, or monster? Engulfed in darkness, surrounded by sounds both familiar and frightening, Malorie embarks on a harrowing odyssey—a trip that takes her into an unseen world and back into the past, to the companions who once saved her. Under the guidance of the stalwart Tom, a motely group of strangers banded together against the unseen terror, creating order from the chaos. But when supplies ran low, they were forced to venture outside—and confront the ultimate question: in a world gone mad, who can really be trusted?

WINNER

Mr. Suicide by Nicole Cushing

FINALISTS

Shutter by Courtney Alameda
We Are Monsters by Brian Kirk
Hannahwhere by John McILveen
Riding the Centipede by John Claude Smith

WINNER

Haven by Tom Deady

FINALISTS

The Apothecary's Curse by Barbara Barnett
Hollow House by Greg Chapman
Mayan Blue by Michelle Garza
The Eighth by Stephanie Wytovich

WINNER

Cold Cuts by Robert Payne Cabeen

FINALISTS

In the Valley of the Sun by Andy Davidson
What Do Monsters Fear? by Matt Hayward
The Boulevard Monster by Jeremy Hepler
Kill Creek by Scott Thomas

WINNER

The Rust Maidens by Gwendolyn Kiste

The Rust Maidens by Gwendolyn Kiste
Call Number: FIC KISTE GWE RU (Adult fiction)
ISBN: 9781947654440
Publication Date: 2018-11-16
Something's happening to the girls on Denton Street. It's the summer of 1980 in Cleveland and Phoebe Shaw and her best friend Jacqueline have just graduated high school, only to confront an ugly, uncertain future. The girls they've grown up with are changing. One by one, the girls' bodies wither away, their bones exposed like corroded metal beneath their flesh. As rumors spread about the grotesque transformations, soon everyone from nosy tourists to clinic doctors and government men start arriving on Denton Street, eager to catch sight of "the Rust Maidens" in metamorphosis. But even with all the onlookers, nobody can explain what's happening or why--except perhaps the Rust Maidens themselves. Whispering in secret, they know more than they're telling, and Phoebe realizes her former friends are quietly preparing for something that will tear their neighborhood apart. Alternating between past and present, Phoebe struggles to unravel the mystery of the Rust Maidens--and her own unwitting role in the transformations--before she loses everything she's held dear: her home, her best friend, and even perhaps her own body.

FINALISTS

What Should Be Wild by Julia Fine
I Am the River by T. E. Grau
Baby Teeth by Zoje Stage
The Moore House by Tony Tremblay

Baby Teeth by Zoje Stage
Call Number: FIC STAGE ZOJ B (Adult fiction)
ISBN: 9781250170750
Publication Date: 2018-07-17
Afflicted with a chronic debilitating condition, Suzette Jensen knew having children would wreak havoc on her already fragile body. Nevertheless, she brought Hanna into the world, pleased and proud to start a family with her husband Alex. Estranged from her own mother, Suzette is determined to raise her beautiful daughter with the love, care, and support she was denied. But Hanna proves to be a difficult child. Now seven-years-old, she has yet to utter a word, despite being able to read and write. Defiant and anti-social, she refuses to behave in kindergarten classes, forcing Suzette to homeschool her. Resentful of her mother's rules and attentions, Hanna lashes out in anger, becoming more aggressive every day. The only time Hanna is truly happy is when she's with her father. To Alex, she's willful and precocious but otherwise the perfect little girl, doing what she's told. Suzette knows her clever and manipulative daughter doesn't love her. She can see the hatred and jealousy in her eyes. And as Hanna's subtle acts of cruelty threaten to tear her and Alex apart, Suzette fears her very life may be in grave danger.
Baby Teeth [E-Book] by Zoje Stage
Call Number: FIC STAGE ZOJ B Ebook (OverDrive)
ISBN: 9781250170774
Publication Date: 2018-07-17
Baby Teeth [Streaming audiobook] by Zoje Stage
Call Number: FIC STAGE ZOJ B Audiobk (OverDrive)
ISBN: 9781427296627
Publication Date: 2018

WINNER

Coyote Rage by Owl Goingback

FINALISTS

Inspection by Josh Malerman
The Worst is Yet to Come by S. P. Miskowski
Into the Ashes by Lee Murray
Wanderers by Chuck Wendig

2000-2009

WINNER

The Licking Valley Coon Hunters Club by Brian A. Hopkins

FINALISTS

Nailed by the Heart by Simon Clark
House of Leaves by Mark Z. Danielewski
Run by Douglas E. Winter

WINNER

Deadliest of the Species by Michael Oliveri

FINALISTS

Phantom Feast by Diana Barron
Skating on the Edge by d. g. k. goldberg
Riverwatch by Joe Nassise

WINNER

The Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold

The Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold
Call Number: FIC SEBOL ALI LO (Adult fiction)
ISBN: 9780316666343
Publication Date: 2002-07-03
"My name was Salmon, like the fish; first name, Susie. I was fourteen when I was murdered on December 6, 1973." So begins the story of Susie Salmon, who is adjusting to her new home in heaven, a place that is not at all what she expected, even as she is watching life on earth continue without her -- her friends trading rumors about her disappearance, her killer trying to cover his tracks, her grief-stricken family unraveling. Out of unspeakable tragedy and loss, The Lovely Bones succeeds, miraculously, in building a tale filled with hope, humor, suspense, even joy.
The Lovely Bones [CD] by Alice Sebold; Author (Read by)
Call Number: CD Fiction SE (Adult CD Audiobook)
ISBN: 9781600248429
Publication Date: 2009-09-30
The Lovely Bones [Streaming audiobook] by Alice Sebold
Call Number: FIC SEBOL ALI LO Ebook (OverDrive)
ISBN: 9780316145725
Publication Date: 2002

FINALISTS

The Blues Ain't Nothin' by Tina Jens
Atmosphere by Michael Laimo
The Red Church by Scott Nicholson

WINNER

The Rising by Brian Keene

FINALISTS

Wolf's Trap by William D. Gagliani
Monstrocity by Jeffrey Thomas
Veniss Underground by Jeff Vandermeer

WINNERS (Tie)

Covenant by John Everson
Stained by Lee Thomas

FINALISTS

Black Fire by James Kidman
Move Under Ground by Nick Mamatas

WINNER

Scarecrow Gods by Weston Ochse

FINALISTS

The Hides by Kealan Patrick Burke
Siren Promised by Alan M. Clark & Jeremy Robert Johnson

WINNER

Ghost Road Blues by Jonathan Maberry

FINALISTS

Bloodstone by Nate Kenyon
The Keeper by Sarah Langan
The Harrowing by Alexandra Sokoloff

WINNER

Heart-Shaped Box by Joe Hill

Heart-Shaped Box by Joe Hill
Call Number: FIC HILL JOE HE (Adult fiction)
ISBN: 9780061147937
Publication Date: 2007-02-13
Judas Coyne is a collector of the macabre: a cookbook for cannibals . . . a used hangman's noose . . . a snuff film. An aging death-metal rock god, his taste for the unnatural is as widely known to his legions of fans as the notorious excesses of his youth. But nothing he possesses is as unlikely or as dreadful as his latest discovery, an item for sale on the Internet, a thing so terribly strange, Jude can't help but reach for his wallet.

FINALISTS

I Will Rise by Michael Louis Calvillo
The Memory Tree by John R. Little
The Hollower by Mary SanGiovanni

WINNER

The Gentling Box by Lisa Mannetti

FINALISTS

Midnight on Mourn Street by Christopher Conlon
Monster Behind the Wheel by Michael McCarty and Mark McLaughlin
The Suicide Collectors by David Oppegaard
Frozen Blood by Joel A. Sutherland

WINNER

Damnable by Hank Schwaeble

FINALISTS

Breathers by S. G. Browne
Solomon's Grave by Daniel G. Keohane
The Little Sleep by Paul Tremblay
Frozen Blood by Joel A. Sutherland

1990-1999

WINNER

The Revelation by Bentley Little

FINALISTS

Nightblood by T. Chris Martindale
Dark Father by Tom Piccirilii
Blood of the Children by Alan Rodgers

WINNERS (Tie)

The Cipher by Kathe Koja
Prodigal by Melanie Tem

FINALISTS

Winter Scream by Chris Curry & L. Dean James
Wilderness by Dennis Danvers
Unearthed by Ashley McConnell

WINNER

Sineater by Elizabeth Massie

FINALISTS

Lost Souls by Poppy Z. Brite
Beauty by Brian D'Amato
Less Than Human by Gary Raisor
The Holy Terror by Wayne Allen Sallee

WINNER

The Thread that Binds the Bones by Nina Kiriki Hoffman

FINALISTS

Afterage by Yvonne Navarro
Created by by Richard Christian Matheson
Suckers by Anne Billson
Wet Work by Philip Nutman

WINNER

Grave Markings by Michael A. Arnzen

FINALISTS

The Black Mariah by Jay Bonansinga
Deadweight by Robert Devereaux
Near Death by Nancy Kilpatrick

WINNER

The Safety of Unknown Cities by Lucy Taylor

FINALISTS

Diary of a Vampire by Gary Bowen
The Between by Tananarive Due
Madeleine's Ghost by Robert Girardi
Wyrm Wolf by Edo van Belkom

WINNER

Crota by Owl Goingback

FINALISTS

Flute Song by Donald Burleson
Horror Show by Greg Kihn
Dead Heat by Del Stone

WINNER

Lives of the Monster Dogs by Kirsten Bakis

FINALISTS

The Art of Arrow Cutting by Stephen Dedman
Hungry Eyes by Barry Hoffman
Drawn to the Grave by Mary Ann Mitchell
The Inquisitor by Mary Murrey

WINNER

Dawn Song by Michael Marano

FINALISTS

Night Prayers by P. D. Cacek
This Symbiotic Fascination by Charlee Jacob
Silk by Caitlin R. Kiernan

WINNER

Wither by J. G. Passarella

FINALISTS

Widow's Walk by Steve Beai
Every Dead Thing by John Connolly
King Rat by China Miéville

Every Dead Thing by John Connolly
Call Number: FIC CONNO JOH P1 (Adult fiction)
ISBN: 9780684857145
Publication Date: 1999-05-11
Former NYPD detective Charlie "Bird" Parker is on the verge of madness. Tortured by the unsolved slayings of his wife and young daughter, he is a man consumed by guilt, regret, and the desire for revenge. When his former partner asks him to track down a missing girl, Parker finds himself drawn into a world beyond his imagining: a world where thirty-year-old killings remain shrouded in fear and lies, a world where the ghosts of the dead torment the living, a world haunted by the murderer responsible for the deaths in his family—a serial killer who uses the human body to create works of art and takes faces as his prize. But the search awakens buried instincts in Parker: instincts for survival, for compassion, for love, and, ultimately, for killing.

1987-1989

WINNER

The Manse by Lisa Cantrell

FINALISTS

The Damnation Game by Clive Barker
Slob by Rex Miller
The Harvest Bride by Tony Richards
Excavation by Steve Rasnic Tem

WINNER

The Suiting by Kelley Wilde

FINALISTS

Resurrection, Inc. by Kevin J. Anderson
Fear Book by John L. Byrne
Deliver Us from Evil by Alan Lee Harris
Cities of the Dead by Michael Paine
Demon Night by J. Michael Straczynski

WINNER

Sunglasses After Dark by Nancy A. Collins

FINALISTS

Goat Dance by Douglas Clegg
The Dwelling by Tom Elliott
The Lilith Factor by Jean Paiva
Laying the Music to Rest by Dean Wesley Smith

Bram Stoker Awards

2020-2029

WINNER

The Fourth Whore by E.V. Knight

FINALISTS

The Taxidermist's Lover by Polly Hall

The Return by Rachel Harrison

Tome by Ross Jeffery

True Story by Kate Reed Petty

WINNER

Queen of Teeth by Hailey Piper

FINALISTS:

Helminth by S. Alessandro Martinez

When the Reckoning Comes by LaTanya McQueen

Rabbits by Terry Miles

The Forest by Lisa Quigley

Tidepool by Nicole Willson

PRELIMINARY BALLOT:

Smithy by Amanda Desiree

Indie Saint by V. K. Fox

Rules of the Road by C. B. Jones

The Thing Between Us by Gus Moreno

WINNER

Beulah by Christi Nogle

FINALISTS:

Jackal by Erin Adams

The Hacienda by Isabel Cañas

Black Tide by K. C. Jones

All the White Spaces by Ally Wilkes

2010-2019

WINNERS (Tie)

Black and Orange by Benjamin Kane Ethridge

The Castle of Los Angeles by Lisa Morton

FINALISTS

A Book of Tongues by Gemma Files

Spellbent by Lucy Snyder

WINNER

Isis Unbound by Allyson Bird

FINALISTS

Southern Gods by John Hornor Jacobs

The Lamplighters by Frazer Lee

The Panama Laugh by Thomas Roche

That Which Should Not Be by Brett J. Talley

WINNER

Life Rage by L. L. Soares

FINALISTS

Charlotte Markham and the House of Darkling by Michael Boccacino

Wide Open by Deborah Coates

The Legend of the Pumpkin by Charles Day

A Requiem for Dead Flies by Peter Dudar

Bad Glass by Richard Gropp

WINNER

The Evolutionist by Rena Mason

FINALISTS

Candy House by Kate Jonez

The Year of the Storm by John Mantooth

Redheads by Jonathan Moore

Stoker's Manuscript by Royce Prouty

WINNER

Mr. Wicker by Maria Alexander

FINALISTS

Forsaken by J. D. Barker

Consumered by David Cronenberg

Return of the Mothman by Michael Knost

Bird Box by Josh Malerman

WINNER

Mr. Suicide by Nicole Cushing

FINALISTS

Shutter by Courtney Alameda

We Are Monsters by Brian Kirk

Hannahwhere by John McILveen

Riding the Centipede by John Claude Smith

WINNER

Haven by Tom Deady

FINALISTS

The Apothecary's Curse by Barbara Barnett

Hollow House by Greg Chapman

Mayan Blue by Michelle Garza

The Eighth by Stephanie Wytovich

WINNER