The Horror Writers Association has released the final ballot for the Bram Stoker Awards™ for works published in 2011. Of the many literary ballots being released recently, this is my favorite list yet! This would make a great reading list, if you’re looking for something new. Some of my favorite fiction from 2011 is on this ballot, not to mention many of my favorite writers (both established and new) are featured. Congratulations to you all!

NOVEL:

• Conlon, Christopher — A Matrix Of Angels
• Lamberson, Greg — Cosmic Forces
• Malfi, Ronald — Floating Staircase
• McKinney, Joe — Flesh Eaters
• O’Neill, Gene — Not Fade Away
• Thomas, Lee — The German

FIRST NOVEL:

• Bird, Allyson — Isis Unbound
• Jacobs, John, Horner — Southern Gods
• Lee, Frazer — The Lamplighters
• Roche, Thomas — The Panama Laugh
• Talley, Brett J. — That Which Should Not Be

YA NOVEL:

• Faherty, J. G. — Ghosts of Coronado Bay, A Maya Blair Mystery
• Holder, Nancy — The Screaming Season
• Kraus, Daniel — Rotters
• Maberry, Jonathan — Dust & Decay
• Ness, Patrick — A Monster Calls
• Oppel, Kenneth — This Dark Endeavor: The Apprenticeship of Victor Frankenstein

GRAPHIC NOVEL:

• Brosgol, Vera — Anya’s Ghost
• Hill, Joe — Locke & Key, Volume 4
• Jensen, Jeff — Green River Killer
• Maberry, Jonathan — Marvel Universe vs. Wolverine
• Mignola, Mike and Golden, Christopher — The Plague Ships
• Moore, Alan — Neonomicon

LONG FICTION:

• Calvillo, Michael Louis — 7Brains
• Hodge, Brian — Roots and All
• Kiernan, Caitlin — The Colliers’ Venus (1893)
• Little, John R. — Ursa Major
• O’Neill, Gene — Rusting Chickens
• Straub, Peter — The Ballad of Ballard and Sandrine

SHORT FICTION:

• Castro, Adam Troy — “Her Husband’s Hands” (Lightspeed Magazine)
• King, Stephen — “Herman Wouk Is Still Alive” (The Atlantic Magazine, May 2011)
• Lillie-Paetz, Ken — “Hypergraphia” (The Uninvited, Issue 1)
• O’Neill, Gene — “Graffiti Sonata” (Dark Discoveries)
• Saunders, George — “Home” (The New Yorker Magazine, June 13, 2011)
• Warren, Kaaron — “All You Can Do Is Breathe” (Blood and Other Cravings)

SCREENPLAY:

• Ball, Alan — True Blood: Spellbound (Episode #44)
• Gimple, Scott M. — The Walking Dead: Pretty Much Dead Already (Episode #13)
• Gimple, Scott M. — The Walking Dead: Save the Last One (Episode 9)
• Goodman, Cory — Priest
• Nolfi, George — The Adjustment Bureau
• Sharzer, Jessica — American Horror Story: Afterbirth (Episode 12)

ANTHOLOGY:

• Carbone, Tracy L. — Epitaphs
• Dann, Jack and Nick Gevers — Ghosts By Gaslight
• Datlow, Ellen — Blood And Other Cravings
• Datlow, Ellen — Supernatural Noir
• Hutton, Frank J. — Tattered Souls 2
• Skipp, John — Demons: Encounters with the Devil and his Minions, Fallen Angels and the Possessed

COLLECTION:

• Connolly, Lawrence C. — Voices: Tales of Horror
• Fowler, Christopher — Red Gloves: The London Horrors
• Kiernan, Caitlin R. — Two Worlds and In-Between
• Morton, Lisa — Monsters of L.A.
• Oates, Joyce Carol — The Corn Maiden and Other Nightmares
• Ochse, Weston — Multiplex Fandango

NON-FICTION:

• Bannatyne, Lesley Pratt — Halloween Nation: Behind the Scenes of America’s Fright Night
• Crawford, Gary William/Jim Rockhill/Brian J. Showers, Eds. — Reflections in a Glass Darkly: Essays on J. Sheridan Le Fanu
• Mamatas, Nick — Starve Better
• Mogk, Matt — Everything You Ever Wanted to Know About Zombies
• Tibbetts, John C. — The Gothic Imagination
• Wood, Rocky — Stephen King: A Literary Companion

POETRY COLLECTION:

• Addison, Linda — How to Recognize a Demon Has Become Your Friend
• Alexander, Maria — At Louche Ends: Poetry for the Decadent, the Damned & the Absinthe-Minded
• Boston, Bruce — Surrealities
• Clark, G.O — Shroud of Night
• Simon, Marge — The Mad Hattery
• Simon, Marge — Unearthly Delights