Ever since I opened my first Stephen King novel, I have been a huge fan of the horror genre. Eventually, I discovered the tales of the amazing Shirley Jackson–a author who is, has been, and will always be an icon within the horror genre. So, I always try to share the nominations for the annual Shirley Jackson Awards because … it’s likely the best reading list that you’ll find for horror literature this year!

Visit the Shirley Jackson Awards website for more information. Without further ado, here are the nominees for the 2013 Shirley Jackson Awards are:

NOVEL

• The Accursed, Joyce Carol Oates (Ecco)
• American Elsewhere, Robert Jackson Bennett (Orbit)
• The Demonologist, Andrew Pyper (Orion-UK/ Simon & Schuster-US)
• The Ghost Bride, Yangsze Choo (William Morrow)
• Night Film, Marisha Pessl (Random House)
• Wild Fell, Michael Rowe (ChiZine Publications)

NOVELLA

• Burning Girls, Veronica Schanoes (Tor.com)
• Children of No One, Nicole Cushing (DarkFuse)
• Helen’s Story, Rosanne Rabinowitz (PS Publishing)
• It Sustains, Mark Morris (Earthling Publications)
• “The Gateway,” Nina Allan (Stardust, PS Publishing)
• The Last Revelation of Gla’aki, Ramsey Campbell (PS Publishing)
• Whom the Gods Would Destroy, Brian Hodge (DarkFuse)

NOVELETTE

• Cry Murder! In a Small Voice, Greer Gilman (Small Beer Press)
• “A Little of the Night,” Tanith Lee (Clockwork Phoenix 4, Mythic Delirium Books)
• “My Heart is Either Broken,” Megan Abbott (Dangerous Women, Tor Books)
• “Phosphorus,” Veronica Schanoes (Queen Victoria’s Book of Spells: An Anthology of Gaslamp Fantasy, Tor Books)
• “Raptors,” Conrad Williams (Subterranean Press Magazine, Winter 2013)

SHORT FICTION

• “57 Reasons for the Slate Quarry Suicides,” Sam J. Miller (Nightmare Magazine, December 2013)
• “Furnace,” Livia Llewellyn (Grimscribe’s Puppets, Miskatonic River Press)
• “The Memory Book,” Maureen McHugh (Queen Victoria’s Book of Spells: An Anthology of Gaslamp Fantasy, Tor Books)
• “The Statue in the Garden,” Paul Park (Exotic Gothic 5, PS Publishing)
• “That Tiny Flutter of the Heart,” Robert Shearman (Psycho-Mania!, Constable & Robinson)
• “The Traditional,” Maria Dahvana Headley (Lightspeed, May 2013)

SINGLE-AUTHOR COLLECTION

• Before and Afterlives, Christopher Barzak (Lethe Press)
• Everything You Need, Michael Marshall Smith (Earthling Publications)
• In Search of and Others, Will Ludwigsen (Lethe Press)
• North American Lake Monsters, Nathan Ballingrud (Small Beer Press)
• The Story Until Now, Kit Reed (Wesleyan)

EDITED ANTHOLOGY

• The Book of the Dead, edited by Jared Shurin (Jurassic London)
• End of the Road, Jonathan Oliver (Solaris)
• Grimscribe’s Puppets, edited by Joseph S. Pulver, Sr. (Miskatonic River Press)
• Queen Victoria’s Book of Spells: An Anthology of Gaslamp Fantasy, edited by Ellen Datlow (Tor Books)
• Where thy Dark Eye Glances: Queering Edgar Allan Poe, edited by Steve Berman (Lethe Press)

Lit Reactor Horror Writing Workshop – Signal Boost!

Also, for those of you who enjoy workshops, but want to focus on the horror genre, you might consider the Lit Reactor writing workshop. You’ll notice Nathan Ballingrud, one of the Shirley Jackson Awards Nominees, is one of this year’s Lit Reactor instructors. While I haven’t actually participated in this workshop, I’ve heard great things about it. Here’s the link to the workshop to find out more about it: Lit Reactor, June 2-30, 2014!

Descriptions from the Lit Reactor website: This four-week workshop will teach you how to write horror that goes beyond the scares and beyond the gross-out, to compel, challenge, and move the reader.