The final ballot for the Horrow Writers Association’s prestigious Bram Stoker Awards has just been announced, and Bloodstone has made the ballot in the first novel category. The winners will be announced at the annual Stokers Awards Gala, to be held in Toronto, Canada in March 2007.

Previous Stoker Award winners include Stephen King, Peter Straub, Anne Rice, Thomas Harris and many other giants of the genre.

I’m thrilled and humbled to be on this list with so many major works and big names in the field. I want to thank everyone who has supported the novel from day one.

Here’s the complete ballot:

Superior Achievement in a NOVEL

Headstone City by Tom Piccirilli (Bantam)
Liseys Story by Stephen King (Scribner)
Ghost Road Blues by Jonathan Maberry (Pinnacle)
Pressure by Jeff Strand (Earthling)
Prodigal Blues by Gary A. Braunbeck (Cemetery Dance)

Superior Achievement in a FIRST NOVEL

Ghost Road Blues by Jonathan Maberry (Pinnacle)
The Keeper by Sarah Langan (William Morrow)
Bloodstone by Nate Kenyon (Five Star)
The Harrowing by Alexandra Sokoloff (St. Martins)

Superior Achievement in LONG FICTION

Dark Harvest by Norman Partridge (Cemetery Dance)
Hallucigenia by Laird Barron (The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction)
Mamas Boy by Fran Friel (Insidious Reflections)
Bloodstained Oz by Christopher Golden and James A. Moore (Earthling Publications)
Clubland Heroes by Kim Newman (Retro Pub Tales)

Superior Achievement in SHORT FICTION

Tested by Lisa Morton (Cemetery Dance)
Balance by Gene ONeill (Cemetery Dance)
Feeding the Dead Inside by Yvonne Navarro(Mondo Zombie)
FYI by Mort Castle (Masques V)
“31/10” by Stephen Volk Dark Corners)

Superior Achievement in an ANTHOLOGY

Aegri Somnia: The Apex Featured Writer Anthology
edited by Jason Sizemore (Apex)
Mondo Zombie edited by John Skipp (Cemetery Dance)
Retro Pulp Tales edited by Joe Lansdale (Subterranean)
Alone on the Darkside edited by John Pelan (Roc)

Superior Achievement in a COLLECTION

Destinations Unknown by Gary Braunbeck (Cemetery Dance)
American Morons by Glen Hirshberg (Earthling Publications)
The Commandments by Angeline Hawkes (Nocturne Press)
The Empire of Ice Cream by Jeffrey Ford (Golden Gryphon)
Basic Black: Tales of Appropriate Fear by Terry Dowling (Cemetery Dance)

Superior Achievement in NONFICTION

Cinema Macabre edited by Mark Morris (PS Publishing)
Final Exits: The Illustrated Encyclopedia of How We Die by Michael Largo (Harper)
Gospel of the Living Dead: George Romero’s vision of Hell on Earth by Kim Paffenroth (Baylor Press)
Stephen King: Uncollected, Unpublished by Rocky Wood (Cemetery Dance)

Superior Achievement in POETRY

Shades Fantastic by Bruce Boston (Gromagon Press)
Valentine: Short Love Poems by Corrine de Winter (Black Arrow Press)
The Troublesome Amputee by John Edward Lawson (Raw Dog Screaming Press)
Songs of a Sorceress by Bobbi Sinha-Morey (Write Words, Inc.)

A couple of enterprising Five Star authors have started up a MySpace Five Star page. Drop by and take a look: Five Star’s been publishing some great books lately!

http://www.myspace.com/FiveStarAuthors

The Horror Writers Association (HWA) has announced the preliminary ballot for the 2006 Bram Stoker Awards. It’s quite an impressive list, and Bloodstone appears in the First Novel category. The HWA membership will vote on these titles, and the top vote-getters will make up the final ballot. The winners are announced at the Stoker Awards Banquet in March.

Here’s the complete list:

SUPERIOR ACHIEVEMENT IN A NOVEL
Prodigal Blues by Gary A. Braunbeck (Cemetery Dance)
World of Hurt by Brian Hodge (Earthling)
Cell by Stephen King (Scribner/Simon & Schuster)
Lisey’s Story by Stephen King (Scribner)
The Keeper by Sarah Langan (William Morrow)
A House Divided by Deborah LeBlanc (Leisure)
Ghost Road Blues by Jonathan Maberry (Pinnacle)
Headstone City by Tom Piccirilli (Bantam)
The Pressure of Darkness by Harry Shannon (Five Star/Thomson Gale)
Pressure by Jeff Strand (Earthling)

SUPERIOR ACHIEVEMENT IN A FIRST NOVEL
Never Ceese by Sue Dent (Journey Stone Creations)
Forever Will You Suffer by Gary Frank (Medallion)
Bloodstone by Nate Kenyon (Five Star)
The Keeper by Sarah Langan (William Morrow)
Ghost Road Blues by Jonathan Maberry (Pinnacle)
Dead City by Joe McKinney (Pinnacle Books)
The Harrowing by Alexandra Sokoloff (St. Martin’s)

SUPERIOR ACHIEVEMENT IN LONG FICTION
“Hallucigenia” by Laird Barron (The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction)
“Graffiti” by Jason Brannon (Winds of Change)
“Winds of Change” by Jason Brannon (Winds of Change)
“The Ballad of Road Mama and Daddy Bliss” by Gary Braunbeck (Destinations Unknown)
Failure by John Everson (Delirium)
Mama’s Boy by Fran Friel (Insidious Reflections)
Then Comes the Child by Christopher Fulbright and Angeline Hawkes (Carnifex Press)
Bloodstained Oz by Christopher Golden and James A. Moore (Earthling Publications)
“The Muldoon” by Glen Hirshberg (American Morons)
“Raphael” by Stephen Graham Jones (Cemetery Dance)
Take The Long Way Home by Brian Keene (Necessary Evil Press)
“Dark Harvest” by Norman Partridge (Cemetery Dance)
“The Colour Out of Darkness” by John Pelan (Cemetery Dance)

SUPERIOR ACHIEVEMENT IN SHORT FICTION
Beneath Black Boughs My Darlings Slumber by Cullen Bunn (Naked Snake Press)
“Lucania” by Sandy DeLuca, and Michael McCarty (Hungur)
“FYI” by Mort Castle (Masques V)
“I’ll Call You” by Mort Castle (Masques V: Further Stories)
“Wet Work” by Curtis Hoffmeister (Desdmona)
“The Alchemy from the Towers of Silence” by Gerard Houarner(Damned Nation)
“Toad Lily” by Nicholas Kaufmann (Cemetery Dance)
“The Bloodied Woman” by Nick Mamatas (Mississippi Review Online)
“Tested” by Lisa Morton (Cemetery Dance)
“Feeding the Dead Inside” by Yvonne Navarro (Mondo Zombie)
“The Secret Lives of Heroes” by Weston Ochse (Horror Garage)
“Balance” by Gene O’Neill (Cemetery Dance)
“Sky of Thunder, Island of Blood” by Stephen Mark Rainey (Amazon Shorts)
“Jiki” by Michael West (City Slab)

SUPERIOR ACHIEVEMENT IN AN ANTHOLOGY
Aegri Somnia: The Apex Featured Writer Anthology edited by Jason Sizemore (Apex)
Alone on the Darkside edited by John Pelan (Roc)
Mondo Zombie edited by John Skipp (Cemetery Dance)
Retro Pulp Tales edited by Joe Lansdale (Subterranean)

SUPERIOR ACHIEVEMENT IN A COLLECTION
Winds of Change by Jason Brannon (Nocturne Press)
Destinations Unknown by Gary Braunbeck (Cemetery Dance)
Hook House & Other Horrors by Sherry Decker (Silver Lake)
The Empire of Ice Cream by Jeffrey Ford (Golden Gryphon)
Apple of My Eye by Amy Grech (Two Backed Books)
The Commandments by Angeline Hawkes (Nocturne Press)
American Morons by Glen Hirshberg (Earthling Publications)
Geek Poems by Charlee Jacob (Necro)

The Dark Underbelly of Hymns by Martin Mundt (Delirium)
The Man from the Diogenes Club by Kim Newman (Monkey Brain Books)
The Ocean And All Its Devices by William Browning Spencer (Subterranean Press)

SUPERIOR ACHIEVEMENT IN NONFICTION
Final Exits: The Illustrated Encyclopedia of How We Die by Michael Largo (Harper)
Gospel of the Living Dead: George Romero’s vis ion of Hell on Earth by Kim Paffenroth (Baylor Press)
Stephen King: Uncollected, Unpublished by Rocky Wood (Cemetery Dance)

SUPERIOR ACHIEVEMENT IN POETRY
Shades Fantastic by Bruce Boston (Gromagon Press)
Valentine: Short Love Poems by Corrine de Winter (Black Arrow Press)
The Troublesome Amputee by John Edward Lawson (Raw Dog Screaming Press)
Grim Trixter: Poems of Fantasy, Erotica and Horror by Brandy Schwann (Apex Publications)
Songs of a Sorceress by Bobbi Sinha-Morey (Write Words, Inc.)
Screaming in Code by Thomas Wiloch (Naked Snake Press)

Congratulations to all!