February 23rd dawned with the wonderful news that I Am The River made the 2018 Bram Stoker Awards® Final Ballot in the First Novel category.

As I’ve done elsewhere, and certainly need to here, I’d like to express my heartfelt thanks to the Horror Writers Association for considering the book for the Stoker, and to all of the HWA award juries and members who not just voted for it, but also those who read it during the nomination period. I very much appreciate and truly value their time and deliberation.

On March 18th, the official nomination certificate arrived in the mail, packaged and sent from nearby – and quite lovely – Sherman Oaks, California, which is a literal stone’s throw from the cozy confines of Grau Haus. I could have jogged over to the HWA HQ and saved those folks some postage.

Nine days prior, the HWA added a bio page on the Bram Stoker Awards® website, giving the nomination a permanence that only electronically charged pixels stored in a humming server tower can, while waiting for the flesh and pulp certificate to arrive in the mail, searching for a frame.

I feel incredibly honored to be considered for this award, and humbled to be included in a category with such a stellar class of contemporaries, as shown below in the overall 2018 Final Ballot, which includes the following:

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Superior Achievement in a Novel

The Hunger – Alma Katsu
Glimpse – Jonathan Maberry
Unbury Carol – Josh Malerman
Dracul – Dacre Stoker and J.D. JD Barker
The Cabin at the End of the World – Paul Tremblay
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Superior Achievement in a First Novel

What Should Be Wild – Julia Fine
I Am the River – T.E. Grau
The Rust Maidens – Gwendolyn Kiste
Baby Teeth – Zoje Stage
The Moore House – Tony Tremblay
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Superior Achievement in a Young Adult Novel

Dread Nation – Justina Ireland
Sawkill Girls – Claire Legrand
Broken Lands – Jonathan Maberry
The Night Weaver – Monique Snyman
The Dark Descent of Elizabeth Frankenstein – Kiersten White
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Superior Achievement in a Graphic Novel

Abbott – Saladin Ahmed
Moonshine Vol. 2: Misery Train – Brian Azzarello
Bone Parish – Cullen Bunn
Destroyer – Victor LaValle
Monstress Volume 3: Haven – Marjorie Liu
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Superior Achievement in Long Fiction

Our Children, Our Teachers – Michael Bailey
You Are Released – Joe Hill
Dead Lovers on Each Blade, Hung – Usman Mlk
The Devil’s Throat – Rena Mason
Bitter Suites – Angela Yuriko Smith
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Superior Achievement in Short Fiction

“Mutter” – Jess Landry
“Dead End Town” – Lee Murray
“Glove Box” – Annie Neugebauer
“A Winter’s Tale” – John F.D. Taff (Deborah Taff)
“And in Her Eyes the City Drowned” – Kyla Lee Ward
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Superior Achievement in a Fiction Collection

Spectral Evidence – Gemma Files
That Which Grows Wild – Eric J. Guignard
Coyote Songs – Gabino Iglesias
Garden of Eldritch Delights – Lucy A. Snyder
Dark and Distant Voices: A Story Collection – Tim Waggoner
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Superior Achievement in a Screenplay

Hereditary – Ari Aster
The Haunting of Hill House: The Bent-Neck Lady, Episode 01:05 – Meredith Averill
Annihilation – Alex Garland
Bird Box – Eric Heisserer
A Quiet Place – Bryan Woods, Scott Beck and John Krasinski
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Superior Achievement in an Anthology

A New York State of Fright: Horror Stories from the Empire State – James Chambers, April Grey and Robert Masterson
The Devil and the Deep: Horror Stories of the Sea – Ellen Datlow
A World of Horror – Eric J. Guignard
Hellhole: An Anthology of Subterranean Terror – Lee Murray
Lost Highways: Dark Fictions from the Road – D Alexander Ward
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Superior Achievement in Non-Fiction

Horror Express – John Connolly
The Howling: Studies in the Horror Film – Lee Gambin
We Don’t Go Back: A Watcher’s Guide to Folk Horror – Howard David Ingham
It’s Alive: Bringing Your Nightmares to Life – Joe Mynhardt and Eugene Johnsonn
Uncovering Stranger Things: Essays on Eighties Nostalgia, Cynicism and Innocence in the Series – Kevin J. Wetmore Jr.
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Superior Achievement in a Poetry Collection

Artifacts – Bruce Boston
Bleeding Saffron – David E. Cowen
Witches – Donna Lynch
War – Marge Simon and Alessandro Manzetti
The Devil’s Dreamland – Sara Tantlinger

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As per the official website, winners will be announced during StokerCon™ 2019, held May 9th-12th at the Amway Grand Plaza Hotel in Grand Rapids, Michigan. 

I wish all my fellow nominees the very best, and much good luck!