The Lifetime Achievement of Rick Hautala

Prior to his premature death in March 2013, Rick Hautala had written over 90 novels and short stories (including four novels under the pen name A.J. Matthews), as well as screenplays. In 2011 he earned a Bram Stoker Lifetime Achievement Award from the Horror Writers Association. His short stories are widely anthologized, and his short story entitled "Knocking" was included in the 1999 Bram Stoker Award-winning anthology, 999: New Stories of Horror and Suspense.

Like his fellow Maine author Stephen King, Hautala is able to imbue the everyday with a sense of underlying threat and horror, and he tackled and gave new life to diverse horror themes from the werewolf to the evil doll. His novel Night Stone was an international bestseller. Another of his extremely popular novels, Little Brothers, tells the story of the "untcigahumk"--hideous forest creatures who feed every five years on human flesh. His short story collection Bedbugs was named by Barnes and Noble as one of the best horror works of 2000.

For more information on Rick Hautala, his works (including those published posthumously), interview links, and a video link to his acceptance speech for the Bram Stoker Lifetime Achievement Award, please click here.

The Southern Maine Community College, where he taught for a number of years, will be hosting a "Celebration of Rick Hautala" on Thursday, March 27, 2014, at 7:00 pm.

Past Bram Stoker Award Winner Bentley Little

As promised in my last post, I'll be looking at some past Bram Stoker Award winners (in no particular order) over the next two months. This week's post features the prolific novelist and short story writer Bentley Little. I've read only one of his novels, but it stayed with me, and he's definitely on my "to-read more of" list.

Various biographies of Bentley Little point out that he was born a month after his mother attended the world premiere of Psycho. (Is there a horror gene?)

His first novel The Revelation, which he wrote as his M.A. thesis and later published, won the Bram Stoker Award for Best First Novel in 1990. He was also among the Best Novel nominees in 1993 for The Summoning.


In a special issue of Cemetery Dance Magazine devoted to Bentley Little, the author discusses why he enjoys writing horror fiction:

. . . Horror fiction offers an author the broadest possible canvas on which to work. I have all of the real-world subjects at my disposal that a mainstream writer does—plus the infinite realm of the supernatural. Creatively, there's nothing else that comes close to this sort of scope, which is why there is nothing I would rather be than a horror writer.

(from Cemetery Dance Magazine #64)

Little writes in the tradition of Stephen King and Dean Koontz, and he manages to make small towns and seemingly mundane situations (like belonging to a homeowners' association) downright terrifying. Stephen King has described him as "the horror poet laureate".  Little's most recent novel is The Influence, which was published in October 2013.

If you're interested in learning more about Bentley Little and his novels, please visit the Internet Speculative Fiction Database.

Horror Writers Association Announces Preliminary Ballots for 2013 Bram Stoker Awards

The Horror Writers Association (HWA) has announced its preliminary ballots for the 2013 Bram Stoker Awards:

Superior Achievement in a Novel 
Michaelbrent Collings – Darkbound (Amazon Digital Services)
Michaelbrent Collings – The Colony: Genesis (Amazon Digital Services)
John Harwood – The Asylum (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt)
Joe Hill – NOS4A2 (William Morrow)
Stephen King – Doctor Sleep (Scribner)
Lisa Morton – Malediction (Evil Jester Press)
Fuminori Nakamura – Evil and the Mask (Soho Crime)
Sarah Pinborough and F. Paul Wilson – A Necessary End (Shadowridge Press)
Christopher Rice – The Heavens Rise (Gallery Books)
Gord Rollo – Only the Thunder Knows (JournalStone) 

Superior Achievement in a First Novel 
L.C. Barlow – Pivot (CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform)
Michael Bray – Whisper (Horrific Tales Publishing)
J. Lincoln Fenn – Poe (47North)
Geoffrey Girard – Cain’s Blood (Touchstone)
Kate Jonez – Candy House (Evil Jester Press)
Christian A. Larsen – Losing Touch (Post Mortem Press)
John Mantooth – The Year of the Storm (Berkley Trade)
Rena Mason – The Evolutionist (Nightscape Press)
Jonathan Moore – Redheads (Samhain Publishing)
Royce Prouty – Stoker’s Manuscript (G.P. Putnam’s Sons) 

Superior Achievement in a Young Adult Novel 
Charles Day – The Adventures of Kyle McGerrt: Hunt for the Ghoulish Bartender (Blood Bound Books)
Patrick Freivald – Special Dead (JournalStone)
Kami Garcia – Unbreakable (Little, Brown Books for Young Readers)
Geoffrey Girard – Project Cain (Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers)
Hannah Jayne – Truly, Madly, Deadly (Sourcebooks Fire)
Tom Leveen – Sick (Harry N. Abrams)
Joe McKinney – Dog Days (JournalStone)
Cat Winters – In the Shadow of Blackbirds (Harry N. Abrams) 

Superior Achievement in a Graphic Novel 
Ed Brubaker – Fatale Book Three: West of Hell (Image Comics)
Caitlin R. Kiernan – Alabaster: Wolves (Dark Horse Comics)
Brandon Seifert – Witch Doctor, Vol. 2: Mal Practice (Image Comics)
Cameron Stewart – Sin Titulo (Dark Horse Comics)
Paul Tobin – Colder (Dark Horse Comics) 


Superior Achievement in Long Fiction 
Dale Bailey – “The Bluehole” (The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction, May/June 2013)
Gary Braunbeck – “The Great Pity” (Chiral Mad 2, CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform)
James Chambers – Three Chords of Chaos (Dark Quest Books)
Benjamin K. Ethridge – “The Slaughter Man” (Limbus, Inc., JournalStone)
Gregory Frost – “No Others Are Genuine” (Asimov’s Science Fiction, Oct./Nov. 2013)
Greg F. Gifune – House of Rain (DarkFuse)
Eric J. Guignard – Baggage of Eternal Night (JournalStone)
Dustin LaValley – The Deceived (Thunderstorm Books)
Rena Mason – East End Girls (JournalStone)
S.P. Miskowski – Astoria (Omnium Gatherum) 

Superior Achievement in Short Fiction 
Colleen Anderson – “The Book With No End” (Bibliotheca Fantastica, Dagan Books)
Michael Bailey – “Primal Tongue” (Zippered Flesh 2, Smart Rhino Publications)
Max Booth III – “Flowers Blooming in the Season of Atrophy” (Chiral Mad 2, CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform)
Patrick Freivald – “Snapshot” (Blood & Roses, Scarlett River Press)
David Gerrold – “Night Train to Paris” (The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction, Jan./Feb. 2013)
Lisa Mannetti – “The Hunger Artist” (Zippered Flesh 2, Smart Rhino Publications)
Samuel Marolla – “Black Tea” (Black Tea and Other Tales, Mezzotints)
Helen Marshall – “The Slipway Grey” (Chilling Tales, EDGE Science Fiction and Fantasy Publishing)
John Palisano – “The Geminis” (Chiral Mad 2, CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform)
Michael Reaves – “Code 666” (The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction, March/April 2013)

 Superior Achievement in a Screenplay 
Fabien Adda and Fabrice Gobert – The Returned: “The Horde” (Ramaco Media I, Castelao Pictures)
Brad Falchuk – American Horror Story: Asylum: “Spilt Milk” (Brad Falchuk Teley-Vision, Ryan Murphy Productions)
Bryan Fuller – Hannibal: “Apéritif” (Dino De Laurentiis Company, Living Dead Guy Productions, AXN: Original X Production, Gaumont International Television)
Daniel Knauf – Dracula: “A Whiff of Sulfur” (Flame Ventures, Playground, Universal Television, Carnival Films)
Glen Mazzara – The Walking Dead: “Welcome to the Tombs” (AMC TV) 


Superior Achievement in an Anthology 
R.J. Cavender and Boyd E. Harris (ed.) – Horror Library: Volume 5 (Cutting Block Press)
Marc Ciccarone (ed) – Blood Rites: An Invitation to Horror (Blood Bound Books)
Eric J. Guignard (ed.) – After Death… (Dark Moon Books)
Michael Knost and Nancy Eden Siegel (ed.) – Barbers & Beauties (Hummingbird House Press)
Ross E. Lockhart (ed.) – Tales of Jack the Ripper (Word Horde)
Lori Michelle (ed.) – Bleed (Perpetual Motion Machine Publishing)
Joseph S. Pulver, Sr. (ed.) – The Grimscribe’s Puppets (Miskatonic River Press)
Jeani Rector (ed.) – Shadow Masters: An Anthology from the Horror Zine (Imajin Books)
Anthony Rivera and Sharon Lawson (ed.) – Dark Visions: A Collection of Modern Horror, Volume One (Grey Matter Press) 

Superior Achievement in a Fiction Collection 
Nathan Ballingrud – North American Lake Monsters: Stories (Small Beer Press)
Laird Barron – The Beautiful Thing That Awaits Us All and Other Stories (Night Shade Books)
Max Booth III – They Might Be Demons (Dark Moon Books)
Kenneth W. Cain – Fresh Cut Tales: A Collection of Dark Fiction (Distressed Press)
James Dorr – The Tears of Isis (Perpetual Motion Machine Publishing)
K. Trap Jones – The Crossroads: A Collection of Narrative Horror (Hazardous Press)
Caitlin R. Kiernan – The Ape’s Wife and Other Stories (Subterranean)
Chantal Noordeloos – Deeply Twisted (TMH Publishing)
Gene O’Neill – Dance of the Blue Lady (Bad Moon Books)
Reggie Oliver – Flowers of the Sea (Tartarus Press)
S. P. Somtow - Bible Stories for Secular Humanists (Diplodocus Press) 


Superior Achievement in Non-Fiction 
Barbara Brodman and James E. Doan (ed.) – Images of the Modern Vampire: The Hip and the Atavistic (Fairleigh Dickinson)
Gary William Crawford (ed.) – Ramsey Campbell: Critical Essays on the Modern Master of Horror (Scarecrow Press)
William F. Nolan – Nolan on Bradbury: Sixty Years of Writing about the Master of Science Fiction (Hippocampus Press)
Jarkko Toikkanen – The Intermedial Experience of Horror: Suspended Failures (Palgrave Macmillan)
Robert H. Waugh (ed.) – Lovecraft and Influence: His Predecessors and Successors (Scarecrow Press)
Jeffrey Andrew Weinstock (ed.) – The Works of Tim Burton: Margins to Mainstream (Palgrave Macmillan) 


Superior Achievement in a Poetry Collection 
Vincenzo Bilof – The Horror Show (Bizarro Pulp Press)
Bruce Boston – Dark Roads: Selected Long Poems 1971-2012 (Dark Renaissance Books)
G.O. Clark – Scenes Along the Zombie Highway (Dark Regions Press)
David C. Kopaska-Merkel – Luminous Worlds (Dark Regions Press)
Helen Marshall – The Sex Lives of Monsters (Kelp Queen Press)
Marge Simon and Sandy DeLuca – Dangerous Dreams (Elektrik Milk Bath Press)
Marge Simon, Rain Graves, Charlee Jacob, and Linda Addison – Four Elements (Bad Moon Books/Evil Jester Press)
Bryan Thao Worra – Demonstra: A Poetry Collection (Innsmouth Free Press)
Stephanie M. Wytovich – Hysteria: A Collection of Madness (Raw Dog Screaming Press) 


If six or more works appear on a preliminary ballot, voting proceeds by active and lifetime members of the HWA to determine a final ballot. If there are five or less works appearing on a preliminary ballot, as is the case with the graphic novel and screenplay categories above, these works progress automatically to the final ballot, but are NOT considered nominees until the final ballot results are announced by the HWA on February 23, 2014.

Over the next month or so, we'll look at past recipients of the Bram Stoker Awards.

And stay tuned for the HWA announcement of the final ballot results!
 

 

Paranormal Romance, Anyone?

The New York Times in its Sunday Book Review has a short piece by Gregory Cowles on the paranormal romance author Christine Feehan. Her latest novel Dark Wolf is No. 3 on the hardcover fiction list. I don't read paranormal romance, so I had never heard of Ms. Feehan and was surprised to see that this is the twenty-fifth book in her "Dark" series. In fact, she has published over forty novels, including the "Ghostwalker" and "Leopard" series.

Ms. Feehan started writing steamy love scenes in middle school when she was thirteen, but delayed publishing her work for a long time. She spent more than twenty years working as a martial arts instructor. For the full text of the article, please click here.

One thing is for sure: if she can write twenty-five novels in a series and still be near the top of the bestseller list, someone must be reading them.

If you're a fan of paranormal romance, I'd be interested in hearing from you on why this type of novel is currently so popular.

Poe and Other Masters Re-Visited

Centipede Press, which specializes in the publication of horror fiction, has issued a collection of the works of Edgar Allan Poe. There has been a resurgence of interest in Poe--possibly due to the series The Following-- and despite the fact that I abhor the use of Poe's image in conjunction with a series about a serial killer and his cult followers, I am happy to see that new generations are discovering Poe's works. To re-visit my post on Poe as a master of horror, please click here.

The series of classic writers published by Centipede Press, designed for collectors, tends to be very pricey. However, if you have an e-reader, you can find many Internet sites that offer free downloads of Poe's work (see iTunes, for example, at https://itunes.apple.com/ca/itunes-u/the-works-of-edgar-allan-poe/id384533449?mt=10).

John DeNardo reports that Centipede Press has also issued a collection of H.P. Lovecraft's work. He describes Lovecraft as "an undeniable master of dark horror and weird fiction in the short form". To view the full text of his post and to see what other collections have been released by Centipede Press, please click here.

 

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What's on the Horizon for 2014?

A discussion of “best bets” for science fiction, fantasy and horror for January 2014 appears in an article by John DeNardo in Kirkus Reviews. There are a number of social science fiction and dystopian novels listed, as well as “off-planet” action novels. Also mentioned is a collection of essays on science fiction and fantasy entitled What Makes This Book So Great by Jo Walton, a Hugo award-winning author.

On the horror front, two books are mentioned (with the promise of a future article highlighting more horror selections). Sarah Pinborough's Mayhem transports readers to Victorian England at the time of Jack the Ripper. Scotland Yard must now deal with the "Torso Killer", who dismembers his victims and leaves behind “neatly-wrapped packages” of body parts for the police to discover. Also featured is Snowblind by Christopher Golden, his first new horror novel in more than a decade, which is set in the New England town of Coventry where a snowstorm brings supernatural figures threatening the town's inhabitants.

For the complete article by John DeNardo, please click here. And for a more detailed list of upcoming 2014 horror novels, you might want to visit the listings published by Powell's Books at http://www.powells.com/section/horror/coming-soon/2/.

Nosferatu Re-Mastered

The re-mastered edition of the silent film horror classic Nosferatu: A Symphony of Horror is now available. This film has a very interesting history. It was based on Bram Stoker's Dracula (the title "Nosferatu" derives from the name given to Count Dracula by the local villagers).  Stoker's widow fought a successful battle to have the film declared in violation of copyright. The judge ordered all copies of the film to be destroyed, but apparently a remaining copy was circulated and subsequently reproduced and distributed to become a cult classic.

The film was made in Germany by director F.W. Murnau and was released in 1922. The re-mastered version is available through Amazon.

If you're in the UK, Scream magazine is currently running a contest for subscribers to give away five copies of the film. See http://www.screamhorrormag.com/. 

Happy viewing, and to you and yours I'd like to wish a safe and happy holiday. Merry Christmas!