Bram Stoker and Philip K. Dick Awards Finalists

2/22/2024

Triple the congratulations are in order for THREE JABberwocky award finalists this February!

THESE BURNING STARS — 2024 Philip K. Dick Award Nominee

Bethany Jacobs‘s THESE BURNING STARS is one of six books on the final ballot for the 2024 Philip K. Dick Award!

The Philip K. Dick Award is awarded to the best original paperback published each year in the US. It is sponsored by the Philadelphia Science Fiction Society and the Philip K. Dick Trust.

Set in an empire that spans star systems, built around a dark secret, THESE BURNING STARS tells a dangerous cat-and-mouse quest for revenge. Jun Ironway—hacker, con artist, and occasional thief—has gotten her hands on proof that implicates the powerful Nightfoot family in a planet-wide genocide seventy-five years ago. The Kindom, the ruling power of the star systems, tasks two of their most brutal clerics with hunting her down: preternaturally stoic Chono, and brilliant hothead Esek, who also happens to be the heir to the Nightfoot empire. But Chono and Esek are haunted in turn by a figure from their shared past, known only as Six. What Six truly wants is anyone’s guess. And the closer they get to finding Jun, the surer Chono is that Six is manipulating them all.

This is Bethany Jacobs’s first Philip K. Dick nomination, and the second award nomination for her debut novel! THESE BURNING STARS has been on four “Best Of” lists, including from Kirkus and Audible, and racked up starred reviews from Booklist, Kirkus, Library Journal, and BookPage.

HOW TO SELL A HAUNTED HOUSE — 2023 Bram Stoker Award Finalist

Grady Hendrix’s HOW TO SELL A HAUNTED HOUSE is a finalist for the Superior Achievement in a Novel category in the 2023 Bram Stoker Awards!

The Bram Stoker Awards celebrate superior achievement in writing. This award is presented by the Horror Writers Association, the premier writers organization in the horror and dark fiction genre.

HOW TO SELL A HAUNTED HOUSE follows Louise, a young woman who finds out her parents have died in an unexpected and terrible accident. After leaving her young daughter in the care of her ex, she flies back to her childhood home in Charleston to sort out her parents’ belongings — most notably, her mother’s lifelong collection of puppets and dolls. While there, Louise has a tense reunion with her younger brother, Mark, who never left their hometown and can’t keep a job for longer than a few months. But as they argue about how to sell the house, Louise and Mark realize that childhood memories aren’t the only thing haunting their old home. Something (or rather, someone) has other plans for the siblings…

This is Grady Hendrix’s third Bram Stoker Award nomination, following THE FINAL GIRL SUPPORT GROUP (a 2021 finalist) and PAPERBACKS FROM HELL, which won the 2017 award for Best Nonfiction. HOW TO SELL A HAUNTED HOUSE is a #5 New York Times Bestseller, a 2024 Southern Book Prize Finalist, and is being adapted for film by Legendary Entertainment.

“Becoming Ungovernable: Latah, Amok, and Disorder in Indonesia— 2023 Bram Stoker Award Nominee

Nadia Bulkin‘s nonfiction essay, “Becoming Ungovernable: Latah, Amok, and Disorder in Indonesia” from the collection UNQUIET SPIRITS: ESSAYS BY ASIAN WOMEN IN HORROR is a finalist for the Superior Achievement in Short Non-Fiction category in the 2023 Bram Stoker Awards!

From hungry ghosts, vampiric babies, and shapeshifting fox spirits to the avenging White Lady of urban legend, for generations, Asian women’s roles have been shaped and defined through myth and story. In Unquiet Spirits, Asian writers of horror reflect on the impact of superstition, spirits, and the supernatural in this unique collection of 21 personal essays exploring themes of otherness, identity, expectation, duty, and loss, and leading, ultimately, to understanding and empowerment.

This is Nadia Bulkin’s first Bram Stoker Award nomination. Her debut horror short story collection, SHE SAID DESTROY, was nominated for a Shirley Jackson award and a This is Horror award, and received glowing reviews, including a starred review from Publishers Weekly.

Our warmest congratulations to Bethany, Grady, and Nadia for their nominations!