Showing posts with label Stoker Award Winner. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Stoker Award Winner. Show all posts

Monday, June 23, 2025

Using The Bram Stoker Awards and Hoopla Digital

 

The 2024 Bram Stoker Awards were awarded in Stamford, Connecticut on June 14, 2025. While your current collection may not yet have all of the titles awarded a Stoker, if your library has Hoopla Digital, you can create a social media post, online booklist, or book display with QR codes linking to your Hoopla Instant collection. These titles will only be paid for if a patron checks them out. It also gives you a chance to show the depth of your digital collection. 

Create a separate post, list, or display with links to the winning titles you own digitally and physically. The point is that if you have pay-per-use services like Hoopla Digital, you can use awards like the Stokers to promote your collection and provide passive readers advisory even if you don't own everything you would like. 

I listed these in two ways- linking to the titles and linking to a preselected search page with instant and the authors name selected. Some of the winning titles are available via instant checkout and some not. 

Bram Stoker Award Winners

Gwendolyn Kiste

Monika Kim

Robert P. Ottone

Eden Royce

Adam Cesare

Laird Barron

Mercedes M. Yardley

Carol Gyzander

Gou Tanabe


Guests of Honor - 

Paula Guran:

Adam L.G. Nevill: 

Joyce Carol Oates:
For more Joyce Carol Oates available with instant checkout, click here!

Tim Waggoner:

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Tuesday, June 4, 2024

Stoker Awards Speech - Karen Lansdale Silver Hammer Award

 I was asked several times about making the text of my Karen Lansdale Silver Hammer Award speech available. The text is below. 

I would like to thank the board, including those who were on when I started. Meghan learned how many questions a librarian can ask after one makes a simple query. Love to the Halloween Librarians who are huddled out there somewhere. They volunteer to help get more horror in libraries and to promote the genre anyway they can. They have made StokerCon a wonderful gathering place for librarians curious about horror. Special thank you to Becky Spratford, our secretary and head Halloween Librarian. She is the one who convinced me to join the HWA and to volunteer. She has poured so much energy into the organization over the years. Those who volunteer as board members put in hours and hours of work every week and they deserve our thanks for helping to keep the HWA alive and running.  The StokerCon chairs and volunteers spend a year planning this conference. There are many people who are long time volunteers who have spent many hours doing the work that keeps everything moving forward. It’s not glamourous work but the managers and coordinators of our committees deserve our thanks as well.

When I see people snark online that the HWA should do this or why hasn’t the HWA done that, I consider responding. I don’t but I consider asking them how much more they want Linda Addison to do or if they are willing to tell Brian Matthews there is just one more thing we need him to do. Because when I think about the HWA, that’s what comes to my mind immediately – the wonderful individual souls who spend their free time helping the authors, poets, artists, publishers, editors, academics, librarians, and horror fans move the genre forward. I would encourage everyone here to remember when they talk about the HWA or interact with those who work in membership, chapters, social media, and all the other committees that they are talking to individuals who take time away from their own careers, families, and creative endeavors to help other horror creators and fans.

It's difficult to remember that because outside of this conference so much of our interactions are online. It is easy to forget that StinkySock87 on some website is also a person. But so is that big name author that you tagged in a post. Both may be giving up some of their time and energy to help the horror community that gathers in the unique place that is the HWA. It’s a special thing that was created – this unique organization that promotes horror. We don’t necessarily know their individual stories or what they are dealing with behind the screens and scenes. But we know they are human, and we can reserve some consideration, empathy, and understanding – whether they are mega big author 1000, someone just starting out, or someone in between.

We can all remember the legacy of Karen Lansdale, someone who came along, filled a void, and said “I’ll do it.” She did hours and hours of tedious work to help the Horror Writers Association grow from an idea to an organization. It wasn’t glamorous work. She photocopied, made calls, answered mail, typed up newsletters, had a full-time job and a family. The work she did is echoed in the work of all the volunteers who step up and join Karen Lansdale is repeating “I’ll do it.” They answer questions, post on social media, help chapters, process applications… I would like to thank all of them and to acknowledge the hard work they do, not for their personal glory or for recognition but because, like Karen, they see a need and are willing to do it for the love of an organization that allows all of us who love horror to come together, celebrate it, and to move it forward.    

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Monday, January 2, 2023

Book Display Idea: Use a specific title- How To Sell A Haunted House by Grady Hendrix

 This month Grady Hendrix's new title, How To Sell A Haunted House, is published. He is a best selling horror author whose books have a lot of crossover appeal to readers who don't necessarily seek out horror. Even if you have a holds list for the book, you can harness his popularity to draw attention to other titles on your shelves. 

First, as always, put up signage promoting your holds list. Don't assume that everyone knows how easy it is and what the notification options are. If you have any of his titles as part of your eBook collection, add information about that as well. The purpose of a book display or online booklist is to promote your library's collection. Don't get hung up on specific titles; it's not a homework assignment. Unless you post pictures online, no one is going to grade you. Just search for subject headings and look for titles that are close enough. It's a great way to become more proficient with your searching. 

Grady has a backlist which are the easiest titles to add to a book display or book list. Most libraries have copies of: Final Girl Support Group, The Southern Book Club's Guide to Slaying Vampires, We Sold Our Souls, Paperbacks From Hell, My Best Friend's Exorcism, and Horrorstör. Remember to check your collection for large print copies and audiobooks.

Because different readers will approach the same title from different directions, there are always a variety of ways to use an individual title as the basis for a book display. A blog post or online list can include several of the themes in any one book. Haunted house is the most obvious start as it's part of the title and is also a significant plot point. There are also plenty of films about haunted houses. 

Local haunted houses, ghost stories, and creepy buildings is a way to work non-fiction into your display/list. Add books from your local collection and more general books from non-fiction. For online resources, add links to reputable sites detailing local haunts and ghost tales. Every place has some local ghost stories. You can bring in a local historian to assist with a program about local haunts if you want to tie a program to the release. Remember horror is not just for October. 

Some Florida examples of local haunts?
 Campus Haunts: The spookiest spots at UF - hosted on the University of Florida's website, this is an article about ghosts and haunted places on the University of Florida's Gainesville campus. 
Creepiest places in Florida guaranteed to haunt your dreams - A Jacksonville TV station's roadmap for a haunted tour around the Sunshine State. 
Best Florida ghost stories from Tampa's most haunted places - A Tampa news story about the most haunted places in Tampa, Florida. 

I've set up displays with "Not So Happy Home Sweet Home" on a sign and included horror titles and suspense titles. The display focused on both haunted houses and dysfunctional families. A display like that would use another aspect of How To Sell A Haunted House - dysfunctional families and sibling relationships. 

Finally we come to creepy dolls, puppets and clowns. Some people have strong feelings about these creepy subjects so be forewarned. This is a great direction to go if you want to include DVDs as there are horror films with that general subject. It's also a way to make a companion youth display. While younger readers are unlikely to pick up Grady's new book, there are plenty of juvenile fiction titles that include creepy dolls and puppets. Look for read alikes for the Goosebumps classic Night of the Living Dummy. Putting youth materials outside of the youth services department is a way to remind your patrons that you do have them in your collection. Also, many kids love spooky books. 

More resources - 

RA For All Horror: Haunted House Label - Becky Spratford's blog focusing on horror. These are posts with a haunted house label including book reviews and read alikes. 
RA For All Horror - Bonus annotations: Ghosts and Haunted Houses - with the third edition of The Readers Advisory Guide to Horror, Becky added bonus content on her blog including book suggestions. 

The Readers Advisory Guide to Horror, 3rd Edition - This series is vital for anyone who does readers' advisory, especially in genres that you don't personally read. There is a lot of great horror content including suggested titles in subgenres, podcasts, horror movies, TV shows, historical information, and key authors. 

30 Haunted House Books That Will Give You The Creeps - Book Riot's 2019 list includes some classics, modern gems, and youth titles. 

Goodreads' list of haunted house books is 1700+ titles long 

Living Dangerously: 13 Haunted House Novels: This list from the NYPL is includes because it strays from just straight horror. It shows how you can mine your backlist and get those books circulating 

The 20 best haunted house films of all time: This list from Entertainment Weekly should give you a good start if you want to add DVDs to your display or list. 

Goodreads has a 6000 + list of books with dysfunctional families. 

8 Mysteries and Thrillers About Dysfunctional Families:  Book Riot's list includes some good examples from the most popular genre. 

Home for the Holidays: Eat Together, Stay Together: The LineUp had Mother Horror, Sadie Hartmann, put together a list of family horror books. 

5 Horror Books That Are All About Family: Tor Nightfire has a 2019 list of family horror. 

Goodreads' list of Creepy Dolls books 

String Pullers: 6 Books Featuring Creepy Dolls and Puppets: A Tor Nightfire list that again shows how broad you can go when featuring a theme in a horror novel. 

Toy Story in Hell: 10 Books Featuring Creepy Dolls: Another Book Riot list that does include some youth materials.




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