The Shirley Jackson Awards have announced the slate of nominees for their 2020 award, which will be announced during a pre-recorded ceremony on August 15th during this year’s ReaderCon 31.
The annual awards are handed out to works that exemplify “outstanding achievement in the literature of psychological suspense, horror, and the dark fantastic,” in the spirit of Jackson’s work. The awards are determined by a jury from works published in the past year.
Here’s the full list of finalists:
NOVEL
- Sisters by Daisy Johnson (Jonathan Cape)
- Death in Her Hands by Ottessa Moshfegh (Penguin Press)
- Mexican Gothic by Silvia Moreno-Garcia (Del Rey / Penguin Random House)
- Plain Bad Heroines by Emily M. Danforth (William Morrow)
- The Only Good Indians by Stephen Graham Jones (Saga Press, Gallery Books)
- True Story by Kate Reed Petty (Viking)
NOVELLA
- The Best of Both Worlds by S. P. Miskowski (Trepidatio Publishing)
- History of an Executioner by Clancy McGilligan (Miami University Press)
- Night of the Mannequins by Stephen Graham Jones (Tordotcom Publishing)
- Ring Shout by P. Djèlí Clark (Tordotcom Publishing)
- Agatha’s Barn: A Carpenter’s Farm Story by Michael Bailey (Written Backwards)
- Her Mad Song by C J Halbard (Man on Fire Press)
NOVELETTE
- “I Will Find You, Even in the Dark” by Jessica Landry (Dim Shores Presents Vol. 1)
- Many Restless Concerns: The Victims of Countess Bathory Speak in Chorus (A Testimony) by Gayle Brandeis (Black Lawrence Press)
- The Attic Tragedy by J. Ashley-Smith Meerkat Press)
- Faith by Sayaka Murata, translated by Ginny Tapley Takemori (Granta)
- “Heritage Hill” by Matthew R. Davis (Outback Horrors Down Under: An Anthology of Antipodean Terrors)
- “Pale Toes” by Marko Hautala, translated by Sanna Terho (The Valancourt Book of World Horror Stories)
- “Señor Ligotti” by Bernardo Esquinca, translated by James D. Jenkins (The Valancourt Book of World Horror Stories)
SHORT FICTION
- “Holes” by R.A. Busby (Graveyard Smash: Women of Horror Anthology Vol.2 collection)
- Graceful Burdens by Roxane Gay (Amazon Original Stories)
- “Isn’t Your Daughter Such a Doll” by Tobi Ogundiran (Shoreline of Infinity 18)
- “Not the Man I Married” by R. A. Busby (Black Petals Issue #93 Autumn, 2020)
- “Room and Board Included, Demonology Extra” by Eden Royce (Broken Eye Books)
- “The Memory Game” by Franki Haber (The Gravity of the Thing)
SINGLE-AUTHOR COLLECTION
- Settling the World: Selected Stories by M. John Harrison (Comma Press)
- Mannequin and Wife by Jen Fawkes (LSU Press)
- Thin Places by Kay Chronister (Undertow Publications)
- Velocities: Stories by Kathe Koja (Meerkat Press)
- Moonflower, Nightshade, All the Hours of the Day by JD Scott (Lake Forest College Press)
- Aftermath of an Industrial Accident: Stories by Mike Allen (Mythic Delirium Books)
EDITED ANTHOLOGY
- After Sundown, edited by Mark Morris (Flame Tree Press)
- Black Cranes: Tales of Unquiet Women, edited by Lee Murray & Geneve Flynn (Omnium Gatherum)
- Miscreations: Gods, Monstrosities & Other Horrors, edited by Doug Murano & Michael Bailey (Written Backwards)
- The Night Bazaar Venice: Thirteen Tales of Forbidden Wishes and Dangerous Desires, edited by Lenore Hart (Northampton House Press)
- Lullabies for Suffering: Tales of Addiction Horror, edited by Mark Matthews (Wicked Run Press)
- Shadows & Tall Trees, Vol. 8, edited by Michael Kelly (Undertow Publications)
- Tiny Nightmares, edited by Lincoln Michel and Nadxieli Nieto (Catapult)
