The Shirleys?

As pretty much everyone in the horror(-type) writing community has already reported, the first annual Shirley Jackson Award finalists have been announced, and it’s a damned good list. More on that in a second, though. First, for those who don’t know, what the hell are the Shirley Jackson Awards? Well, they’ve got a manifesto on their website, but basically they’re the latest attempt by genre writers and editors to create an award that’s actually prestigious and based on quality, rather than the grim popularity contest that most of the other awards have (purportedly) become. I’ve not read everything on the finalist list, but based on what I have read they’re doin’ a good job so far.

Among the stories and books that I’ve read from the list, there’s only one that I didn’t like. I may never fully understand the critical love that Jeff VanderMeer’s “The Third Bear” has been getting, but it’s been getting it all over the place, so there must be something there that I’m just missing. I should probably read it again. The others, though, are all solid gold, even in my uneducated opinion.

Laird Barron got a whopping three nominations, each one of them richly deserved. His collection was solid, and the two stories that got nods are among his best. The only other story I’ve read in the novelette category is “The Janus Tree,” which was also excellent, but I will say that I’m glad to see William Browning Spencer make the list and I’m planning to read “The Tenth Muse” just as soon as I get a chance.

In the short story category I’ve only read the aforementioned “The Third Bear” and Nathan Ballingrud’s “Monsters of Heaven,” but I can say that the latter is the best work yet from a prodigious (and rising) talent, and it’s been getting a lot of much-deserved attention.

As much as I’m rooting for Laird in his earlier categories, and as great as The Imago Sequence was, I’m keeping my fingers crossed that Sarah Monette’s The Bone Key walks away with the Shirley (or whatever they’re calling it) for collection. Not only did I love The Bone Key (which got even better on a second read), but it represents a step into the more old-fashioned sort of horror that is my true love. (You’ll be able to read more about this in probably the June issue of The Willows. I’ll keep you informed.)

I’m glad to see Ellen Datlow’s excellent Inferno getting a nomination for anthology (you can read my thoughts on that one here), and I am (of course) ecstatic to see Baltimore, by Mike Mignola and Christopher Golden, on the finalist list for novel. (That’s also two delightfully old-school horror books represented here, which pleases me greatly.)

I’ve left out some major talents (like Joe Hill) who made the list, because I hadn’t yet read the stories in question. But if I were making a nomination list for a horror(-ish) award, I couldn’t do much better than this. Congratulations to all involved.