[Doc Faustus]

HDC's own Robert Dunbar's book Martyrs and Monsters is on the Bram Stoker award final ballots. Though he doesn't come around HDC anymore, I hope you'll join me in offering him my heartfelt congratulations. During his time here, he was one of the only contributors to the sorely neglected classic horror section. He also gave Murderland a kickass blurb that I love and runs the Literary Horror group on Goodreads, dedicated to expanding people's knowledge of intelligent small press horror. I'm also proud to announce that my fellow Bizarro author Jeremy Shipp's book Cursed has also made it onto the final ballot. Though I think Bizarro author Jeremy Robert Johnson made it for his book Siren Promised, this is still a big deal for a growing underground literary movement. Though I have not read Cursed, I can tell you that Shipp's novel Vacation and his story collection Sheep and Wolves are both superlative. For those of you that like my work, I've heard his and my work compared to each other a few times. Mine is of course better. No, I'm kidding. Am I? Yes. Maybe. Buy something. Buy both things. Moving on...fellow Bizarro associate L.L Soares was nominated for best nonfiction for his book Cinema Knifefight. Haven't read it, but it sounds awesome and he's a smart guy that knows his shit about movies. Lastly, an established horror name that still has a soft spot in my heart has been nominated this year. My story Brian's Girl had been rejected, mangled, called trash and pornography and not worthwhile. Mort Castle said that while it was wrong for his magazine, he wished that the sort fo markets that would publish stories like it were still around. He told me it was fit for magazines like Rogue and Cavalier, magazines that bought some of Stephen King's earliest, darkest and best stories. It brought a tear to my eye and gave me hope. I decided I would fight for this story and a few months later, it appeared in expermental ficiton magazine Exquisite Corpse. You can still link up to it from my blog. Brian's Girl was the story that got Australian publisher Legumeman interested in my work and therefore led to the publication of Archelon Ranch, my best book to date. So thanks, Mort and good luck. So, this year a lot of awesome people you might not have heard of are up for the Stoker, I hope you join me in offering congratulations and best wishes to people who helped me out and helped out the genre with their contributions, knowledge and judgment.