Death’s Head Press and Kristopher Triana led nominations for the 2021 Splatterpunk Awards, according to a release by Splatterpunk Award founders Wrath James White and Brian Keene. Recommended by readers, fans and peers, the 2021 Splatterpunk Awards honor superior achievement for works published in 2020 in the subgenres of Splatterpunk and Extreme Horror.

Death’s Head Press garnered eight nominations with four of their eight Splatter Western series of books on the list. Kristopher Triana earned three nominations, two for Best Novel and one for Best Collection. Triana previously won Best Novel at the 2019 Splatterpunk Awards for Full Brutal.

The five categories feature seven nominees, and winners for the fourth annual awards will be announced at KillerCon in August.

“A panel of judges composed of professionals, critics, and scholars in the field will now begin the process of reading each nominated work and selecting a winner for each category,” stated the February 17th press release. “While each category normally has five nominees (six if there is a tie), each category for this year contains seven. That is due to the overwhelming response in recommendations from the public this year. More new readers were engaged with Splatterpunk and Extreme Horror in 2020, leading to an increase in public response.

“As such, Wrath and Brian decided to extend the nominees to seven for each category, to better serve the community. Building on a trend we pointed out in 2019, this year saw a continued significant increase in the number of women and authors who identify as female writing Splatterpunk and Extreme Horror. The recommendation process evidenced readers and fans mentioning a number of new female voices. Splatter Westerns, which combine elements of Splatterpunk or Extreme Horror with the traditional Western genre, were clearly a favorite among readers in 2020, as evidenced both in the nominees and in the recommendations.”

Author and editor John Skipp will receive the annual J. F. Gonzalez Lifetime Achievement Award “honoring significant contributions to the subgenres of Splatterpunk and Extreme Horror.” Previous recipients of the award are David J. Schow, David G. Barnett, and Edward Lee.

Here are the nominees (title, author, publisher):

BEST NOVEL

Pandemonium by Ryan Harding and Lucas Mangum (Death’s Head Press)

Tome by Ross Jeffery (The Writing Collective)

Dust by Chris Miller (Death’s Head Press)

Slaughter Box by Carver Pike (Self-Published)

Gone To See The River Man by Kristopher Triana (Cemetery Dance Publications)

They All Died Screaming by Kristopher Triana (Blood Bound Books)

The Magpie Coffin by Wile E. Young (Death’s Head Press)

BEST NOVELLA

The Slob by Aron Beauregard (Self-Published)

Bella’s Boys by Thomas R. Clark (Stitched Smile Publications)

Juniper by Ross Jeffery (The Writing Collective)

Red Station by Kenzie Jennings (Death’s Head Press)

True Crime by Samantha Kolesnik (Grindhouse Press)

The Night Silver River Run Red by Christine Morgan (Death’s Head Press)

How Much 2 by Matt Shaw (Self-Published)

BEST SHORT STORY

“The Incident at Barrow Farm” by M. Ennenbach from Cerberus Rising (Self-Published)

“Full Moon Shindig” by Patrick C. Harrison III from Visceral: Collected Flesh (Death’s Head Press)

“Phylum” by Tom Over from The Comfort Zone and Other Safe Spaces (NihilismRevised)

“Footsteps” by Janine Pipe from Diabolica Britannica (Keith Anthony Baird)

“Next In Line” by Susan Snyder from Devour the Earth (Madness Heart Press)

“My Body” by Wesley Southard from Midnight In the Pentagram (Silver Shamrock Publishing)

“The God In The Hills” by Jon Steffens from The God In the Hills (Filthy Loot Press)

BEST COLLECTION

War of Dictates by John Baltisberger (Death’s Head Press)

Cerberus Rising by M. Ennenbach, Chris Miller and Patrick C. Harrison III (Self-Published)

The Essential Sick Stuff by Ronald Kelly (Silver Shamrock Publishing)

Rhapsody In Red by Peter Molnar (Stitched Smile Publications)

Visceral: Collected Flesh by Christine Morgan and Patrick C. Harrison III (Death’s Head Press)

The Comfort Zone and Other Safe Spaces by Tom Over (NihilismRevised)

Blood Relations by Kristopher Triana (Grindhouse Press)

BEST ANTHOLOGY

Chew On This edited by Robert Essig (Blood Bound Books)

Brewtality edited by K. Trap Jones (The Evil Cookie Publishing)

Welcome To the Splatter Club edited by K. Trap Jones (Blood Bound Books)

Worst Laid Plans edited by Samantha Kolesnik (Grindhouse Press)

Crash Code edited by Quinn Parker (Blood Bound Books)

If I Die Before I Wake Vol. 3: Tales of Deadly Women and Retribution edited by R.E. Sargent and Steven Pajak (Sinister Smile Press)

Psi-Wars: Classified Cases of Psychic Phenomena edited by Joshua Viola (Hex Publishers)

RELATED LINKS

Deadite Press authors Morgan, Southard among winners at 2020 Splatterpunk Awards

Grindhouse Press authors win top honors at 2019 Splatterpunk Awards

Winners of 2018 Splatterpunk Awards