V. Castro, Hailey Piper, and Isabel Yap each received multiple nominations for the 2021 Ladies of Horror Fiction Awards, according to announcements by the LOHF team on its website.

Castro’s The Queen of the Cicadas is nominated for Best Novel and Goddess of Filth for Best Novella. Both works also received nominations for 2021 Bram Stoker Awards. Castro previously received two 2020 LOHF Award nominations for Best Collection (Sed de Sangre) and for Best Short Fiction (“The Cucuy of Cancun”).

Piper’s Queen of Teeth is nominated for Best Debut and Unfortunate Elements of My Anatomy for Best Collection. Queen of Teeth won the 2021 Bram Stoker Award for First Novel, and Unfortunate Elements of My Anatomy received a 2021 Bram Stoker Award for Long Fiction. Piper previously won a 2020 LOHF Award for Best Short Fiction with her story “Unkindly Girls” and also received two other 2020 nominations for Best Novella (The Worm and His Kings) and Best Short Fiction (“The Curse of She, Part 6”).

Yap’s Never Have I Ever is nominated for Best Collection and her story “Syringe” for Best Short Fiction.

The LOHF team announced 42 nominees in eight categories. I added some “extra bits” to the categories.

Best Novel

Joining Castro’s The Queen of the Cicadas in the Best Novel category are Rachel Harrison’s Cackle, Sarah Langan’s Good Neighbors, C.J. Tudor’s The Burning Girls, and Catriona Ward’s The Last House on Needless Street.

Extra bits … Harrison’s The Return received a 2020 Bram Stoker Award nomination for Best First Novel … Harrison’s The Return ranked #27 on Esquire‘s 50 Best Horror Books of All Time … Langan is a three-time Bram Stoker Award winner, including twice for novels Audrey’s Door (2009) and The Missing (2007) … Ward’s The Last House on Needless Street ranked #23 on Esquire‘s 50 Best Horror Books of All Time.

Best Debut

Joining Piper’s Queen of Teeth in the Best Debut category are Zakiya Dalila Harris’ The Other Black Girl, LaTanya McQueen‘s When the Reckoning Comes, Lisa Quigley’s The Forest, and Nicole Willson’s Tidepool. 

Extra bits … McQueen’s When the Reckoning Comes and Quigley’s The Forest received 2021 Bram Stoker Award nominations for First Novel … Harris’ The Other Black Girl ranked #48 on Esquire‘s 50 Best Horror Books of All Time.

Best Collection

Joining Piper’s Unfortunate Elements of My Anatomy and Yap’s Never Have I Ever in the Best Collection category are The Dangers of Smoking in Bed: Stories by Mariana Enríquez and translated by Megan McDowell; Sometimes We’re Cruel and Other Stories by J.A.W. McCarthy; The Ghost Sequences by A.C. Wise; and SEEDS by Tabatha Wood.

Extra bits … Wise’s The Ghost Sequences received a 2021 Bram Stoker Award nomination for Best Collection.

Best Poetry

The nominees in the Best Poetry category are Strange Nests by Jessica McHugh; Tortured Willows: Bent. Bowed. Unbroken. by Angela Yuriko Smith, Lee Murray, Christina Sng, and Geneve Flynn; Exposed Nerves by Lucy A. Snyder; The Smallest of Bones by Holly Lyn Walrath; and Monstrum Poetica by Jezzy Wolfe.

Extra bits … McHugh’s Strange Nests received a 2021 Bram Stoker Award nomination for Poetry Collection … McHugh’s poetry collection, A Complex Accident of Life, won the 2020 LOHF Award and received a 2020 Bram Stoker Award nomination … Tortured Willows: Bent. Bowed. Unbroken. won the 2021 Bram Stoker Award for Poetry Collection … Snyder is a five-time Bram Stoker Award winner and received a 2021 Bram Stoker Award nomination for Exposed Nerves … Snyder received a 2020 LOHF Awards nomination for Best Collection (Halloween Season).

Best Short Fiction

Joining Yap’s “Syringe” in the Best Short Fiction category are “Sister Glitter Blood” by Gwendolyn Kiste, “A Cold Grip” by Christi Nogle, “The Sharps” by Sonora Taylor, “Eating Bitterness” by Hannah Yang, and “First Harvest” by April Yates.

Extra bits … Kiste is a three-time Bram Stoker Award winner … Kiste received a 2020 LOHF Award nomination for Best Novella (The Invention of Ghosts) … Taylor won 2019 LOHF Awards for Best Novel (Without Condition) and Best Collection (Little Paranoias).

Best Novella

Joining Castro’s Goddess of Filth in the Best Novella category are Transmuted by Eve Harms, & This Is How to Stay Alive by Shingai Njeri Kagunda, Waif by Samantha Kolesnik, and Salvation Spring by T.C. Parker.

Extra bits … Kolesnik received a 2020 Bram Stoker Award nomination for Worst Laid Plans: An Anthology of Vacation Horror.

Best Middle Grade

The nominees in the Best Middle Grade category are The Dollhouse by Charis Cotter; The Collectors by Lorien Lawrence; Ghost Girl by Ally Malinenko; Cece Rios and the Desert of Souls by Kaela Rivera; and Root Magic by Eden Royce.

Extra bits … Lawrence’s The Stitchers was nominated for a 2020 LOHF Award in the Best Middle Grade category.

Best Young Adult

The nominees in the Best Young Adult category are The Dead and the Dark by Courtney Gould; White Smoke by Tiffany D. Jackson; Bad Witch Burning by Jessica Lewis; Our Last Echoes by Kate Alice Marshall; and Girl in the Walls by Katy Michelle Quinn.

Extra bits … Marshall’s Thirteens was nominated for a 2020 LOHF Award in the Best Middle Grade category … Marshall’s Rules for Vanishing was nominated for a 2019 LOHF Award in the Best Young Adult category

For more information, visit the LOHF website by clicking HERE.

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