Legendary Extreme Horror author Edward Lee received three nominations and rising star Bridgett Nelson earned two when the final ballot for the 2023 Splatterpunk Awards was announced by Awards co-founders Wrath James White and Brian Keene on February 8.

The sixth annual Awards recognize superior achievement in the literary subgenres of Splatterpunk and Extreme Horror fiction published in 2022. Winners will be announced at KillerCon in Austin, Texas, on August 12. For details, visit here. 

This year’s J.F. Gonzalez Lifetime Achievement Award recipient is Monica J. O’Rourke. David J. Schow, David G. Barnett, Lee, John Skipp, and Clive Barker are the previous honorees. 

Strongly influenced by H.P. Lovecraft, Lee is no stranger to the Splatterpunk Awards. He has been nominated four times, winning twice in 2018 for Best Novel (White Trash Gothic) and for Best Novella (Header 3, a collaboration with Ryan Harding). This year, Lee’s The Television is nominated for Best Novel, Mr. Tilling’s Basement for Best Novella, and Mr. Tilling’s Basement and Other Stories for Best Collection. Lee also wrote stories featured in two Splatterpunk Awards-nominated anthologies. “Payback’s a Bitch,” a short story he co-authored with Roman Neznayu, is featured in Counting Bodies Like Sheep, and Lee’s novella “Vltata Clay” is the headliner in Czech Extreme.

The other author receiving multiple nominations is Nelson, a West Virginia writer, who splashed onto the horror scene with her debut collection last year. Nelson’s A Bouquet of Viscera was nominated for Best Collection and the rape-revenge tale “Jinx” for Best Short Story. Also, her short story “Shits ‘N Giggles” is featured in Best Anthology nominee Counting Bodies Like Sheep. This year’s not Nelson’s first brush with the Awards. Her short story “Political Suicide” is featured in the 2021 Splatterpunk Awards-nominated anthology If I Die Before I Wake: Tales of Deadly Women and Retribution.

Most of the names on the Final Ballot are familiar to readers of Extreme Horror and to the Splatterpunk Awards with a number of previous winners and nominees making the cut. Six of the nominees’ works are independently published. 

Here’s the complete Final Ballot from briankeene.com: 

BEST NOVEL 

Playground by Aron Beauregard (Independently Published) 

The Television by Edward Lee (Madness Heart Press) 

Faces of Beth by Carver Pike (Independently Published) 

Last of the Ravagers by Bryan Smith (Thunderstorm Books/Death’s Head Press) 

Mastodon by Steve Stred (Black Void Publishing)  

Ex-Boogeyman by Kristopher Triana (Bad Dream Books/Thunderstorm Books) 

BEST NOVELLA 

Charcoal by Garrett Cook (Clash Books)  

Grandpappy by Patrick C. Harrison III (Independently Published) 

Mr. Tilling’s Basement by Edward Lee (Deadite Press) 

#thighgap by Chandler Morrison (Cemetery Gates Media)  

Plastic Monsters by Daniel J. Volpe (Independently Published) 

BEST SHORT STORY 

“Just Another Bloodbath at Camp Woe-Be-Gone” by R.J. Benetti (Independently Published) 

“Of The Worm” by Ryan Harding (from Splatterpunk Zine issue 13) 

“My Chopping List” by Stephen Kozeniewski (from Counting Bodies Like Sheep, The Evil Cookie Publishing)  

“Gutted” by Bracken MacLeod (from Splatterpunk Zine issue 13) 

“Jinx” by Bridgett Nelson (from A Bouquet of Viscera) 

BEST COLLECTION 

Always Listen to Her Hurt: Collected Works by Kenzie Jennings (Blistered Siren Press) 

Mr. Tilling’s Basement and Other Stories by Edward Lee (Deadite Press) 

Horrorsmut by Christine Morgan (The Evil Cookie Publishing) 

A Bouquet of Viscera by Bridgett Nelson (Independently Published) 

Pornography For the End of the World by Brendan Vidito (Weirdpunk Books) 

BEST ANTHOLOGY 

Human Monsters edited by Sadie Hartmann and Ashley Sawyers (Dark Matter Ink) 

Camp Slasher Lake, Volume 1 edited by D.W. Hitz and Candace Nola (Fedowar Press) 

Counting Bodies Like Sheep edited by K. Trap Jones (The Evil Cookie Publishing) 

Call Me Hoop edited by S.C. Mendes & Lucy Leitner, created by Drew Stepek (Blood Bound Books) 

Czech Extreme edited by Lisa Lee Tone (Madness Heart Press) 

Note: The recommendation process for next year’s ballot is now open for Extreme Horror or Splatterpunk works published in 2023. Email recommendations to splatterpunkawards@gmail.com. The deadline is 11:50 p.m. Eastern Standard Time on December 31st, 2023.

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