Last week we presented the first three stories to be nominated for the Bram Stoker Awards™ in the category SUPERIOR ACHIEVEMENT IN SHORT FICTION. Today we wrap the special with the second half of the nominees. Enjoy!
Coming Up
Fiction: Coming Home by George Sanders 01:30 (The New Yorker, June 13, 2011)
Fiction: Hypergraphis by Ken Lillie-Paetz 48:22 (The Uninvited Issue #1)
Fiction: Herman Wouk Is Still Alive by Stephen King (The Atlantic Magazine, May 2011)
Narrators: Dave Robison, Simon Hildebrandt, Lawrence Santoro
‘Hypergraphia’ was quite challenging to narrate, because some of the tone and rhythm of the story are embodied in the formatting of the text, and is somewhat open to interpretation. I hope people enjoy the finished product, and would love to hear everyone’s feelings about how it came out.
I’d also recommend taking a look at the print version if you get a chance – it’s a real work of art, with Ken Lillie-Paetz’s text embroidered with illustrations by the talented Fiona Staples.
The only place I found it is in issue #1 of The Univited – which isn’t terribly helpful if, like me, you don’t have an iPad. Luckily Steven G. Saunders mentions in his blog that an Android version is coming – and even included some images from the story, which I’ll try and embed below:
Hope I’ve whetted your appetite. 
You have, indeed, Simon. I wonder if you could repost this information and material over on the TALES site. I’d love to tart the place up some and prime the pump for comments!
Larry – I’ve dropped a comment on the episode post.
I think Hypergraphia might just be my favourite of the 6 and that was before I saw the superb artwork.
The other 2 stories in this episode seemed more of a social commentary and although containing horrific incidents aren’t what I’d instantly consider as of the horror genre.
Tales to Terrify has an item in the News section of Stephen King’s website. The notice says:
“Herman Wouk is Still Alive on Tales To Terrify
March 26th, 2012 1:19:36 pm
TalesToTerrify.com has posted a podcast that features readings of several nominees for the Bram Stoker Award for Superior Achievement in Short Fiction. Lawrence Santoro provides a fantastic reading of Stephen’s Herman Wouk is Still Alive at the 1 hour and 10 minute mark. Enjoy!
http://talestoterrify.com/tales-to-terrify-no-10-bram-stoker-awards-special-part-2/”
In actual fact we played ALL of the Bram Stoker nominees in the Superior Achievement in Short Fiction category but there we have it.
Great news, Larry – and now that I’ve had a chance to listen to the episode I’d like to say that both my fellow narrators knocked it out of the park.
Just so we all know, the Stoker for Superior Achievement in Short Fiction went to Stephen King for “Herman Wouk Is Still Alive.”
Well? Any thoughts on the winners? Any specific thoughts on the winner in Short Fiction? What was your favorite of the six?
I love Stephen King, and I thought “Herman Wouk is Still Alive” was a great story; however, I’m disappointed that it won. “Her Husband’s Hands” and “Home” seemed leagues better in terms of touching something basically human amid the horrific aftermath of war.
At the risk of sounding like a heathen and an ingrate, I’m clearly in a minority feeling that this was a disappointing field for an essentially global award for “Superior Achievement”. For me, three of the stories really challenged any kind of use of the “s-word” at all.
I understand that every awards show is ultimately about getting noses pressed against a window, be that reports in print, online or through five hours of live TV coverage. The results usually pretend to reflect quality – unless they’re explicitly about “not-quality” – but are almost always heavily and inevitably compromised.
Stephen King is certainly a world-class writer, and his winning story is effective (if predictable – the unconnected viewpoints gave it away) but I wouldn’t have flagged it even as “superior” King. If not for hte fact that I don’t think you could dispute it’s the best story of the six, for me the award was fatally undercut by the “Meryl-Streep-for-Best-Actor” factor.
This week’s other bookend story was “just” a disappointing slice-o-life, which I seem to remember was also originally fielded in one of the US’s premiere publications for literary types. That says more to me about what underpinned the choice to shortlist than any real consideration of “superior achievement” in horror fiction since I don’t really buy that it falls into the genre.
The “hands” story in the first batch also striuck me as an odd choice for a horror award. It seemed more like sf and the premise didn’t seem entirely thought through. I also struggled with the fact that two of the stories seemed to be hammering out the same not-entirely un-trite “war is hell” trope, and maybe surfed in on a wave of modern pro-forces guilt or sympathy.
Still, now that this is out of the way I’m looking forward to some more real “Tales to Terrify”.
You don’t sound like an ingrate but let me say, everyone has favorites. The selection of the nominees for the Stoker represents the entire HWA making “recommendations,” a jury of Active members may add other efforts which the membership may have missed because they appeared in small press publications or in media which members may not notice as typically carrying “horror.” The final selections — the winners — are chosen by each Active member making a first, second and third selection in each category. The winner is the author who gathers the most points.
My point here is that thew Stoker Awards always represent a cross-section of the HWA’s active membership. This is a shifting thing.
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