Transfer Orbit

Here are the finalists for the 2023 Shirley Jackson Awards

Andrew Liptak -

Each year, the Shirley Jackson Awards names the best works of literature of horror, the dark fantastic, and psychological suspense, honoring the legacy of author Shirley Jackson.

I've always found the nominees to be an excellent mix of novels and stories, and there are some excellent nominees on the list this year. This year's awards will be presented on Saturday, July 13 at 8pm at Readercon 33 in Quincy, Massachusetts.

Here are the finalists:

Novel

  • Brainwyrms by Alison Rumfitt
  • The Daughters of Block Island by Christa Carmen
  • Don’t Fear the Reaper by Stephen Graham Jones
  • Every Version Ends in Death by Aliya Chaudhry
  • The Militia House by John Milas
  • The Reformatory by Tananarive Due

 Novella

  • Broken Paradise by Eugen Bacon
  • Getting by in Tligolian by Roppotucha Greenberg
  • Green Fuse Burning by Tiffany Morris
  • The Salt Grows Heavy by Cassandra Khaw
  • Sleep Alone by J.A.W. McCarthy
  • To the Woman in the Pink Hat by LaToya Jordan

 Novelette

  • The Lover by Silvia Moreno-Garcia
  • People Like Them by Minka Kent
  • The Pram by Joe Hill
  • “Six Versions of My Brother Found Under the Bridge” by Eugenia Triantafyllou
  • “The Swan” by Lynn C. Pitts (Infinite Constellations)
  • “Vampire Fiction” by Michael Wehunt (The Inconsolables)
  • “What’s He Building in There” by Cat Powell (Fairy Tale Review:  The Rainbow Issue)

 Short Fiction

  • “The Dizzy Room” by Kristina Ten (Adamant Press / Nightmare Magazine)
  • “The First Mrs. Edward Rochester Would Like a Word” by Laura Blackwell (Aseptic and Faintly Sadistic)
  • “Invasion of the Baby Snatchers” by Lesley Nneka Arimah (Out There Screaming: An Anthology of New Black Horror)
  • Kazti Girls by Sciascia DeKay (The Fabulist)
  • “Something is Rotten” by Jo Kaplan (Shakespeare Unleashed)

 Single-Author Collection

  • Drinking from Graveyard Wells: Stories by Yvette Lisa Ndlovu
  • Her Body Among Animals by Paola Ferrante
  • Jackal, Jackal: Tales of the Dark and Fantastic by Tobi Ogundiran
  • They Will Dream in the Garden by Gabriela Damián Miravete, translated by Adrian Demopulos
  • White Trash & Recycled Nightmares by Rebecca Rowland

Edited Anthology

  • Aseptic and Faintly Sadistic edited by Jolie Toomajan
  • Mooncalves edited by John WM Thompson
  • Never Whistle at Night:  An Indigenous Dark Fiction Anthology edited by Shane Hawk and Theodore C. Van Alst Jr.
  • Out There Screaming:  An Anthology of New Black Horror edited by Jordan Peele & John Joseph Adams
  • Shakespeare Unleashed edited by James Aquilone (Monstrous Books)