My novelette “This Place is Best Shunned” has been nominated for a Shirley Jackson Award. Read it for free!

My story “This Place is Best Shunned” (Tor.com, July 2022) has been nominated for a Shirley Jackson Award!

The Shirley Jackson Awards honor Jackson’s defining contributions to modern literature by annually recognizing “outstanding achievement in the literature of psychological suspense, horror, and the dark fantastic.” I’m tickled pink to have been nominated, as “psychological suspense, horror, and the dark fantastic” are pretty clear the bullseye I’ve been aiming to hit for the past couple decades.

Here’s their official press release:


2022 Shirley Jackson Awards Nominees

Boston, MA (June 2023) — In recognition of the legacy of Shirley Jackson’s writing, and with permission of the author’s estate, The Shirley Jackson Awards, Inc. has been established for outstanding achievement in the literature of psychological suspense, horror, and the dark fantastic.

The Shirley Jackson Awards are voted upon by a jury of professional writers, editors, critics, and academics. The awards are given for the best work published in the preceding calendar year in the following categories:  Novel, Novella, Novelette, Short Fiction, Single-Author Collection, and Edited Anthology.

The nominees for the 2022 Shirley Jackson Awards are:

NOVEL

  • Beulah by Christi Nogle (Cemetery Gates Media)
  • The Dead Friends Society by Paul Gandersman and Peter Hall (Encyclopocalypse Publications)
  • The Devil Takes You Home by Gabino Iglesias (Mulholland Books)
  • Jackal by Erin E. Adams (Bantam)
  • Unwieldy Creatures by Addie Tsai (Jaded Ibis Press)
  • Where I End by Sophie White (Tramp Press)

NOVELLA

  • The Bone Lantern by Angela Slatter (PS Publishing)
  • Bound Feet by Kelsea Yu (Cemetery Gates Media)
  • Catastrophe by Deirdre Danklin (Texas Review Press)
  • Lure by Tim McGregor (Tenebrous Press)
  • Pomegranates by Priya Sharma (PS Publishing)
  • The Wehrwolf by Alma Katsu (Amazon Original Stories)

NOVELETTE

  • Azeman or, the Testament of Quincey Morris by Lisa Moore (Black Shuck Books)
  • “Challawa” by Usman T. Malik (Dark Stars:  New Tales of Darkest Horror)
  • “Sweetbaby” by Thomas Ha (Clarkesworld, October 2022)
  • This Place is Best Shunned” by David Erik Nelson (Tor.com)
  • What the Dead Know by Nghi Vo (Amazon Original Stories)

SHORT FICTION

  • “Brother Maternitas” by Viktor Athelstan (Your Body is Not Your Body)
  • “The Church of Divine Electricity” by Emily Mitchell (The Southern Review)
  • “Dick Pig” by Ian Muneshwar (Nightmare Magazine, Issue 112)
  • “Halogen Sky” by Wendy N. Wagner (VASTARIEN:  A Literary Journal, vol. 5, issue 1)
  • “Pre-Simulation Consultation XF007867” by Kim Fu (Lesser Known Monsters of the 21st Century)

SINGLE-AUTHOR COLLECTION

  • And At My Back I Always Hear by Scott Nicolay (Word Horde)
  • Breakable Things by Cassandra Khaw (Undertow Publications)
  • Hell Hath No Sorrow Like a Woman Haunted by RJ Joseph (The Seventh Terrace)
  • Lesser Known Monsters of the 21st Century by Kim Fu (Tin House)
  • Splendid Anatomies by Allison Wyss (Veliz Books)
  • We Are Here to Hurt Each Other by Paula D. Ashe (Nictitating Books)

EDITED ANTHOLOGY

  • Chiral Mad 5, edited by Michael Bailey (Written Backwards)
  • The Hideous Book of Hidden Horrors, edited by Doug Murano (Bad Hand Books)
  • Other Terrors, edited by Vince A. Liaguno and Rena Mason (William Morrow)
  • Screams From the Dark:  29 Tales of Monsters and the Monstrous, edited by Ellen Datlow (Tor Nightfire)
  • Your Body is Not Your Body, edited by Alex Woodroe and Matt Blairstone (Tenebrous Press)

2022 SHIRLEY JACKSON AWARDS CEREMONY

The 2022 Shirley Jackson Awards will be presented in-person on Saturday, July 15 at 8pm at Readercon 32, Conference on Imaginative Literature, in Quincy, Massachusetts.

Yes, I’m asking for your financial support, but I’m also trying to figure out of I set up this Patreon x Mailchimp integration properly

This is a short ask. In addition to these meaningful distractions, I also write disturbing fiction. If you want to support that, you can do so on Patreon:

https://www.patreon.com/DavidErikNelson

Patrons get both the satisfaction of knowing that they, in some small way, are implicated in the things I do, and also fun bonuses (e.g., stories not available elsewhere, a short film, music, interactive fiction experiments, etc.)

I’m also trying to figure out of my Patreon x Mailchimp integration thingy is working properly (ideally it will automagically add new patrons to an existing email group so I can reliably send them stuff). So, if you become a patron at any level, you’ll get the additional satisfaction of knowing you’ve either confirmed that I’m at least as smart as an 8th grader, or sending me into fits of fury aimed squarely at every major platform that seems to think that UX “just happens.”

EBOOK SALE! 99-cents!

Wanna check out Detroit’s most extra-dimensionally cosmically cursed house? For a limited time it’ll only cost you a buck.

There Was a Crooked Man, He Flipped a Crooked House (a short horror novel by David Erik Nelson)

Stop! Don’t unlock the door, don’t go inside, and whatever you do, don’t look at anything in the library — because this house keeps itself occupied. Fans of the Twilight Zone, cosmic horror, and Detroit will love this “absorbing horror” (Rich Horton, Locus magazine, Recommended Story). “A Real Page Turner” (5-star review and recommended read, Rocket Stack Rank)

“Read an Ebook Week 2023” Ends Tomorrow! Don’t miss cheap (and FREE) ebooks!

This sale ends tomorrow—but until then all of my books on Smashwords are still steeply discounted (some down to the low-low price of FREE!) Go check it out, snatch up some deals, and spread the word while you still can!!!

“Read an Ebook Week 2023” Starts Today! Cheap ebooks! Free ebooks!

Starting today all of my books on Smashwords are discounted (some down to the low-low price of FREE!). Go check it out, snatch up some deals, and spread the word!!!

SHAMELESS SELF-PROMOTION: “This Place is Best Shunned” made the 2022 Locus Recommended Reading List/Ballot

My novelette “This Place is Best Shunned” made the 2022 Locus Recommended Reading List/Ballot. (Story is free-to-read online, linked from the list.)

Voting on the Locus Award is open to all. Ballot deadline is April 15, and you may come back and add to or change your votes anytime until then.

banner graphic reads "2022 Recommended Reading"