Just when you thought you were going to go all Freddy Kruger due to cabin fever, we’ve got a real reason for you to hunker down and stay inside for a while.

The Horror Writers Association just announced the 2014 nominees for the iconic Bram Stoker Award.

Hurrah!

Named in honor of Dracula’s beloved Pappa, the Stokers are presented annually by the HWA for superior writing in eleven categories including traditional fiction of various lengths, poetry, screenplays and non-fiction.

The HWA also presents a Lifetime Achievement Award to living individuals who have made a substantial and enduring contribution to the genre. This year’s Lifetime Achievement recipients are Jack Ketchum (The Box and Closing Time) and Tanith Lee (Cruel Pink and Space is Just a Starry Night).

Presentation of the Stoker will occur during the World Horror Convention in Atlanta, Georgia, Saturday, May 9, 2015.

So get ready to make a list – remember, the groundhog saw his shadow, so you have ample time to get through a few of these.

Here’s the complete list of nominees.

Superior Achievement in a Novel

• Craig DiLouie – Suffer the Children (Gallery Books of Simon & Schuster)
• Patrick Freivald – Jade Sky (JournalStone)
• Chuck Palahniuk – Beautiful You (Jonathan Cape)
• Christopher Rice – The Vines (47North)
• Steve Rasnic Tem – Blood Kin (Solaris Books

Superior Achievement in a First Novel

• Maria Alexander – Mr. Wicker (Raw Dog Screaming Press)
• J.D. Barker – Forsaken (Hampton Creek Press)
• David Cronenberg – Consumed (Scribner)
• Michael Knost – Return of the Mothman (Woodland Press)
• Josh Malerman – Bird Box (Harper Collins)

Superior Achievement in a Young Adult Novel

• Jake Bible – Intentional Haunting (Permuted Press)
• John Dixon – Phoenix Island (Simon & Schuster/Gallery Books)
• Kami Garcia – Unmarked (The Legion Series Book 2) (Little Brown Books for Young Readers)
• Tonya Hurley – Passionaries (Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers)
• Peter Adam Salomon – All Those Broken Angels (Flux)

Superior Achievement in a Graphic Novel

• Emily Carroll – Through the Woods (Margaret K. McElderry Books)
• Joe Hill – Locke and Key, Vol. 6 (IDW Publishing)
• Joe R. Lansdale and Daniele Serra – I Tell You It’s Love (Short, Scary Tales Publications)
• Jonathan Maberry – Bad Blood (Dark Horse Books)
• Paul Tobin – The Witcher (Dark Horse Books)

Superior Achievement in Long Fiction

• Taylor Grant – “The Infected” (Cemetery Dance #71)
• Eric J. Guignard – “Dreams of a Little Suicide” (Hell Comes to Hollywood II: Twenty-Two More Tales of Tinseltown Terror, Volume 2)
• Joe R. Lansdale – “Fishing for Dinosaurs” (Limbus, Inc., Book II)
• Jonathan Maberry – “Three Guys Walk into a Bar” (Limbus, Inc., Book II)
• Joe McKinney – “Lost and Found” (Limbus, Inc., Book II)

Superior Achievement in Short Fiction

• Hal Bodner – “Hot Tub” (Hell Comes to Hollywood II: Twenty-Two More Tales of Tinseltown Terror, Volume 2)
• Sydney Leigh – “Baby’s Breath” (Bugs: Tales That Slither, Creep, and Crawl)
• Usman T. Malik – “The Vaporization Enthalpy of a Peculiar Pakistani Family” (Qualia Nous)
• Rena Mason – “Ruminations” (Qualia Nous)
• John Palisano – “Splinterette” (Widowmakers: A Benefit Anthology of Dark Fiction)
• Damien Angelica Walters – “The Floating Girls: A Documentary” (Jamais Vu, Issue Three)

Superior Achievement in a Screenplay

• Scott M. Gimple – The Walking Dead: “The Grove”, episode 4:14
• Jennifer Kent – The Babadook
• John Logan – Penny Dreadful: “Séance”
• Steven Moffat – Doctor Who: “Listen”
• James Wong – American Horror Story: Coven: “The Magical Delights of Stevie Nicks”

Superior Achievement in an Anthology

• Michael Bailey – Qualia Nous (Written Backwards)
• Jason V Brock – A Darke Phantastique (Cycatrix Press)
• Ellen Datlow – Fearful Symmetries (ChiZine Publications)
• Chuck Palahniuk, Richard Thomas, and Dennis Widmyer – Burnt Tongues (Medallion Press)
• Brett J. Talley – Limbus, Inc., Book II (JournalStone)

Superior Achievement in a Fiction Collection

• Stephen Graham Jones – After the People Lights Have Gone Off (Dark House Press)
• John R. Little – Little by Little (Bad Moon Books)
• Helen Marshall – Gifts for the One Who Comes After (ChiZine Publications)
• Lucy A. Snyder – Soft Apocalypses (Raw Dog Screaming Press)
• John F.D. Taff – The End in All Beginnings (Grey Matter Press)

Superior Achievement in Non-Fiction

• Jason V Brock – Disorders of Magnitude (Rowman & Littlefield)
• S.T. Joshi – Lovecraft and a World in Transition (Hippocampus Press)
• Leslie S. Klinger – The New Annotated H.P. Lovecraft (Liveright Publishing Corp.)
• Joe Mynhardt and Emma Audsley – Horror 101: The Way Forward (Crystal Lake Publishing)
• Lucy A. Snyder – Shooting Yourself in the Head For Fun and Profit: A Writer’s Survival Guide (Post Mortem Press)

Superior Achievement in a Poetry Collection

• Robert Payne Cabeen – Fearworms: Selected Poems (Fanboy Comics)
• Corrinne De Winter and Alessandro Manzetti – Venus Intervention (Kipple Officina Libraria)
• Tom Piccirilli – Forgiving Judas (Crossroad Press)
• Marge Simon and Mary Turzillo – Sweet Poison (Dark Renaissance Books)
• Stephanie Wytovich – Mourning Jewelry (Raw Dog Screaming Press)

We reported on the winners of the 2013 Bram Stoker Award here, and the 2012 winners here.

Have you already sampled some of these offerings?  Let us know your favorites by posting a comment or dropping a line to sue@blackgate.com.