Tingle All the Way

This is shaping up to be a big day for author, editor, and blogger Sandra Ruttan. Her new and very diverse network site, At Central Booking, debuts today. As does the Winter 2008 issue of Spinetingler Magazine, which she somehow finds time to manage (although this new issue has been guest-edited by Jack Getze.)

In addition to all of that, Ruttan has today announced the winners of the inaugural Spinetingler Awards. The envelopes, please ...

Best Novel: Legend: What the Dead Know, by Laura Lippman

Also nominated: Cross, by Ken Bruen; Priest, by Ken Bruen; The Tin Roof Blowdown, by James Lee Burke; The Naming of the Dead, by Ian Rankin; and Dust Devils, by James Reasoner

Best Novel: Rising Star: The Cleanup, by Sean Doolittle

Also nominated: The Shotgun Rule, by Charlie Huston; The Ragtime Kid, by Larry Karp; A Perfect Grave, by Rick Mofina; A Thousand Bones, by P.J. Parrish; and Concrete Maze, by Steven Torres

Best Novel: New Voice: Hard Man, by Allan Guthrie

Also nominated: Queenpin, by Megan Abbott; The Big O, by Declan Burke; The 50/50 Killer, by Steve Mosby; Safe and Sound, by J.D. Rhoades; and The Blonde, by Duane Swierczynski

Best Publisher: Bitter Lemon Press

Also nominated: Europa Editions; Hard Case Crime; Poisoned Pen Press; and Text Publishing

Best Cover: Hard Man, by Allan Guthrie (design by Vaughn Andrews; photo from Corbis)

Also nominated: Kill Now, Pay Later, by Robert Terrall (cover painted by Robert McGinnis); The Vengeful Virgin, by Gil Brewer (cover painted by Greg Manchess); Blackmailer, by George Axelrod (cover painted by Glen Orbik); Mr. Clarinet, by Nick Stone (designed by Emily Cavett Taff)

Best Editor: Stacia Decker, Harcourt

Also nominated: Charles Ardai, Hard Case Crime; Alison Janssen, Bleak House; Barbara Peters, Poisoned Pen Press; and Dave Thompson, Busted Flush

Special Services to the Industry: Daniel Hatadi of Crimespace

Also nominated: Ali Karim of Shots and The Rap Sheet; Graham Powell of CrimeSpot; J. Kingston Pierce of The Rap Sheet; Maddy Van Hertburger of 4MA; and Sarah Weinman from Confessions of an Idiosyncratic Mind

Best Short Story on the Web: “Seven Days of Rain,” by Chris F. Holm (Demolition)

Also nominated: “The Leap,” by Charles Ardai (Hardluck Stories); “Breaking in the New Guy,” by Stephen Blackmoore (Demolition); “Amphetamine Logic,” by Nathan Cain (ThugLit); “The Switch,” by Lyman Feero (ThugLit); “Shared Losses,” by Gerri Leen (Shred of Evidence); “The Living Dead,” by Amra Pajalic (Spinetingler); and “Convivum,” by Kelli Stanley (Hardluck Stories)