An Embarrassment of Riches

The names of this year’s Spinetingler Award winners have been trickling in all day over at the Spinetingler Magazine Web site. But the roster of victors has only just finished posting. Here’s the final rundown.

Best Novel--New Voice: The Ghosts of Belfast, by Stuart Neville

Also nominated: A Bad Day for Sorry, by Sophie Littlefield; Balzac of the Badlands, by Steve Finbow; Dope Thief, by Dennis Tafoya; I-5, by Summer Brenner; In Their Blood, by Sharon Potts; The Lost Sister, by Russel D. McLean; Mixed Blood, by Roger Smith; Ravens, by George Dawes Green; and The Weight of Silence, by Heather Gudenkauf

Best Novel--Rising Star: Fifty Grand, by Adrian McKinty

Also nominated: Await Your Reply, by Dan Chaon; The Devil’s Staircase, by Helen Fitzgerald; Finch, by Jeff VanderMeer; Last Days, by Brian Evenson; and Safer, by Sean Doolittle

Best Novel--Legend: The Scarecrow, by Michael Connelly

Also nominated: The Complaints, by Ian Rankin; The Midnight Room, by Ed Gorman; The Mystic Arts of Erasing All Signs of Death, by Charlie Huston; Shadow Season, by Tom Piccirilli; and Tower, by Reed Farrel Coleman and Ken Bruen

Best Short Story on the Web: “Insatiable,” by Hilary Davidson
(from Beat to a Pulp)

Also nominated: “M-N-S (n) murder-necrophilia-suicide by Anonymous 9,” by Anonymous 9 (Plots With Guns); “Flesh Rule,” by Frank Bill (Plots With Guns); “Blurred Lines,” by Michael Moreci (A Twist of Noir); “Survival Instincts,” by Sandra Seamans (Pulp Pusher); “At Least I Felt Something,” by Sophie Littlefield (The Drowning Machine; “My Father’s Son,” by Alan Griffiths (A Twist of Noir); “The Present,” by Mark Joseph Kiewlak (A Twist of Noir); “A Wild and Crazy Night,” by John Kenyon (Beat to a Pulp); and “The Tut,” by Paul D. Brazill (Beat to a Pulp)

Best Mystery or Crime Comic/Graphic Novel:
Parker: The Hunter, by Darwyn Cooke

Also nominated: Back to Brooklyn, by Garth Ennis, Jimmy Palmiotti, and Mihailo Vukelic; Britten and Brülightly, by Hannah Berry; Chew, by John Layman and Rob Guillory; Leo Pulp, by Claudo Nizzi and Massimo Bonfatti; Low Moon, by Jason; Noir, by various authors; Scalped, by Jason Aaron and R.M. Guéra; West Coast Blues, by Jacques Tardi and Jean-Patrick Manchette; and You Have Killed Me, by Jamie Rich and Joelle Jones

Best Cover: Finch, by Jeff VanderMeer; cover by John Coulthart

To see the other nominated covers, click here

Best Mystery/Crime Fiction Press, Publisher, or Imprint:
Busted Flush Press

Also nominated: Bitter Lemon Press; New Pulp Press; Serpent’s Tail; Soho; Switchblade

Special Services to the Industry and Community: Bookgasm

Also nominated: The Big Adios; Crimeculture; Friday’s Forgotten Books; My Little Corner

Best Reviewer: Lesa Holstine

Also nominated: Jen Forbus; The Nerd of Nor; Peter Rozovsky; Cory Wilde

As somebody who voted in this contest, I admit that I’m not entirely thrilled with the results. (I think, in particular, that Glenn O’Neill’s cover for The Manual of Detection was deserving of Best Cover honors, with the cover of Leigh Redhead’s Peepshow running a close second.) But other of my selections were victorious--and that’s usually the best one can hope for in such a democratic endeavor.

Anyway, congratulations to all of the winners!