Picks of the Litter

There are certainly some surprises among the winners of this year’s Spinetingler Awards, sponsored by Spinetingler Magazine, voted upon by Web readers, and revealed today in a series of posts. Some very recognizable authors were shut out, while several significantly less-familiar writers won recognition for their efforts.

The full rundown of winners and nominees can be found below. Asterisks denote works that, as far as I can tell, are currently available in the United States only as e-books.

Best Novel — New Voice (authors with 1-3 books published):
The Devil All the Time, by Donald Ray Pollock (Doubleday)

Also nominated: Beautiful, Naked and Dead, by Josh Stallings (Heist Publishing); Mule, by Tony D’Souza (Mariner); The Dead Women of Juárez, by Sam Hawken (Serpent’s Tail)*; Dove Season, by Johnny Shaw (AmazonEncore); The Drop, by Howard Linskey (No Exit Press); Dust Devils, by Roger Smith (Tin Town)*; Good Neighbors, by Ryan David Jahn (Penguin); Raise a Holler, by Jason Stuart (Double Action Press); and Wire to Wire, by Scott Sparling (Double Action Press)

Best Novel — Rising Star (authors with 4-8 books published): All the Young Warriors, by Anthony Neil Smith (Blasted Heath)*

Also nominated: Already Gone, by John Rector (Thomas & Mercer); Claire DeWitt and the City of the Dead, by Sara Gran (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt); Cold Shot to the Heart, by Wallace Stroby (Minotaur); El Gavilan, by Craig McDonald (Tyrus); and The End of Everything, by Megan Abbott (Little, Brown)

Best Novel — Legend (from authors with 9+ books published):
A Drop of the Hard Stuff, by Lawrence Block (Mulholland)

Also nominated: The Bitch, by Les Edgerton (Bare Knuckles Press)*; Falling Glass, by Adrian McKinty (Serpent’s Tail); Hard Cold Whisper, by Michael Hemmingson (Black Mask); Seven Spanish Angels, by Stephen Graham Jones (Dzanc)*; and The Wrong Thing, by Barry Graham (PM Press)

Best Short-Story Collection: Volt, by Alan Heathcock (Graywolf Press)

Also nominated: Crime, by Ferdinand von Schirach (Knopf); Crimes in Southern Indiana, by Frank Bill (FSG Originals); From the Darkness Right Under Our Feet, by Patrick Michael Finn (Black Lawrence Press); Gone Bad, by Julie Morrigan (Morrigan Publishing); Nowhere to Go, by Iain Rowan (Infinity Plus); and The Outlaw Album, by Daniel Woodrell (Little, Brown)

Best Anthology: Beat to a Pulp: Hard-boiled, edited by David Cranmer and Scott D. Parker (Beat to a Pulp)*

Also nominated: L.A. Noire: The Collected Stories (Mulholland)*; Off the Record, edited by Luca Veste (Lulu.com); Pulp Ink, edited by Chris Rhatigan and Nigel Bird (Needle Publishing)*; Warmed & Bound, edited by Pela Via (Velvet Press); and West Coast Crime Wave, edited by Brian Thornton (Bstsllr.com)*

Best Crime Comic or Graphic Novel: 99 Days, by Matteo Casali and Kristian Donaldson (Vertigo Crime)

Also nominated: Blue Estate (Vol. 1), by Viktor Kalvachev, Andrew Osborne, et al. (Image Comics); Cowboys, by Gary Phillips and Brian Hurt (Vertigo Crime); Liar’s Kiss, by Eric Skillman and Jhomar Soriano (Top Shelf); Like a Sniper Lining Up His Shot, by Jean-Patrick Manchette and Jacques Tardi (Fantagraphics); Loose Ends, by Jason Latour, Rico Renzi, and Chris Brunner (12-Gauge Comics); Noche Roja, by Simon Oliver (Vertigo Crime); Rat Catcher, by Andy Diggle (Vertigo Crime); Criminal: Last of the Innocent, by Ed Brubaker and Sean Phillips (Marvel); and Scalped: You Gotta Sin to Get Saved, by Jason Aaron (Vertigo)

Best Short Story on the Web: “Either Way It Ends with a Shovel,” by David James Keaton (from Crime Factory)

Also nominated: “Abriani’s Six,” by Atul Sabharwal (from Tehelka); “The Cloud Factory,” by Court Merrigan (from PANK Magazine); “Disney Noir,” by Peter Farris (from Shotgun Honey); “Hoodwinked” by Nigel Bird (from All Due Respect); “The Other Man” by Hilary Davidson (from Beat to a Pulp); “Road Kill” by William Dylan Powell (from Flash Fiction Offensive); “Silas’ Good Run” by Matthew C. Funk (from Beat to a Pulp); “Silent Game” by Stephen Graham Jones (from Plots with Guns); and “Vorovsky Mir” by M. James Blood (from Plots with Guns)

Best ’Zine: Crime Factory

Also nominated: Beat to a Pulp, Needle, Noir Nation, Pulp Modern, and Shotgun Honey

Best Crime Fiction Publisher: New Pulp Press

Also nominated: Blasted Heath, Mulholland Books, and Serpent’s Tail

David Thompson Community Leader Award: Musings of an All Purpose Monkey (Elizabeth White)

Also nominated: My Friends Call Me Kate (Sabrina Ogden); My Little Corner (Sandra Seamans); Pattinase (Patti Abbott); Psycho-Noir (Heath Lowrance); The Psychopathology of Everyday Life (Adrian McKinty); and Dead End Follies (Benoit Lelievre)

Fireball Award for Best Opening Line: “This is Detroit, so welcome to the jungle.” -- In Nine Kinds of Pain, by Leonard Fritz

Best Cover: Noir at the Bar, edited by Jedidiah Ayres and Scott Phillips

Congratulations to all of the nominees.