Let’s Hear It for All of the Contenders

Nowadays, there are so many genre-fiction awards nominations made during the first half of every year, it’s difficult to keep up. This morning brings an announcement of candidates, in six categories, for the 2014 Thriller Awards. Those commendations are given out by the International Thriller Writers organization.

Best Hardcover Novel:

• Her Last Breath, by Linda Castillo (Minotaur)

• Never Go Back, by Lee Child (Delacorte Press)

• Touch and Go, by Lisa Gardner (Dutton)

• Doctor Sleep, by Stephen King (Scribner)

• Criminal Enterprise, by Owen Laukkanen (Putnam)

• White Fire, by Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child (Grand Central)

• The Demonologist, by Andrew Pyper (Simon & Schuster)

Best First Novel:

• Montana, by Gwen Florio (Permanent Press)

• Resolve, by J.J. Hensley (Permanent Press)

• Rage Against the Dying, by Becky Masterman (Minotaur)

• Red Sparrow, by Jason Matthews (Scribner)

• The Edge of Normal, by Carla Norton (Minotaur)

• Out of Range, by Hank Steinberg (Morrow)

• The Intercept, by Dick Wolf (Harper)

Best Paperback Original Novel:

• Cold Snap, by Allison Brennan (Minotaur)

• Buried, by Kendra Elliot (Montlake)

• His Majesty’s Hope, by Susan Elia MacNeal (Bantam)

• The One I Left Behind, by Jennifer McMahon (Morrow)

• Snow White Must Die, by Nele Neuhaus (Minotaur)

• Deadly Harvest, by Michael Stanley (Harper)

Best Short Story:

• “Baggage of Eternal Night,” by Eric Guignard (JournalStone)

• “Waco 1982,” by Laura Lippman (from The Mystery Writers of America Presents: The Mystery Box, edited by Brad Meltzer;
Grand Central)

• “The Gallows Bird,” by Kevin Mims (Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine [EQMM], July 2013)
• “Footprints in the Water,” by Twist Phelan (EQMM, July 2013)

• “Doloroso,” by Stephen Vessels (EQMM, November 2013)

Best Young Adult Novel:

• The Rules for Disappearing, by Ashley Elston (Disney-Hyperion)

• Scorched, by Mari Mancusi (Sourcebooks Fire)

• Escape from Eden, by Elisa Nader (Merit Press)

• All Our Yesterdays, by Cristin Terrill (Disney-Hyperion)

• Boy Nobody, by Allen Zadoff (Little, Brown Books for Young Readers)

Best E-book Original Novel:

• The World Beneath, by Rebecca Cantrell (Rebecca Cantrell)

• The Burning Time, by J.G. Faherty (JournalStone)

• Terminus, by Joshua Graham (Redhaven)

• No Dawn for Men, by James Lepore and Carlos Davis
(The Story Plant)

• Out of Exile, by Luke Preston (Momentum)

The names of this year’s ITW Thriller Awards will be declared on July 12 during ThrillerFest IX in New York City.

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Meanwhile, author-blogger Lee Goldberg brought word yesterday of which books and writers are in the running for the 2014 Scribe Awards, “recognizing excellence in the field of media tie-in writing ... books based on movies, TV shows and games.” There are six categories, but two that might be of greatest interest to Rap Sheet readers:

Best Adaptation (Novelization):

• Man of Steel, by Greg Cox (Titan)
• 47 Ronin, by Joan D. Vinge (Tor)
• Pacific Rim, by Alex Irvine (Titan)

Best General Original:

• The Executioner: Sleeping Dragons, by Michael A. Black (Gold Eagle)
• Murder She Wrote: Close-Up on Murder, by Donald Bain (NAL)
• Leverage: The Bestseller Job, by Greg Cox (Berkley)
• Leverage: The Zoo Job, by Keith R. A. DeCandido (Berkley)
• Mr. Monk Helps Himself, by Hy Conrad (NAL)

Again, the full list of this year’s Scribe Award competitors is here.