Winner: The Last Final Girl by Stephen Graham Jones
Runner up: Blackbirds by Chuck Wendig
Man, what an honor, and a surprise. The Last Final Girl was in with a good group of books. Horror’s happening, I think. It’s never stopped. That a book like The Last Final Girl can pull enough votes in for an award this cool, too, it kind of whispers to me that the slasher’s getting back on the radar. Soon it’ll be standing outside the window. Waiting on the lawn, just a shape in the rain. But of course The Last Final Girl never would have got real if Cameron Pierce at Lazy Fascist hadn’t taken a chance on it. If Matthew Revert hadn’t gifted it with a cover that’s going to endure. So thankful to them, and to my agent, Kate Garrick. This is her title, I’m pretty sure. I had the book called something completely different, and she said, But, yeah, I need to sell it, though. Writing’s a solitary occupation, sure. But it’s a whole lot more solitary if you don’t have good people to work with.
Stephen Graham Jones