The Horror Writers Association has released this year’s preliminary Stoker ballot. You can probably guess why I’m sharing that bit of news with you. (And if you can’t guess, then you’ll just have to keep reading to find out … )

You can see the complete preliminary ballot here, but what’s made my day is this—my zombie collection What Will Come After has made that ballot in the category of Superior Achievement in a Collection!

Now this doesn’t mean I can call myself a Stoker nominee yet. First, the membership must whittle down the following ten collections to the five that will make up the final ballot. So I’ve got a 50/50 chance.

OCCULTATION by Laird Barron (Night Shade Books)
BLOOD AND GRISTLE by Michael Louis Calvillo (Bad Moon Books)
THIS WAY TO EGRESS by Lawrence C. Connolly (Ash-Tree Press)
WHAT WILL COME AFTER by Scott Edelman (PS Publishing)
FULL DARK, NO STARS by Stephen King (Simon and Schuster)
LITTLE THINGS by John R. Little (Bad Moon Books)
A HELL OF A JOB by Michael McCarty (Damnation Books)
A HOST OF SHADOWS by Harry Shannon (Dark Regions Press)
FUNGUS OF THE HEART by Jeremy Shipp (Raw Dog (Screaming Press)
HELLFIRE AND DAMNATION by Connie Corcoran Wilson (Sam’s Dot)

Of course, those are some damned fine collections I’m competing against, so it’s hard to tell what my true odds are of making it through to the final ballot. But if you happen to be a Stoker voter, and would like a PDF of the book for consideration (a book which contains three stories that did make the final Stoker ballot in previous years), please let me know at scott@scottedelman.com.