My List of Thanks, in Winning the 2018 Bram Stoker Award, Category of Fiction Collection

It’s been nearly three weeks since I won the Bram Stoker Award® for: THAT WHICH GROWS WILD: 16 TALES OF DARK FICTION in the category of “Superior Achievement in a Fiction Collection”, and I’m still coasting on an adrenaline rush! 

I realize, also, that already too much time has gone by, that I haven’t yet written this following, so apologies for my tardiness… I had a number of people to thank during the acceptance speech, and although I got through most of them, there were some I didn’t name, so I wanted to list everyone properly here in writing. 

Thank you, first and foremost, to my acquiring editor Norman Prentiss who bought this collection, helped mold it into something publishable, and without whom this journey never would have occurred. 

Thank you to Cemetery Dance for publishing this! Specific thanks to Richard Chizmar and Brian James Freeman who tirelessly run CD and who made this all possible (and of which I’ve been a fan for many, many years). 

Thank you to cover artist Lynne Hansen who graced this book with a marvel of visual beauty and intrigue. 

For writing and career guidance, thank you to Lisa Morton who, besides running Horror Writers Association for the past five years, has also been of great friendship, advice, and support. 

Ditto, thank you to Weston Ochse, who was my “official” mentor when I first joined HWA, and helped me get started, and since then has continued to be a friend and inspiration. 

(Note: For those interested in this, HWA continues to run a very successful mentor program for members. See: http://horror.org/hwa-mentors/) 

And thanks of course to the Horror Writers Association itself, who have been an immense resource of technical information, guidance, and insight, especially my local friends in the Los Angeles chapter, who, monthly, vitalize me with awe and encouragement, especially co-chairs Lisa (again) and John Palisano. 

And immense gratitude to the following editors/ publishers who first printed each of the stories included within my collection. 

“A Case Study in Natural Selection and How It Applies to Love” © 2015 by Eric J. Guignard. First published in Black Static #47, July: TTA Press. Acquired by Andy Cox.

“Last Days of the Gunslinger, John Amos” © 2014 by Eric J. Guignard. First published in buzzymag.com, July: Buzzy Magazine. Acquired by Joy Poger (edited by Laura Anne Gilman).

“Momma” © 2015 by Eric J. Guignard. First published in Nightscript I, edited by C.M. Muller: Chthonic Matter.

“Footprints Fading in the Desert” © 2013 by Eric J. Guignard. First published in +Horror Library+ Vol 5, edited by R.J. Cavender: Cutting Block Press (Farolight Publishing).

“The House of the Rising Sun, Forever” © 2016 by Eric J. Guignard. First published in Out of Tune II, edited by Jonathan Maberry: JournalStone Publishing.

“The Inveterate Establishment of Daddano & Co.” © 2016 by Eric J. Guignard. First published in Nightscript II, edited by C.M. Muller: Chthonic Matter.

“Last Night . . .” © 2015 by Eric J. Guignard. First published in Mark of the Beast: A Collection of Werewolf Stories, edited by Scott David Aniolowski: Chaosium, Inc.

“Those Who Watch From On High” © 2016 by Eric J. Guignard. First published in Chiral Mad 3, edited by Michael Bailey: Dark Regions Press / Written Backwards

“Vancouver Fog” © 2011 by Eric J. Guignard. First published in 2012 Daily Frights, edited by Jessy Marie Roberts: Pill Hill Press.

“A Curse and a Kiss” © 2012 by Eric J. Guignard. First published in Evil Jester Digest Volume Two, edited by Peter Giglio: Evil Jester Press.

“Whispers of the Earth” © 2014 by Eric J. Guignard. First published in Night Terrors III Anthology, edited by Marc Ciccarone, Theresa Dillon, and G. Winston Hyatt: Blood Bound Books.

“A Serving of Nomu Sashimi” © 2013 by Eric J. Guignard. First published in Eulogies II: Tales from the Cellar, edited by Christopher Jones, Nanci Kalanta, and Tony Tremblay: Horror World.

“Certain Sights of an Afflicted Woman” © 2016 by Eric J. Guignard. First published in Cemetery Riots, edited by T. C. Bennett and Tracy L. Carbone: Awol From Elysium Press.

“A Journey of Great Waves” © 2017 by Eric J. Guignard. First published in The Beauty of Death 2—Death by Water, edited by Alessandro Manzetti and Jodi Renée Lester: Independent Legions Publishing.

“A Quaint Ol’ Bigfoot Tale” © 2012 by Eric J. Guignard. First published in Bigfoot Terror Tales Vol. 1, edited by Eric S. Brown and A. P. Fuchs: Coscom Entertainment.

“Dreams of a Little Suicide” © 2014 by Eric J. Guignard. First published in Hell Comes to Hollywood II: Twenty-Two More Tales of Tinseltown Terror, edited by Eric Miller: Big Time Books. 

Lastly, greatest thanks go to my lovely wife and wonderful children, who support me and keep me invigorated and inspired on a daily basis! 

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For official video of the ceremony, beginning with my category announcement, as presented by Kaaron Warren and Josh Malerman, and through my acceptance speech, cut to marks: 4:44.35 through 4:49.00 of the Banquet Awards Stream uploaded by HWA onto YouTube, here: https://youtu.be/ZlX7HwmXKiU?t=17075 

Immense congratulations and well-deserved accolades also to all other nominees and award recipients of the 2018 Bram Stoker Awards, particularly those in my category who have published amazing works. Here is the listing of the nominees on the ballot (of whom I would have said I was the least): 

Superior Achievement in a Fiction Collection

Gemma Files – Spectral Evidence (Trepidatio Publishing)

Eric J. Guignard – That Which Grows Wild (Cemetery Dance Publications)

Gabino Iglesias – Coyote Songs (Broken River Books)

Lucy A. Snyder – Garden of Eldritch Delights (Raw Dog Screaming Press)

Tim Waggoner – Dark and Distant Voices: A Story Collection (Nightscape Press)

And THANK YOU to all readers and reviewers who supported this book and others—without you, writing would be like shouting into a void!