Annal:2005 Bram Stoker Award for First Novel

Scarecrow Gods

Weston Ochse

• 2005 Stoker–1st Novel winner
• Score: 10.55

Scarecrow Gods is the tale of Maxom Phinxs, a black man tortured and disfigured in Vietnam. Maxom, called the Maggot Man by the Tennessee locals, is feared and reviled because of his appearance. Even so, he takes under his wing a troubled young boy named Danny who’s fighting incest rumors to repair a shattered family, wondering every day if his sister will return to clear it all up.

In southern Arizona, John the New Baptist has created a new religion promising salvation. Most people believe in his strange ways. They don’t understand he is establishing…

The Hides

Kealan Patrick Burke

• 2005 Stoker–1st Novel nominee
• Score: 6.55

It’s been almost seven years since the events of Myers Pond. Seven years since a dead child rose from the dead, seeking Timmy Quinn’s help in finding a murderer, a search that left more questions than answers in its terrifying wake. But for Timmy, the dead never leave. They’re everywhere, reaching out to him, and there is nowhere to hide from their quiet desperation.

Following a nightmarish encounter at home, Timmy’s search for peace takes him to his grieving grandmother, and a small harbor town on the South coast of Ireland.

But no peace can exist in a…

Siren Promised

Jeremy Robert Johnson, Alan M. Clark

• 2005 Stoker–1st Novel nominee
• Score: 6.55

Angie Smith and Curtis Loew are having dreams they can’t shake. At the heart of each is Angie’s daughter, Kaya. Angie’s dreams end in death, the spreading of hand-shaped bruises across her daughter’s throat. Curtis’ dreams end in something else, something closer to obsession than love.

Angie is worlds away, trying to keep her drug-shattered mind from falling apart, traveling through an American underbelly filled with inhuman shapes, dark whispers and old friends with empty eyes.

Curtis is Kaya’s new neighbor. He’s getting closer to her, and her mentally…