It's a big day for award nominations. The Horror Writers Association has announced its nominees for the Bram Stoker Award:

Novel

Audrey's Door, Sarah Langan (Harper)
Patient Zero: A Joe Ledger Novel, Jonathan Maberry (St. Martin's Griffin)
Quarantined, Joe McKinney (Lachesis Publishing)
Cursed, Jeremy Shipp (Raw Dog Screaming Press)

First Novel

Breathers: A Zombie's Lament, S. G. Browne (Broadway Books)
Solomon's Grave, Daniel G. Keohane (Dragon Moon Press)
Damnable, Hank Schwaeble (Jove)
The Little Sleep: A Novel, Paul Tremblay (Henry Holt)

Long Fiction

“Dreaming Robot Monster,” Mort Castle (Mighty Unclean)
"The Hunger of Empty Vessels," Scott Edelman (Bad Moon Books)
"The Lucid Dreaming," Lisa Morton (Bad Moon Books)
"Doc Good’s Traveling Show," Gene O’Neill (Bad Moon Books)

Short Fiction

"Keeping Watch," Nate Kenyon (Monstrous: 20 Tales of Giant Creature Terror)
“The Crossing of Aldo Ray,” Weston Ochse (The Dead That Walk: Flesh-Eating Stories)
"In the Porches of My Ears," Norman Prentiss (Postscripts #18)
"The Night Nurse," Harry Shannon (Horror Drive-in)

Fiction Collection

Martyrs & Monsters, Robert Dunbar (DarkHart Press)
Got to Kill Them All & Other Stories, Dennis Etchison (Cemetery Dance)
Taste of Tenderloin, Gene O'Neill (Apex Book Company)
In the Closet, Under the Bed, Lee Thomas (Dark Scribe Press)

Anthology

He Is Legend: An Anthology Celebrating Richard Matheson, edited by Christopher Conlon (Gauntlet Press)
Lovecraft Unbound edited by Ellen Datlow (Dark Horse Books)
Poe: 19 New Tales Inspired by Edgar Allan Poe edited by Ellen Datlow (Solaris)
Midnight Walk edited by Lisa Morton (Darkhouse Publishing)

Nonfiction

Writers Workshop of Horror by Michael Knost (Woodland Press)
Cinema Knife Fight by L. L. Soares and Michael Arruda (Fearzone)
Stephen King Illustrated Companion: Manuscripts, Correspondence, Drawings, and Memorabilia from the Master of Modern Horror by Bev Vincent (Fall River Press)
Stephen King: The Non-Fiction by Rocky Wood and Justin Brook (Cemetery Dance)

Poetry

Double Visions, Bruce Boston (Dark Regions)
North Left of Earth, Bruce Boston (Sam's Dot)
Barfodder: Poetry Written in Dark Bars and Questionable Cafes, Rain Graves (Cemetery Dance)
Chimeric Machines, Lucy A. Snyder (Creative Guy Publishing)

I thought that Datlow's collection, Poe, was absolutely outstanding, and said so in my review. I also named Patient Zero as one of the best reads of 2009 (reviewed in full here). Otherwise, however, I'm pretty much at sea when it comes to the rest of the nominees. I own Datlow's other nominated collection, Lovecraft Unbound (and wow, Datlow is competing against herself; how cool is that?!), and will now have to read it as soon as possible -- along with a zillion other books that I really need to read "next."

Anyone want to tell me where to start with these? Which among these is your favorite?