As both a writer and writing teacher, winning these awards is so gratifying because it means a group of my peers found the books to be valuable instructional guides worthy of recognition.
— Tim Waggoner
Dayton’s very own master of horror, Tim Waggoner added another literary prize to his burgeoning collection at this year’s StokerCon. He was among a prestigious group of creators honored at the Horror Writer’s Association’s biggest event, which took place in Pittsburgh, PA.
Waggoner, who is a Professor at Sinclair’s English Department, was awarded his fourth Bram Stoker Award at a gala event at the Station Square Hotel. He won for Superior Achievement in Non-Fiction for Writing in the Dark: The Workbook, beating out other industry luminaries such as Stephanie M. Wytovich and Lisa Kröger.
Writing In The Dark: The Workbook is a follow-up to Waggoner’s 2020 textbook, Writing In the Dark. Like its predecessor, the workbook offers advice and exercises on how to create horror stories that are original, entertaining, and unique. This second non-fiction tome, however, focuses more on putting advice from a wide range of horror masters into practice. In addition to his own decades-long experience in the genre, Waggoner includes insights from some of his most respected peers including American Book Award winner Tananarive Due, Hugo award recipient Seanan McGuire, and New York Times best-seller Christopher Golden among many others.
Speaking to The Clarion, Waggoner said, “After my first horror-writing book, Writing in the Dark, was published in 2020, I was gratified to learn how many people found it useful in their own writing journeys. So many readers reached out to tell me how useful they found the exercises in that book and that they wished they could have an entire volume of them. I wrote Writing in the Dark: The Workbook for those readers.”
“Writing in the Dark won the Bram Stoker Award for Superior Achievement in Nonfiction in 2021, and I was pleasantly surprised the workbook won the same award this year. As both a writer and writing teacher, winning these awards is so gratifying because it means a group of my peers found the books to be valuable instructional guides worthy of recognition.”
Other awardees that evening included Cynthia Pelayo for her poetry collection Crime Scene, Cassandraw Khaw for the short story collection Breakable Things, and Alma Katsu for the novel The Wehrwolf.
Ismael Mujahid
Staff Writer/Associate Editor