Bram Stoker Award for Best Novel

The Bram Stoker Award for Best Novel is an award presented by the Horror Writers Association (HWA) for "superior achievement" in horror writing for novels.

Winners and nominees

The following are the winners and nominees. Finalists (nominees) are listed under the winner(s) for each year, respectively.

The year of eligibility listed in the table is the year that the work was published; the ceremony when the honor was awarded happening the following year.

Bram Stoker Award for Novel ^[1]

Year	Recipient	Title	Result	Ref.
1987	Stephen King	Misery	Co-winners
	Robert R. McCammon	Swan Song
	Ray Garton	Live Girls	Nominee	[2]
	Kem Nunn	Unassigned Territory
	Chet Williamson	Ash Wednesday
1988	Thomas Harris	The Silence of the Lambs	Winner	[3]
	Robert R. McCammon	Stinger	Nominee	[3]
	F. Paul Wilson	Black Wind
	Joe R. Lansdale	The Drive-In
	Anne Rice	The Queen of the Damned
	Richard Laymon	Flesh
1989	Dan Simmons	Carrion Comfort	Winner	[4]
	Katherine Dunn	Geek Love	Nominee	[4]
	Charles L. Grant	In a Dark Dream
	Dean R. Koontz	Midnight
	Robert R. McCammon	The Wolf's Hour
1990	Robert R. McCammon	Mine	Winner	[5]
	Richard Laymon	Funland	Nominee	[5]
	Chet Williamson	Reign
	Joe R. Lansdale	Savage Season
1991	Robert R. McCammon	Boy's Life	Winner	[6]
	Thomas M. Disch	The M.D.	Nominee	[6]
	Stephen King	Needful Things
	Stephen King	The Dark Tower III: The Waste Lands
	Dan Simmons	Summer of Night
1992	Thomas F. Monteleone	Blood of the Lamb	Winner	[7]
	Matthew Costello	Homecoming	Nominee	[7]
	Brian Hodge	Deathgrip
	Dean R. Koontz	Hideaway
	Dan Simmons	Children of the Night
1993	Peter Straub	The Throat	Winner	[8]
	Kim Newman	Anno Dracula	Nominee	[8]
	Bradley Denton	Blackburn
	Poppy Z. Brite	Drawing Blood
	Bentley Little	The Summoning
1994	Nancy Holder	Dead in the Water	Winner	[9]
	Caleb Carr	The Alienist	Nominee	[9]
	Jonathan Carroll	From the Teeth of Angels
	Stephen King	Insomnia
	Patrick McCabe	The Butcher Boy
1995	Joyce Carol Oates	Zombie	Winner	[10]
	Billie Sue Mosiman	Widow	Nominee	[10]
	Yvonne Navarro	Deadrush
	Alan Rodgers	Bone Music
1996	Stephen King	The Green Mile	Winner	[11]
	Poppy Z. Brite	Exquisite Corpse	Nominee	[11]
	Owl Goingback	Crota
	Peter Straub	The Hellfire Club
1997	Janet Berliner & George Guthridge	Children of the Dusk	Winner	[12]
	Stephen Dobyns	The Church of Dead Girls	Nominee	[12]
	Tananarive Due	My Soul to Keep
	Tim Powers	Earthquake Weather
1998	Stephen King	Bag of Bones	Winner	[13]
	Dean R. Koontz	Fear Nothing	Nominee	[13]
	S. P. Somtow	Darker Angels
	Thomas Tessier	Fog Heart
1999	Peter Straub	Mr. X	Winner	[14]
	Owl Goingback	Darker than Night	Nominee	[14]
	Thomas Harris	Hannibal
	Stephen King	Low Men in Yellow Coats
	Tom Piccirilli	Hexes
2000	Richard Laymon	The Traveling Vampire Show	Winner	[15]
	Gary A. Braunbeck	The Indifference of Heaven	Nominee	[15]
	Ramsey Campbell	Silent Children
	Brian A. Hopkins	The Licking Valley Coon Hunters Club
	Tom Piccirilli	The Deceased
2001	Neil Gaiman	American Gods	Winner	[16]
	Ray Bradbury	From the Dust Returned	Nominee	[16]
	Jack Ketchum	The Lost
	Stephen King & Peter Straub	Black House
2002	Tom Piccirilli	The Night Class	Winner	[17]
	Douglas Clegg	The Hour Before Dark	Nominee	[17]
	Stephen King	From a Buick 8
	Chuck Palahniuk	Lullaby
	Alice Sebold	The Lovely Bones
2003	Peter Straub	Lost Boy, Lost Girl	Winner	[18]
	Stephen King	The Dark Tower V: Wolves of the Calla	Nominee	[18]
	James A. Moore	Serenity Falls
	Stewart O'Nan	The Night Country
	Tom Piccirilli	A Choir of Ill Children
2004	Peter Straub	In the Night Room	Winner	[19]
	P. D. Cacek	The Wind Caller	Nominee	[19]
	Stephen King	The Dark Tower VII: The Dark Tower
	Michael Laimo	Deep in the Darkness
2005	David Morrell	Creepers	Co-winners	[20]
	Charlee Jacob	Dread in the Beast
	Gary A. Braunbeck	Keepers	Nominee	[20]
	Tom Piccirilli	November Mourns
2006	Stephen King	Lisey's Story	Winner	[21]
	Tom Piccirilli	Headstone City	Nominee	[21]
	Jonathan Maberry	Ghost Road Blues
	Jeff Strand	Pressure
	Gary A. Braunbeck	Prodigal Blues
2007	Sarah Langan	The Missing	Winner	[22]
	Bruce Boston	The Guardener's Tale	Nominee	[22]
	Joe Hill	Heart-Shaped Box
	Erika Mailman	The Witch's Trinity
	Dan Simmons	The Terror
2008	Stephen King	Duma Key	Winner	[23]
	Gary A. Braunbeck	Coffin County	Nominee	[23]
	Nate Kenyon	The Reach
	Gregory Lamberson	Johnny Gruesome
2009	Sarah Langan	Audrey's Door	Winner	[24]
	Jonathan Maberry	Patient Zero	Nominee	[24]
	Joe McKinney	Quarantined
	Jeremy Shipp	Cursed
2010	Peter Straub	A Dark Matter	Winner	[25]
	Joe Hill	Horns	Nominee	[25]
	Jonathan Maberry	Rot & Ruin
	Linda Watanabe McFerrin	Dead Love
	Joe McKinney	Apocalypse of the Dead
	Jeff Strand	Dweller
2011	Joe McKinney	Flesh Eaters	Winner	[26][27][28][29]
	Christopher Conlon	A Matrix Of Angels	Nominee	[26][27][28]
	Gregory Lamberson	Cosmic Forces
	Ronald Malfi	Floating Staircase
	Gene O'Neill	Not Fade Away
	Lee Thomas	The German
2012	Caitlin R. Kiernan	The Drowning Girl	Winner	[30][31][32]
	Lee Thomas	The German	Nominee	[30][31][32]
	Benjamin Kane Ethridge	Bottled Abyss
	John Everson	Nightwhere
	Joe McKinney	Inheritance
	Bentley Little	The Haunted
2013	Stephen King	Doctor Sleep	Winner	[33][34]
	Joe Hill	NOS4A2	Nominee	[33][34]
	Lisa Morton	Malediction
	Sarah Pinborough & F. Paul Wilson	A Necessary End
	Christopher Rice	The Heavens Rise
2014	Steve Rasnic Tem	Blood Kin	Winner	[35][36][37]
	Craig DiLouie	Suffer the Children	Nominee	[35][36][37]
	Patrick Freivald	Jade Sky
	Chuck Palahniuk	Beautiful You
	Christopher Rice	The Vines
2015	Paul G. Tremblay	A Head Full of Ghosts	Winner	[38][39]
	Clive Barker	The Scarlet Gospels	Nominee	[38][39]
	Michaelbrent Collings	The Deep
	JG Faherty	The Cure
	Patrick Freivald	Black Tide
2016	John Langan	The Fisherman	Winner	[40]
	Elizabeth Hand	Hard Light	Nominee	[40]
	Stephen Graham Jones	Mongrels
	Bracken MacLeod	Stranded
	Paul G. Tremblay	Disappearance at Devil's Rock
2017	Christopher Golden	Ararat	Winner	[41][42][43][44][45]
	Stephen King & Owen King	Sleeping Beauties	Nominee	[41][42][43][44][45]
	Josh Malerman	Black Mad Wheel
	S. P. Miskowski	I Wish I Was Like You
	Steve Rasnic Tem	Ubo
2018	Paul G. Tremblay	The Cabin at the End of the World	Winner	[46][47][48][49]
	J. D. Barker & Dacre Stoker	Dracul	Nominee	[46][47][48][49]
	Alma Katsu	The Hunger
	Jonathan Maberry	Glimpse
	Josh Malerman	Unbury Carol
2019	Owl Goingback	Coyote Rage	Winner	[50][51][52]
	Josh Malerman	Inspection	Nominee	[50][51][52]
	S. P. Miskowski	The Worst Is Yet to Come
	Lee Murray	Into the Ashes
	Chuck Wendig	Wanderers
2020	Stephen Graham Jones	The Only Good Indians	Winner	[53][54][55]
	Alma Katsu	The Deep	Nominee	[53][54][55]
	Todd Keisling	Devil's Creek
	Josh Malerman	Malorie
	Silvia Moreno-Garcia	Mexican Gothic
2021	Stephen Graham Jones	My Heart Is a Chainsaw	Winner	[56][57][58][59]
	V. Castro	The Queen of the Cicadas	Nominee	[56][57][58][59]
	Grady Hendrix	The Final Girl Support Group
	Cynthia Pelayo	Children of Chicago
	Chuck Wendig	The Book of Accidents
2022	Gabino Iglesias	The Devil Takes You Home	Winner	[60]
	Alma Katsu	The Fervor	Nominee	[61][62]
	Gwendolyn Kiste	Reluctant Immortals
	Josh Malerman	Daphne
	Catriona Ward	Sundial
2023	Tananarive Due	The Reformatory	Winner	[63]
	Grady Hendrix	How to Sell a Haunted House	Nominee	[64]
	Stephen Graham Jones	Don't Fear the Reaper
	Victor Lavalle	Lone Women
	Chuck Tingle	Camp Damascus[65]
	Chuck Wendig	Black River Orchard
2024	Gwendolyn Kiste	The Haunting of Velkwood	Winner	[66]
	Gabino Iglesias	House of Bone and Rain	Nominee	[67]
	Stephen Graham Jones	I Was a Teenage Slasher
	Josh Malerman	Incidents Around the House
	Paul G. Tremblay	Horror Movie

Multiple winners

Ordered first by wins and then by alphabetical order (according to last name).

• Stephen King (6)
• Peter Straub (5)
• Robert R. McCammon (3)
• Stephen Graham Jones (2)
• Sarah Langan (2)
• Paul Tremblay (2)

Multiple nominees

Ordered first by nominations, then by at least one win, and finally by alphabetical order (according to last name).

† indicates that the writer also won the award in exactly one occasion (up-to-date as of the 2025 Bram Stoker Awards).

• Stephen King (15)
• Peter Straub (7)
• Tom Piccirilli (6)†
• Stephen Graham Jones (5)
• Robert R. McCammon (5)
• Gary A. Braunbeck (4)
• Jonathan Maberry (4)
• Josh Malerman (4)
• Joe McKinney (4)†
• Dan Simmons (4)†
• Paul Tremblay (4)
• Owl Goingback (3)†
• Joe Hill (3)
• Dean R. Koontz (3)
• Richard Laymon (3)†
• Chuck Wendig (3)
• Poppy Z. Brite (2)
• Tananarive Due (2)
• Patrick Freivald (2)
• Thomas Harris (2)†
• Grady Hendrix (2)
• Gabino Iglesias (2)
• Gwendolyn Kiste (2)
• Gregory Lamberson (2)
• Sarah Langan (2)
• Joe R. Lansdale (2)
• Bentley Little (2)
• S. P. Miskowski (2)
• Chuck Palahniuk (2)
• Christopher Rice (2)
• Jeff Strand (2)
• Steve Rasnic Tem (2)†
• Lee Thomas (2)
• Chet Williamson (2)
• F. Paul Wilson (2)