# Bram Stoker Award for Best First Novel

The Bram Stoker Award for First Novel is an award presented by the Horror Writers Association (HWA) for "superior achievement" in horror writing for an author's first horror novel.

## Winners and nominees

Bram Stoker Award for Best First Novel :
| Year | Recipient | Title | Citation |
| 1987 | Lisa Cantrell | The Manse | Winner |
| 1987 | Clive Barker | The Damnation Game | Nominee |
| 1987 | Rex Miller | Slob | Nominee |
| 1987 | Tony Richards | The Harvest Bride | Nominee |
| 1987 | Steve Rasnic Tem | Excavation | Nominee |
| 1988 | Kelley Wilde | The Suiting | Winner |
| 1988 | Michael Paine | Cities of the Dead | Nominee |
| 1988 | Kevin J. Anderson | Resurrection, Inc. | Nominee |
| 1988 | Allen Lee Harris | Deliver Us From Evil | Nominee |
| 1988 | J. Michael Straczynski | Demon Night | Nominee |
| 1988 | John L. Byrne | Fear Book | Nominee |
| 1989 | Nancy A. Collins | Sunglasses After Dark | Winner |
| 1989 | Tom Elliott (JW Paine) | The Dwelling | Nominee |
| 1989 | Douglas Clegg | Goat Dance | Nominee |
| 1989 | Dean Wesley Smith | Laying The Music To Rest | Nominee |
| 1989 | Jean Paiva | The Lilith Factor | Nominee |
| 1990 | Bentley Little | The Revelation | Winner |
| 1990 | Alan Rodgers | Blood of the Children | Nominee |
| 1990 | Tom Piccirilli | Dark Father | Nominee |
| 1990 | T. Chris Martindale | Nightblood | Nominee |
| 1991 | Kathe Koja | The Cipher | Winner |
| 1991 | Melanie Tem | Prodigal | Winner |
| 1991 | Chris Curry & L. Dean James | Winter Scream | Nominee |
| 1991 | Dennis Danvers | Wilderness | Nominee |
| 1991 | Ashley McConnell | Unearthed | Nominee |
| 1992 | Elizabeth Massie | Sineater | Winner |
| 1992 | Poppy Z. Brite | Lost Souls | Nominee |
| 1992 | Brian D'Amato | Beauty | Nominee |
| 1992 | Gary Raisor | Less Than Human | Nominee |
| 1992 | Wayne Allen Salee | The Holy Terror | Nominee |
| 1993 | Nina Kiriki Hoffman | The Thread that Binds the Bones | Winner |
| 1993 | Yvonne Navarro | Afterage | Nominee |
| 1993 | Richard Christian Matheson | Created By | Nominee |
| 1993 | Anne Billson | Suckers | Nominee |
| 1993 | Philip Nutman | Wet Work | Nominee |
| 1994 | Michael Arnzen | Grave Markings | Winner |
| 1994 | Jay R. Bonansinga | The Black Mariah | Nominee |
| 1994 | Robert Devereaux | Deadweight | Nominee |
| 1994 | Nancy Kilpatrick | Near Death | Nominee |
| 1995 | Lucy Taylor | The Safety of Unknown Cities | Winner |
| 1995 | Gary Bowen | Diary of a Vampire | Nominee |
| 1995 | Tananarive Due | The Between | Nominee |
| 1995 | Robert Girardi | Madeleine's Ghost | Nominee |
| 1995 | Edo van Belkom | Wyrm Wolf | Nominee |
| 1996 | Owl Goingback | Crota | Winner |
| 1996 | Donald R. Burleson | Flute Song | Nominee |
| 1996 | Greg Kihn | Horror Show | Nominee |
| 1996 | Del Stone | Dead Heat | Nominee |
| 1997 | Kirsten Bakis | Lives of the Monster Dogs | Winner |
| 1997 | Stephen Dedman | The Art of Arrow Cutting | Nominee |
| 1997 | Barry Hoffman | Hungry Eyes | Nominee |
| 1997 | Mary Ann Mitchell | Drawn to the Grave | Nominee |
| 1997 | Mary Murrey | The Inquisitor | Nominee |
| 1998 | Michael Marano | Dawn Song | Winner |
| 1998 | P.D. Cacek | Night Prayers | Nominee |
| 1998 | Charlee Jacob | This Symbiotic Fascination | Nominee |
| 1998 | Caitlin R. Kiernan | Silk | Nominee |
| 1999 | J.G. Passarella | Wither | Winner |
| 1999 | Steve Beai | Widow's Walk | Nominee |
| 1999 | John Connolly | Every Dead Thing | Nominee |
| 1999 | China Miéville | King Rat | Nominee |
| 2000 | Brian A. Hopkins | The Licking Valley Coon Hunters Club | Winner |
| 2000 | Simon Clark | Nailed by the Heart | Nominee |
| 2000 | Mark Z. Danielewski | House of Leaves | Nominee |
| 2000 | Douglas E. Winter | Run | Nominee |
| 2001 | Michael Oliveri | Deadliest of the Species | Winner |
| 2001 | Diana Barron | Phantom Feast | Nominee |
| 2001 | d.g.k. goldberg | Skating on the Edge | Nominee |
| 2001 | Joe Nassise | Riverwatch | Nominee |
| 2002 | Alice Sebold | The Lovely Bones | Winner |
| 2002 | Tina Jens | The Blues Ain't Nothing | Nominee |
| 2002 | Michael Laimo | Atmosphere | Nominee |
| 2002 | Scott Nicholson | The Red Church | Nominee |
| 2003 | Brian Keene | The Rising | Winner |
| 2003 | William D. Gagliani | Wolf's Trap | Nominee |
| 2003 | Jeffrey Thomas | Monstrocity | Nominee |
| 2003 | Jeff VanderMeer | Veniss Underground | Nominee |
| 2004 | John Everson | Covenant | Winner |
| 2004 | Lee Thomas | Stained | Winner |
| 2004 | James Kidman | Black Fire | Nominee |
| 2004 | Nick Mamatas | Move Under Ground | Nominee |
| 2005 | Weston Ochse | Scarecrow Gods | Winner |
| 2005 | Kealan Patrick Burke | The Hides | Nominee |
| 2005 | Alan M. Clark and Jeremy Robert Johnson | Siren Promised | Nominee |
| 2006 | Jonathan Maberry | Ghost Road Blues | Winner |
| 2006 | Sarah Langan | The Keeper | Nominee |
| 2006 | Nate Kenyon | Bloodstone | Nominee |
| 2006 | Alexandra Sokoloff | The Harrowing | Nominee |
| 2007 | Joe Hill | Heart-Shaped Box | Winner |
| 2007 | Michael Louis Calvillo | I Will Rise | Nominee |
| 2007 | John R. Little | The Memory Tree | Nominee |
| 2007 | Mary SanGiovanni | The Hollower | Nominee |
| 2008 | Lisa Mannetti | The Gentling Box | Winner |
| 2008 | Christopher Conlon | Midnight on Mourn Street | Nominee |
| 2008 | Michael McCarty and Mark McLaughlin | Monster Behind the Wheel | Nominee |
| 2008 | David Oppegaard | The Suicide Collectors | Nominee |
| 2008 | Joel A. Sutherland | Frozen Blood | Nominee |
| 2009 | Hank Schwaeble | Damnable | Winner |
| 2009 | S. G. Browne | Breathers | Nominee |
| 2009 | Daniel G. Keohane | Solomon's Grave | Nominee |
| 2009 | Paul Tremblay | The Little Sleep | Nominee |
| 2010 | Benjamin Kane Ethridge | Black & Orange | Winner |
| 2010 | Lisa Morton | The Castle of Los Angeles | Winner |
| 2010 | Gemma Files | A Book of Tongues | Nominee |
| 2010 | Lucy A. Snyder | Spellbent | Nominee |
| 2011 | Allyson Bird | Isis Unbound | Winner |
| 2011 | John Hornor Jacobs | Southern Gods | Nominee |
| 2011 | Frazer Lee | The Lamplighters | Nominee |
| 2011 | Thomas Roche | The Panama Laugh | Nominee |
| 2011 | Brett J. Talley | That Which Should Not Be | Nominee |
| 2012 | L. L. Soares | Life Rage | Winner |
| 2012 | Michael Boccacino | Charlotte Markham and the House of Darkling | Nominee |
| 2012 | Deborah Coates | Wide Open | Nominee |
| 2012 | Charles Day | The Legend of the Pumpkin Thief | Nominee |
| 2012 | Peter Dudar | A Requiem for Dead Flies | Nominee |
| 2012 | Richard Gropp | Bad Glass | Nominee |
| 2013 | Rena Mason | The Evolutionist | Winner |
| 2013 | Kate Jonez | Candy House | Nominee |
| 2013 | John Mantooth | The Year of the Storm | Nominee |
| 2013 | Jonathan Moore | Redheads | Nominee |
| 2013 | Royce Prouty | Stoker’s Manuscript | Nominee |
| 2014 | Maria Alexander | Mr. Wicker | Winner |
| 2014 | J. D. Barker | Forsaken | Nominee |
| 2014 | David Cronenberg | Consumed | Nominee |
| 2014 | Michael Knost | Return of the Mothman | Nominee |
| 2014 | Josh Malerman | Bird Box | Nominee |
| 2015 | Nicole Cushing | Mr. Suicide | Winner |
| 2015 | Courtney Alameda | Shutter | Nominee |
| 2015 | Brian Kirk | We Are Monsters | Nominee |
| 2015 | John McIlveen | Hannahwhere | Nominee |
| 2015 | John Claude Smith | Riding the Centipede | Nominee |
| 2016 | Tom Deady | Haven | Winner |
| 2016 | Barbara Barnett | The Apothecary’s Curse | Nominee |
| 2016 | Greg Chapman | Hollow House | Nominee |
| 2016 | Michelle Garza & Melissa Lason | Mayan Blue | Nominee |
| 2016 | Stephanie M. Wytovich | The Eighth | Nominee |
| 2017 | Robert Payne Cabeen | Cold Cuts | Winner |
| 2017 | Andy Davidson | In The Valley of the Sun | Nominee |
| 2017 | Matt Hayward | What Do Monsters Fear? | Nominee |
| 2017 | Jeremy Hepler | The Boulevard Monster | Nominee |
| 2017 | Scott Thomas | Kill Creek | Nominee |
| 2018 | Gwendolyn Kiste | The Rust Maidens | Winner |
| 2018 | Julia Fine | What Should Be Wild | Nominee |
| 2018 | T.E. Grau | I Am the River | Nominee |
| 2018 | Zoje Stage | Baby Teeth | Nominee |
| 2018 | Tony Tremblay | The Moore House | Nominee |
| 2019 | Sarah Read | The Bone Weaver's Orchard | Winner |
| 2019 | Gemma Amor | Dear Laura | Nominee |
| 2019 | Eric J. Guignard | Doorways to the Deadeye | Nominee |
| 2019 | Michelle Renee Lane | Invisible Chains | Nominee |
| 2019 | Caitlin Starling | The Luminous Dead | Nominee |
| 2020 | EV Knight | The Fourth Whore | Winner |
| 2020 | Polly Hall | The Taxidermist’s Lover | Nominee |
| 2020 | Rachel Harrison | The Return | Nominee |
| 2020 | Ross Jeffery | Tome | Nominee |
| 2020 | Kate Reed Petty | True Story | Nominee |
| 2021 | Hailey Piper | Queen of Teeth | Winner |
| 2021 | Lisa Quigley | The Forest | Nominee |
| 2021 | S. Alessandro Martinez | Helminth | Nominee |
| 2021 | Terry Miles | Rabbits | Nominee |
| 2021 | Nicol Willson | Tidepool | Nominee |
| 2021 | LaTanya McQueen | When the Reckoning Comes | Nominee |
| 2022 | Christi Nogle | Beulah | Winner |
| 2022 | Erin Adams | Jackal | Nominee |
| 2022 | Isabel Cañas | The Hacienda | Nominee |
| 2022 | KC Jones | Black Tide | Nominee |
| 2022 | Ally Wilkes | All the White Spaces | Nominee |