Brian A. Hopkins
Brian A. Hopkins (born December 29, 1960) is an American horror writer. His works include the novel "The Licking Valley Coon Hunters Club" and the novellas "El Dia De Los Muertos" and "Five Days in April", all of which received Bram Stoker Awards. He edited the Stoker-winning horror anthology "Extremes 2: Fantasy and Horror from the Ends of the Earth", as well as three other "Extremes" anthologies. His works have also been nominated for the Nebula Awards, Theodore Sturgeon Awards, Locus Awards, and International Horror Guild Awards. Biography. Hopkins was born in Altoona, Pennsylvania, in 1960 . He has lived in the Oklahoma City area since 1983. In October 2018, he retired as the deputy director of the 76th Software Maintenance Group at Tinker Air Force Base, culminating a 35-year civil service career. His first short story was published in "Dragon" magazine in 1990. Awards. From 1999 to 2002, Hopkins was nominated for a total of seven Bram Stoker Awards, winning four. In 1999, his novella "Five Days in April", set in the aftermath of the Oklahoma City bombing, tied for the 1999 Stoker Award for Best Long Fiction and was nominated for both a Nebula  Award for Best Novelette and a Sturgeon Award for best short science fiction story. In 2000, he received three Stoker Award nominations. "The Licking Valley Coon Hunters Club" was nominated for Best Novel and won Best First Novel, defeating a field including Mark Z. Danielewski's "House of Leaves". The Hopkins-edited anthology "Extremes: Fantasy & Horror from the Ends of the Earth" was nominated for Best Anthology but did not win. In 2001, his second "Extremes" anthology "Extremes 2: Fantasy & Horror from the Ends of the Earth" won the Stoker Award for Best Anthology. Along with Garrett Peck, he also  co-edited the nonfiction book "Personal Demons", which was nominated for a Stoker Award for Best Non-Fiction but did not win. In 2002, his novella "El Dia De Los Muertos" tied with Thomas Ligotti's "My Work is Not Yet Done" for another Stoker Award for Best Long Fiction, defeating a field of nominees that included Neil Gaiman's novella "Coraline". "El Dia De Los Muertos" was also nominated for a Locus Award for Best Novella (losing to "The Tain" by China Miéville) and for an International Horror Guild Award (losing to "My Work is Not Yet Done"). Hopkins  also wrote two stories which were nominated for 1996 International Horror Guild Awards: the short story "Dead Art" and (with David Niall Wilson) the novella "La Belle Dame Sans Merci".