Weird Artists Dominate 2008 IHG Awards

The International Horror Guild has released their list of nominees and winners who towered above all others in the annual IHG Awards. For reasons not entirely clear, this will be the organization's final awards ceremony. The awards are also backdated a year, so these are for works released in 2007 rather than 2008. What's obvious even from a cursory glance is that writers and artists with a strong connection to weird fiction have dominated this year's awards.

Dan Simmons' novel of horror in the arctic, The Terror, probably the best since H.P. Lovecraft's "At the Mountains of Madness," came out on top in IHG's Novels category. Thomas Ligotti's graphic novel adaption of "The Nightmare Factory" (Volume I) took the winning slot under Illustrated Narrative. This is the second big win for Ligotti from the IHG; his novella "My Work is Not Yet Done" won in 2002 for Long Form. Other close nominees also bear a direct connection to the weird school of literature. Ramsey Campbell, Reggie Oliver, and Chris Mars under art all made strong showings, but not enough to come out as winners. S.T. Joshi was also nominated twice, once in Non-Fiction for his recent collection of scholarship on M.R. James entitled Warnings to the Curious: A Sheaf of Criticism on M.R. James, and again under Anthology for his work on American Supernatural Tales.

Overall, quite a fine lineup of victors and runner ups. Though many will be saddened to see the International Horror Guild's awards disappear, all should applaud their well thought choices in this last round. Readers of weird fiction have particular reason to rejoice again as the IHG ends their career on a high note.

-Grim Blogger