International Horror Guild Awards

The International Horror Guild presented their awards for Best Novel this month, for books published in 2005.

The winner was Lunar Park, by Bret Easton Ellis. Possibly best-described as an "alternate autobiography", the lead character is a writer named Bret Easton Ellis, to whom horrific things begin to happen. Ellis is best known for his controversial novel American Psycho, which was widely criticized for its extreme violence.

The other nominees include:
The Historian, by Elizabeth Kostova. A novel about a historian's quest to learn the truth behind the legends of Vlad the Impaler and Count Dracula.

Beyond Black, by Hilary Mantel. A woman begins to get lost in the world of psychics, clairvoyants, and fortune tellers.

The Stone Ship, by Peter Raftos. A man considering suicide is convinced by a ghost to carry out his revenge.

Horrific Sufferings of the Mind-Reading Monster Hercules Barefoot, by Carl-Johan Vallgren. Follows the story of a deaf, dumb, and deformed telepath. Set in the early 1800's.

The Somerset County Library owns multiple copies of Lunar Park, The Historian, and Beyond Black. The other two titles can be requested through Inter-Library Loan at the Adult Information Desk.