Stoker Award Nominees

I won't copy-and-paste from SF Signal (where I first saw the list; go there to see the nominated works in all their splendor).

But I did want to look quizzically at the nomenclature for this award. The winning works are not "best," or "favorite," or even "totally awesome," but instead the rather tepid "superior achievement."

So the Stoker-winning novel of any given year actually was awarded "superior achievement in a novel," which means, essentially, that it's somewhat better than most of the books out there.

Maybe it's just my cynicism talking, but that sounds suspiciously like the slow clap of literature -- you're not all that good, got it? you're just mildly better than some other things.