THE YA STOKER: THE HWA SHOOTS ITSELF IN THE FOOT

 
The Horror Writer’s Association (HWA) recently voted for a particularly weak novel as their winner of the prestigious Bram Stoker Award, Young Adult (YA) section. The Ginger Nuts of Horror, who review more YA titles than most websites, does not recommend this book and suggest avoiding it. We also believe that on this occasion the HWA has shot itself in the foot; the last couple of years has featured some excellent titles on the final ballot, and if the organisation had any intentions of making inroads into the wider YA literature world they can forget it, Oware Mosaic is not the book to do it.
 
In the build up to the award Ginger Nuts traditionally reviews all those featured on the preliminary list, which was subsequently cut to six for the final ballot, and were dismayed when Oware Mosaic made it through to the final ballot as it was clearly the weak link of the original ten titles. How we rated them is directly below and ultimately, we would have been happy to see any of the top eight books pick up the gong. ​

Jacqueline West: Last Things (9.5/10) (prelim ballot)
Liana Gardner: Speak no Evil (9/10) (final ballot)
Amelinda Berube: Here there are Monsters (8.5/10) (final ballot)
Ann Davila Cardinal: Five Midnights (8/10) (final ballot)
Dawn Kurtagich: Teeth in the Midst (8/10) (prelim ballot)
Shea Earnshaw: Winterwood (8/10) (prelim ballot)
Sara Faring: The Tenth Girl (7/10) (prelim ballot)
Kate Alice Marshall: Rules for Vanishing (7/10) (final ballot)
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Peter Adam Salomon: 8 Minutes, 32 Seconds (5/10) (final ballot)
Nzondi: Oware Mosaic (3/10) WINNER

Our review of Oware Mosaic was published after it appeared on the preliminary ballot:
 
“I really struggled with Oware Mosaic and found large sections made little sense, making it a novel I would not recommend to YA readers. Teenagers get frustrated easily and even though it features some creative ideas, much of it is lost in stilted prose with a voice which is both dull and repetitive. Set in Ghana, some years after a massive war, scientists have developed a technology that stores consciousness on data-orbs called retcons. Through a combination of human characters and a future type of (almost) vampire they end up in a virtual reality via a very advanced computer game. I’m not explaining this very well, mainly because I understood little of it and much of what it presented was hard to visualise and I found myself reading the same piece of text several times to pick up the flow. It’s nice to see the story set almost entirely in Africa, but I failed to connect with it and think teen readers would also struggle.”
 
The highly respected blogger, ‘Monster Librarian’, who also reviews a lot of YA also raised concerns below. This is one of very few reviews of the book to appear anywhere. It said:
 
“Despite my really wanting to love this, there is a serious flaw in this book that made suspension of disbelief for this book impossible for me [...] There is the germ of a good story in here but it needs much more work for that to emerge. Based on what I read, though, I don’t think I can recommend this as YA horror. Is this science fiction? Post-apocalyptic fiction? Crime fiction? A combination? If Nzondi decides to reshape the story, I will be interested to see how he does it.”
 
As a school librarian of nearly thirty years I practice what I preach, I love nothing more than promoting horror to kids and teenagers, but ultimately awards are only as good as their winners. I have all eight of the top books in my library, two copies of my favourites and really enjoy chatting to kids about horror and the Stoker award to those who show that level of interest. I hasten to add this is not about particular ‘taste’ but having the ability to read a book and then being able to decide which teen reader might be attracted to any title. This is the reason I struggled with this winner: I cannot fathom which group of teenagers whom I regularly interact with might want to read it.
 
You might ask how can such a mediocre novel win such a prestigious international gong? In mainstream YA literature such a feat would be impossible with awards such as the Newbery (USA) and Carnegie (UK) Medals and every other mainstream literary prize. What makes the Stoker different is that the voting members of the HWA decide who win, the majority of which know zero about YA fiction.  None of this has anything to do with the quality of Oware Mosaic. The Carnegie and the Newbery Medal winners are discussed and debated by YA professionals and literary experts. This is a big difference. The panel of judges are unlikely to agree on the winner, but there is healthy debate.
 
I feel sorry for the YA Stoker panel as they put together a very strong preliminary list, based upon a lot of reading. But what makes the YA Stoker category slightly different is that in addition to the panel selections, if any other books receive more than five votes from the members it automatically goes on the ballot (quality does not come into it). This is a big mistake. I would be stunned if Oware Mosaic were a panel selection, those guys are certain to be specialists of some kind, so this book is almost certainly been pushed onto the ballot by the voting members. No YA experts worth their salt would vote for this book.
 
The YA category is different from the other categories in that it is very specialist and I would suggest leaving it to the YA experts and not HWA members who want to vote for their friends or who campaigns the loudest. If this had been the case, then one of the eight top books would surely have won and then the HWA would have a worthy winner to promote around schools and libraries rather than a winner which will fail to connect with a teenage audience.
 
For the last few years, I have sat on a committee for a book prize which involves around thirty schools and I appreciate how much work goes into organising these events. Our prize has a different theme every year and the shortlist is chosen entirely by a panel of school librarians, after which our job is done, and the winner is then selected by a vote by hundreds of children who have read them. There will always be a strong winner as the initial shortlist was chosen by the experts and there are no turkeys being stream-rolled onto the shortlist, which is obviously the case with the YA Stoker. 
 
If I were a librarian who bought Oware Mosaic after it won this ‘prestigious’ horror award, after reading it, I would question the validity of the award and would likely swerve it in future. Books which win big awards should expect to be raised up for extra scrutiny. I chat online with school librarians all the time and relatively few know much about horror, so they look to sites such as Ginger Nuts of Horror and others for recommendations. The HWA and the YA Stoker should be one of the first sites librarians should be checking for quality horror titles, however, with such disappointing winners there will be serious trust issues.
 
Thankfully, the last couple of short-lists have been strong, but if parents are looking to buy books for teenage kids they often look to the overall winner and sadly this book will do zero to advance a love for reading. Also, these days libraries are strapped for cash and need to be selective in what they buy, and it would be a shame to hear of money being wasted on this novel. These are all reasons why we need a winner everybody can support 100% and confidently shout from the rooftops about, but this will only happen if the HWA abandons the ineffective voting procedure for the YA category.
 
On a positive note, it has been encouraging to see the HWA trying to make some inroads into libraries with its ‘Summer Scares’ programme. This year the YA section features the excellent Daughters unto Devils by the fantastic Amy Lukavics, an author Ginger Nuts has championed for years. It is high time the HWA start recognising the talents of this stunning writer, who four novels into an incredibly varied career, has only made the final ballot on one occasion. Let us see if the HWA put Oware Mosaic forward for the Summer Scares programme next year! I doubt it.
 
I am sure the members of the HWA would like to see the YA category flourish beyond the niche horror world, however, for this to happen they need to step back and let the experts decide the winners. Wouldn’t it be amazing if genuine teenagers got excited about the Stoker, or we heard of displays in school libraries or kids attempting to read all the titles on an annual shortlist? This will only happen if they have strong fiction which will connect and resonate with readers. We need the best books to win, plain and simple. Writers like Amy Lukavics and the best YA horror has to offer.
 
In early summer Ginger Nuts of Horror will be presenting our top 100 horror novels of the last decade, of which the top fifty will have full reviews. Not one of the YA Stoker winners from the period 2010-2019 even makes the top 100 and that is, quite frankly, embarrassing for an award which is supposed to showcase the best in teenage horror from around the world, not just America.
 
Tony Jones