Introduction by Ingrid Pitt
Modern Mythmakers author Michael McCarty
Artist Frank Dietz
Multi-Media artist and Forry's "best pal" Joe Moe
Michael Mallory - author of "Universal Studios Monsters: A Legacy Of Horror"
John Dimes- actor/artist/author of The Rites of Pretending Tribe
Brian Walker – creator of Brian's Drive-In Theatre
Robert Leininger – producer of The Undying Monsters
Dick Dyszel (Count Gore Devol) host of Creature Feature
Artist Jim McDermott
Lucy Hell of Mystery Island Publications
Rue Morgue Magazine art director "Ghoulish" Gary Pullin

THE FORREY FAMILY Left to Right JOE MOE, FRED OLEN RAY, DR. MANGOR, FRANK DEITZ,

Special Guest Photos Section

Courtlandt Hull – creator of "The Witch's Dungeon" Museum in Bristol, CT.
Kevin Sean Michaels – director of Vampira: The Movie
Moebius Models creator Frank Winspur
Dr. Mangor – Antimator, photographer, creator of Suicidal Suzi comic
Scifi-Womanthology editor Pam Keesey

Special Guest Interviews:
East Texas Gothic: Joe R. Lansdale
Gandhi At The Bat author Chet Williamson
Don Calfa - star of Return of the Living Dead
Scalps director Fred Olen Ray
NCIS star Muse Watson
Jason Paul Collum – author of Assault of the Killer Bs
Horror Films of the 1980s author John Kenneth Muir
Strangewood author Christopher Golden
Genre actor/stuntman/screenwriter Jim O'Rear
Sara Karloff – daughter of horror icon Boris Karloff
Interview with Cinemassacres author Iron Dave, conducted by Roberta Lannes
Covenant and The 13th author John Everson
The Amazing Kreskin
Count Gregula
Chopping Mall director Jim Wynorksi

Nicholson took the idea for the novel from "The Jangling Hole," a local folk legend in which the spirits of Civil War soldiers are said to linger in the Linville Caverns. Because the peaks were so rugged and remote, deserters from both sides of the Civil War often hid out in the caves.

"According to legend, you can still hear the jangle or clink of their tools and mess kits inside the caves, often with a spooky echo," Nicholson said. "Ghosts are more fun when kids are involved, so I created a group of three friends who investigate the legend. The boys are loosely based on my own childhood, recalling the alienation and the sense of being an outsider."

The main character, Vernon Ray, wants to be a drummer boy in his father’s Civil War re-enactment troop, but the father is distant and suspicious because his son is "different."

"I served in a Civil War re-enactment in Boone a few years ago, so I brought that element of living history to the novel, though it’s very much a contemporary tale of the supernatural," Nicholson said. "The one thing about real 'make-believe' war is that it’s loud and dangerous, with large horses, intense action, and a very loose script that creates a lot of improvisation. I wanted to combine that sense of make-believe with the actual legends and create a milieu in which the young boys try to fit in."

But the drummer boy discovers that he belongs to neither the world of the living or the dead, but he is all that stands between the town and the ghostly Civil War troop.

"We’re all misfit kids," Nicholson said. "Some of us are just a little older than others."

The e-book version recently hit #1 on the Amazon "Ghosts" category and #2 in "Occult." All e-book versions and signed copies are also available through his Web site at HauntedComputer.com.

Nicholson also recently released The Skull Ring, a psychological thriller in which a woman's lost past comes creeping back when she becomes the target of a sinister cult.

"I based the novel on research involving False Recovered Memory Syndrome, in which a number of psychiatrists encouraged their patients to build memories of Satanic rituals," he said. "Personally, I'd rather write than go to a shrink. I've never seen anything wrong with being crazy, but I've seen plenty of wrong committed in the name of 'helping' someone."

Nicholson is the author of nine novels, including The Red Church and They Hunger. He’s written three story collections, six movie scripts, four comic book series, several children’s books and a number of songs and poems. He’s a freelance editor, journalist, and organic gardener.

Currently the awards are presented in eight categories: Novel, First Novel, Long Fiction, Short Fiction, Fiction Collection, Anthology, Non-fiction, and Poetry Collection. The organization's Active members will select the winners from this ballot; voting will close on March 3rd, and the awards will be presented this year at a gala banquet on Saturday evening, March 27, at the World Horror Convention in Brighton, UK.

This year's nominees in each category are:

Superior Achievement in a Novel

AUDREY'S DOOR by Sarah Langan (Harper)

PATIENT ZERO by Jonathan Maberry (St. Martin's Griffin)

QUARANTINED by Joe McKinney (Lachesis Publishing)

CURSED by Jeremy Shipp (Raw Dog Screaming Press)

Superior Achievement in a First Novel

BREATHERS by S. G. Browne (Broadway Books)

SOLOMON’S GRAVE by Daniel G. Keohane (Dragon Moon Press)

DAMNABLE by Hank Schwaeble (Jove)

THE LITTLE SLEEP by Paul Tremblay (Henry Holt)

Superior Achievement in Long Fiction

DREAMING ROBOT MONSTER by Mort Castle (MIGHTY UNCLEAN)

THE HUNGER OF EMPTY VESSELS by Scott Edelman (Bad Moon Books)

THE LUCID DREAMING by Lisa Morton (Bad Moon Books)

DOC GOOD'S TRAVELING SHOW by Gene O’Neill (Bad Moon Books)

Superior Achievement in Short Fiction

KEEPING WATCH by Nate Kenyon (MONSTROUS: 20 TALES OF GIANT CREATURE TERROR)

THE CROSSING OF ALDO RAY by Weston Ochse (THE DEAD THAT WALK)

IN THE PORCHES OF MY EARS by Norman Prentiss (PS Publishing)

THE NIGHT NURSE by Harry Shannon (Horror Drive-in)

Superior Achievement in an Anthology

HE IS LEGEND: AN ANTHOLOGY CELEBRATING RICHARD MATHESON edited by Christopher Conlon (Gauntlet Press)

LOVECRAFT UNBOUND edited by Ellen Datlow (Dark Horse Books)

POE edited by Ellen Datlow (Solaris)

MIDNIGHT WALK edited by Lisa Morton (Dark House)

Superior Achievement in a Collection

MARTYRS AND MONSTERS by Robert Dunbar (DarkHart Press)

GOT TO KILL THEM ALL AND OTHER STORIES by Dennis Etchison (Cemetery Dance)

A TASTE OF TENDERLOIN by Gene O'Neill (Apex Book Company)

IN THE CLOSET, UNDER THE BED by Lee Thomas (Dark Scribe Press)

Superior Achievement in Nonfiction

WRITERS WORKSHOP OF HORROR by Michael Knost (Woodland Press)

CINEMA KNIFE FIGHT by L. L. Soares and Michael Arruda (Fearzone)

THE STEPHEN KING ILLUSTRATED COMPANION by Bev Vincent (Fall River Press)

STEPHEN KING: THE NON-FICTION by Rocky Wood and Justin Brook (Cemetery Dance)

Superior Achievement in Poetry

DOUBLE VISIONS by Bruce Boston (Dark Regions)

NORTH LEFT OF EARTH by Bruce Boston (Sam's Dot)

BARFODDER by Rain Graves (Cemetery Dance)

CHIMERIC MACHINES by Lucy A. Snyder (Creative Guy Publishing)