Rev. Dr. Steve Burt takes home the 2005 Bram Stoker Award for Young Readers
Norwich, Conn., June 26, 2005 – Steve Burt has been called many things: “The Rev,” “Storyteller of the Heart” (for his non-horror stories), “New England’s Best Storyteller” and “The Christmas Story Pastor.”
But perhaps his favorite title so far came from the Horror Writers Association’s Saturday night awards ceremony in Los Angeles: Bram Stoker Award Winner for his book “Oddest Yet: Even More Stories to Chill the Heart.” That’s the world’s top horror prize.
The event, which regularly hosts some of the biggest names in horror and frequently awards the top prizes to such luminaries as Stephen King, Clive Barker, Dean Koonz, Anne Rice and J.K. Rowling, is considered to be the Oscar Night of the horror genre.
“I had to preach on the East Coast in my Hartford pulpit on Sunday morning, so I couldn’t make the event in Los Angeles,” says Burt. “My publicist, Ellen Reid of Smarketing, called me in the middle of the night to say that for the first time in history they had a tie in that category: Clive Barker … and me. I was in shock. It took me three hours to get back to sleep. I was pretty groggy in the pulpit later.”
Although Burt is the first ordained minister to win horror’s top prize, this isn’t his first brush with honors in his genre. In 2004, the Horror Writers Association named his second collection, "Even Odder: More Stories to Chill the Heart,” a finalist for the Bram Stoker Award (won by J.K. Rowling’s fifth book, “Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix”). And his first dark fiction collection, “Odd Lot: Stories to Chill the Heart,” won Sole Honorable Mention for Best Horror Book of 2001 at the ForeWord Magazine Awards. Then it grabbed the Publishers Marketing Association's silver Benjamin Franklin Award for Best Mystery/Suspense Book of 2001. In 2003 Writer's Digest's named it runner-up for Best Genre Fiction Book. Six of its nine stories were honorable mentions in Year's Best Fantasy & Horror. Now the fourth book in the series, “Wicked Odd,” is out.
So why is a minister writing dark tales?
"It's fun," says 56-year-old Steve Burt, a 27-year ordained minister with the United Church of Christ. "I grew up on Twilight Zone, Outer Limits, Weird Tales, and loved those strange stories. And as a church camp director, I often told the scary stories around the campfire in the evening. First I told the old classics I knew, then I started making up new ones of my own.”
How do Burt's parishioners feel about having a best-selling horror writer as their pastor? "Most of them have read my books and love the stories. Many folks have been in the audience when I've shared them aloud before Halloween. These are not violent, blood-and-gore tales, not slasher fare; Freddy doesn’t meet Jason, no Friday the Thirteenth or Halloween or Nightmare on Elm Street. These are fun, they're imaginative. They rely more on tension and weird ideas than on guts and lopped heads. Teachers and parents constantly tell me they inspire kids to read and write. What more could I ask for?"
About the Bram Stoker Awards
The Stokers, the horror genre's answer to Hollywood's Oscars, are given annually in 12 categories for excellence in horror writing. Past winners include Peter Straub and 7-time winner Stephen King (Burt's former neighbor in Bangor during his seminary years). For a complete list of Stoker winners: http://www.horror.org/stokers.htm#winners.
