Chicagoan Tina L. Jens has just received one award, and is nominated for three additional awards, for her novel, "The Blues Ain't Nothin': Tales Of The Lonesome Blues Pub." The book is set in a mythical Chicago blues club, based on the real North Side club B.L.U.E.S. on Halsted St. It's a coming of age story about a young girl raised by a single mother with the help of a gang of ghosts -- the spirits of some of Chicago's most talented blues players.
Jens won an award for Best Novel, given by the Illinois Woman's Press Association. The book goes on to the nation-wide competition sponsored by the National Federation of Press Women. Jens has also been nominated for Superior Achievement in a First Novel for the Bram Stoker Award, given by the Horror Writers Association; and for Best First Novel by the International Horror Guild.
"The Stoker awards are the horror field's equivalent to the Oscars, and the IHG's are the equivalent to the Golden Globe Awards," Jens said from her home in Chicago. "It's an incredible honor to be nominated for all these
honors. I've been so lucky."
This is Jens' third time as a Bram Stoker Award nominee. The Stoker awards are given annually by an international organization of professional horror writers working in fiction, film and comics. She was first nominated for her 1998 story, "Blues-born," in the short story category , competing against Stephen King.
"I did as well as King did—we both lost," Jens said.
This time, she faces another David and Goliath challenge. She's up against bestseller "The Lovely Bones," by Alice Sebold. "My print run was 3,000 copies," Jens said with a laugh, "and we haven't sold out yet. Sebold's book has sold more than 2,000,000."
"I'm not surprised Tina's up for so many awards," said Lisa Rogers Lowrance, manager of after-words books in downtown Chicago. "When I finished reading 'The Blues Ain't Nothin',' I wanted to have a stiff drink and call my mother."
The Stoker Awards are chosen by popular vote of the membership. Jens will travel to New York City for the awards ceremony June 7. The International Horror Guild award winners are selected by a four-person jury of reviewers and critics in the field. Competition on that ballot is equally tough.
Jens is now at work on her second novel which she describes as a spy thriller. "It's James Bond meets Nostradamus," she said. The working title is "The Nostradamus Conspiracy."
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