Lisa Morton

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About Lisa Morton

Lisa Morton is a screenwriter, author of non-fiction books, award-winning prose writer, and Halloween expert whose work was described by the American Library Association's READERS' ADVISORY GUIDE TO HORROR as "consistently dark, unsettling, and frightening". She began her career in Hollywood, co-writing the cult favorite MEET THE HOLLOWHEADS (on which she also served as Associate Producer), but soon made a successful transition into writing short works of horror. After appearing in dozens of anthologies and magazines, including THE MAMMOTH BOOK OF DRACULA, DARK DELICACIES, THE MUSEUM OF HORRORS, and CEMETERY DANCE Magazine, in 2010 her first novel, THE CASTLE OF LOS ANGELES, was published to critical acclaim, appearing on numerous "Best of the Year" lists. Her book THE HALLOWEEN ENCYCLOPEDIA (now in an expanded second edition) was described by REFERENCE & RESEARCH BOOK NEWS as "the most complete reference to the holiday available," and Lisa has been interviewed on The History Channel and in THE WALL STREET JOURNAL as a Halloween authority. She is a six-time winner of the Bram Stoker Award®, a recipient of the Black Quill Award, and winner of the 2012 Grand Prize from the Halloween Book Festival. A lifelong Californian, she lives in North Hills, California, and can be found online at www.lisamorton.com.

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Titles By Lisa Morton

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Adam's Ladder Oct 17, 2017

by Laird Barron, Roberta Lannes, Brian Evenson, Scott Edelman, Tim Lebbon, John Langan, Damien Angelica Walters, Ramsey Campbell, Michael Bailey, Darren Speegle

( 7 )

$3.95

The future of humankind as an ever-changing organism is a subject of much debate. Where is our evolutionary path leading? Will the next rung take the form of mental transcendence, will it set humankind on a course toward divinity, or will this uncertain path involve a dark and terrible reversion?

Co-editors Michael Bailey and Darren Speegle present eighteen tales of dark science fiction that explore the course of evolution, written by some of the best literary minds in the fields of science fiction and horror.

Other Formats: Paperback

This title and over 1 million more available with Kindle Unlimited.

The Halloween Encyclopedia, 2d ed. Apr 29, 2011

by Lisa Morton

( 18 )

$9.99

A first edition of The Halloween Encyclopedia was published by McFarland in 2003 (Booklist: “a worthy addition to public and school libraries as well as the reference shelves of journalists and leaders of community events”); it was the first encyclopedic reference book on the cultural phenomenon (which also deals with such related holidays as Britain’s Guy Fawkes Day, Mexico’s Día de los Muertos, or Day of the Dead, and the Celtic celebration Samhain).
Now updated to 2010, this second edition includes more than 50 new entries, covering subjects ranging from Folk Art to African American legends. Many existing entries have been expanded and revised, with new entries (“Chronology of Halloween” and “Halloween in Literature and the Arts”) in both appendices. Also featured are more than a dozen new illustrations, and an expanded bibliography.

Other Formats: Paperback

Zombie Apocalypse! Washington Deceased (Zombie Apocalypse! Spinoff Book 2) Jul 17, 2014

by Stephen Jones, Lisa Morton

( 21 )

$2.99

A novel set within the Zombie Apocalypse! mythos created by Stephen Jones for his bestselling trilogy, Washington DC is sent during the second half of Zombie Apocalypse! Fightback, when the zombies’ intelligence is increasing and they have formed themselves into a society, and an army. New York and Los Angeles have fallen to the walking dead and there has been no news out of Chicago, but Washington DC is still holding out and the South is still free. Time is running out, though, for the battalions defending Capitol Hill . . .

As the most powerful symbols of American democracy begin to fall, the President and her advisors must be protected at all costs. But what if there are people in her own government who are prepared to do a deal with the living-dead invaders to retain power at any cost?

Meanwhile, ‘Zombie King’ Thomas Moreby is making his own plans to rule the United States as his control increases across the country. Moreby claims to have ‘foreseen’ his victory, but there are emerging factions in his own ranks who are starting to question their role in the war between zombies and humans.

And how does the mysterious New World Pharmaceuticals fit into the New Zombie Order?

Other Formats: Paperback

Witch Hunts: A Graphic History of the Burning Times Jan 10, 2014

by Rocky Wood, Lisa Morton, Greg Chapman

( 25 )

$10.99

Winner of the 2013 Bram Stoker Award for Superior Achievement in a Graphic Novel

For three centuries, as the Black Death rampaged through Europe and the Reformation tore the Church apart, tens of thousands were arrested as witches and subjected to torture and execution, including being burned alive. This graphic novel examines the background; the witch hunters' methods; who profited; the brave few who protested; and how the Enlightenment gradually replaced fear and superstition with reason and science. Famed witch hunters Heinrich Kramer, architect of the infamous Malleus Maleficarum, and Matthew Hopkins, England's notorious "Witchfinder General," are covered as are the Salem Witch Trials and the last executions in Europe.

WITCH HUNTS RECEIVED THE BRAM STOKER AWARD® FOR SUPERIOR ACHIEVEMENT IN A GRAPHIC NOVEL AT THE WORLD HORROR CONVENTION IN NEW ORLEANS ON JUNE 15, 2013.

Other Formats: Paperback

Night Terrors & Other Tales May 15, 2021

by Lisa Morton

( 4 )

$3.49

An abused child finds comfort in the friendship of Frankenstein’s monster…a near-future Halloween party becomes an act of global terrorism…one of the world’s wealthiest men goes in search of his fate as he rots from within…Hans Holbein’s famed “Dance of Death” engravings are revealed to be an instruction manual…a man trapped on an isolated road confronts both a terrifying creature and the legacy of his tough-as-nails grandfather…Night Terrors and Other Tales is the first major collection to gather together twenty of Lisa Morton’s finest short stories (chosen by the author herself). During a career that has spanned more than three decades, she has produced work that has been hailed as “consistently dark, unsettling, and frightening” (the American Library Association’s Readers Advisory Guide to Horror).If you’ve never encountered Lisa Morton’s work before, you’ll find out why Famous Monsters called her “one of the best writers in dark fiction today.” If you’re already a fan, this collection will offer up a chance to revisit these acclaimed and award-winning stories. You’ll also find a new story here, written just for this collection: “Night Terrors” reveals ordinary people trying to cope with extraordinary and terrifying dreams that have spread like a plague.

Other Formats: Paperback

This title and over 1 million more available with Kindle Unlimited.

The Lucid Dreaming Feb 7, 2018

by Lisa Morton

( 8 )

$2.99

(2009 Bram Stoker Award for Best Long Fiction)
Ashley, a twenty-something California girl, is a post-punk who would rather be called Spike and who worries about money, her family, and freeway traffic. She’s also a violent paranoid schizophrenic living in a state facility west of Los Angeles, her disorder kept under control by confinement and the drug Prolixin.

One day Spike is shocked to find her cell door open and so she ventures out, only to find the walls smeared with blood and the staff missing or dead. She escapes and ventures into a world that’s been driven mad by waking nightmares, where she’s now the sanest
person alive. Searching for answers, Spike embarks on a road trip that will lead her from Beverly Hills to a nightmarish Texas compound to the highest office in the land...

Other Formats: Paperback

The Legend of Halloween Jack: A Halloween Short Story Oct 21, 2012

by Lisa Morton

( 6 )

$0.99

Jack is a gambler, a conman, and a murderer whose luck finally gives out one Halloween when he dies in a Baton Rouge back alley. The wily Jack tricks the demon sent to collect him and gains one more year of life, during which he plans to repent. But Jack soon falls back into his old ways, and before he knows it the year has passed, it's Halloween again, and Jack is facing off against the Devil himself in a New Orleans casino in this dark and disturbing re-telling of the legend of Jack-o'-lantern...

Rocketeer Jet Pack Adventures (The Rocketeer) Nov 24, 2015

by J. Bone, Gregory Frost, Yvonne Navarro, Don Webb, Simon Kurt Unsworth, Cody Goodfellow

( 12 )

$7.99

Modern pulp fiction with a retro twist! IDW presents ten original prose adventures featuring Cliff, Betty, Peevy, and a host of new villains. From murderous treasure-hunters and marauding Asian sky-pirates, to ancient Egyptian magicians and haunted mad scientists, the Rocketeer solves crimes and fights evil in these unique and exciting tales of jet-pack action and pin-up romance. Set between 1939 and 1946, with such historical characters as Howard Hughes, Hedy Lamarr, Tarzan's Johnny Weissmuller, and acclaimed Western writer Zane Grey, to name but a few.

Other Formats: Paperback

Malediction Sep 25, 2016

by Lisa Morton

( 6 )

$2.99

In 1863, a young woman’s heritage is stolen from her, and she lays a terrible curse on the City of Angels. Now, in the 21st century, a teenaged girl with lethal psychic abilities arrives in Los Angeles, ready to ally herself with vengeful spirits of the past to feed her insatiable appetite for destruction. Only Gwen Michaelson, a natural healer afraid of her gifts, and Sam West, a broken amnesiac who was once a brilliant historian, stand against the psychotic and increasingly powerful May Blanco. Will Gwen be able to use her skills to restore Sam’s mind, which holds the key to the mystery of May’s unearthly companion? Together, can they find a way to stop May before she unleashes a wave of death?

MALEDICTION is a novel about magic and darkness, power and lust, folklore versus fact, love against rage, and the secret history of Los Angeles.

Other Formats: Audible Audiobook

The Cinema of Tsui Hark Jan 19, 2010

by Lisa Morton

( 1 )

$9.99

Tsui Hark, one of China’s most famous film artists, is little known outside of Asia even though he has directed, produced, written, or acted in dozens of film, some of which are considered to be classics of modern Asian cinema. This work begins with a biography of the man and a look at his place in Hong Kong and world cinema, his influences, and his thematic obsessions. Each major film of his career is then reviewed, production details are provided, and comments from Tsui Hark himself are given.

Other Formats: Hardcover , Paperback

The Lovecraft Squad: Dreaming Nov 6, 2018

by Jones

( 1 )

$14.99

The new book in the groundbreaking series that reveals the origins of "The Lovecraft Squad”—a super-secret worldwide organization dedicated to battling the eldritch monstrosities given form in H. P. Lovecraft’s fevered imagination.

In April 1936, Lovecraft’s novella The Shadow Over Innsmouth was first published. Written five years earlier, but oddly rejected by every magazine it was ever submitted to, it accurately described a series of events that actually happened in February 1928, when federal government agents raided the ancient Massachusetts seaport of Innsmouth and attempted to eradicate a deviant race of ichthyoid creatures which had been interbreeding with the human population for decades, if not centuries.

There was no way that the reclusive pulp writer could have known so much about a case where the details had been withheld for fear of creating a panic among the public. Following these startling revelations, the F.B.I. went back and investigated more closely into the stories that Lovecraft was publishing as “fiction.” Incredibly, it soon began to emerge that the events in Innsmouth were not a solitary event—and the monstrosities the author described really did exist.

To combat these cosmic horrors, the Human Protection League (H.P.L.) was established to investigate and combat these otherworldly invaders. Down through the decades since, the only defense that has stood between humanity and these creatures of chaos are the agents of the H.P.L.—or, as they are sometimes known to those few who are aware of their existence: The Lovecraft Squad.

Other Formats: Paperback

Monsters of L.A. Feb 7, 2018

by Lisa Morton

( 18 )

$4.99

In these pages Bram Stoker Award-winner Lisa Morton reinvents the dark stars you grew up watching: Frankenstein, Dracula, Mr. Hyde, the Phantom, the Hunchback...all the silent ones and the first to find their voices are here, and they're even presented in roughly the order in which they first appeared on a silver screen. The Haunted House of the '30s gives way to the Werewolf of the '40s, the Monsters of L.A. Creature of the '50s, and so on, all the way up to our favorite modern boogeyman, the Zombie. In some of these stories, you'll find an earthly incarnation of a famous namesake: Frankenstein is a patched-together, homeless vet, the Invisible Woman is so ordinary you'd never see her; but some of these familiar friends - Dracula, the Devil, or those seriously creepy Clowns - will be instantly recognizable.

Other Formats: Paperback

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