Lisa Morton

A harrowing array of scary stories that all have one thing in common: each either begins or ends with a scream!R.L. Stine—the godfather of Goosebumps—and some of the most popular authors today bring an unrivaled mastery of all things fearsome, frightening, and fantabulous to this terrifying anthology of all-new scary short stories.Scream and Scream Again! is full of twists and turns, dark corners, and devilish revenge. Collected in conjunction with the Mystery Writers of America, this set includes works from New York Times bestselling authors telling tales of wicked ice-cream trucks, time-travelling heroes, witches and warlocks, and of course, haunted houses.Read it if you dare! With twenty never-before-published scary stories from some of the most popular authors today—including Chris Grabenstein, Wendy Corsi Staub, Heather Graham, Peter Lerangis, R.L. Stine, Bruce Hale, Emmy Laybourne, Steve Hockensmith, Lisa Morton, Ray Daniel, Beth Fantaskey, Phil Mathews, Carter Wilson, Doug Levin, Jeff Soloway, Joseph S. Walker, Alison McMahan, Daniel Palmer, Tonya Hurley, and Stephen Ross—it’s sure to leave readers screaming for more.

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 Dia 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.

From Bram Stoker Award(R) winner Lisa Morton comes this collection of 35 new short nightmares Culled from her Spine Tinglers podcast, you'll find terrors here both classic and as contemporary as today's headlines. Looking for a good vampire story to sink your teeth into? Check out "Incident in a Drugstore Parking Lot," about a world at war with vampires...but they may not be the real bad guys. Love chompin' with the zombies? In "One Shot," a woman is forced to choose between what's legal (killing a flesheater) and what's right. Want to visit a haunted hotel? Reserve a room in "The Hotel Serra," where everything is haunted. Did you know there's a hidden dimension that can be accessed through the mirror in a downtown L.A. nightclub? Then you need to read "Double Vision."

Calling the Spirits investigates the eerie history of our conversations with the dead, from necromancy in Homer’s Odyssey to the emergence of Spiritualism – when Victorians were entranced by mediums and the seance was born.Among our cast are the Fox sisters, teenagers surrounded by ‘spirit rappings’; Daniel Dunglas Home, the ‘greatest medium of all time’; Houdini and Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, whose unlikely friendship was forged, then riven, by the afterlife; and Helen Duncan, the medium whose trial in 1944 for witchcraft proved more popular to the public than news about the war. The book also considers Ouija boards, modern psychics and paranormal investigations, and is illustrated with engravings, fine art (from beyond) and photographs. Hugely entertaining, it begs the question: is anybody there . . .?

Following the success of Weird Women: Volume 1, acclaimed anthologists Lisa Morton and Leslie S. Klinger return with another offering of overlooked masterworks from early female horror writers, including George Eliot, Zora Neale Hurston, Harriet Beecher Stowe, and Edith Wharton.Following the success of their acclaimed Weird Women, star anthologists Lisa Morton and Leslie S. Klinger return with another offering of overlooked masterworks from early female horror writers. This volume once again gathers some of the most famous voices of literature—George Eliot, Zora Neale Hurston, Harriet Beecher Stowe, and Edith Wharton—along with chilling tales by writers who were among the bestselling and most critically-praised authors of the early supernatural story, including Mary Elizabeth Braddon, Vernon Lee, Florence Marryat, and Margaret Oliphant. There are, of course, ghost stories here, but also tales of vampirism, mesmerism, witches, haunted India, demonic entities, and journeys into the afterlife. Introduced and annotated for modern readers, Morton and Klinger have curated more stories sure to provide another "feast of entertaining (and scary) reads" (Library Journal).

Calling the Spirits investigates the eerie history of our conversations with the dead, from necromancy in Homer’s Odyssey to the emergence of Spiritualism – when Victorians were entranced by mediums and the seance was born.Among our cast are the Fox sisters, teenagers surrounded by ‘spirit rappings’; Daniel Dunglas Home, the ‘greatest medium of all time’; Houdini and Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, whose unlikely friendship was forged, then riven, by the afterlife; and Helen Duncan, the medium whose trial in 1944 for witchcraft proved more popular to the public than news about the war. The book also considers Ouija boards, modern psychics and paranormal investigations, and is illustrated with engravings, fine art (from beyond) and photographs. Hugely entertaining, it begs the question: is anybody there . . .?

Trick or Treat is the first book to both examine the origins and history of Halloween and explore in depth its current global popularity. Festivals like the Celtic Samhain and Catholic All Souls’ Day have blended to produce the modern Halloween, which has been reborn in America – but there are also related but independent holidays, especially Mexico’s Day of the Dead. Lisa Morton explores the explosion in popularity of haunted attractions and the impact of events such as the global economic recession, as well as the effect Halloween has had on popular culture through literary works, films and television series.Trick or Treat takes us on a journey from the spectacular to the macabre, making it a must for anyone who wants to peep behind the mask to see the real past and present of this ever more popular holiday.

After two centuries of literary and pop culture procreation, Victor Frankenstein and his monster are as virile as ever: synthetic biology, genetically modified organisms, artificial intelligence, the creation of one life at the cost of others. On the threshold of the third century, we stand on unforeseen shores of deep, far-reaching scientific and technological waters. And yet no truth-told tale is ever far from the sublime, the supernatural, the interior. The alchemy of art is always central to the story. In the case of Mary Shelley's masterpiece, the lives of those involved in its making were as dramatic and mysterious as any character from literature. In 1816, nineteen-year-old Mary Wollstonecraft Godwin, lover and future wife of poet Percy Bysshe Shelley, conceived the idea for Frankenstein during a summer of darkness. Within a few years of the novel's publication, three of the members involved in its conception were dead. Suicide, premature death, and tragedy are as woven into the tale as the words themselves. Frankenstein is at heart the story of a very misguided "parent" whose destructive offspring outlives him both in the novel and in our collective imagination. Ambition divorced from responsibility; genius wedded to derangement; the creator who rejects his own creation so fully he will not even give it a name. It is a tale of monsters and their monstrosities; it is thus also, of course, a very human tale, and one that continues to be written. Featuring artwork from award-winning artist Robert Payne Cabeen, this collection brings together two hundred years' worth of monstrous birthings: facts and fictions, lore and lunacy from the underground laboratories where monsters are both born and made.

On one magical night of the year--when the breeze is scented with dead leaves and pumpkin, when the days have grown shorter and winter's first touch prickles your skin--the barrier between worlds is at its thinnest, and dark magic abounds. Whether it's the legendary trickster Jack about to acquire his first lantern, a teenage girl beginning to discover her own alluring power, or a fallen angel seeking redemption, Halloween's sinister spell enchants all.The four novellas and ten short stories in this collection from Lisa Morton, one of the world's leading authorities on Halloween, bring the ancient festival's beauty and terror to vivid life. In the Bram Stoker Award(R)-nominated The Samhanach, a suburban mother's world is turned upside-down when her daughter is taken by a legendary Scottish shapeshifter. The acclaimed Hell Manor pits a professional trickster against four of the malicious Irish sidh inside a haunted attraction. Other stories offer a young 1930s blues singer confronted by the Devil, a corn maze where a boy learns the real meaning of sacrifice, a rescue worker trapped in Edgar Allan Poe's haunted woods of Weir, and a Halloween expert (named Lisa Morton) who discovers the real truth behind the Celts' celebration of Samhain, the precursor to Halloween."Now it is your turn to chew on these tasty morsels of fear, delight, horror, and optimism. These treats are now all yours to unwrap and devour. In the words of The Devil's Birthday, you are about 'to join the best Halloween party imaginable.'" --Nancy Holder, Bram Stoker Award(R)-winning author

In the history of the numinous there are few things more common than the belief in ghosts. From the earliest writings such as the Epic of Gilgamesh to today’s ghost-hunting reality TV shows, ghosts have chilled the air of nearly every era and every culture in human history. In this book, now available in B-format paperback, Lisa Morton wrangles together history’s most enduring ghosts into an entertaining and comprehensive look at what otherwise seems to always evade our eyes.

Politics casts a long, cold shadow over every aspect of our lives. These tales find horror on the campaign trail, in the voting booth, the school room, the internet, and on the streets. Thunderdome Press brings some of the biggest names in horror together with up and coming voices to shed light on one of America's darkest seasons. Featuring stories by: Ray Bradbury - William F. Nolan - Dale Bailey - Paul Moore - Nick Mamatas - John Palisano - Ray Garton - Lisa Morton - Jason V Brock - Sunni K Brock - G. Ted Theewen - Tom Breen - Simon McCaffrey - Kevin Holton - David Perlmutter - Sarah Langan - Joseph Rubas - Bobby Wilson - Anthony Ambrogio - Nicholas Manzolillo - Hillary Lyon - Mark Allan Gunnells - Curtis VanDonkelaar - Luke Styer & Skip Johnson AND an introduction by Jeff Strand and an afterword by David Wellington

Halloween has spread around the world, yet its associations with death and the supernatural as well as its inevitable commercialization has made it one of our most puzzling holidays. How did it become what it is today? Trick or Treat is the first book ever to both examine the origins and history of Halloween and explore in depth its current global popularity. Lisa Morton reveals how holidays like the Celtic Samhain and Catholic All Souls' Day have blended to produce the modern Halloween, and she shows how the holiday has been reborn in America, where costumes and trick-or-treat rituals are new customs. Morton takes into account the influence of related but independent holidays, especially Mexico's Day of the Dead, as well as the explosion in popularity of haunted attractions and the impact of events such as 9/11 and the global economic recession. Trick or Treat also examines the effect Halloween has had on popular culture through literary works by Washington Irving and Ray Bradbury, films such as John Carpenter's Halloween and Tim Burton's The Nightmare Before Christmas and television series, including Buffy the Vampire Slayer and The Simpsons. Trick or Treat takes us on a journey from the spectacular to the macabre, making it a must for anyone who wants to peep behind the mask to see the real past and present of this ever more popular holiday.

Halloween has spread around the world, yet its associations with death and the supernatural as well as its inevitable commercialization has made it one of our most puzzling holidays. How did it become what it is today? Trick or Treat is the first book ever to both examine the origins and history of Halloween and explore in depth its current global popularity. Lisa Morton reveals how holidays like the Celtic Samhain and Catholic All Souls' Day have blended to produce the modern Halloween, and she shows how the holiday has been reborn in America, where costumes and trick-or-treat rituals are new customs. Morton takes into account the influence of related but independent holidays, especially Mexico's Day of the Dead, as well as the explosion in popularity of haunted attractions and the impact of events such as 9/11 and the global economic recession. Trick or Treat also examines the effect Halloween has had on popular culture through literary works by Washington Irving and Ray Bradbury, films such as John Carpenter's Halloween and Tim Burton's The Nightmare Before Christmas and television series, including Buffy the Vampire Slayer and The Simpsons.Trick or Treat takes us on a journey from the spectacular to the macabre, making it a must for anyone who wants to peep behind the mask to see the real past and present of this ever more popular holiday.

This is the first book-length study of the career and life of Ann Savage, whose performance in Detour earned her a place in Time Magazine's list of the top 10 greatest movie villains. The biography covers her abused childhood and her career as a studio contract player, pin-up queen, B movie star, jetsetter and award-winning aviatrix. A complete annotated filmography with release date, credits, cast, synopsis and commentary for each of her films is included.