links

A selection of links to external websites, selected by Mark Morris.

Publishers

www.pspublishing.co.uk
The crème de la crème of UK independent genre publishing, PS is owned and run by the extraordinarily lovely Pete and Nicky Crowther. PS are publishers of the likes of Stephen King, Ramsey Campbell, Michael Moorcock and Joe Hill, and have also published three of my titles: The Uglimen, Nowhere Near An Angel and Cinema Macabre.

www.grayfriarpress.com
Another UK independent publisher with a (thus far) small but impressive catalogue of titles. My work has appeared in the anthology, Poe's Progeny, edited by Gary Fry, and further projects are currently under discussion.

www.cemeterydance.com
A fabulous US independent publisher. My work has appeared in the Cemetery Dance books Fourbodings, edited by Peter Crowther, the forthcoming The British Invasion, edited by Tim Lebbon, Christopher Golden and James A. Moore, and in Cemetery Dance Magazine.

www.subterraneanpress.com
Another superb US independent. My work has appeared in Taps and Sighs, edited by Peter Crowther, Night Visions 12, edited by Kealan Patrick Burke, and in issue 1 of Subterranean Magazine.

www.darkhorse.com
Although I can't claim to be a big comics fan, writing my 'Hellboy' book has turned me into an addict of both the 'Hellboy' and 'BPRD' series of graphic novels, both of which are published by Dark Horse. Check out their excellent site for news of their full range of comics and books.

People

www.nelwhatmore.com
My lovely wife. World-renowned artist and mother to my two gorgeous children. It's not easy being married to a writer, but her love and support have been constant and undimming for the past twenty-odd years. In the local area we're known as "the writer and the artist". Or, alternatively, "the weirdos."

www.timlebbon.net
I love this man like a brother. Incredibly prolific author of such titles as Face, Until She Sleeps, As the Sun Goes Down, The Nature of Balance, Berserk, Desolation, Dusk and Hellboy: Unnatural Selection. We've talked about writing a horror movie script together, but we're both ridiculously busy at the moment. Watch this space.

www.sarahpinborough.com
We met at the World Horror Convention in New York in 2005 and have got on like a house on fire ever since. She's a relatively new writer whose work gets better and better with each book. Her new one, Breeding Ground, is terrific. Check it out.

www.nicholasroyle.com
Nick and I go back a long way. When we first met we were nobbut a couple of young whippersnappers with a few short story sales to our names. We've remained great friends since that first meeting back in the late '80s. Nick is the author of the novels Counterparts, Saxophone Dreams, The Director's Cut, The Matter of the Heart and Antwerp, and over 100 short stories, the best of which are included in his collection, Mortality.

www.conradwilliams.net
Conrad should be more successful than he is. He's a superb writer with stunning ideas and a richly lyrical prose style. He is author of the novels Head Injuries, London Revenant and The Unblemished, the novellas Nearly People, Game and The Scalding Rooms and the short story collection Use Once, Then Destroy.

www.michaelmarshallsmith.com
Everyone should hate Mike. He's too skilled a writer, too successful, too clever and too good-looking. He can build websites, play the guitar and was once in a successful comedy team who had their own show on Radio 4 called And Now In Colour. Bastard. Trouble is, once you've met him it's impossible to dislike him. He's a lovely feller and one of the funniest people I know. His ridiculously successful books include Only Forward, Spares, One of Us, What You Make It and the best-selling trio of crime novels, written under the cunning pseudonym Michael Marshall, The Straw Men, The Lonely Dead and Blood of Angels.

www.grahamjoyce.net
Despite having a face like a crumpled old knapsack, the ladies seem to love Graham. Mind you, he is charming, witty, articulate and – like MMS – a born comedian. He's also a fantastic writer. His books include Dreamside, Requiem, The Tooth Fairy, Indigo, Smoking Poppy, The Facts of Life and The Limits of Enchantment. He's also written two great books for teenagers: TWOC and Do the Creepy Thing.

www.christophergolden.com
Sometimes you meet someone and within five minutes you know you're going to be friends for life. So it was with Chris. He's a terrific guy – generous, warm-hearted, great sense of humour – and an amazingly prolific writer. His books include (takes deep breath): Wildwood Road, The Ferryman, The Boys are Back in Town, Strangewood, The Gathering Dark, Of Saints and Sinners, The Myth Hunters, Bloodstained Oz and many more. He has also written lots of 'series' and tie-in books: Prowlers, The Menagerie, Body of Evidence, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Angel, King Kong (movie novelisation), Hellboy etc. Apparently Chris has around eight million books in print. Clearly he is a man who works hard.

www.lesedwards.com
A hugely popular and award-winning artist, Les's work has graced a multitude of horror and science-fiction book covers over the years. His alter ego Edward Miller supplied the cover for my PS short novel The Uglimen.

www.kealanpatrickburke.com
Kealan hails from Ireland, but moved to the US several years ago because he felt it would prove a more conducive environment for his writing ambitions. He was right. In the past few years he has emerged as one of the most promising young writers in the genre. His books include The Turtle Boy, The Hides and Vessels, and as editor Taverns of the Dead, Brimstone Turnpike, Quietly Now, Tales from the Gorezone and Night Visions 12.

www.ramseycampbell.com
Ramsey is a living legend, and I'm proud to count myself among his friends. He has produced some of the most inventive, disturbing and compelling horror fiction ever written. His novels include The Doll Who Ate His Mother, The Face that Must Die, The Parasite, The Nameless, Incarnate, Midnight Sun, The Count of Eleven, The House on Nazareth Hill, The Darkest Part of the Woods, The Overnight and Secret Stories. Many of his hundreds of short stories have been collected in Demons By Daylight, The Height of the Scream, Dark Companions, Scared Stiff and Alone with the Horrors, and his fascinating and often starkly revealing non fiction in Ramsey Campbell, Probably.

www.stephenlaws.com
I'm delighted to report that after a gap of several years, due to circumstances far too convulted to go into here, Stephen Laws' new novel, Ferocity, will be published by Leisure Books in 2007. Steve is a great mate of mine. We've spent many a boozy night in his house or mine, watching horror movies together into the early hours after our wives and children have gone to bed. Steve's love of the genre and knowledge of its rich history have resulted in a variety of high-energy, hard-hitting, cinematic novels. His titles include Ghost Train, Spectre, The Wyrm, The Frighteners, Darkfall, Daemonic and Chasm.

www.stephengallagher.com
Yet another good mate, Steve is an incredibly talented jack-of-all-trades. He has written novels, short stories, radio serials and TV scripts. He has even directed a prime-time TV adaptation of his 1988 novel, October. His other novels include Valley of Lights, Chimera (which was adapted for TV), Rain, Nightmare With Angel, The Spirit Box and The Painted Bride. His short fiction has been collected in Out of His Mind, and he has contributed scripts to many TV shows including Doctor Who, Chillers, Bugs, Rosemary and Thyme and Murder Rooms.

www.stephenvolk.net
Author of the notorious and brilliant BBC1 1992 drama GhostWatch and the equally brilliant supernatural ITV series Afterlife, I first met Steve a few years ago when the two of us, plus our mutual friend, Tim Lebbon, shared a flight to Toronto for the World Horror Convention. Over the course of that weekend, Steve and I became great friends, bonded by our common love for various books, movies and TV series. By the time we flew home four days later I felt as though I had known Steve for years. He's a great guy, who, as well as continuing with his script work, has in recent years also been branching out into prose. Check out his superb short story collection, Dark Corners, published by Gray Friar Press.

www.paulmagrs.com
I met Paul in storm-lashed Cardiff in January 2007. Like me, he had been commissioned by BBC Books to write a Doctor Who novel featuring the tenth Doctor and his new companion, Martha Jones, and we were there, together with Mark Michalowski, to see rough cuts of the first three episodes of the latest series. Thrown together we might have been, but the three of us hit it off immediately and ended up enjoying a drunkenly riotous night in the bars of Cardiff Bay. The next day the weather had become so bad that all trains leaving the city were cancelled and Paul and I found ourselves stranded in Cardiff for one more night (Mark, who was driving, had headed off earlier in the car and it ended up taking him over ten hours to get home). After buying extra pants in Primark - a bonding experience if ever there was one - Paul and I found a cheap hotel and bedded in for the night. We have a mutual love not only for Doctor Who, but for the ghost and horror stories we read as kids and for British 'telefantasy' from the 70s. Paul has written many wonderful, quirky, nostalgic books, among my favourites of which are Strange Boy, Exchange and his Whitby series featuring Brenda and Effie.

www.garymcmahon.com
Gary McMahon is the Baron of Bleak, the Godfather of Grim. His work is riddled with society's ills and scarred by urban blight. That's why you should read it. It's proper horror - tough, uncompromising and impenetrably dark. If that sounds off-putting, then let me add that Gary also knows how to tell a tale. His ideas radiate within the blackness, his plots power along like runaway trains and his damaged, vulnerable characters are people you care about, people you know. Perhaps surprisingly, considering his world-view, Gary himself is a personable fellow, bubbling with good cheer and enthusiasm. His books include Rain Dogs, The Harm, Different Skins and How To Make Monsters. Forthcoming are the Concrete Grove trilogy from Solaris and the Thomas Usher trilogy from Angry Robot/Osprey. Did I mention he is also annoyingly prolific?

www.johnjarrold.co.uk
John is a legend in publishing circles. He has more contacts than the Russian Mafia. He is also my agent and I'm proud to have him. Anyone browsing this site with the intention of offering me a multi-million pound (or dollar, I'm not fussy) book/film deal should click on the link above.

Other stuff

www.britishfantasysociety.org.uk
I've been a member of the BFS for the past two decades, and their annual shindig, the British Fantasy Convention, is a highpoint on my social calendar. If it wasn't for the BFS I would never have met some of the best friends I will ever have. I'm currently writing a regular horror column for their official news and views magazine, Prism.

www.shocklines.com
Not just an online genre bookstore par excellence, but a thriving horror community, presided over by Matt Schwartz – another champion of the genre.

www.coldtonnage.com
The company name of online bookseller and top bloke, Andy Richards.