Horror movies are big business. Ever since the first flickering images started appearing on that magical silver screen, people have enjoyed being scared. What is it that compels us to seek the kinds of experiences we wouldn't dream of wishing for in real life? Is it the visceral thrill, the physical kick to our system that we crave? Or are the reasons more deep-rooted? Are horror movies like waking dreams, sluicing out the clutter of our unconscious minds, purging our anxieties and fears by confronting us with them in a safe environment? Travel back along the memory-paths of any current practitioner of strange fiction, of any professional creator of bizarre imagery - be they artist, writer, movie-maker, perhaps a combination of two, or even all three - and you will find, embedded in those paths, glinting like gold, seminal moments from countless horror movies, nightmare images that shaped that particular individual's mind, influenced his or her life in positive, creative ways. In Cinema Macabre the editor, Mark Morris, asked fifty genre practitioners to elect their favourite horror movie and to wax lyrical about it. The choices are eclectic, enlightening, occasionally startling. Come with us as we delve into some of the most fertile, imaginative minds working in the genre today, as we examine what frightens those who in turn frighten us. Contributors include Neil Gaiman, China Mieville, Simon Pegg, Michael Marshall Smith, Brian Aldiss, Christopher Fowler, Kim Newman, Thomas Tessier, Tim Lebbon, Mark Chadbourn and Ramsey Campbell.
Author
Librarian Note: There is more than one author in the Goodreads database with this name. Mark Morris became a full-time writer in 1988 on the Enterprise Allowance Scheme, and a year later saw the release of his first novel, Toady. He has since published a further sixteen novels, among which are Stitch, The Immaculate, The Secret of Anatomy, Fiddleback, The Deluge and four books in the popular Doctor Who range. His short stories, novellas, articles and reviews have appeared in a wide variety of anthologies and magazines, and he is editor of the highly-acclaimed Cinema Macabre, a book of fifty horror movie essays by genre luminaries, for which he won the 2007 British Fantasy Award. His most recently published or forthcoming work includes a novella entitled It Sustains for Earthling Publications, a Torchwood novel entitled Bay of the Dead, several Doctor Who audios for Big Finish Productions, a follow-up volume to Cinema Macabre entitled Cinema Futura and a new short story collection, Long Shadows, Nightmare Light.
