Mark Morris (born 15 June 1963) is an English author known for his series of horror novels, although he has also written several novels based on the

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series ''

Doctor Who ''Doctor Who'' is a British science fiction television series broadcast by the BBC since 1963. The series depicts the adventures of a Time Lord called the Doctor, an extraterrestrial being who appears to be human. The Doctor explores the u ...

''.Mark Morris
BBC, accessed December 2010 He used the pseudonym J. M. Morris for his 2001 novel ''Fiddleback''.

Biography

He currently lives in

Tadcaster Tadcaster is a market town and civil parish in the Selby district of North Yorkshire, England, east of the Great North Road, north-east of Leeds, and south-west of York. Its historical importance from Roman times onward was largely as the ...

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, in a 200-year-old stone house, with his wife, the artist Nel Whatmore. They have two children.

Career

Morris began his writing career in 1988 as part of the (now defunct)

Enterprise Allowance Scheme The Enterprise Allowance Scheme was an initiative set up by Margaret Thatcher's Conservative UK government which gave a guaranteed income of £40 per week to unemployed people who set up their own business. It was first announced on 13 November ...

, which was at that time paying claimants £30 a week to be self-employed. His first novel, ''Toady'', was published in 1989 (re-titled ''The Horror Club'', and its text shortened by one-third for the US market) and several further books followed: ''Stitch'', ''The Immaculate'', ''The Secret of Anatomy'', ''Mr Bad Face'', ''Longbarrow'', ''Genesis'' and ''Nowhere Near an Angel''. Before ''Toady'', he had written a novel called ''The Winter Tree'', which was rejected by publishers, but allowed him to gain him some familiarity with them. In addition to his major works, Morris has published, as

chapbook A chapbook is a small publication of up to about 40 pages, sometimes bound with a saddle stitch. In early modern Europe a chapbook was a type of printed street literature. Produced cheaply, chapbooks were commonly small, paper-covered bookle ...

s, the novellas ''The Dogs'' (for

Barrington Stoke Barrington Stoke is a children's book publisher based in Edinburgh, Scotland. The company was founded in 1998 and publishes fiction and non-fiction adapted to different reading ages for reluctant, under-confident and dyslexic children and teens. ...

, an imprint for 'reluctant readers') and ''The Uglimen''. Morris has written a great deal of other short fiction, too, his first published short story being 1988's "Homeward Bound," published in the magazine ''Dark Dreams'' (#6, 1988) and continuing well into the 21st century (for example, 2014's "Sins Like Scarlet," co-written with Rio Youers) in the anthology ''Dark Duets: All-New Tales of Horror and Dark Fantasy''. Morris has contributed many book reviews to the genre field, as well as essays. He has also published two volumes of short stories, ''Close to the Bone'' and ''Voyages into Darkness'' (with Stephen Laws) and a novel as "J.M. Morris": ''Fiddleback'' (which was renamed ''The Lonely Places'' and had a slightly longer epilogue for the US market, which the author claims was "in order to (quote from US editor): 'clarify matters for a US readership.'"). A further collection of short fiction, ''Separate Skins'', was due for release from British small press publisher Tanjen, but the publisher went out of business around that time and the book — introduced by

Graham Joyce Graham William Joyce (22 October 1954 – 9 September 2014) was a British writer of speculative fiction and the recipient of numerous awards, including the O. Henry Award and the World Fantasy Award, for both his novels and short stories ...

- remains unpublished. A fan of ''Doctor Who'' since being terrified by the show as a child, Morris has so far written several books for the

BBC Books BBC Books (also formerly known as BBC Publishing) is an imprint majority-owned and managed by Penguin Random House through its Ebury Publishing division. The minority shareholder is BBC Studios, the commercial subsidiary of the British Broadcasti ...

Doctor Who ranges. For the

Eighth Doctor Adventures The ''Eighth Doctor Adventures'' (sometimes abbreviated as EDA or referred to as the EDAs) are a series of Doctor Who spin-offs, spin off novels based on the long running BBC science fiction television series ''Doctor Who'' and published unde ...

he wrote '' The Bodysnatchers'', for the

Past Doctor Adventures The ''Past Doctor Adventures'' (sometimes known by the abbreviation ''PDA'' or ''PDAs'') were a series of spin-off novels based on the long running BBC science fiction television series ''Doctor Who'' and published under the BBC Books imprin ...

the novel ''

Deep Blue Deep Blue may refer to: Film * ''Deep Blues: A Musical Pilgrimage to the Crossroads'', a 1992 documentary film about Mississippi Delta blues music * Deep Blue (2001 film), ''Deep Blue'' (2001 film), a film by Dwight H. Little * Deep Blue (2003 ...

'', then '' Forever Autumn'' and '' Ghosts of India'' as part of the

New Series Adventures The ''New Series Adventures'' are a series of novels relating to the long-running BBC science fiction television series, ''Doctor Who''. The 'NSAs', as they are often referred to, are published by BBC Books, and are regularly published twice a y ...

, with the ''Torchwood'' novel '' Bay of the Dead'' being released on 29 May 2009. He has also written ''Doctor Who''-related audio plays for

Big Finish Productions Big Finish Productions is a British company that produces books and audio plays (released straight to compact disc and for download in MP3 and m4b format) based, primarily, on cult science fiction properties. These include ''Doctor Who'', the ...

including '' False Gods'', '' Plague of the Daleks'', ''

House of Blue Fire ''House of Blue Fire'' is a Big Finish Productions audio drama based on the long-running British science fiction television series '' Doctor Who''. It contains a four-part story. Plot The Master of Bluefire House welcomes his guests: *No 18 – ...

'', '' Moonflesh'' and ''The Necropolis Express'' for the '' Jago and Litefoot'' spin-off series. The novel ''Nowhere near an Angel'' was intended to be his second J. M. Morris novel for

Macmillan MacMillan, Macmillan, McMillen or McMillan may refer to: People * McMillan (surname) * Clan MacMillan, a Highland Scottish clan * Harold Macmillan, British statesman and politician * James MacMillan, Scottish composer * William Duncan MacMillan ...

, but they rejected it as they considered 'J. M. Morris' to be a female writer (''Fiddleback'' was written from a female point of view), despite Mark's publicity appearances for the novel. ''Nowhere Near An Angel'' was published by

PS Publishing PS Publishing is an independent book publisher based in Hornsea, UK. Background PS Publishing was founded in 1999 by Peter Crowther.Borders A border is a geographical boundary. Border, borders, The Border or The Borders may also refer to: Arts, entertainment and media Film and television * ''Border'' (1997 film), an Indian Hindi-language war film * ''Border'' (2018 Swedish film), ...

Leeds Leeds () is a city and the administrative centre of the City of Leeds district in West Yorkshire, England. It is built around the River Aire and is in the eastern foothills of the Pennines. It is also the third-largest settlement (by populati ...

Bibliography

Novels

*''Toady'' (1989) *''Stitch'' (1991) *''The Immaculate'' (1993) *''The Secret of Anatomy'' (1994) *''Mr Bad Face'' (1996) *''Longbarrow'' (1997) *''Genesis'' (1998) *''Fiddleback'' (2001) *''Nowhere near an Angel'' (2005) *''The Deluge'' (2007) *''It Sustains'' (2013) *''Zombie Apocalypse: Horror Hospital'' (2014) *''The Black'' (2014) *''The Wolves of London'' (2014) *''The Society of Blood'' (2015) *''The Wraiths of War'' (2016)

Novellas

*"The Dogs" (2001) *"The Uglimen" (2003) *"Stumps" (2008) *"Albion Fay" (2015)

Collections

*''Close to the Bone'' (1995) *''Voyages into Darkness'' (with Stephen Laws) *''Long Shadows, Nightmare Light'' (2011) *''Wrapped in Skin'' (2016) *''Warts and All'' (2020)

Novelisations

*''Dead Island'' (2011) - Based on the

action role-playing An action role-playing game (often abbreviated action RPG or ARPG) is a subgenre of video games that combines core elements from both the action game and role-playing genre. Definition The games emphasize real-time combat where the player h ...

survival horror Survival horror is a subgenre of survival of the players as the game tries to frighten them with either horror graphics or scary ambience. Although combat can be part of the gameplay, the player is made to feel less in control than in typical ac ...

video game Video games, also known as computer games, are electronic games that involves interaction with a user interface or input device such as a joystick, controller, keyboard, or motion sensing device to generate visual feedback. This fee ...

and centred on surviving a zombie-infested island. *''Vampire Circus'' (2012) *''Noah'' (2014) *''The Great Wall'' (2017), *''The Predator'' (with Christopher Golden) (2018)

As editor

*''Cinema Macabre'' (2006) - This collection of essays about each contributor's favourite horror film was a limited edition of 200

slipcase A slipcase is a five-sided box, usually made of high-quality cardboard, into which binders, books or book sets are ''slipped'' for protection, leaving the spine exposed. Special editions of books are often slipcased for a stylish appearance when ...

d copies, signed by all 52 contributors. It won the prestigious

British Fantasy Award The British Fantasy Awards (BFA) are awarded annually by the British Fantasy Society (BFS), first in 1976. Prior to that they were known as The August Derleth Fantasy Awards (see August Derleth Award). First awarded in 1972 (to ''The Knight of S ...

and nominated for both the

Horror Writers Association The Horror Writers Association (HWA) is a worldwide non-profit organization of professional writers and publishing professionals dedicated to promoting the interests of Horror and Dark fantasy writers. Overview HWA was formed in 1985 with t ...

Bram Stoker Award The Bram Stoker Award is a recognition presented annually by the Horror Writers Association (HWA) for "superior achievement" in dark fantasy and horror writing. History The Awards were established in 1987 and have been presented annually since 1 ...

and the

International Horror Guild Award The International Horror Guild Award (also known as the IHG Award) was an accolade recognizing excellence in the field of Horror fiction, horror/dark fantasy, presented by the International Horror Guild (IHG) from 1995 to 2008. The IHG Awards wer ...

. *''Cinema Futura: Essays on Favourite Science Fiction Movies'' (2009)

Doctor Who ''Doctor Who'' is a British science fiction television series broadcast by the BBC since 1963. The series depicts the adventures of a Time Lord called the Doctor, an extraterrestrial being who appears to be human. The Doctor explores the u ...

* ''The Bodysnatchers'' * ''Deep Blue'' * ''Forever Autumn'' *'' Ghosts of India'' *''False Gods'' (audio play) *''Plague of the Daleks'' (audio play) *''Jago and Litefoot Series 2: The Necropolis Express'' (audio play) *''House of Blue Fire'' (audio play) *''Moonflesh'' (audio play)

Torchwood ''Torchwood'' is a British science fiction television programme created by Russell T Davies. A spin-off of the 2005 revival of ''Doctor Who'', it aired from 2006 to 2011. The show shifted its broadcast channel each series to reflect its growing ...

*'' Bay of the Dead''

Hellboy Hellboy is a fictional superhero created by writer-artist Mike Mignola. The character first appeared in ''San Diego Comic-Con Comics'' #2 (August 1993), and has since appeared in various eponymous miniseries, one-shots and intercompany crossovers ...

*''The All-Seeing Eye''

References

External links

Official Website

PS Publishing website
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Morris, Mark 1963 births Living people Writers of Doctor Who novels 20th-century English novelists 21st-century English novelists English short story writers English science fiction writers English horror writers People from Bolsover English male short story writers English male novelists 20th-century British short story writers 21st-century British short story writers 20th-century English male writers 21st-century English male writers Alumni of Leeds Trinity University