The judge for this year's Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley Award is distinguished horror author, Mort Castle, whose On Writing Horror, the book he edited, has become the standard reference work in the field. This is the first time we have had a famous expert in horror fiction as a judge for the Imaginary Fiction Award, and we can't wait to witness his interesting approach to judging the Shelley Award: "When people ask me why I write horror," declares Mr. Castle, "I explain it's because I am a realist. The best speculative fiction is as real as Bradbury's Mars, Kafka's Amerika, and King's Territories." Castle continues, "Today's spec fiction has no more need to be formulaic and derivative than did Chandler's or Hammet's 'pulp detective' stories. It's informed by history and limited only by the writer's willingness to take risks."
Some links on Mort Castle:
A Conversation With Mort Castle *Writers Write --
The IWJ*
| A Conversation With Mort Castle -- The Internet Writing Journal(R) |
Mort Castle
| A bibliography of Mort Castle's books, with the latest releases, covers, descriptions and availability. |
One Woman's Writing Retreat: Interview Mort
Castle
| I've used pen names so that people who go seeking Mort Castle in the Serious ... What I'm writing is "Mort Castle stuff," trying to make it the best I can, ... |
Horror Writers Association - Writing Tips
| Mort Castle, age 54 but remarkably youthful despite serious wrinkling, is editor or author of a dozen books, including WRITING HORROR: THE HORROR WRITERS ... |
Prime Books
| At various times in his various careers, Mort Castle has been likened to Jean Genet, ... In Mort Castle's Nations of the Living, Nations of the Dead, |