[COPY] Haunted Hong Kong, Halloween Action Figures, and a Giveaway!

Every Day is Halloween #87: The Official Newsletter of Lisa Morton

Hi All!

Well, the best news I got in March was that my agent read the first half of my novel-in-progress and loved it. I needed this boost because I am probably the only writer in the world who thinks that writing a heavily-researched and footnoted non-fiction book is WAAAAAAY easier than writing a novel. Work continues on the novel; I hope to have a completed book in my agent’s hands by late May.

March was okay otherwise. I gave a lecture on zombies that went well, and will soon be available for all to view on YouTube. I taught a workshop for HWA on “Expanding Your Writing Horizons.” I signed at the Vintage Paperback Show in Glendale. I wrote/sold a couple of new short pieces. And I got back to 1,000 words a day on my novel.

As a reminder: The Art of the Zombie Movie is nominated in the “Best Graphic Arts Presentation” category of the Rondo Hatton Awards (along with a bunch of other great stuff - seriously, every year I use this ballot as a shopping list!). Anyone can vote, and voting is open until April 16 (just click the button below to go to the ballot).

I hope the advent of spring has brought about some renewal for you.

Lisa

NEW STUFF I LIKE

Every once in a while I swear I’m going to stop writing mysteries, partly because there aren’t many paying markets for mystery/crime short fiction, and partly because I’m truthfully not excited by cozies and mystery series and police procedurals and thrillers.

Then some smokin’ hot hardboiled noir emerges and gets me interested in the genre again.

Yeah, that happened with Love Lies Bleeding, which deserves to occupy a spot alongside other neo-noir favorites like The Last Seduction, Emily the Criminal, and Bound. In the interest of full transparency, I admit right here that I adore Kristen Stewart. Whether she’s sneaking in to steal Crimes of the Future with the best performance ever as a creepy (but hilariously creepy) obsessed fan, or providing those deliciously droll narrations for Living With the Dead, I always enjoy her work. She’s incredible here as Lou, the introverted gym manager who becomes obsessed with the gorgeous female bodybuilder Jackie, who is played by the gorgeous female bodybuilder Katy O’Brian. The cast of supporting players is absolutely spot-on (who knew Mikhail Baryshnikov’s kid was such a great actress?), the direction by Rose Glass goes places you don’t expect, the sense of building dread is gripping…

Yeah, okay, so I just wrote a noirish mystery story, because this one inspired me. In fact, I even look forward to watching it again…maybe more than once.

THE HALLOWEEN SPIRIT

There’s an interesting trend in toys right now: action figures of vintage trick or treaters. When I say vintage, I’m talking dressed in those cheap rayon costumes and stinky plastic masks that we thought were so cool in the 1960s and ‘70s.

The first one of these I saw was a Funko Pop figure (seriously, who doesn’t love Funko Pop figures?). Then I saw a few from the company Super 7; now they have whole line of them.

I’m not sure why these have suddenly appeared from multiple companies. They undoubtedly speak to nostalgia, so there’s that; plus, of course, the market for action figures in general is huge.

Whatever the reason, I adore them and have started collecting them. Now…where to put them?

STRANGE DOINGS

I became a fan of Hong Kong back in the ‘90s, when this incredible city was still a British colony and was a major center of film production. Nowadays Hong Kong is struggling with its reversion to China and movie production has slowed to a trickle, but it’s still an astonishing and completely unique place that combines eastern and western tradition, a lot of history…and of course that adds up to a lot of ghosts. 

One place in particular is said to be Hong Kong’s most haunted house: It’s called Dragon Lodge, and is a former luxury mansion perched atop The Peak, an area that is said to be one of the most expensive on earth. In Hong Kong, though, belief in ghosts is so high that any property believed to be haunted will suffer a drop in price or remain unsold, and that’s certainly the case with this extraordinary house. Some sources say Dragon Lodge was built in 1945, but others say it was earlier, with the original owner being  a General Lung Wan. The house has four stories, staff quarters, surrounding gardens, and a view that extends all the way across the bay to Kowloon. Local legend has it that the land was occupied during World War II by the Japanese, who decapitated several nuns there;  that was followed by bankruptcies and deaths of various owners. It was most recently purchased in 2004, but has sat unlived-in because work crews have always been frightened off, reporting hearing ghostly cries of children. One former resident of the house who lived there in the 1970s reported encountering the ghost of a young girl with long black hair dressed in a white gown with a lace collar; other witnesses have reported the same ghost, who is described as being less frightening than sad.  

The house certainly looks haunted, covered with dead vines and graffiti, but experts in Chinese culture point out that it may be unoccupied because Chinese families will often leave properties empty out of respect for their ancestors.  

Dragon Lodge is currently sealed off behind barbed wire, but it can still be seen from trails around The Peak. If I ever return to Hong Kong, I look forward to my own viewing.

BEHIND THE SCREAMS

“The End of the World Man” from Shocklines

Here’s the first thing to know about my story “The End of the World Man”: it was written around 2010. I forget now exactly what inspired it, but I do remember at the time that I was interested in people who seemed to breeze right through committing brazen crimes with little or no consequence.

The story explores not only one of these individuals but also how they can be charismatic enough to lure otherwise moral people into believing their crimes are not just tolerable but justified.

This, mind you, was long before someone like that became President of the United States.

I haven’t re-read the story so I’m not sure if it feels more or less relevant now, in 2024, than it did in 2010. I just hope it’s still entertaining.

THE WRITE STUFF

The wonderful author James A. Moore recently died, after a long battle with cancer (he was 58).

Unlike so many others, I didn’t know Jim well; I was on one coast and he was on the other. We’d talked virtually, we’d exchanged e-mails, and when we finally met face to face in 2018 he was just as lovely a person as I’d always heard.

My social media has been filled with dozens of remembrances of Jim since he died earlier this week; he had a positive impact on many lives.

That legacy is worth remembering, I think - to have that kind of effect on so many others is something people will think about for years to come. Of course as writers we want our work to live on after us, and Jim Moore’s work will…but so will his support of fellow writers.

It’s too easy these days to be at best guarded or cynical, at worst cruel. Social media exists first and foremost to sell us something, and if it can do that by stoking anger or outrage, it will. At in-person events, we can sometimes be overwhelmed and say the wrong thing at the wrong time. We’ve all done it.

But I’d like to think we can also overcome those moments by being more compassionate. The next time you feel that urge to spew something unkind, maybe remember how many people will remember Jim Moore’s benevolence, and reconsider. I know I plan on trying to practice that.

NEWS & WORKS IN PROGRESS

The Dagon Collection is an anthology of Lovecraftian fiction presented as a 1929 auction catalogue of rare items; it includes my piece on the sextant of the Madagascar (a real lost ship), and is now available from PS Publishing.

The Dead Detectives Society includes my story “The World is a Secret,” featuring a Frankenstein’s monster-style investigator who must solve their own murder and resurrection.

Old Dark Houses is a lovely Halloween novel by Tylor James that actually pays homage to me in the form of a place called Morton Manor.

Here’s a new interview with me at Alpha’s Court.

The new website Booklisti.com asked me if I’d like contribute a literary list, and here’s what I came up with: Ten Great Early Ghost Stories by Women

UPCOMING APPEARANCES

• May 30-June 2, 2024 - I’ll be at StokerCon 2024 in San Diego

• July 27-28 - I’ll be a Special Guest at Midsummer Scream in Long Beach

WHERE YOU CAN BUY MY BOOKS

• Amazon

• Barnes & Noble

• Bookshop.org

GIVEAWAY

This month it’s a hard copy of Fantasmagoriana Deluxe, edited Eric J. Guignard and Leslie S. Klinger, and featuring my introduction!

Just leave a comment to enter to win. Sorry, this one is only open to U.S. residents. Good luck!

Thanks as always for reading this far!