Graham Masterton (born 16 January 1946, in
Edinburgh
Edinburgh is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 Council areas of Scotland, council areas. The city is located in southeast Scotland and is bounded to the north by the Firth of Forth and to the south by the Pentland Hills. Edinburgh ...
) is a British author known primarily for
horror fiction
Horror is a genre of speculative fiction that is intended to disturb, frighten, or scare an audience. Horror is often divided into the sub-genres of psychological horror and supernatural horror. Literary historian J. A. Cuddon, in 1984, defin ...
. Originally editor of ''
Mayfair
Mayfair is an area of Westminster, London, England, in the City of Westminster. It is in Central London and part of the West End. It is between Oxford Street, Regent Street, Piccadilly and Park Lane and one of the most expensive districts ...
'' and the British edition of ''
Penthouse'', his debut novel, ''The Manitou'', was published in 1976. This novel was adapted in 1978 for the film ''
The Manitou''. His 1978 novel ''Charnel House'' and 1983 novel ''Tengu'' garnered positive critical reception, the former receiving a Special
Edgar Award
The Edgar Allan Poe Awards, popularly called the Edgars, are presented every year by the Mystery Writers of America which is based in New York City. Named after American writer Edgar Allan Poe (1809–1849), a pioneer in the genre, the awards hon ...
by the
Mystery Writers of America
Mystery Writers of America (MWA) is a professional organization of mystery and crime writers, based in New York City.
The organization was founded in 1945 by Clayton Rawson, Anthony Boucher, Lawrence Treat, and Brett Halliday.
It presents the E ...
and the latter being awarded with a silver medal by the West Coast Review of Books. Masterton was also the editor of ''Scare Care'', a horror anthology published for the benefit of abused children in Europe and the United States.
Masterton's novels often contain visceral sex and horror. In addition to his novels, Masterton has written a number of
sex instruction books, including ''How to Drive Your Man Wild in Bed'' and ''Wild Sex for New Lovers''.
In 2002, Masterton wrote the crime novel ''A Terrible Beauty'', featuring the character Katie Maguire, an Irish detective. The novel was republished in 2013 under the title ''White Bones'', and spawned a number of other novels by Masterton featuring the Maguire character. In 2010, Masterton published ''Rules of Duel'', a short novel that he co-wrote with
William S. Burroughs in the early 1970s.
Career

Masterton is a former editor of ''
Mayfair
Mayfair is an area of Westminster, London, England, in the City of Westminster. It is in Central London and part of the West End. It is between Oxford Street, Regent Street, Piccadilly and Park Lane and one of the most expensive districts ...
'' and the British edition of ''
Penthouse''. His first novel, ''The Manitou'', was published in 1976, and adapted in 1978 for the film ''
The Manitou''. Further works garnered critical acclaim, including a Special
Edgar Award
The Edgar Allan Poe Awards, popularly called the Edgars, are presented every year by the Mystery Writers of America which is based in New York City. Named after American writer Edgar Allan Poe (1809–1849), a pioneer in the genre, the awards hon ...
by the
Mystery Writers of America
Mystery Writers of America (MWA) is a professional organization of mystery and crime writers, based in New York City.
The organization was founded in 1945 by Clayton Rawson, Anthony Boucher, Lawrence Treat, and Brett Halliday.
It presents the E ...
for ''Charnel House'' and a silver medal by the West Coast Review of Books for ''Tengu''. He is also the only non-French winner of the prestigious Prix Julia Verlanger for his novel ''Family Portrait'', a reworking of the
Oscar Wilde
Oscar Fingal O'Fflahertie Wills Wilde (16 October 185430 November 1900) was an Irish author, poet, and playwright. After writing in different literary styles throughout the 1880s, he became one of the most popular and influential playwright ...
novel ''
The Picture of Dorian Gray
''The Picture of Dorian Gray'' is an 1890 philosophical fiction and Gothic fiction, Gothic horror fiction, horror novel by Irish writer Oscar Wilde. A shorter novella-length version was published in the July 1890 issue of the American period ...
''. Masterton was also the editor of ''Scare Care'', a horror anthology published for the benefit of abused children in Europe and the U.S.
In 2002, while living with his wife in Cork, Ireland, Masterton added crime fiction to his repertoire with ''A Terrible Beauty'' featuring Irish Detective Superintendent Katie Maguire. This was republished in 2013 as ''White Bones ''and sold 100,000 ebook copies in a month. It was followed by further Katie Maguire adventures, ''Broken Angels'' (2013), ''Red Light ''(2014), "Taken For Dead" (2014), "Blood Sisters" (2015), "Buried" (2015), Living Death" (2016), "Dead Girls Dancing" (2016) and "Dead Men Whistling" (2018). In 2010, Masterton published ''Rules of Duel'', a short novel from the early 1970s that he wrote in collaboration with
William S. Burroughs (Burroughs has co-author credit).
In 2017, after a visit to Wolow, the maximum-security prison near Wrocław in southern Poland, Masterton set up the Graham Masterton Written in Prison Award (Nagroda Grahama Mastertona W Wiezieniu Pisane) for the inmates of all of Poland's penal institutions to enter a short story contest. The contest is now an annual event and is supported by the Polish Prison Service, the
Wrocław Agglomeration for Culture and Sport, both Rebis and Albatros publishing houses and the Wrocław Library.
The Prix Graham Masterton is organized annually in Belgium by the publisher Marc Bailly for the best French horror novel and short story of the year. The first prize is a sculpture of a demon.
In 2019, Masterton was given a Lifetime Achievement Award by the Horror Writers' Association. In 2021, he was honoured by the city of Wrocław in Poland by having a bronze dwarf representing himself with a copy of his horror novel ''The Manitou'' placed on the pavement outside the Art Hotel on Kielbasnicza Street—one of nearly 600 dwarves which are a major tourist attraction.
Masterton is co-authoring short horror stories with Dawn G Harris and these have appeared in a collection "Days Of Utter Dread". He is also writing short horror stories based on Slavic mythology with a Polish psychologist Karolina Mogielska and the first of these "Mr Nobody" was published in "Phantasmagoria magazine 22."
Masterton won the Zloty Kosciej Award for the best horror novel of 2023 "Szpital Filomeny" ("The House at Phantom Park").
Personal life
Masterton lives in Surrey, England. His wife and agent Wiescka died on 27 April 2011, aged 65.
Bibliography
Horror
•. The Manitou, 1976
*''The Djinn'' (featuring Harry Erskine of ''
The Manitou'' series), 1977
*''The Sphinx'', 1978
*''Charnel House'', 1978
*''The Devils of D-Day'', 1978
*''The Hell Candidate'', 1981
*''The Heirloom'', 1981
*''The Wells of Hell'' (loosely based on H. P. Lovecraft's short story "
The Colour Out of Space"), 1981
*''Tengu'', 1983
*''The Pariah'', 1983
*''Picture of Evil'' (based on
Oscar Wilde
Oscar Fingal O'Fflahertie Wills Wilde (16 October 185430 November 1900) was an Irish author, poet, and playwright. After writing in different literary styles throughout the 1880s, he became one of the most popular and influential playwright ...
's novel ''
The Picture of Dorian Gray
''The Picture of Dorian Gray'' is an 1890 philosophical fiction and Gothic fiction, Gothic horror fiction, horror novel by Irish writer Oscar Wilde. A shorter novella-length version was published in the July 1890 issue of the American period ...
''; also published in the U.K. as ''Family Portrait''), 1985
*''Death Trance'', 1986
*''Mirror'' (referencing
Lewis Carroll
Charles Lutwidge Dodgson (27 January 1832 – 14 January 1898), better known by his pen name Lewis Carroll, was an English author, poet, mathematician, photographer and reluctant Anglicanism, Anglican deacon. His most notable works are ''Alice ...
's ''
Through the Looking-Glass
''Through the Looking-Glass, and What Alice Found There'' is a novel published in December 1871 by Lewis Carroll, the pen name of Charles Lutwidge Dodgson, a mathematics lecturer at Christ Church, Oxford, Christ Church, University of Oxford. I ...
''), 1988
*''Ritual'' (published in the U.S. as ''Feast''), 1988
*''Walkers'', 1989
*''Master of Lies'' (also published in the U.K. as ''Black Angel''; mentions Harry Erskine as a
fictional character
In fiction, a character is a person or being in a narrative (such as a novel, play, radio or television series, music, film, or video game). The character may be entirely fictional or based on a real-life person, in which case the distinction o ...
), 1991
*''The Burning'' (also published in the U.K. as ''The Hymn''), 1991
*''Prey'' (based on
H. P. Lovecraft
Howard Phillips Lovecraft (, ; August 20, 1890 – March 15, 1937) was an American writer of Weird fiction, weird, Science fiction, science, fantasy, and horror fiction. He is best known for his creation of the Cthulhu Mythos.
Born in Provi ...
's short story "
The Dreams in the Witch House
"The Dreams in the Witch House" is a horror short story by American writer H. P. Lovecraft and part of the Cthulhu Mythos cycle. It was written in January/February 1932 and first published in the July 1933 issue of ''Weird Tales''.
Plot
Walter ...
"), 1992
*''The Sleepless'', 1993
*''Flesh & Blood'', 1994
*''Spirit'' (referencing
Hans Christian Andersen
Hans Christian Andersen ( , ; 2 April 1805 – 4 August 1875) was a Danish author. Although a prolific writer of plays, travelogue (literature), travelogues, novels, and poems, he is best remembered for his literary fairy tales.
Andersen's fai ...
's ''
The Snow Queen
"The Snow Queen" () is an 1844 original fairy tale by Danish author Hans Christian Andersen. It was first published 21 December 1844 in ''New Fairy Tales. First Volume#New Fairy Tales. First Volume. Second Collection, New Fairy Tales. First Vo ...
''), 1995
*''The House That Jack Built'', 1995
*''The Chosen Child'', 1996
*''House of Bones'', 1998
*''The Doorkeepers'', 2001
*''Hair Raiser'', 2001
*''Trauma'' (also published in the U.K. as ''Bonnie Winter''), 2001
*''The Hidden World'', 2003
*''The Devil in Gray'', 2004
*''Unspeakable'', 2004
*''Descendant'' (the first book of a proposed series called ''Vampire Hunter''), 2006
*''Edgewise'', 2006
*''The 5th Witch'', 2008
*''Ghost Music'', 2008
*''Fire Spirit'', 2010
*''Panic'' (also published in the U.K. as ''Forest Ghost''), 2013
*''Community'', 2014
*''Scarlet Widow'', 2015
*''The House of a Hundred Whispers'', 2020
*The Soul Stealer, 2022
*The House at Phantom Park, 2022
The Manitou/Harry Erskine series
#''
The Manitou'', 1976
#''The Djinn'', 1977
#''Revenge of the Manitou'', 1979
#''Burial'', 1991
#"Spirit Jump" (short story in ''Faces of Fear''), 1996
#''Manitou Blood'', 2005
#''Blind Panic'', 2009
#''Plague of the Manitou'', 2015
Night Warriors series
#''
Night Warriors'', 1987
#''Death Dream'', 1988
#''Night Plague'', 1991
#''Night Wars'', 2006
#''The Ninth Nightmare'', 2011
Rook series
#''Rook'', 1997
#''Tooth and Claw'', 1997
#''The Terror'', 1998
#''Snowman'', 1999
#''Swimmer'', 2001
#''Darkroom'', 2004
#''Demon's Door'', 2010
#''Garden of Evil'', 2012
Sissy Sawyer series
#''Touchy and Feely'' (also published as ''Ill Fortune'', loosely based on the
Beltway snipers), 2005
#''The Painted Man'' (also published as ''Death Mask''), 2008
#''The Red Hotel'', 2012
Nathan Underhill series
#''Basilisk'', 2009
#''Petrified'', 2011
Katie Maguire series
* 1. ''White Bones'' (also published as ''Katie Maguire'' and ''A Terrible Beauty''), 2003
* 2. ''Broken Angels'' (also published as ''Voice of an Angel''), 2012
* 3. ''Red Light'', 2014
* 4. ''Taken for Dead'', 2014
* 5. ''Blood Sisters'', 2015
* 5.5 "Eye for an Eye" (short story), 2015
* 6. ''Buried'', 2016
* 7. ''Living Death'', 2016
* 7.5 "The Drowned" (short story), 2016
* 8. ''Dead Girls Dancing'', 2016
* 9. ''Dead Men Whistling'', 2018
* 10. ''Begging to Die'', 2019
* 11. ''The Last Drop of Blood'', 2020
* 12. ''Pay Back the Devil'', 2024
Patel & Pardoe Series
* Ghost Virus, 2018
* The Children God Forgot, 2021
* The Shadow People, 2022
* What Hides in the Cellar, 2023
* House of Flies, 2025
Historical fiction
*''Heartbreaker'' (published as by Katherine Winston), 1978
*''Rich'', 1979
*''Railroad'' (also published as ''Man of Destiny''), 1981
*''Solitaire'', 1982
*''Corroboree'', 1984
*''Maiden Voyage'', 1984
*''Lady of Fortune'', 1984
*''Headlines'', 1986
*''Silver'', 1987
*''Lords of the Air'', 1988
*''Empress'', 1990
Thrillers
*''Fireflash 5'' (also published as ''A Mile Before Morning''), 1977
*''Plague'', 1977
*''The Sweetman Curve'', 1979
*''
Famine
A famine is a widespread scarcity of food caused by several possible factors, including, but not limited to war, natural disasters, crop failure, widespread poverty, an Financial crisis, economic catastrophe or government policies. This phenom ...
'', 1981
*''Ikon'', 1983
*''Condor'', 1984
*''Sacrifice'', 1985
*''Genius'' (also published as ''Kingdom of the Blind''), 1998
*''Holy Terror'' (also published as ''Plague of Terror''), 1999
*''Innocent Blood'' (also published as ''Outrage''), 2004
*''Chaos Theory'', 2007
*''Rules of Duel'' (co-credited to
William S. Burroughs), 2010 (written between 1964 and 1970)
*''Drought'', 2014
''Confessions'' series
*''Confessions of a Wanton Waitress'', 1975
*''Confessions of a Racy Receptionist'', 1976
Movie tie-ins
*''
Inserts'' (as Anton Rimart), 1976
*''
Phobia
A phobia is an anxiety disorder, defined by an irrational, unrealistic, persistent and excessive fear of an object or situation. Phobias typically result in a rapid onset of fear and are usually present for more than six months. Those affected ...
'' (as Thomas Luke), 1980
''...of Fear''—short story collections
* ''Fortnight of Fear'', 1994
* ''Flights of Fear'', 1995
* ''Faces of Fear'', 1996
* ''Feelings of Fear'', 2000
* ''Festival of Fear'', 2005
* ''Figures of Fear'', 2014
Short stories
*"Absence of Beast"
*"Anaïs"
*"Anka"
*"A Polite Murder"
*"A Portrait of Kasia"
*"The Ballyhooly Boy"
*"Beijing Craps"
*"Beholder"
*"Bridal Suite"
*"The Burgers of Calais"
*"Camelot"
*"Changeling"
*"Cheeseboy"
*"Cold Turkey"
*"Cutting The Mustard" (with Dawn G Harris)
*"Dog Days"
*"Eau Noire"
*"Edgewise" (also published as "Night of the Wendigo"; short story not directly related to the novel of the same name, although it features the character of John Shooks, serialized in issues #3, 4 and 5 of ''The Horror Express'' magazine, edited by Marc Shemmans)
*"Egg"
*"Eric the Pie"
*"Ever, Ever After"
*"Evidence of Angels"
*"Fairy Story"
*"5A Bedford Row"
*"Friend in Need"
*"The Grey Madonna"
*"Grease Monkey"
*"Grief"
*"Half-Sick of Shadows"
*"The Heart of Helen Day"
*"Heart of Stone"
*"Heroine"
*"The Hungry Moon"
*"Hurry Monster"
*"I, The Martian"
*"J.R.E. Ponsford"
*"Jack Be Quick"
*"The Jajouka Penis-Beetle"
*"Laird of Dunain"
*"Lolicia"
*"Making Belinda"
*"Men of Maes"
*"Mother of Invention"
*"Mr Nobody" (with Karolina Mogielska)
*"National Balance"
*"Neighbors From Hell"
*"On Gracious Pond"
*"Out of Her Depth"
*"Picnic at Lac Du Sang"
*"Pig's Dinner"
*"Roadkill"
*"The Red Butcher of Wroclaw"
*"Rococo"
*"The Root of All Evil"
*"Rug"
*"Saint Joan"
*"Saving Grace"
*"The Scrawler"
*"The Secret Shih-Tan"
*"Sepsis"
*"Sex Object"
*"The Sixth Man"
*"Son of Beast"
*"Spirit Jump"
*"Spirits of the Age"
*"St. Bronach's Shrift"
*"Stranglehold" (with Dawn G Harris)
*"Suffer Kate"
*"The Sympathy Society"
*"The Taking of Mr. Bill"
*"Underbed"
*"Voodoo Child"
*"Will" (
Cthulhu Mythos The Cthulhu Mythos is a mythopoeia and a shared fictional universe, originating in the works of American Horror fiction, horror writer H. P. Lovecraft. The term was coined by August Derleth, a contemporary correspondent and protégé of Lovecraft, t ...
pastiche; features
Yog-Sothoth)
*"The Woman in the Wall"
Sex instruction books
*''Acts of Love'' (published as by Dr. Jan Berghoff), 1971
*''Your Erotic Fantasies'' (published as by Edward Thorne), 1971
*''Girls Who Said Yes'' (published as by Edward Thorne), 1973
*''How a Woman Longs to be Loved'' (published as by Angel Smith), 1974
*''How to be the Perfect Lover'', 1975
*''Isn't It Time You Did Something Kinky?'' (published as by Angel Smith), 1975
*''Sex is Everything'' (published as by Edward Thorne), 1975
*''How to be a Good Bad Girl'' (published as by Angel Smith), 1976
*''Women's Erotic Dreams (and What They Mean)'', 1976
*''1,001 Erotic Dreams Interpreted'', 1976
*''How to Drive Your Man Wild in Bed'', 1976
*''How to Drive Your Woman Wild in Bed'', 1987
*''The High Intensity Sex Plan'', 1977
*''More Ways to Drive Your Man Wild in Bed'', 1985
*''Sex Secrets of the Other Woman'', 1989
*''How to Drive Your Lover Wild in Bed'' (a combination of ''How to Drive Your Man Wild in Bed'' and ''How to Drive Your Woman Wild in Bed''), 1989
*''How to Make Love Six Nights a Week'', 1991
*''Wild in Bed Together'', 1992
*''Drive Him Wild'', 1993
*''Single, Wild, Sexy...and Safe'', 1994
*''How to Drive Your Man Even Wilder in Bed'', 1995
*''How to Make His Wildest Dreams Come True'', 1996
*''Secrets of the Sexually Irresistible Woman'', 1998
*''The Seven Secrets of Really Great Sex'', 1999
*''The Secrets of Sexual Play'', 1999
*''Wild Sex for New Lovers'', 2001
*''Up All Night'', 2004
Awards
References
External links
Graham Masterton official websiteOfficial Polish website by Piotr Pocztarek*
Internet Movie Database
IMDb, historically known as the Internet Movie Database, is an online database of information related to films, television series, podcasts, home videos, video games, and streaming content online – including cast, production crew and biograp ...
br>
entry for Graham Masterton*
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Masterton, Graham
1946 births
20th-century British male writers
20th-century British non-fiction writers
20th-century British novelists
20th-century Scottish short story writers
20th-century Scottish male writers
20th-century Scottish novelists
21st-century British male writers
21st-century British non-fiction writers
21st-century British novelists
21st-century Scottish short story writers
21st-century Scottish male writers
21st-century Scottish novelists
British anthologists
Scottish crime fiction writers
British erotica writers
British historical fiction writers
British historical novelists
British horror writers
British male novelists
British mystery writers
British speculative fiction writers
British thriller writers
Cthulhu Mythos writers
British ghost story writers
Living people
British psychological fiction writers
Scottish crime writers
Scottish historical novelists
Scottish horror writers
Scottish male novelists
Scottish mystery writers
Scottish male non-fiction writers
Scottish male short story writers
Scottish speculative fiction writers
Scottish thriller writers
Surrealist writers
British weird fiction writers
Writers from Edinburgh
Writers of Gothic fiction
Writers of historical fiction set in the early modern period
Writers of historical fiction set in the modern age
Writers of historical mysteries