Parent company | Dorchester Publishing (c. 1982–2010) |
---|---|
Status | Defunct (September 2010) |
Founded | 1957 |
Founder | Harry Shorten |
Country of origin | United States |
Headquarters location | New York City |
Key people | Jean Marie Stine (book acquisitions & development editor) Don D'Auria [1] [2] (Executive Editor, 1995–2010) |
Publication types | Books |
Fiction genres | Horror, Thriller, Westerns |
Leisure Books was a mass market paperback publisher specializing in horror and thrillers that operated from 1957 to 2010. In the company's early years, it also published fantasy, science fiction, Westerns, and the Wildlife Treasury card series.
Leisure Books offered a book sales club service. Typically two free books were provided as an initial inducement. After that two books were sent on a monthly basis. Readers would have ten days to keep or return. If kept there would be a discount on the purchase price.
From around 1982 onward, Leisure Books was an imprint of Dorchester Publishing, shifting the company's focus away from fantasy and science fiction and more towards horror. As such, Leisure published novels and collections by a number of horror's notable authors, including Douglas Clegg, Stacy Dittrich, Ray Garton, J. F. Gonzalez, Brian Keene, Jack Ketchum, Richard Laymon, Deborah LeBlanc, Edward Lee, Ronald Malfi, Graham Masterton, T. V. Olsen, and Sarah Pinborough.
Leisure horror titles won numerous awards, including the Bram Stoker Award [3] and the International Horror Guild Award. [4] In addition, a Leisure title was given the 2002 World Fantasy Award. [5]
Harry Shorten founded Leisure Books in 1957. [6]
Leisure's Westerns line notably featured re-issues of the work of Max Brand, among others. The company published six titles in Nelson DeMille (as Jack Cannon)'s Joe Ryker Series in 1975–1976.
Leisure Books published the Wildlife Treasury educational animal encyclopedia for young children between 1975 and 1981.
Beginning in 1976, Leisure Books published Gardner Fox's fantasy series featuring the barbarian Kyrik: Warlock Warrior, Kyrik Fights the Demon World, Kyrik and the Wizard's Sword, and Kyrik and the Lost Queen. [7]
Founder Shorten retired in 1982 and the company was acquired by Dorchester Publishing.[ citation needed ]
By the year 2000, Leisure Books was the only American publisher with a line of horror books. [1]
Effective September 2010, Leisure Books, along with the remainder of Dorchester's mass market paperback lines, were canceled as print publications. Future titles were slated to be available only as e-books. [8] After pushback from authors over cancelled and unfulfilled contracts, [9] [10] Leisure suspended operations entirely; the parent company Dorchester shortly went out of business.
Howard Waldrop is a science fiction author who works primarily in short fiction. He received the World Fantasy Award for Life Achievement in 2021.
'Sherrilyn Woodward, whose former married name was Sherrilyn Kenyon, is a bestselling US writer. Under her former married name, she wrote both urban fantasy and paranormal romance. She is best known for her Dark Hunter series. Under the pseudonym Kinley MacGregor she writes historical fiction with paranormal elements. Kenyon's novels have an "international following" with over 70 million copies in print in over 100 countries. Under both names, her books have appeared at the top of the New York Times, Publishers Weekly, and USA Today lists, and they are frequent bestsellers in Germany, Australia, and the United Kingdom.
The Rising is the first book in a series of zombie-themed horror novels written by author Brian Keene. This title won the Bram Stoker Award for Best First Novel in 2003. The Rising was optioned for both film and video game adaptation in 2004.
Brian Keene is an American author and podcaster, primarily known for his work in horror, dark fantasy, crime fiction, and comic books. He has won the 2014 World Horror Grandmaster Award and two Bram Stoker Awards. In addition to his own original work, Keene has written for media properties such as Doctor Who, Hellboy, Alien, Masters of the Universe, and The X-Files.
Brian James Freeman is an author whose fiction has been published in magazines and anthologies including Borderlands 5, Corpse Blossoms, and all four volumes of the Shivers series. His first novel, Black Fire, was written under the pseudonym James Kidman. Published in 2004 by Leisure Books and Cemetery Dance Publications, the book was nominated for the Bram Stoker Award for Best First Novel, one of the major awards in the horror genre. His work has been nominated for several awards in the horror genre over the years. Cemetery Dance Publications recently published his Blue November Storms, a new novella, and The Illustrated Stephen King Trivia Book, which he wrote with Stephen King expert Bev Vincent. Acclaimed horror artist Glenn Chadbourne created over fifty unique illustrations for the book.
Simon Clark is a horror novelist from Doncaster, England. He is the author of the novel The Night of the Triffids, the novella Humpty's Bones, and the short story Goblin City Lights, which have all won awards.
Delirium Books, launched in the Summer of 1999 by Shane Ryan Staley, is a horror publisher in the collector's market, producing low print-run limited editions intended for both collectors and readers alike. Delirium Books first published The Rising, the first book in a series of zombie-themed horror novels written by author Brian Keene, winning the Bram Stoker Award for Best First Novel in 2003 and helping to usher in the new era of zombie popularity in the mid-2000s.
The Conqueror Worms is a post-apocalyptic themed horror novel written by author Brian Keene. "Earthworm Gods" was a 9,000 word short story that simultaneously was printed in 4x4 and No Rest For The Wicked. An indirect sequel to this tale, the 19,000 word novella The Garden Where My Rain Grows, appeared in Fear Of Gravity; it was set in the same world, but the characters and situation was differed.
Greg F. Gifune is a horror author, the recipient of multiple Bram Stoker Award and International Horror Guild Award nominations in addition to one for the British Fantasy Award.
Edward Lee is an American novelist specializing in the field of horror who has written 40 books, more than half of which have been published by mass-market New York City paperback companies such as Leisure/Dorchester, Berkley, and Zebra/Kensington. He is a Bram Stoker award nominee for his story “Mr. Torso,” and his short stories have appeared in over a dozen mass-market anthologies, including the award-winning 999. Several of his novels have sold translation rights to Germany, Greece, Romania, and Poland. He also publishes quite actively in the small-press/limited-edition hardcover market; many of his books in this category have become collector's items.
Thomas Piccirilli was an American novelist and short story writer.
Dorchester Publishing was a publisher of mass market paperback books. Although mostly known for romance, Dorchester also published horror, thriller and Western titles.
Alan Marshall Clark is an author and an artist who is best known as the illustrator and book cover painter of many pieces of horror fiction. He was nominated for the Bram Stoker Award for Best First Novel for his 2005 book Siren Promised.
James Arthur Moore is an American horror novelist and short story writer.
Ghoul is a horror novel by Brian Keene, first published in 2007. The novel follows three young boys during summer vacation as they learn that a ghoul is threatening the peace of their town. It has been published in both English and German and Ghoul was adapted into a television film that aired in 2012 on Chiller.
Jackie Kessler is the American author of the Hell on Earth urban fantasy paranormal romance series published by Kensington/Zebra. To date, the books include Hell's Belles, The Road to Hell and Hotter Than Hell, as well as a tie-in novella in the anthology, Eternal Lover. She has had numerous short stories published in various magazines, including Realms of Fantasy and Farthing. In 2009, Kessler published the superhero novel Black and White with co-author Caitlin Kittredge. The sequel, Shades of Gray, was released in 2010.
Steve Gerlach is an Australian thriller writer. He currently lives in Melbourne, Victoria.
John Everson is an American author of contemporary horror, dark fantasy, science fiction and fantasy fiction. He is the author of thirteen novels and four short fiction collections, as well as three mini-collections, all focusing on horror and the supernatural. His novel Covenant, was originally released in a limited edition hardcover by Delirium Books in 2004 and won the Bram Stoker Award for a First Novel the following year from the Horror Writers Association. His sixth novel, NightWhere, was a finalist for the Bram Stoker Award in 2012.
Weston Ochse is an American author and educator. He has won the Bram Stoker Award for Best First Novel and been nominated for the Pushcart Prize for his short fiction. His novel SEAL Team 666 is currently under development by MGM Films. Dwayne Johnson has attached himself to the film to executive produce as well as act in a leading role.
Bibliography of science fiction, fantasy, and nonfiction writer Lin Carter: