Lee Murray author, editor
Essays
This list includes just some of my essays which have been published in books and magazines.
I Don't Read Horror (& Other Weird Tales)
Edited by Holly Walwrath
Interstellar Flight Press
Free to read on Interstellar Flight Press Magazine (and Medium), my short-form essay "I don't Read Horror (& Other Weird Tales)" is currently nominated for a Bram Stoker Award in the short non-fiction category.
You can read it for free here: https://magazine.interstellarflightpress.com/i-dont-read-horror-other-weird-tales-60a89546d32c
Unquiet Spirits: Essays by Women in Horror
Edited by Lee Murray and Angela Yuriko Smith
Black Spot Books
From hungry ghosts, vampiric babies, and shapeshifting fox spirits to the avenging White Lady of urban legend, for generations, Asian women's roles have been shaped and defined through myth and story. In Unquiet Spirits, Asian writers of horror reflect on the impact of superstition, spirits, and the supernatural in this unique collection of 21 personal essays exploring themes of otherness, identity, expectation, duty, and loss, and leading, ultimately, to understanding and empowerment.
Includes my essay "Displaced Spirits: Ghosts of the Disapora".
A Vindication of Monsters (16 Oct 2023)
Edited by Claire Fitzpatrick
A Vindication of Monsters: Essays on Mary Shelley and Mary Wollstonecraft includes art and design is by Greg Chapman. Preface by Sara Karloff, actress and Boris Karloff’s daughter, Introduction (‘Examining Frankenstein’) by Leslie S. Klinger (editor of the highly-acclaimed New Annotated Frankenstein), Foreword by Lisa Morton, six-time Bram Stoker Award® winner. Essays: ‘In His Eyes Our Own Yearning: Seeing Mary Shelley and Her Creature’ by Nancy Holder, ‘The Maker Remade: Mary Shelley In Fiction’ by Matthew R Davis, ‘Beauty And The Grotesque’ by Michele Brittany, ‘Mary Shelley And The World Of Monsters’ by Rob Hood, ‘An Articulation Of Beauty In The Film ‘Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein’’ by Donald Prentice Jr, ‘Mapping The Collective Body Of Frankenstein’s Brides’ by Carina Bissett, ‘Marys And Motherhood’ and Preamble by Claire Fitzpatrick, ‘Don’t Feed The Monsters’ by Hk Stubbs, ‘My Mother Hands Me A Book’ by Piper Mejia, ‘A Bold Question: Consent And The Experimental Subject In Frankenstein’ by Octavia Cade, ‘Mary Shelley And Percy Shelley’s Fascination With The Creation Myth And Sexual Androgyny’ by Ciarán Bruder, ‘Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein And Revenge Killers’ by Anthony P Fergusson, ‘Medicine And Mary Shelley’ by Grant Butler, ‘Frankenstein’s Language Model’ by Jason Franks, ‘Mary Shelley: Pandemics, Isolation, And Writing’ by Lee Murray, ‘Mary W And Mary S: A Story With Objects’ by Lucy Sussex.
For an interview about my essay, "Mary Shelley: Pandemics, Isolation, and Writing" , follow this LINK.
Edited by Adrian Collins
Grimdark Magazine presents the darker, grittier side of fantasy and science fiction. Each quarterly issue features established and new authors to take you through their hard-bitten worlds alongside articles, reviews and interviews. Our stories are grim, our worlds are dark and our morally grey protagonists and anti-heroes light the way with bloody stories of war, betrayal and action.
Includes my essay "Of Home and Heritage"
Success Mindsets
The world shines a spotlight on the successful, but leaves us in the dark about what it takes to become successful in our own lives. Even though we crave success, it can seem so unattainable that we assume it’s not for us. It's time to shine a spotlight on the journey to success. What if successful business people were to let us in on their secrets? What we'll find is that what separates the adored from the overlooked is mindset.
You will come to understand this by reading the brilliant contributors of Success Mindsets. This anthology gathers advice from several dozen exceptional leaders, ranging from CEOs to champions to game-changers. Success Mindsets reveals that many roads lead to success and you must choose the one that suits your concept best.
Includes my essay, "Horace and Aristotle".
Headlands: New Stories of Anxiety
Edited by Naomi Arnold
Victoria University Press
In 2017, Ministry of Health figures showed that one in five New Zealanders sought help for a diagnosed mood or anxiety disorder, and these figures are growing. Headlands: New Stories of Anxiety tells the real, messy story behind these statistics – what anxiety feels like, what causes it, what helps and what doesn’t. These accounts are sometimes raw and confronting, but they all seek to share experiences, remove stigma, offer help or simply shine a light on what anxiety is. The stories in Headlands are told by people from all walks of life: poets, novelists, and journalists, musicians, social workers, and health professionals, and includes new work from Ashleigh Young, Tusiata Avia, Danyl McLauchlan, Selina Tusitala Marsh, Hinemoana Baker and Kirsten McDougall. Edited by journalist Naomi Arnold, Headlands shows that some communities have better access to mental health services than others and it underscores the importance for greater understanding of the condition across the whole of society. It is not a book of solutions nor a self-help guide. Instead, it has been put together for all individuals and whānau affected by anxiety. It’s also for those who are still suffering in silence, in the hope they will see themselves reflected in these pages and understand they are not alone. Cover artwork and design: Hadley Donaldson.
Including my essay Writing from a Dark Place, the Headlands project has been optioned for film by producer David Jacobs of DJ Stories. As part of the anthology project, New Zealand filmmaker Isaiah Tour will create a short horror fantasy film for children bassed onWriting from A Dark Place .