Agent John Jarrold reports that Mark Morris is writing a novelization of the Hammer film Vampire Circus. The book was commissioned by Arrow Books Senior Editor Georgina Hawtry-Woore, and is scheduled to be published in 2012 by Arrow Books at Random House UK.
Arrow has a major publishing deal with Hammer Films, and there will be a number of novels based on their films, coming from well-known names in horror fiction.
Morris said “My love affair with Hammer began when I saw—and was terrified by—my first Hammer film, The Brides of Dracula, at the age of eleven or twelve. Because Hammer has been hugely responsible for my life-long love of the horror genre, and a seminal influence on my career, I am absolutely thrilled to now have the opportunity to become a part of the official Hammer brand. Writing a novel based on one of my favourite Hammer movies, the gloriously savage and nightmarish Vampire Circus, is an enormous thrill. This will be a real labour of love for me and I can’t wait to get started!”
The 1972 film is set in a village in Nineteenth Century Europe, which is at first relieved when a circus breaks through the quarantine to take the local’s minds off the plague. But their troubles are only beginning as children begin to disappear and the legacy of a long-ago massacre is brought to light.
Morris edited PS Publishing’s non-fiction Cinema Futura, which recently earned a nomination for this year’s British Fantasy Awards.