Mark H. Harris

Stoker Award-Nominated Author & Entertainment Journalist

About

Mark H. Harris

Mark H. Harris is a Stoker Award-nominated entertainment journalist and short fiction author who has written about cinema and pop culture for over twenty years for The Oxford Handbook of Black Horror Film, New York magazine, Vulture, Rotten Tomatoes, About.com, PopMatters, Napster, MadAtoms, and more.

His book The Black Guy Dies First: Black Horror Cinema from Fodder to Oscar was a finalist in 2024 for the Bram Stoker Award for Superior Achievement in Long Nonfiction and the Rondo Hatton Award for Book of the Year (Non-Fiction). Additionally, Harris was a featured commentator in the acclaimed 2019 documentary Horror Noire: A History of Black Horror and the Shudder series Behind the Monsters.

A lifelong horror fan, Harris created the website BlackHorrorMovies.com in 2005 as the premier online source chronicling the history of Black representation and achievement in horror cinema. In 2024, it earned a nomination for the Rondo Hatton Award for Best Website.

Since expanding his writing into the fiction realm, his work has appeared or is forthcoming in Mythaxis, Eggplant Emoji Lit, and the Tales to Terrify podcast.

Works

Non-Fiction

  • The Black Guy Dies First: Black Horror Cinema from Fodder to Oscar (Saga Press/Simon & Schuster)
  • "Visible Blackness in Twenty-First-Century Brazilian Horror Cinema," The Oxford Handbook of Black Horror Film (Oxford University Press)
  • "Frontier(s): Elevated Horror from the Depths," Frontier(s) Limited Edition Blu-ray (Second Sight Films)
  • "Lady in White and the Man in Black," Lady in White Limited Edition Blu-ray (Vinegar Syndrome)
  • Liner notes, Lord Shango Original Motion Picture Soundtrack LP re-release (Tidal Waves Music)
  • "Die Another Day: The Life and Death of 'the Black Guy' in Horror Movies," Sorbet magazine
  • "Life After Death: The Ending Legacy of Blacula," Abertoir Horror Festival
  • "The Revolutionary Legacy of Ben," Salem Horror Fest
  • "Scary Sistas: A Brief History of Black Women in Horror Films," Pretty-Scary

Fiction

  • "Shooter," Mythaxis
  • "We Mean You Yes Harm," Eggplant Emoji Lit
  • "Don't Look," Tales to Terrify

Reviews Featured In

The Atlantic
Bloody Disgusting
Book Riot
Crime Reads
Dread Central
Kirkus
Library Journal
Publisher's Weekly

Contact

For inquiries, please reach out:

markhharris@gmail.com