Leslie S. Klinger is considered to be one of the world’s foremost authorities on Sherlock Holmes, Dracula, H. P. Lovecraft, Frankenstein, and the history of mystery and horror fiction. Klinger is a long-time member of the Baker Street Irregulars, and served as the Series Editor for the Manuscript Series of The Baker Street Irregulars; he is currently the Series Editor for the BSI’s Biography Series. He served three terms as Chapter President of the SoCal Chapter of the Mystery Writers of America and on its National Board. He is also the Treasurer of the Horror Writers Association and serves as Co-Editor of The Haunted Library, a series of horror classics published by the HWA. He lectures frequently on Holmes, Dracula, Lovecraft, Frankenstein and their worlds, including frequent panels at the Los Angeles Times Festival of Books, Bouchercon, NecronomiCon, StokerCon, World Horror Convention, World Fantasy Convention, VampireCon, Comicpalooza, WonderCon, and San Diego Comic-Con, and he has taught several courses on Holmes and Dracula at UCLA Extension.
Klinger’s work has received numerous awards and nominations, including the Edgar® for Best Critical-Biographical Book in 2005 for The New Annotated Sherlock Holmes: The Complete Short Stories and the Edgar® for Best Critical-Biographical Book in 2019 for Classic American Crime Fiction of the 1920s and the Anthony for Best Anthology in 2015 for In the Company of Sherlock Holmes (co-edited with Laurie R. King); he was nominated for an Edgar® for Best Critical-Biographical Book in 2006, two nominations for the Bram Stoker Award® for Best Nonfiction book, and is currently nominated for an Anthony for Best Critical/Non-fiction for Classic American Crime Fiction of the 1920s. His New Annotated Frankenstein was recently nominated for a World Fantasy Award. His introductions and essays have appeared in numerous books, graphic novels, academic journals, newspapers, the Los Angeles Review of Books, and Playboy Magazine; he also reviews books for the Los Angeles Times. He was the technical advisor for Warner Bros. on the film Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows (2011) and served (without credit) in that role for Warner Bros.’ earlier hit Sherlock Holmes (2009). He has consulted on a number of novels, comic books, and graphic novels featuring Holmes and Dracula.
Les attended the University of California where he received an A.B. in English; he also attended the University of California School of Law (Boalt Hall), where he obtained a J.D. degree. He and his wife Sharon have five adult children, six grandchildren, and live in Malibu with their dog and cat. By day, Klinger practices law in Westwood, specializing in tax, estate planning, and business law.
Lisa Morton is a screenwriter, author of non-fiction books, Bram Stoker Award®-winning prose writer, and Halloween expert whose work was described by the American Library Association’s Readers’ Advisory Guide to Horror as “consistently dark, unsettling, and frightening.” She has published four novels, more than 150 short stories, and three books on the history of Halloween. Her most recent releases include the anthology Ghost Stories: Classic Tales of Horror and Suspense (co-edited with Leslie Klinger), and the nonfiction study Calling the Spirits: A History of Seances; her short stories have appeared in Best American Mystery Stories 2020, Final Cuts (edited by Ellen Datlow), and Weird Tales magazine. She lives in the San Fernando Valley, and can be found online at www.lisamorton.com .