Actor Vin Diesel’s Tigon Studios collaborated with Starbreeze on the Vivendi Universal film tie-in game The Chronicles of Riddick: Escape from Butcher Bay. Vin Diesel, along with Ron Perlman, Dwight Schultz, Cole Hauser and rapper Xzibit contributed their voices to an impressive prequel to the two movies.
Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban was a tie-in to the movie that allowed the player to control all three of the juvenile characters for the first time. However, Harry Potter games maker Argonaut Games encountered problems when cash reserves became so low that the firm was brought to the edge of closure.
For the first time since the movie Moonraker (1979), genre veteran Richard Kiel returned as the metal-toothed assassin Jaws in the EA computer game James Bond 007: Everything or Nothing featuring the voices and likenesses of series regulars Pierce Brosnan, Dame Judi Dench and John Cleese, plus Willem Dafoe, model Heidi Klum and singer Mya. The game was available for PlayStation 2, X-Box, GameCube and GBA formats.
Although the TV series was no longer around, The X Files: Resist or Serve for PlayStation 2 featured actor David Duchovny and involved a series of mysterious murders linked to paranormal activity.
California governor Arnold Schwarzenegger settled his lawsuit against a toy company that produced a bobbing-head of him carrying a gun. The former actor apparently wanted to appear more “child-friendly”.
To tie-in with Universal’s disappointing movie, the Van Helsing twelve-inch action figures included the eponymous hero, Dracula, Frankenstein’s monster and a Velkan/Wolf figure with removable latex skin. There were also various playsets available with slightly different figures. A series of hand-numbered bobble heads featured the same four main characters.
The Van Helsing limited edition Cookie Jars featured Dracula, Frankenstein’s monster and the Wolfman.
Jakks Pacific’s line of seven-inch Classic Monsters kicked off with Universal’s Frankenstein Monster, Count Dracula and The Wolf Man. Each came with “transformation” parts and a diorama setting.
Limited to 2,000 pieces from Japan, the pre-painted Universal Monsters Resin Bust Statues were almost eight inches tall and featured Bela Lugosi as Dracula, Boris Karloff as the Frankenstein Monster and The Mummy, and Lon Chaney, Jr. as The Wolf Man. From the same company came a twelve-inch pre-painted Bust Coin Bank of Karloff’s Monster.
Meanwhile, a twelve-inch figure of Karloff’s revived sorcerer Ardeth Bey from The Mummy had more than thirty points of articulation and came with mummy scroll, sacrificial knife and display stand.
A quarter-scale limited edition figure of Bela Lugosi as the original Count Dracula cost $199.99, and “Dracula’s Castle”, “Frankenstein’s Monster” and “Wolfman’s Curse” were each available as hand-painted lighted porcelain façades.
Universal’s Dracula, Frankenstein, The Mummy, The Wolf Man and Creature from the Black Lagoon were available as eight-inch tall resin bobble heads. The Universal Monsters 3D Movie Poster Wall Art Sculptures featured hand-painted sculptures based on the classic movie posters for Dracula, The Mummy and Creature from the Black Lagoon.
From Legendary Casts, 3D Movie Poster Sculptures in cold cast resign featured classic designs for Universal’s Dracula, Frankenstein and the advance poster for Van Helsing. Meanwhile, The Creature from the Black Lagoon poster was available as a tin sign.
The Creature from the Black Lagoon mugs and tin box also featured artwork from the movie poster, while a fiftieth Anniversary poster used a montage of three different images of the Gill Man.
A Creature from the Depths and The Mummy resin mini-busts, signed by designer John DiCicco and sculpted by The Kucharek Brothers were limited to just 750 individually numbered pieces.
A company called Classic TVToys.com reissued eight-inch action figures from the 1970s of the classic “Mad Monsters” (with glow-in-the-dark eyes and hands), plus TV’s The Munsters and Space: 1999.
Grampa’s “Dragula” dragster from The Munsters was available as a 1:18th scale die-cast replica, while werewolf Eddie’s “Woof Woof” doll from the same show came in two thirty-inch high replicas encased in a coffin-shaped box.
For fans of The Munsters, sets of the trading cards from Ritten-house Archives included randomly inserted autograph cards signed by the surviving cast members.
The British-made Hammer Horror Collection featured a twelve-inch articulated figure of Christopher Lee’s Dracula with flaming candlestick and Jonathan Harker Diary accessories.
Frederic March’s Mr Hyde from the Academy Award-winning 1932 movie was recreated as a fully articulated twelve-inch figure. Or for those with a more historical outlook, you could get a Vlad the Impaler figure that came with spear, sword, scabbard and a chalice filled with blood.
An Attack of the 50-Foot Woman coaster set and tin box featured images from the 1950s sci-fi film, while a War of the Colossal Beast vinyl figure from the 1958 AIP film was available with diorama base from Japan. In the same “AMC Monsterfest” series was the three-eyed mutant from Day the World Ended, The She-Creature and Cat Girl.
The Hellraiser Series 3 action figures from Reel Toys included Skinned Frank, Femail Cenobite, Bloodline Twins and Hell on Earth Pinhead. Each figure came with a section of an eighteen-inch Leviathan Diamond. The first Hellraiser Deluxe Boxed Figure was Dr Channard from Hellraiser II, complete with fifteen inch-tall tentacles and a variety of attachable snake tools. The Hellraiser acrylic paperweight had Pinhead’s head in its centre.
Sota Toys’ “Now Playing” series included seven-inch articulated action figures from The Toxic Avenger, An American Werewolf in London and Darkman.
The Army of Darkness Splitting Ash two-pack included a figure of Ash splitting in two, a repainted version of the Deadite Scout figure and various accessories and weapons.
The Trilogy of Terror Zuni Warrior Doll was based on the homicidal figure in the 1975 TV movie scripted by Richard Matheson and came with real hair, cloth skirt and ceremonial spear.
Based on Larry Cohen’s cult 1974 film, the It’s Alive! life-size baby puppet had a blanket to hide the hand-control.
Mezco Toyz’s popular range of Living Dead Dolls offered collectors a Graf Orlok/Nosferatu and his Victim with a bloody neck-wound. Both came packaged in a coffin built for two with a “Death Certificate” of authenticity. Meanwhile, the second series of Mezco’s Monster Mez-itz featured a mad scientist, a cloaked skeleton, the Invisible Man and a ghoul.
For fans of Japanese monsters, a small Godzilla plush was licensed by Toho Studios, while the Rodan mini-plush had wire in its wings to allow them to be shaped as needed. Even better were a series of four-inch resin statues of Godzilla, Gigan, Mothra and Super Mechagodzilla.
The Cthulhu plastic action figure stood three-and-a-half inches tall, while the ten-inch articulated Jack the Ripper action figure came complete with cape, top hat and appropriate accessories.
During October at the Camden County College in Blackwood, New Jersey, the American Library Association mounted an exhibition entitled “Frankenstein, Penetrating the Secrets of Nature”, which showcased the largest private collection of Frankenstein and Boris Karloff memorabilia in the world. On the Friday before Halloween, The Franky Award was presented to James Warren, the controversial publisher of the original Famous Monsters of Filmland.
The fourteenth World Horror Convention returned to Phoenix, Arizona, from 8–11 April with an eclectic Guest of Honour list that included writer Douglas Clegg, artist Caniglia, editor Stephen Jones and toastmater David Morrell. Twisted Sister singer Dee Snider was the media guest, author Adam Niswander was special guest, and Mort Castle and Nancy Kilpatrick conducted writer and editor workshops, respectively.
The International Horror Guild Awards were presented on the Saturday evening to Peter Straub’s lost boy lost girl for Novel and Matthew B.J. Delaney’s Jinn for First Novel. Louisiana Breakdown by Lucius Shepard won for Long Form, “Dancing Men” by Glen Hirshberg (from The Dark) won for Intermediate Form and “With Acknowledgements to Sun Tzu” by B
rian Hodge (from The Third Alternative) won for Short Form. Collection was a tie between Glen Hirshberg’s The Two Sams and Michael Marshall Smith’s More Tomorrow & Other Stories. The Anthology award went to The Dark edited by Ellen Datlow, while The Devil in the White City: Murder, Magic, and Madness at the Fair that Changed America by Erika Larson won in the Non-fiction category.
Eric Powell’s The Goon Issues 1–4 won for Graphic Narrative, The Ghost Story Society’s All Hallows won for Periodical, and Caniglia won for Art. David Cronenberg’s Spider collected the Film award, and HBO’s Carnivàle picked up the award for Television. Stephen King and F. Everett Bleiler were recipients of Living Legend Awards, and the late Jack Cady received a posthumous Special Award for writing and teaching.
The Winners of the (far too many) 2003 Bram Stoker Awards were announced on 5 June at the HWA Annual Conference held at the Park Central Hotel in Manhattan. The Novel award was presented to lost boy lost girl by Peter Straub, while Brian Keene’s The Rising won for First Novel. The Long Fiction award went to “Closing Time” by Jack Ketchum (from Peaceable Kingdom) and the Short Fiction award went to “Duty” by Gary A. Braunbeck (from Vivisections). Ketchum also picked up the Fiction Collection award for Peaceable Kingdom, the Anthology award went to Borderlands 5 edited by Elizabeth and Thomas F. Monteleone, and Monteleone’s book of essays The Mothers and Fathers Italian Association won for Non-fiction.
The winner of Illustrated Narrative was The Sandman: Endless Nights by Neil Gaiman, the Screenplay award went to Bubba Ho-Tep by Don Coscarelli, and Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix by J.K. Rowling won the award for Work for Young Readers. Bruce Boston’s Pitchblende won for Poetry Collection, the Alternative Forms award went to Michael Arnzen’s e-mail newsletter The Goreletter, and Lifetime Achievement Awards were announced for Martin H. Greenberg and Anne Rice.
Special Awards were also presented to Paul Miller’s speciality press, Earthling Publications, and Lee Thomas for Outstanding Contribution to the genre and HWA, while Robert Weinberg was given the Trustee Award for over-all contribution and many years’ service to HWA.
The British Fantasy Society’s annual Fantasycon 2004 was held in Walsall, in England’s West Midlands, from 24–26 September. Guests of Honour were Robert Holdstock and Muriel Gray. The British Fantasy Awards were presented at the Sunday banquet to Christopher Fowler’s Full Dark House for Best Novel (The August Derleth Fantasy Award) and the same author’s “American Waitress” (from Crimewave 7: The Last Sunset) for Best Short Fiction.
The Mammoth Book of Best New Horror Volume Fourteen was awarded Best Anthology, while Best Collection was won by Ramsey Campbell’s Told by the Dead. Best Artist was Les Edwards, the Best Small Press Award went to Peter Crowther’s PS Publishing, and the winner of the Special Award (Karl Edward Wagner Award) was announced as Peter Jackson, for his The Lord of the Rings trilogy of films.
The 30th World Fantasy Convention was held in Tempe, Arizona, from 28–31 October with a Guests of Honor list that included author Gwyneth Jones, artist Janny Wurts, editor Ellen Datlow, publisher Betty Ballantine and Toastmistress Jennifer Roberson.
The World Fantasy Awards were presented at the banquet on Halloween afternoon to Jo Walton’s Tooth and Claw for Best Novel, Greer Gilman’s “A Crowd of Bone” (from Trampoline: An Anthology) for Best Novella, and Bruce Holland Rogers’ “Don Ysidro” (from Polyphony 3) for Best Short Fiction.
Rosalie Parker’s Strange Tales from Tartarus Press was voted Best Anthology, the Best Collection Award went to Elizabeth Hand’s Bibliomancy: Four Novellas from PS Publishing, and Best Artist was a tie between Donato Giancola and Jason van Hollander.
The Special Award, Professional went to Peter Crowther for PS Publishing, while the Special Award, Non-Professional was won by Ray Russell and Rosalie Parker for Tartarus Press. Stephen King and Gahan Wilson were both announced as recipients of Life Achievement Awards.
While attending the World Fantasy Convention in Tempe, I ended up at a room party sponsored by a well-known print-on-demand publisher. During the course of the evening, I found myself involved in a somewhat heated discussion about the use of apparently copyrighted material in PoD publications.
As the editor of numerous anthologies, I have always ensured that I secure copyright clearance where it is required before using a story. However, it appears that some editors and publishers are not quite so scrupulous.
It should be pointed out that since the legal term of copyright was extended to life plus seventy years, the rights of some authors whose work was brought back into copyright has been, at best, in question. This is because the law is subtly different between the European Union and the United States.
In America, all works created on or after 1 January 1978 are protected by copyright for life plus seventy years. However, any material published before that date which was under a renewed copyright on 27 October 1998, had its term extended by an additional twenty years. This means that many older works are still protected, while others have fallen into the public domain.
As I prefer to err on the side of caution, I ensure that rights have been acquired before publishing any material on either side of the Atlantic. So do many publishers. That is why, for example, Robert E. Howard’s work only enters the public domain next year. H.P. Lovecraft follows in 2007, while Clark Ashton Smith continues to be protected until 2031.
Yet what surprised me most about the altercation in Arizona was that a couple of experienced editors (who I have known for years and greatly admire), firmly argued against the seventy year rule, claiming it was unfair to publishers.
In an article in the January-February 2004 Weird Tales, John Gregory Betancourt – publisher of PoD imprint Wildside Press and an author himself – argued somewhat disingenuously that copyright for books should actually be reduced to life plus twenty years so that “People can publish them cheaply, or make them available in other media like TV shows, movies, radio, films, etc. without going through a maze of contractual red tape.”
Or, to put it another way: To allow people with no creative stake in an author’s work to exploit it as quickly as possible after that author’s death.
Betancourt claimed that it is only because such writers as H.G. Wells, Jules Verne and Arthur Conan Doyle had fallen into public domain under American law that they are remembered today. This is, of course, nonsense. It is due to the quality of their work that these (and many other) authors will continue to have their writings published for many, many decades to come. And while they are protected by the period of copyright – Wells died, incidentally, in 1946 – then their heirs and estates will continue to reap the benefit of their labour. Surely that is something that any author would wish to see happen, in return for all the effort – and often hardship – endured during their lifetime?
It seems to me that people who argue for a reduction in the term of copyright – or in rare cases, simply ignore it – are merely trying to make a hasty profit at the author’s expense. Why shouldn’t a writer’s descendants and successors continue to earn money from a work, for at least one generation (or approximately seventy years) after their death? After all, many authors are still poorly reimbursed for their efforts during their lifetimes, and the copyright law allows their estates to finally receive some recompense if that work continues to remain in print.
It may well be that some writers who die intestate could be in danger of disappearing, but this is only likely to happen in a few very rare cases. Usually, if an author has not actually named a literary executor, then the rights automatically revert to the next of kin.
If anything, I would argue that the American copyright laws should be brought into line with those in Europe, which would result in some anomalous loopholes finally being closed. At the moment we have the absurd situation where some publishers pay for the rights to reprint an author’s work, while others are simply using it free of charge.
There is no doubt that the copyright rules are a minefield. But when it comes to print-o
n-demand publishers – whose books are available around the world at the press of a button – have they even considered that they may be in breach of another country’s laws if they print or export their “public domain” titles to the majority of those countries that respect international copyright protection?
I suspect not. They are probably more interested in making a quick buck off the back of a deceased author than worry too much about such minor and ethical concerns . . .
The Editor
May, 2005
NEIL GAIMAN
Forbidden Brides of the Faceless Slaves in the Nameless House of the Night of Dread Desire
DESCRIBED BY THE AUTHOR as “a magical-horror-thriller-ghost-romantic-comedy-family-epic,” Anansi Boys is the first adult novel Neil Gaiman has had out since the bestselling and multiple award-winning American Gods in 1999. His other novels include Good Omens (with Terry Pratchett), Neverwhere (a novelisation of his BBC-TV miniseries) and Stardust (an expansion of a graphic novel).
Amongst Gaiman’s other books are Ghastly Beyond Belief (with Kim Newman), Now We Are Sick (with Stephen Jones), Book of Dreams (with Ed Kramer), Don’t Panic: The Official Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy Companion and the short story collections Angels and Visitations: A Miscellany and Smoke and Mirrors. He wrote and directed A Short Film About John Bolton, which was recently released on DVD in a special collector’s edition, and is currently co-scripting (with Roger Avary) an adaptation of Beowulf which will be filmed in “performance capture” animation by director Robert Zemeckis for a proposed October 2007 release.
As the author explains: “ ‘Forbidden Brides . . .’ was written for Gothic!, an anthology of Gothic stories for teens, a couple of years ago. Well, actually, it was written almost twenty years ago late at night on East Croydon station: I showed it to a few people, nobody liked it, and I put it away and forgot about it.
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