The Mammoth Book of Best New Horror 18

by Stephen Jones (ed. )

  Mario Bava: Maestro of the Macabre was the title of a documentary that aired on IFC in September. John Carpenter, Joe Dante and Tim Burton were amongst those who paid tribute to the influential Italian director and cinematographer. Over on the History Channel, Vampire Secrets looked at vampire mythology and its influence on Bram Stoker’s Dracula.

  Going to Pieces: The Rise and Fall of the Slasher Film was a Starz documentary on Friday the 13th in October, and Bravo celebrated Halloween with the two-hour Even Scarier Movie Moments. Meanwhile, there was a two-day Munsters Marathon on TV Land, the Sci Fi Channel programmed 13 Days of Halloween, ABC Family went with 13 Nights of Halloween, and AMC offered up Monster fest X, a ten-day non-stop monster movie marathon to celebrate the horror-day season.

  Michael Sheen portrayed the author in the BBC dramatised profile H. G. Wells: War with the World, while Jonathan Ross, Lord Hattersley and astronomer Patrick Moore contributed to the documentary H. G. Wells and Me.

  Dennis Wheatley: A Letter to Posterity was an hour-long documentary about the bestselling writer whose work has now fallen out of favour.

  The Martians and Us was a three-part BBC series exploring the roots of British science fiction. Contributors included Brian W. Aldiss, Arthur C. Clarke, Doris Lessing, Ian M. Banks, Margaret Atwood, Will Self and Kim Newman. Over six episodes, The Cult of . . . looked at the history of cult TV shows Adam Adamant Lives!, Doomwatch, Star Cops, Survivors, Blakes 7 and Tripods.

  Transylvania Babylon presented an entertaining selection of clips of big and small screen Draculas from the past.

  The third season finale of the Sci Fi Channel’s “reality” show Ghost Hunters featured a visit to Colorado’s Stanley Hotel, the real-life inspiration for Stephen King’s Overlook in The Shining.

  Spike TV broadcast the Spike Scream Awards 2006 in October, “hosted by the women of Grindhouse” (Rosario Dawson, Rose McGowan and Marley Shelton). For some reason it also featured a special tribute to Ozzy Osbourne.

  In early December, BBC Radio 3 broadcast Weird Tales – The Strange Life of H. P. Lovecraft. Geoff Ward, professor of literature at Dundee University presented the forty-five minute show about the influential author with contributions from Neil Gaiman, S. T. Joshi, Kelly Link, Peter Straub and China Miéville.

  Playwright and poet Lemn Sissay traced Poe the Poet for Radio 3’s Twenty Minutes programme, while actor Kerry Shale read from some of Edgar Allan’s better-known verse.

  BBC Radio 4’s Confessions of a Crap Artist was a half-hour documentary about Philip K. Dick’s reported encounter with God in 1974, while writer Francis Spufford looked at the history of British science fiction in the four-part series Imagining Albion: The Great British Future.

  Terry Pratchett’s “Discworld” novel Small Gods was dramatised in four parts on Radio 4. Thea von Harbou’s classic SF novel Metropolis was adapted for the hour-long Friday Play in March, and Ian McKellen narrated a dramatisation of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight for the Afternoon Play at Christmas.

  Toronto’s Princess of Wales Theatre became the first venue in the world to mount the epic three-and-a-half hour stage production of The Lord of the Rings. Matthew Warchus and Shaun McKenna squeezed J. R. R. Tolkien’s trilogy into a three-act structure with stunning special effects and a score by A. R. Rahman and the Finnish musical group Vårttinå. Touted as the most expensive production in theatre history, the show reportedly cost more than $23 million.

  Despite being nominated for two Tony Awards, Elton John and Bernie Taupin’s lavish stage musical of Anne Rice’s Lestat closed on Broadway in May, after just thirty-three preview and thirty-nine regular performances. Directed by Robert Jess Roth, Hugh Panaro was cast as the titular vampire.

  It was announced in February that Andrew Lloyd Webber’s stage musical The Woman in White, based on the Gothic novel by Wilkie Collins, was to end its Broadway run after only two months at New York’s Marquis Theatre. Although it was playing to less than capacity audiences, producers blamed illness amongst the cast. Meanwhile, the original production in London’s West End starring Ruthie Henshall closed after nineteen months to make way for the Monty Python musical Spamalot.

  There was more success for Sir Lloyd Webber’s The Phantom of the Opera which, in the previous month, became the longest-running show in Broadway history when it notched up performance #7,486. Since the show opened in London in 1986, it had been seen by more than 80 million people worldwide.

  Having started out in a small club in Toronto in 2003, Evil Dead: The Musical finally arrived in New York City as an Off Broadway show in time for Halloween. Inspired by Sam Raimi’s 1980s cult horror films, audience members in the front two rows of the theatre at the World Stages complex ended up nightly drenched in fake blood.

  In Los Angeles, the Gangbusters Theatre Company presented the official world stage premiere of George A. Romero’s Night of the Living Dead. Running from October through December at The Stella Adler Theatre on Hollywood Boulevard, the poorly-reviewed production starred Mancini Graves as the zombie-battling Ben and was produced and directed by Christian Levatino. Free beer was offered to all adult patrons.

  A short drive across town at the Lex Theatre, Theatre East’s They’re Not Zombies, written and directed by Leif Gantvoort, covered much the same ground with more humour. Many of the characters were named after people connected with the original Romero movie. Adding to the LA zombiefest, Zombies! was an improv show put on by The Acme Comedy Theatre.

  Over April and May, South Pasadena’s Freemont Centre Theatre presented a limited engagement of Ray Bradbury’s The Machineries of Joy. Directed by Alan Neal Hubbs and presented by Ray Bradbury’s Pandemonium Theatre Company, the production featured stage versions of “I Will Arise and Go Now”, “The Machineries of Joy”, “The Finnegan” and “The Parrot Who Met Papa”, the latter three being world premieres.

  The Dorothy Chandler Pavilion hosted the world premiere in May of the LAOpera’s production of Grendel, directed by Julie Taylor. A darkly comic exploration of the Beowulf legend told from the monster’s point of view, the production ran for just seven performances and used projections, puppetry and masks to tell the epic tale.

  Presented by the Improbable theatre company and the National Theatre of Scotland, The Wolves in the Walls: A Musical Pandemonium, based on the illustrated children’s book by Neil Gaiman and Dave McKean, enjoyed limited runs in Glasgow and London in April.

  The Children’s Society’s 125th Anniversary was celebrated at London’s Royal Albert Hall on October 22nd with two fundraising performances of Stephen Sondheim and James Lapine’s musical Into the Woods, featuring Anita Dobson, Vinnie Jones and many others stars of stage and screen.

  For the first time ever, Jeff Wayne performed his Musical Version of War of the Worlds with a live orchestra across the UK in April. The shows also included special guest Justin Hayward and the long-dead Richard Burton in both sight and sound as “The Journalist”.

  Jonathan Kent’s Glyndebourne on Tour’s production of The Turn of the Screw updated Benjamin Britten’s opera to the 1950s and introduced a suggestion of paedophilia to the classic ghost story.

  Nintendo’s Wii console was the new must-have gadget of 2006, especially after Sony delayed the European launch of its new PlayStation 3 until the following spring. The Wii controller, shaped like a television remote, interacted with a sensor bar placed in front of the TV that translated the player’s motion into movement on the screen.

  Meanwhile, Johnny Depp voiced the disappointing Pirates of the Caribbean: Legend of Jack Sparrow spin-off video game, and Monster House was based on the animated film and obviously aimed at younger children.

  At least Stubbs the Zombie in Rebel Without a Pulse allowed the player to actually become a zombie and turn the inhabitants of a small American town into an army of the walking dead.

  Although the film was not due for release until 2007, Gentle Giant offered six-inch busts of “Harry Potter”, “Draco Malfoy” and “Cho Chang”, based on
the characters in Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix.

  The third “Now Playing” series included a seven-inch figure of the Werewolf from Dog Soldiers, while Shaun (from Shaun of the Dead), Chucky (from Child’s Play) and Sebastian “The King” Haff (from Bubba Ho-Tep) were all part of the fourth “Cult Classics” series.

  NECA’s “The Cult Classics Hall of Fame” included limited edition figures of The Crow, Freddy Krueger, Jason Vorhees and the ever-popular Pinhead.

  McFarlane Toys acquired the licensing rights to the 1992 movie Bram Stoker’s Dracula and issued a two-pack of deluxe action figures depicting Dracula in his incarnations as a bat and a wolf as part of the “Movie Maniacs” series.

  From Factory X, the replica of Rupert Giles’ Vampyr Book from Buffy the Vampire Slayer opened up to reveal a hidden storage area. The six-inch tall Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Übervamp Bust was sculpted by Gabriel Marquez and limited to 2,000 hand-numbered pieces.

  “Black Widow” and “Bonejangles” statues from Tim Burton’s Corpse Bride were each available with certificates of authenticity.

  Fantastik Plastiks’ Mad Monster Party Vinyl Figures depicted Dracula, Frankenstein’s Monster, Werewolf and the Zombie Bellhop from the 1966 Rankin/Bass animated puppet movie. Each figure, based on the original design by Jack Harris, was packaged in a colourful tube and limited to 1,500 pieces each.

  “Herman Munster” and “Grandpa Munster” were caricatured in Electric Tiki’s Tooned-Up Television Series, based on original designs by Tracy Mark Lee. The eleven-inch high polystone maquettes came with hand-numbered certificates of authenticity.

  Hawthorne Village offered The Munsters Halloween Village with sculptures of “1313 Mockingbird Lane” (with a free Herman Munster figurine), “Lily’s Inn” and “Grandpa’s Touch of Transylvania Hotel”.

  Artbox’s set of 72 Frankenstein Cards featured images from the 1931 Universal movie. “Monster Sketch” cards, depicting Frankenstein’s creation through the eyes of various artists, and “Monster-Glo” cards were randomly inserted into packs.

  Comic Images’ Godzilla King of the Monsters Cards were released to celebrate the Big G’s 50th anniversary, and included randomly inserted sketch cards illustrated by Bob Eggleton, Matt Harris and others.

  Fay Wray, in a classic pose from King Kong, was one of four famous “Canadians in Hollywood” (the others being Mary Pickford, Lorne Greene and John Candy) who were immortalised on a stamp by Canada Post.

  San Francisco was the popular location for World Horror Convention 2006, held over May llth-14th. Despite an impressive line-up of guests that included international authors Kim Newman and Koji Suzuki, publisher John Pelan, artist Brom, actor Bill Moseley and Toastmaster Peter Straub, mismanagement led to some problems after the event. Ray Garton was announced as the somewhat premature recipient of the Grand Master Award.

  The 19th annual Horror Writers Association Bram Stoker Awards were presented at a banquet at an airport hotel in Newark, New Jersey, on June 17th.

  The Novel award was a tie between David Morrell’s Creepers and Charlee Jacob’s Dread of the Beast. First Novel went to Weston Ochse’s Scarecrow Gods, Short Fiction was awarded to Gary A. Braunbeck’s “We Now Pause for Station Identification”, and Joe Hill’s “Best New Horror” was awarded Long Fiction. Del Howison and Jeff Gelb’s Dark Delicacies won the anthology award, and Hill made it a popular double when he also received the Collection award for 20th Century Ghosts. Horror: Another 100 Best Books edited by Stephen Jones and Kim Newman won in the Non-Fiction category, and Michael A. Arnzen’s Freakcidents and Charlee Jacob’s Sineater tied for the Poetry award. The HWA Life Achievement Award went to Peter Straub, Necessary Evil Press was the recipient of the Specialty Press Award, and the Richard Laymon President’s Award went to Lisa Morton for her services to the HWA.

  British FantasyCon XXX was held in Nottingham over September 22nd-24th. The impressive line-up of Guests of Honour included Clive Barker, Ramsey Campbell, Neil Gaiman, Raymond E. Feist and Juliet E. McKenna, while David J. Howe was Master of Ceremonies.

  The August Derleth Award for Best Novel went to Neil Gaiman’s Anansi Boys. Best Novella was Stuart Young’s “The Mask Behind the Face”, and Joe Hill’s “Best New Horror” repeated its Stoker success, collecting the award for Best Short Fiction. The author also continued his winning streak by picking up the Best Collection award for 20th Century Ghosts. The Elastic Book of Numbers edited by Allan Ashley won for Best Anthology, Peter Crowther’s PS Publishing picked up the Best Small Press award, and Les Edwards was once again voted Best Artist. Clive Barker presented The Karl Edward Wagner Award for Special Achievement to Stephen Jones, and all the winners were present to accept their statuettes. A Special BFS Committee Founders Award was given to Keith Walker, Rosemary Pardoe, Phil Spencer and David A. Sutton.

  World Fantasy Convention 2006, celebrating the “Robert E. Howard Centennial”, was held in Austin, Texas, over November 2nd-5th. Authors Glen Cook, Dave Duncan and “Robin Hobb” (Megan Lindholm) were Guests of Honor. Editor GoH was the legendary Glenn Lord, Artist GoH was John Jude Palencar, and Gary Gianni was billed as Robert E. Howard Artist Guest.

  The eleventh International Horror Guild Awards (now apparently referred to as the “Iggys”) were presented on the Thursday evening at World Fantasy, hosted by artist John Picacio.

  Chelsea Quinn Yarbro became the first woman honoured with the IHG Living Legend Award, which was presented by Suzy McKee Charnas. Brett Easton Ellis’ Lunar Park won the Novel award, Short Fiction went to “There’s a Hole in the Sky” by Rick Bowes (SciFiction), Mid-Length Fiction went to “La Peau Verte” by Caitlín R. Kiernan (To Charles Fort, with Love) and Long Fiction was awarded to “Kiss of the Mudman” by Gary Braunbeck (Home Before Dark). PS Publishing had a double success when Joe Hill’s 20th Century Ghosts received the award for Collection and Peter Crowther’s PostScripts won for Periodical. Memories by Enki Bilal received the Illustrated Narrative award, Non-Fiction went to editors S. T. Joshi and Stefan Dziemianowicz’s comprehensive three-volume Supernatural Literature of the World: An Encyclopedia, and Clive Barker’s “Exhibition: Visions of Heaven and Hell (and Then Some)” at Los Angeles’ Bert Green Fine Art gallery was the somewhat odd choice for the Art award.

  In fact, the 2006 IHG Awards were surrounded by controversy, but we will return to that a little later . . .

  Three days later in Austin, Toastmaster Bradley Denton hosted the 2006 World Fantasy Awards presentation following a crowded banquet on the Sunday afternoon. The Special Award, Non-Professional went to David J. Howe and Stephen Walker for their publishing imprint Telos Books, and the Special Award, Professional was somewhat controversially presented to Sean Wallace for Prime Books. James Jean won for Artist, Bruce Holland Rogers’ The Keyhole Opera was awarded Collection, and The Fair Folk edited by Marvin Kaye collected Anthology. George Saunders’ story “CommComm” (from The New Yorker) collected the award for Short Fiction, Joe Hill rounded out an incredible year when his “Voluntary Committal” won for Novella, and Haruki Murakami’s Kafka on the Shore was deemed the winner in the Novel category. Life Achievement Awards were announced for artist Stephen Fabian and writer John Crowley. Only one of the winners was actually present.

  More observant readers may have noticed that no anthology winner was listed in the International Horror Guild Awards above. This was not an oversight.

  I’ve talked about awards in these pages before, and they continue to be a thorny subject. Although most general readers will be unaware of the situation, in 2006 there was a brief flurry of controversy in the horror field over a decision by the IHG judges to not even nominate the minimum three titles required in the “Anthology” category.

  For a year that produced many new and notable anthologies, not to mention the two annual “Year’s Best” horror volumes, it seemed inexplicable to many people working in the genre that the panel of IHG judges were apparently unable to come up with at least three titles first published in t
he year 2005 worthy of a nomination. Obviously, this did not seem to have been a problem for any other major awards in the field.

  As a result, around seventy people (including myself and other previous and multiple IHG winners) put our names to an “Open Letter” to the administrators condemning their decision and pointing out that their failure to acknowledge any anthology titles was not only blinkered, but sent entirely the wrong message to not only readers of the genre, but also to publishers.

  The anthologies market is already depressed enough. Why should any publisher support future anthology projects if one of the major awards in the field could not find anything even worthwhile to nominate out of a year’s worth of titles? Arguably, 2005 may not have been the best of years, but it was certainly far from the worst . . .

  As we had intended, our open letter stirred up discussion within the field. However, what none of us who put our names to the statement expected was the vehemence that it would provoke.

  Within hours of its posting, message boards were buzzing with people discussing the pros and cons of the letter. I soon started receiving e-mails attacking me personally. Over the following weeks I was threatened and insulted, and I know that others received similar treatment.

  However, I’m delighted to say that these kinds of bullying tactics ultimately failed. Only one person who signed the letter subsequently asked to have his name removed. Many more contacted us and asked if they could have their names added.

  In the end, the IHG judges claimed that they didn’t really consider “reprint” anthologies (an odd statement, given that such information appears nowhere in their rules and, in the past, I have won the IHG Award for this very anthology series). Perhaps even more telling was the excuse by another judge that the panel did not receive enough free copies of anthologies to make an informed decision.