American screenwriter A. J. Carothers, who was a close friend of Walt Disney, died of cancer on 9 April, aged 75. His many credits include the TV movies Topper Returns (1973) and The Thief of Baghdad (1978).
Influential American writer Kurt Vonnegut, Jr died on 11 April from brain injuries sustained in a fall at his New York home several weeks earlier. He was 84. Best known for his 1969 time-travel novel Slaughterhouse-Five: or, The Children’s Crusader: A Duty-Dance with Death, his other SF works include Player Piano (aka Utopia 14), The Sirens of Titan, Mother Night, Cat’s Cradle, God Bless You Mr Rosewater: or, Pearls Before Swine, Breakfast of Champions: or, Goodbye Blue Monday, Slapstick: or, Lonesome No More, Hocus Pocus and Timequake. He created the character of failed SF author “Kilgore Trout”, who appeared in a number of novels. Vonnegut struggled with depression most of his life and attempted to commit suicide in 1984. His 1991 autobiography was titled Fates Worse Than Death.
Thirty-five-year-old Professor Christopher James (“Jamie”) Bishop, the son of author Michael Bishop, was one of thirty-two people shot dead by crazed student Cho Seung-Hui at Virgina Tech university campus on 16 April. The South Korean-born murderer subsequently killed himself in America’s worst mass-shooting case. Bishop, a foreign languages and literature teacher, designed the digital covers for four of his father’s books: Time Pieces, Brighten to Incandescence, A Reverie for Mister Ray and the anthology Passing for Human.
Eighty-six-year-old American cartoonist Brant Parker, who co-created the long-running newspaper strip The Wizard of Id with Johnny Hart, died on 18 April of Alzheimer’s disease and a stroke he had suffered the previous year. Hart died eight days earlier, aged 76.
Emily Sunstein (Emily Weisberg), who wrote the biographies A Different Face: The Life of Mary Wollstonecraft and Mary Shelley. Romance and Reality, died of complications from autoimmune vasculitis on 22 April, aged 82.
Irish author Pat O’Shea (Catherine Patricia Shiels), best known for her young adult fantasy novel The Hounds of the Morrigan (1985), died on 3 May, aged 76.
Screenwriter Bernard Gordon (Raymond T. Marcus, aka “John T. Williams”), who was blacklisted as one of the “Hollywood Ten” by the House of Un-American Activities in the mid-1950s, died of bone cancer on 11 May, aged 88. His scripts include Earth vs. the Flying Saucers, Zombies of Mora Tau, The Man Who Turned to Stone (all under the pseudonym “Raymond T. Marcus”) and The Day of the Triffids (“fronted” by producer Philip Yordan). Gordon also produced the Spanish-made Horror Express, starring Christopher Lee and Peter Cushing. Some of his writing credits were restored by the Writers Guild of America forty years later, although Gordon remained bitter and led the campaign against director Elia Kazan receiving an honorary Academy Award in 1999.
American young adult author Lloyd [Chudley] Alexander, best known for his “Chronicles of Prydain” sequence of novels (1964-68) died of lung cancer on 17 May, aged 83. Comprising The Book of Three, The Black Cauldron, The Castle ofLlyr, Taran Wanderer and The High King, the series was based on Welsh mythology, and the first two books were made into an animated film by Disney in 1985. A related collection, The Foundling and Other Tales from Prydain, was published in 1970. Alexander wrote more than forty books, including Time Cat, The Marvelous Misadventures of Sebastian, Westmark and The Golden Dream of Carlo Chuchio. He was a winner of the Newbery Medal, American Book Award, National Book Award and World Fantasy Award for Life Achievement.
Eighty-five-year-old pianist Ben Wiseman, who co-wrote a number of songs for Elvis Presley, including “Follow That Dream”, died of complications from a stroke on 20 May.
Walt Disney animator Art(hur) Stevens died of a heart attack on 22 May, aged 92. He began his long career at the studio working on Fantasia as an “in-betweener”. His main animation credits include Peter Pan, One Hundred and One Dalmatians, Winnie the Pooh and the Blustery Day, It’s Tough to Be a Bird, Bedknobs and Broomsticks, Robin Hood and The Rescuers, which he also directed along with The Fox and the Hound. Stevens also co-wrote the story for The Black Cauldron, based on the fantasy series by Lloyd Alexander. He retired in 1983.
American music composer and pianist George Greeley died of emphysema on 26 May, aged 89. A composer for such TV series as My Favorite Martian (including the theme), My Living Doll, The Ghost & Mrs Muir and Small Wonder, he also contributed stock music to such movies as The 27th Day and Screaming Mimi.
Walter J. (James) “Doc” Daugherty, who for many years was the official staff photographer for Forrest J Ackerman’s Famous Monsters of Filmland magazine, died in his sleep on 14 June, aged 90. The son of silent film actors, Daugherty was chairman of the 1946 World Science Fiction Convention, Fan Guest of Honour at the 1968 Worldcon, and a member of First Fandom.
Seventy-two-year-old Canadian-born science fiction writer, poet and editor Douglas [Arthur] Hill was killed on 21 June when he was run over by a double-decker bus while on a pedestrian crossing in North London. He was declared dead at the scene. Hill moved to the UK in 1959 as a freelance writer, and he was associate editor from 1967-68 of Michael Moorcock’s New Worlds magazine. His nearly seventy books, many for younger readers, include the non-fiction study The Supernatural (with Pat Willams), the anthology Way of the Werewolf, the “Last Legionary” quartet (Galactic Warlord, Deathwing Over Veynaa, Day of the Starwind and Planet of the Warlord), The Huntsman, Exiles from Olsec, World ofStiks and the “Cade” and “Demon Stalkers” trilogies. For very young children he also wrote Tales of Trellie the Troog, The Dragon Charmer and Melleron’s Monsters.
Margaret F. Crawford (Margaret Ruth Finn, aka “Garret Ford”), who helped her husband William L. Crawford (who died in 1984) found American small press imprint FPCI (Fantasy Publishing Company, Incorporated) in the 1940s, died of heart failure on 23 June, aged 82. FPCI published around forty books, including the 1945 Robert E. Howard pamphlet Garden of Fear, three novels by L. Ron Hubbard (Death’s Deputy, The Kingslayer and The Triton) and The Undesired Princess by L. Sprague de Camp. The Crawfords also published eight issues of Fantasy Book, along with the magazines Spaceway and Coven 13 (later retitled Witchcraft & Sorcery).
Author, sculptor and jeweller Sterling E. (Edmund) Lanier, best-known for his post-holocaust novel Hiero’s Journey (1973) and its sequel The Unforsaken Hiero, died on 28 June at the age of 79. As the managing editor of Chilton Books in the 1960s, he convinced that publisher of primarily automotive manuals to issue Frank Herbert’s Dune, which had been turned down by every other publisher it was submitted to. Lanier’s own SF career began in Astounding in 1961 and his “Brigadier Ffellowes” series of stories were collected in The Peculiar Exploits of Brigadier Ffellowes and The Curious Quest of Brigadier Ffellowes.
Seventy-seven-year-old American author Fred (Frederick) [Thomas] Saberhagen died after a long battle with prostate cancer on 29 June. Best-known for his robotic “Berserker” SF series, beginning with the eponymously-titled collection in 1967, he made his debut in Galaxy in 1961 and published around sixty books, including The Frankenstein Papers, Merlin’s Bones, two collaborations with Roger Zelazny, the “Empire of the East” series, the “Swords” trilogy, “The Book of the Gods” series and his sympathetic “Dracula” sequence. The latter comprised The Dracula Tape (1975), The Holmes-Dracula File, An Old Friend in the Family, Thorn, Dominion, A Matter of Taste, Seance for a Vampire, A Sharpness on the Neck and A Coldness in the Blood. Saberhagen also wrote novelizations of the 1992 movie Br am Stoker’s Dracula and the TV series Earth: Final Conflict.
American movie reviewer Joel Siegel, best-known as the lead film critic and entertainment editor for ABC-TV’s Good Morning America, died after a long battle with colon cancer on the same day, aged 63. Siegel began his career working as a book reviewer for the Los Angeles Times and writing gags for Robert F. Kennedy’s political campaign.
Pulitzer Prize-winning American composer and conductor Will Shaeffer (Willis H. Shaeffer) died of cancer on 30 June, aged 78. His credits include Disney’s The Shaggy Dog (1959) and The Ar
istocats, TV’s I Dream of Jeannie and The Flying Nun, and such cartoon series as The Flintstones, The Yogi Bear Show, Scooby Doo Where Are You?, Super Friends and The Godzilla Power Hour.
Prolific American romance author Ronda Thompson (Ronda L. Widener), who wrote a number of paranormal romance novels, died of cancer on 11 July, aged 51. Her Regency’ ‘Wild Wulfs of London” series comprised A Wulfs Curse, The Dark One, The Untamed One and The Cursed One. Her other werewolf books include After the Twilight, Call of the Moon and Confessions of a Werewolf Supermodel.
Screenwriter and novelist Marc Behm died on 12 July, aged 82. He worked on the scripts of such movies as The Return of Dr Mabuse (1961), The Beatles’ Help!, Someone Behind the Door, Lady Chatterley’s Lover (1981) and Hospital Massacre. His serial killer novel The Eye of the Beholder has been filmed twice (1983 and 1999), while another book, The Ice Maiden, has a vampire as its central character.
American novelist Alice Borchardt (Alice Allen O’Brien), the elder sister of Anne Rice, died of cancer on 24 July, aged 67. Her books included the “Silver Wolf” werewolf series, The Silver Wolf (1998), Night of the Wolf and The Wolf Queen, along with the romantic fantasies Devoted, Beguiled, The Dragon Queen and The Raven Warrior.
Former British book dealer and literary agent Leslie Flood died of complications from leukaemia in Marbella, Spain, on 1 August. He was 85. A co-founder of the International Fantasy Awards (1951-57), Flood helped shape the Gollancz SF list into the late 1960s as its chief reader. He took over the E. J. Carnell literary agency after John Carnell’s death in 1972, where his client list included Brian Lumley. Upon his retirement in 1986 he received a special British Fantasy Award for his services to the genre.
British author John [Edmund] Gardner, best known for his series of novels about spy “Boysie Oakes”, which started with The Liquidator (1964), died of heart failure on 3 August, aged 80. His many other books include fourteen official James Bond continuations (beginning with Licence Renewed in 1981), two Bond movie novelizations and two Holmesian novels based around Professor Moriarty.
British science fiction author Colin Kapp died on the same day, aged 79. His first short story appeared in New Worlds in 1958, and he also contributed fiction to Analog, Galaxy, Worlds of If and New Writings in SF. Kapp wrote twelve novels, including Transfinite Man, The Patterns of Chaos, Survival Game and The Ion War. Starting with Search for the Sun in 1982, he published four books in the “Cageworld” series, and his short puzzle stories are collected in The Unorthodox Engineers. His 1962 story “Lambda 1” was adapted for the TV series Out of the Unknown. When invited as Guest of Honour to the British National SF Convention in Glasgow in 1980, Kapp famously delivered his speech wearing a space suit.
American country singer, songwriter and record producer Lee Hazlewood died of renal cancer on 4 August, aged 78. In 1966 he teamed up with Nancy Sinatra for “These Boots Are Made for Walkin’” and went on to produce nine albums for the singer. Hazlewood’s songs have been covered by acts such as Dean Martin, Nick Cave, Megadeth and Primal Scream.
Sixty-seven-year-old German horror author Jürgen Grasmück (aka “Dan Shocker”) died after a long illness on 7 August. His numerous books (written under more than a dozen pseudonyms) included the long-running “Larry Brent” and “Macabros” series.
Oscar-winning Hollywood comedy writer, producer and director Melville Shavelson died on 8 August, aged 90. He scripted the 1945 Danny Kaye fantasy Wonder Man.
Italian-born comic book artist Mike (Michael Lance) Wieringo (aka “Ringo”) who worked on DCs The Flash and Marvel’s Fantastic Four and The Sensational Spider-Man, died of an aortic dissection on 12 August, aged 44.
British scriptwriter Clive Exton (Clive Jack Montague Brooks), died on 16 August, aged 77. He wrote the movies Night Must Fall (1964), 10 Rillington Place, Doomwatch, The House in Nightmare Park (which he also produced), The Awakening, Red Sonja, and episodes of Out of This World (hosted by Boris Karloff), Out of the Unknown, Survivors (as “M. K. Jeeves”), Ghost Story for Christmas: Stigma, ITV Playhouse (“Casting the Runes”) and The Infinite Worlds of H. G. Wells.
American TV scriptwriter and producer Max Hodge died on 17 August, aged 91. The creator of chilly villain “Mr Freeze” for the 1960s Batman TV series, he also wrote for The Wild Wild West, Mission: Impossible, The Night Stalker and Supertrain, and he was associate producer on The Girl from U.NC.L.E. (1966-67).
SF researcher Richard A. (Alan) Hauptmann died on 20 August after a long battle with cancer. He was 62. An expert on the works of Jack Williamson, his books include The Work of Jack Williamson: An Annotated Bibliography and Guide and Seventy-Five: The Diamond Anniversary of a Science Fiction Pioneer (with Stephen Haffner).
Author and stage actor Denny Martin Flinn, who co-scripted Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country with director Nicholas Meyer and wrote the 1995 Trek novel The Fearful Summons, died of cancer on 24 August, aged 59.
Hungarian-born artist Attila Hejja died of a heart attack on 26 August, aged 52. He emigrated to the United States with his family in 1956 and later became the director of Stevenson Academy of Fine Arts. Best known for his Aerospace illustrations for Boeing, Lockheed and General Electric, Hejja also designed the poster for the first Star Trek movie and created a series of stamps on space in 1998 for the US Postal Service to commemorate NASA’s 40th Anniversary. His work also appeared on more than seventy-five book covers and he produced over twenty-five cover illustrations for Popular Mechanics magazine.
American attorney, circuit court judge and SF/mystery writer Joe L. (Joseph Louis) Hensley died of complications from leukaemia on the same day, aged 81. His first published science fiction appeared in a 1952 edition of Planet Stories. He also wrote the 1976 post-holocaust novel The Black Roads, and his short SF stories are collected in Final Doors.
Playwright, poet and children’s fantasy author Madeleine L’Engle [Camp] died on 5 September, aged 88. Best known for her Newbery Award-winning novel A Wrinkle in Time (1962), which was initially rejected by twenty-six publishers, her more than sixty other books included The Young Unicorns, A Wind in the Door, Dragons in the Waters, A Swiftly Tilting Planet, Many Waters, An Acceptable Time and the collection The Sphinx at Dawn. She was awarded the World Fantasy Lifetime Achievement Award in 1997.
Veteran Walt Disney artist Ralph Kent, who designed the first limited edition Mickey Mouse wristwatch in 1965 along with other Disneyland and Walt Disney World souvenirs, died of complications of oesophageal cancer on 10 September, aged 68. Known as “The Keeper of the Mouse”, he taught new artists how to draw Mickey and other classic Disney characters before retiring in 2004. He was named a “Disney Legend” the same year.
Bestselling American fantasy author Robert Jordan (James Oliver Rigney, Jr) died of complications from the rare blood disease cardiac amyloidosis on 16 September. He was 58. Jordan’s first novel, historical family saga The Fallon Blood (1980), was written under the pseudonym “Reagan O’Neal”, and he used other pen names for his Westerns (“Jackson O’Reilly”) and non-fiction (“Chang Lung”). After becoming an editor at Tor Books he wrote a series of “Conan” novels under the Jordan byline: Conan the Invincible (1982), Conan the Defender, Conan the Unconquered, Conan the Triumphant, Conan the Magnificent, Conan the Victorious and the film tie-in Conan the Destroyer. The Eye of the World (1990) was the first volume in his hugely popular “The Wheel of Time” series, which encompassed twelve fantasy novels and sold more than fifteen million copies in North America alone. He was working on the concluding volume, A Memory of Light, at the time of his death.
Hollywood screenwriter Charles B. Griffith died on 28 September, aged 77. In 1954 he was introduced to Roger Corman by actor Jonathan Haze and went on to script such early Corman films as It Conquered the World (uncredited), Not of This Earth, Attack of the Crab Monsters, The Undead, A Bucket of Blood, Beast from Haunted Cave, The Little Shop of Horrors, Atlas, Creature from the Haunted Sea and The Wild Angels. Griffith’s other writing credits include De
ath Race 2000, Dr Heckyl and Mr Hype, Wizards of the Lost Kingdom II, and the remakes of Little Shop of Horrors, Not of This Earth (1988 and 1995) and A Bucket of Blood (aka The Death Artist). As a supporting actor he turned up in It Conquered the World, Attack of the Crab Monsters, The Little Shop of Horrors (in several roles), Atlas, Hollywood Boulevard and Eating Raoul, and he directed Up from the Depths, Dr Heckyl and Mr Hype and Wizards of the Lost Kingdom II. Quentin Tarantino dedicated his recent film Death Proof to Griffith.
Archie Comics president and co-publisher Richard H. Goldwater, who inherited the company founded in 1941 by his father, John, and business partner Louis Silberkleit, died of cancer on 2 October, aged 71. During his time with the company, Goldwater expanded such character franchises as Archie, Sabrina the Teenage Witch and Josie and the Pussycats into TV series and movies.
Susan Chandler (Susan Schlenker), the second wife of the late SF author A. Bertram Chandler, died in Sydney, Australia, on 5 October. In the mid-1960s the couple collaborated on a story in Worlds of Tomorrow and, with Keith Curtis, she co-edited the posthumous Chandler collection From Sea to Shining Star (1989).
Community theatre actor, playwright and Sherlock Holmes enthusiast Richard Valley, who published, edited and co-founded (with Jessie Lilley) the classic horror and mystery film magazine Scarlet Street, died of cancer on 12 October, aged 58. Fifty-five issues of the magazine appeared from 1991-2006.
Simeon Shoul, who was a regular reviewer for Infinity Plus, died of a heart attack on 16 October.
Polish novelist, poet and translator Jerzy Peterkiewicz died on 26 October, aged 91. His books include the metaphysical fantasy The Quick and the Dead and the SF-themed Inner Circle.
The Mammoth Book of Best New Horror 19 Page 75
