Best New Horror 29

by Stephen Jones

  Award-winning British author, poet and editor Brian W. (Wilson) Aldiss OBE died in his sleep on August 19, the day after his 92nd birthday. His first SF story was published in 1954, and his debut novel Non-Stop (aka Starship) appeared four years later. He published more than 100 books, including the novels Hothouse, Greybeard, Earthworks, An Age (aka Cryptozoic!), Report on Probability A, Barefoot in the Head, The Malicia Tapestry, Moreau’s Other Island (aka An Island Called Moreau), Dracula Unbound and the “Heliconia” trilogy. His short fiction is collected in Space Time and Nathaniel, The Canopy of Time, No Time Like Tomorrow, The Airs of Earth (aka Starswarm), Best SF Stories of Brian Aldiss (aka Who Can Replace a Man?), The Saliva Tree and Other Stange Growths (the title story is a homage to both H.G. Wells and H.P. Lovecraft), Neanderthal Planet, Last Orders and Other Stories and New Arrivals Old Encounters, amongst other titles. The non-fiction study Billion Year Spree: The History of Science Fiction was later revised and updated with David Wingrove as Trillion Year Spree, Hell’s Cartographers was co-edited with Harry Harrison, and Bury My Heart at W.H. Smith’s: A Writing Life was an autobiography. Aldiss also co-edited six volumes of The Year’s Best Science Fiction (1968-73) and four other anthologies with Harrison, and titles he also edited include Penguin Science Fiction, More Penguin Science Fiction, Yet More Penguin Science Fiction, Space Opera, Space Odysseys, Evil Earths, Galactic Empires and The Folio Science Fiction Anthology. His novel Frankenstein Unbound was filmed by Roger Corman in 1990, while his short story ‘Supertoys Last All Summer Long’ was the basis for Steven Spielberg’s A.I. Artificial Intelligence (2001), which had been developed years before by Stanley Kubrick. A frequent guest of honour at conventions, Aldiss’ many awards include the Hugo and Nebula. He was made SFWA Grand Master in 2000, and in 2013 he was a Special Guest at the World Fantasy Convention in Brighton, where he received the Convention Award along with William F. Nolan.

  Scottish author Gordon [Maclean] Williams, best known for his 1969 novel The Siege of Trencher’s Farm, which was infamously filmed by Sam Peckinpah as Straw Dogs (1971), died on August 20, aged 83. Williams also wrote the 1970s science fiction trilogy The Micronauts, The Microcolony and Revolt of the Micronauts, which began life as an unfilmed treatment for James Bond producer Harry Saltzman, and the horror novel The Bornless Keeper (as “P.B. Yuill”). With footballer Terry Venables he created the novel and TV detective “Hazell”, and his 1967 novel The Man Who Had Power Over Women was also filmed.

  American scriptwriter Thomas [Edward] Meehan, who won Tony Awards for his Broadway stage musicals Annie, The Producers and Hairspray, died on August 22, aged 88. He scripted the movies One Magic Christmas, Mel Brooks’ Spaceballs, and Elf: Buddy’s Musical Christmas, and co-wrote the libretto for Lorin Maazel’s production of 1984 at the Royal Opera House. Meehan also co-executive produced the 2008-09 cartoon TV show Spaceballs: The Animated Series.

  American author and publisher Howard Kaminsky died on August 26, aged 77. He began working in publishing in the 1960s, eventually rising in 1972 to President and Publisher of the Paperback Library imprint (which he soon changed to Warner Books). He went on to head Random House and William Morrow/Avon in the 1980s. Kaminsky also co-scripted the 1974 horror movie Homebodies, and with his wife, Susan Stanwood (who died in 2005), co-wrote a number of thrillers under the pseudonyms “Brooks Stanwood” and “Arthur Reid”. Their first collaboration, the 1979 horror-mystery novel The Glow, was made into a TV movie in 2002.

  American playwright Bernard Pomerance, whose best-known work was the 1979 Tony Award-winning play The Elephant Man, died of cancer the same day, aged 76. David Lynch’s 1980 movie of the same name was not an official adaptation of Pomerance’s work, although it shared many similarities.

  Syd Silverman, who was the owner and publisher of the movie trade magazine Variety for more than thirty-five years, died on August 27, aged 85. He was the grandson of Sime Silverman, who founded the title in 1905, and took over Variety when his father Sidne Silverman died in 1950. In 1987 Syd Silverman sold the magazine and its companion, Daily Variety, to Cahners Publishing.

  91-year-old British film historian Peter S. Haigh also died in August. For many years he was the editor of the monthly ABC Film Review, a promotional magazine for the ABC cinema circuit.

  American science fiction writer and editor Jerry [Eugene] Pournelle, believed to be the first author to write a published novel on a word processor (in 1977), died of heart failure on September 8, aged 84. He had just returned from Atlanta’s annual Dragon Con and mentioned in an online blog that he had contracted a cold or flu on the trip. Dr. Pournelle spent years working in the aerospace industry, and he published his first SF story in Analog in 1971. His books include the “CoDominium” space opera series: A Spaceship for the King, West of Honor, The Mercenery, Exiles to Glory, Prince of Mercenaries and the collection High Justice, along with later collaborations with S.M. Sterling and Larry Niven. Niven was the author Pournelle most often collaborated with, and the pair worked together on the novels The Mote in God’s Eye, Inferno, Escape from Hell, Lucifer’s Hammer, Oath of Fealty, Footfall, The Burning City and Burning Tower. He also collaborated with Niven and Michael Flynn on Fallen Angels, with Charles Sheffield on Higher Education, and with Roland J. Green on two sequels to his 1979 novel Janissaries. Along with a number of non-fiction books, Pournelle also edited many anthologies, including the “Endless Frontier” series (1979-92), the “There Will Be War” series (1983-90), the “Imperial Stars” series (1985-86) and the “War World” series (1988-94), mostly with John F. Carr, and the “Far Frontiers” series (1985-86) with James Baen. In 1973 he was the first winner of the John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer, and he served as president of the SFWA from 1973-74.

  Influential American comics writer and editor Len Wein (Leonard Norman Wein) died on September 10, six months after the death of his “Swamp Thing” co-creator, artist Bernie Wrightson. Wein, who was 69, also created the character of “Wolverine” with John Romita, Sr. and Herb Trimpe for Marvel Comics, revived the X-Men in 1975 with artist Dave Cockrum (co-creating “Nightcrawler”, “Storm”, “Colossus” and “Thunderbird”), and edited Alan Moore and and Dave Gibbons’ Watchmen at DC. Amongst many other titles, he also worked on DC’s The House of Mystery, House of Secrets, The Witching Hour, The Phantom Stranger and Jonah Hex; Marvel’s Tower of Shadows, Chamber of Darkness, Creatures on the Loose, Dracula Lives and Werewolf by Night; Skywald’s Nightmare and Psycho; Gold Key’s Boris Karloff Tales of Mystery, Star Trek and The Twilight Zone, and Dark Horse’s Conan: The Book of Thoth. Wein scripted episodes of various cartoon TV shows and co-wrote a number of comic-book novelisations, including Mayhem in Manhattan featuring Spider-man (with Marv Wolfman), Stalker from the Stars featuring the Incredible Hulk (with Ron Goulart writing as “Joseph Silva”) and the movie tie-in to Swamp Thing (with David Houston). In 2008 he was inducted into the Will Eisner Comic Book Hall of Fame.

  Veteran “Disney Legend”, animator, designer, scriptwriter and songwriter [Francis] Xavier Atencio, died the same day, aged 98. A Disneyland “Imagineer” from 1965-84, best known for writing the songs ‘Yo Ho (A Pirate’s Life for Me)’ and ‘Grim, Grinning Ghosts (Otherworldly Concerto)’ for, respectively, the theme rides Pirates of the Caribbean and the Haunted Mansion, he also worked in various capacities on the movies Pinocchio, Fantasia, The Shaggy Dog (1959), Babes in Toyland (1961), The Misadventures of Merlin Jones and Mary Poppins (1964).

  Comedic Swedish actor, author, scriptwriter, songwriter and director Hans [Folke] Alfredson died on September 10, aged 86. His books include the 1996 alternate history novel Attentatet i Pålsjö Skog (The Pålsjö Woods Attack).

  Iconic American monster movie artist Basil Gogos, best known for his colourful covers for Forrest J Ackerman’s Famous Monsters of Filmland magazine in the 1960s and ’70s, died of a probable heart attack on September 14, aged 78 (although some sources vary ten years either way). He had been suffering from Parkinson’s disease for several ye
ars. Born in Egypt of Greek ancestry, he moved to America to study art and began painting covers for Western paperbacks and working for men’s adventure magazines. He also contributed covers to such publications as Screen Thrills Illustrated, Spacemen, Creepy, Eerie, The Spirit and Monsterscene, along with trading cards, posters, fine-art prints, T-shirts and CD covers for such rock musicians as Rob Zombie and The Misfits. Famous Monster Movie Art of Basil Gogos was published by Vanguard Productions in 2005.

  British book and magazine collector Andy England, who built the shelves for, and often helped out in London’s Fantasy Centre bookstore, died on September 22, aged 63.

  American author Harvey [Jay] Jacobs died of a sudden bacterial infection on September 23, aged 87. He had been diagnosed with brain cancer a short time earlier. His first SF story was published in Tomorrow in 1951, and his short fiction was collected in The Egg of the Glak and Other stories and My Rose & My Glove: Stories (Real and Surreal), while his 1977 novel American Goliath: Inspired by the True, Incredible Events Surrounding the Mysterious Marvel Known to an Astonished World as the Cardiff Giant was nominated for a World Fantasy Award.

  American pianist and composer Caesar Giovanni died the same day, aged 92. He composed the piano solos heard in the Thriller TV episode ‘The Terror in Teakwood’ (based on the story by Harold Lawlor), and he also contributed to the soundtracks of such movies as House of Usher (1960), Master of the World, The Cabinet of Caligari (1962), the American version of Mario Bava’s Black Sabbath, The Comedy of Terrors, Seven Days in May, Wait Until Dark, The Power, Beneath the Planet of the Apes and Soylent Green.

  American author and scriptwriter Harvey Jacobs died of a bacterial infection and cancer on September 23, aged 87. From the late 1950s onwards, his short stories appeared in such magazines and anthologies as Playboy, Mademoiselle, New Worlds, The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction, Omni, The Year’s Best S-F: 11th Annual Edition, Satan’s Pets, More Little Monsters, The Book of Cats, More Wandering Stars, Blood is Not Enough, Strange Dreams, Snow White Blood Red, Twists in the Tale: Cat Horror Stories, Black Swan White Raven, The Mammoth Book of Comic Fantasy, Silver Birch Blood Moon and The Forsaken: Stories of Abandoned Places, and were collected in The Egg of Glak and Other Stories and My Rose & My Glove: Stories (Real and Surreal). During the late 1980s, Jacobs also scripted a number of episodes of TV’s Tales from the Darkside and Monsters.

  American author Kit Reed (Lillian Hyde Craig) died on September 24, aged 85. She had been diagnosed with glioblastoma, an aggressive type of brain tumour, several months earlier. Her first SF story appeared in The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction in 1958, and her often satirical and transgressive novels include Magic Time, Little Sisters of the Apocalypse, Thinner Than Thou, The Baby Merchant, The Night Children, Enclave, Son of Destruction and Mormama. As “Kit Craig” she wrote a number of psychological thrillers, while her 1986 horror novel Blood Fever was published under the name “Shelley Hyde”. Reed’s darkly humorous short fiction is collected in The Killer Mice, Other Stories and…The Attack of the Giant Baby, The Revenge of the Senior Citizens, Weird Women Wired Women, Seven for the Apocalypse, What Wolves Know and The Story Until Now, amongst other titles. Similarities between her 1976 short story, ‘The Attack of the Giant Baby’ and the 1992 Disney sequel Honey, I Blew Up the Kid resulted in a lawsuit and a “special recognition” credit as part of the settlement.

  American author Digby [Robert] Diehl, a former editor-in-chief at publisher Harry N. Abrams, editor of The Los Angeles Times’ Sunday Book Review (1975-78) and a founding member of the National Book Critics’ Circle, died of complications from Alzheimer’s disease on September 26, aged 76. He also co-wrote and edited a number of celebrity autobiographies, and he was the author of the 1996 volume Tales from the Crypt: The Official Archives. Diehl was featured in the documentaries Tales from the Crypt: From Comic Books to Television (2004) and Tales from the Crypt: A Tall Tales Panel—A Dissected Look at Tales from the Crypt Season 3 (2006).

  American horror fan and film collector Hugh [Marston] Hefner, the founder of Playboy magazine and star of E! reality TV show The Girls Next Door, died of cardiac arrest on September 27, aged 91. Credited with sparking the sexual revolution of the 1950s and ’60s with his groundbreaking men’s magazine (which, besides creating the “Playboy Centerfold” and “Playboy Playmate”, was also a high-paying fiction market for such writers as Ray Bradbury, Stephen King, Robert Bloch, Roald Dahl, Kurt Vonnegut, Harlan Ellison, Margaret Atwood, Richard Matheson, Charles Beaumont, Doris Lessing, Isaac Bashevis Singer and many others), Hefner became an iconic figure and a multi-millionaire, with a string of Playboy Clubs around the world. He had a life-long interest in movies, especially horror and science fiction, and he executive produced such films as Macbeth (1971) and The Fiendish Plot of Fu Manchu, the TV documentary Lon Chaney: A Thousand Faces, and numerous softcore Playboy videos. Hefner also made cameo appearances in Citizen Toxie: The Toxic Avenger IV (as the President of the United States) and an episode of Get Smart.

  British-born American author and practicing witch Raymond Buckland, who founded his own “Seax-Wica” movement and operated various museums of witchcraft over the years, died the same day, aged 83. His 1990s “Committee Against Evil” fiction series comprised the novels The Committee and Cardinal’s Sin, and he also wrote the “Bram Stoker Mysteries” Cursed in the Act, Dead for a Spell and A Mistake Through the Heart. Credited with introducing the Gardnerian tradition of witchcraft into the United States in 1964, Buckland’s numerous non-fiction books on the subject include Buckland’s Complete Book of Witchcraft, Wicca for Life: The Way of the Life—From Birth to Summerland, Scottish Witchcraft & Magick: The Craft of the Picts, Doors to Other Worlds: A Practical Guide to Communicating with Spirits, The Witch Book: The Encyclopedia of Witchcraft Wicca and Neo-Paganism and the Llewellyn’s Magical Almanac Annual series, and he contributed the essay ‘Witchcraft the Religion’ to Kurt Singer’s anthology Tales from the Unknown.

  Japanese-born SF author and astrophysicist Yoji Kondo died on October 9, aged 84. As “Eric Kotani” he co-wrote the “Island Worlds” series (including Act of God, The Island Worlds and Between the Stars), Delta Pavonis and Legacy of Prometheus with John Maddox Roberts, Supernova with Roger MacBride Allen, and the TV tie-in Star Trek Voyager: Death of a Neutron Star with Dean Wesley Smith. Kondo also edited Requiem: New Collected Works by Robert A. Heinlein and Tributes to the Grand Master under his own name.

  American author Elizabeth Gilligan (Elizabeth Murphy) died of cancer on October 10, aged 55. During the 1990s she wrote a column for Midnight Zoo and started publishing fiction. Her “Silken Magic” trilogy comprises the novels Magic’s Silken Snare, The Silken Shroud and Sovereign Silk, and she edited the 2016 anthology Alterna-Teas.

  Indian-born British rock guitarist and thriller author Glover Wright (Geoffrey Glover-Wright, aka “Buddy Britten” and “Simon Raverne”), a former executive at The Beatles’ Apple Music, died in Jersey on October 11. His novels, which were often based around religious conspiracies, included the SF-themed The Hound of Heaven and Aurora.

  American author Julian [Clare] May (aka “Judy Dikty), best known for her best-selling “Saga of the Pliocene Exile” series in the 1980s (comprising the novels The Many-Colored Land, The Golden Torc, The Nonborn King and The Adversary), died on October 17, aged 86. Her first SF story, ‘Dune Roller’, was published with her own illustrations in Astounding in 1951 and later filmed as The Cremators (1972). During the late 1970s and early ’80s May wrote a number of children’s monster movie tie-ins under the name “Ian Thorne” for Crestwood House, including The Wolf Man, Dracula, Frankenstein, The Mummy and The Creature from the Black Lagoon. Her other books include Black Trillium, Blood Trillium and Sky Trillium with Marion Zimmer Bradley and Andre Norton, along with the “Galactic Milieu” sequence, the “Rampart Worlds” series, and the “Boreal Moon Tale” trilogy. May authored nearly 300 books in numerous genres and under many pseudonyms, including A Gazeteer of
the Hyborian World of Conan as “Lee N. Falconer”. She published a SF fanzine in her late teens, chaired the 1952 World Science Fiction Convention in Chicago, and was married to editor and publisher T.E. Dikty from 1953 until his death in 1991.

  Australian music composer Dudley [George] Simpson, best known for composing the incidental music for BBC-TV’s Doctor Who from 1964-80, died on November 4, aged 95. He composed the theme music for such series as The Tomorrow People, Blakes 7 and Super Gran, along with the music for episodes of Out of the Unknown, Moonbase 3 and Tales of the Unexpected. Simpson also contributed (uncredited) to the 1973 horror movie The Legend of Hell House. He made a cameo appearance as an orchestra conductor in the fourth episode of the Doctor Who serial ‘The Talons of Weng-Chang’.

  American author G. (Gregory) B. (Bernard) Banks died of pneumonia on November 7, aged 51. He had been suffering from the brittle bone disease, osteogenesis imperfecta. Banks wrote the novels Revolution Z and Three Hours to the Apocalypse, and his short fiction is collected in Phoenix Tales: Stories of Death & Life, Into the Every: Tales of Magic and Science and Scairy Tales: 13 Tantalizing Tales of Terror.

  British fan and editor Carl T. (Trevor) Ford died of complications from cystic fibrosis on November 13, aged 53. From 1983-90 he published the British Fantasy Award-winning small press magazine Dagon, initially inspired by the Call of Cthulhu RPG. He also edited one issue of Unrated: Cinema of the Extreme, and his short story ‘Many Happy Returns’ appeared in The Fourth Black Book of Horror.

  Argentinean-born music composer and conductor Luis [Enríquez] Bacalov died in Italy on November 15, aged 84. His credits include The Witch (1966), Ghosts Italian Style, Maniac Killer, La maschera and the theme for Night of the Zombies (aka Virus).