Category: Books


bernie-wrightson-zombie

My upcoming book, Zombies: The Ultimate Visual History (insight Editions, Oct. 4, 2016) is now available for pre-order on Amazon! Here’s the publisher’s description and specs:

Zombies: The Ultimate Visual History is the indispensable visual tour of all things undead. Filled to the brim with hundreds of photographs, movie posters, and pieces of art, as well as quotes from zombie filmmakers, actors, makeup artists, writers, musicians, and visual artists, Zombies: The Ultimate Visual History constructs a graphic narrative from the origin of the archetype through to today’s current obsession with zombies. A treasure trove featuring removable ephemera and sidebars on how zombies have impacted popular culture, the book not only grants an extensive overview of zombie cinema and television, but also all related media, from video games and comics to toys and collectibles.

  • Hardcover: 160 pages
  • Publisher: Insight Editions (October 4, 2016)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 1608875156
  • ISBN-13: 978-1608875153
  • Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 11 inches
  • Shipping Weight: 1.7 pounds

I can tell you that I’ve personally selected more than 750 images for the book, and the designer may well add many more. Most in full color, many in gorgeous black and white (like the one above!). This will be the most complete visual volume on the history of zombies ever published.

Please pre-order it so the publisher will be impressed with my marketing efforts, and then share this post with all your friends! I’ll owe you a solid.

 

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Enjoy this celebration of Ray Bradbury and his book, The Halloween Tree! This is from 2007, I sure do miss Ray.

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

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Jordan Con logo

I’ll be a special guest at JordanCon V (Which is ALSO Deep South Con 51 – I know, confusing) in Roswell, GA April 19-21st! More details are available here:
http://www.jordancon.org
Hope you’ll join me – DSC is usually a very fun weekend.

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Gerry Anderson. Photo by S. Klinge

Very sad news, Gerry Anderson has passed away. As reported by his son Jamie, Anderson died of natural causes December 26. Gerry had been diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease in 2010 and moved into an assisted living care facility in October, 2012.

The creator and producer of such classic television series as Supercar, Thunderball XL-5, Stingray, Thunderbirds, Captain Scarlet and the Mysterons, UFO and Space: 1999, Anderson leaves a legacy of thought provoking entertainment for all ages. Most recently he consulted with the producers of an upcoming cinematic remake of UFO, and was active in awareness and fundraising for Alzheimer’s research.

The second time I met Gerry Anderson was in 2006 at the Sector 25 Convention near London. I was there promoting the book I had written with Mike Trim, one of the model makers and designers on Thunderbirds. I told Gerry about the book and thanked him for creating the series, as well as UFO, Space: 1999 and the rest of the Supermarionation TV shows. I told him how much they’d meant to me when I was young, and how happy I was to have even a small part in celebrating them through my work on the book. He looked at me for a moment, then thanked me in return. “For what?”, I asked.  He’d seen I was very serious in my praise. “For not having me on,” he replied.

So many years later, he was still wary that the shows had been made on very tight budgets for kids, and that all the strings were visible on the puppets. I hope that in the end, he stopped worrying about the strings and saw what we, the fans saw – the care and love that he and his team put into the shows.

Rest in Peace, Gerry. Thanks for the wonderful hours of excitement and entertainment.

 

 

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Wherever you are, whatever you celebrate, I hope the holiday season finds you happy, warm, and content. Thanks for all the words of encouragement and books you bought from me this year. I hope to see or meet even more of you in 2013!

And of course, Click Here if you’d like a copy of any of my books. They make great gifts!

Many thanks again to Steve Kyte for his wonderful cover art for Arctic Adventure!, which I have ham-fistedly butchered above in the spirit of the season.

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My Thunderbirds™ novel is now available! The official promotional copy says:

Brains is the genius behind International Rescue’s technology. Besides designing and upgrading all of their equipment, he constantly develops and tests new products and processes, sometimes in partnership with outside interests. Eager to try out a new stealth system of his invention, Brains teams up with Humboldt Aviation to install his system on their new aircraft, the V-17. On the first test flight, the V-17 is shot down over the arctic by agents of the outlaw state of Reznia. With the aircraft shattered and partly buried in the ice, Brains and the V-17’s pilot are injured and unable to free themselves. Although Brains is able to contact International Rescue for recovery, the Reznians are also converging on the crash site in order to claim the wreckage for their research. Can the rest of International Rescue find and retrieve Brains and the V-17 pilot before the Reznians can capture them and the crashed plane?

It was great fun to dip into the world of International Rescue and play with all those wonderful toys on Tracy Island. The story began as a spec treatment for a new television series of Thunderbirds™ that never materialized, unfortunately. When Joan Verba of FTL Publications asked me if I would write an official novel based on the series, I already had the basics written up and ready to go. She liked the outline, and I spent several months fleshing it out into the novel that’s now available. The cover art by the amazing Steve Kyte is absolutely gorgeous, he out-did himself. Big thanks to Joan for the opportunity to play in the world that Gerry and Sylvia Anderson created. I enjoyed it immensely, and hope you enjoy Arctic Adventure!

Click Here To Order Arctic Adventure! From Amazon.com

Click Here To Order Arctic Adventure! From Thunderbirds.com

Click Here To Order Arctic Adventure! From FTLpublications.com

I’ll have copies for sale at the Nashville Comic and Horror Convention in October, and at the Memphis Comic & Fantasy Convention in November. See the links on the right side of this page for details.

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Woohoo! For the tenth straight year, I remain UN-nominated for a Rondo Hatton Classic Horror Award! I was only going for a three-peat, but this is overwhelming. >choke!<

Ok, so I may have actually done nothing nomination-worthy for about seven of those years, and its possible that the taste of sour grapes is in my mouth, but that could also be the cheap wine. Sometimes Boone’s Farm is the only balm that will heal, as I’m sure all of you would agree.

Many of you.

Any of you?

I would love to have seen any of the interviews or articles I had published this year nominated, and I think at least two were contenders, but I do believe that the ones that actually made the cut earned their spots. This year as for the past nine, David Colton, Kerry Gammill and the all volunteer staff of the Rondo Awards have worked very hard to field a ballot jam-packed with classic monster goodness, and I thank them for their efforts.

Here are just a few of my favorites on the ballot this year, and if you’re waffling on who to vote for, by all means let me influence you.

BEST SHORT FILM

— YOU WILL NEVER GUESS WHAT THIS AD IS ABOUT, directed by Andreas Roth. German commercial will surprise you. CLICK HERE to view.

BEST BOOK

— THE HAMMER VAULT, by Marcus Hearn. (Titan Books, hardcover, 176 pages, $34.95). From the studio archives, documents, stills and memorabilia in a handsome package.

— MAIL-ORDER MYSTERIES: Real Stuff from Old Comic Book Ads! by Kirk Demarais. (Insight, hardcover, 156 pages, $19.95). The shocking truth about what you really got if you ordered those X-Ray Glasses or Six-Foot Monsters.

BEST ARTICLE

— ‘Dare You See It? James Whale’s Frankenstein,’ by Pierre Fournier. MONSTERPALOOZA #1. Using vintage newspaper stories, ads and ballyhoo, what the public was told about the filming of Frankenstein in 1931.

— ‘The Making of Hands of the Ripper,’ by Bruce G. Hallenbeck. LITTLE SHOPPE OF HORRORS #26. How the shocking tale made it to theaters mostly intact.

— ‘Music by James Bernard: Themes For a Tapestry of Terror,’ by Steve Vertlieb, FILM MUSIC REVIEW, Fall 2011. Scoring the master of suspense and thrills.

BEST INTERVIEW

— Mimsy Farmer: ‘The Mimsy Farmer Experience,’ by Mark F. Berry. VIDEO WATCHDOG #162. Extensive talk with star of dragstrip films, Four Flies on Grey Velvet and more.

— Haruo Nakajima: ‘The Original Godzilla,’ by August Ragone. FAMOUS MONSTERS OF FILMLAND #256. The man who played Godzilla, Rodan, Gargantua and many others recalls the hot suit, the staged battles and the work ethic.

BEST MAGAZINE COVER

My pal Mark Maddox has three in contention this year – Little Shoppe of Horrors #27, MAD SCIENTIST #23, and Undying Monsters #1 – A vote for any of them is a vote for great art.

In addition, Jeff Preston’s cover for Monsterpalooza #1 is in the race as well, and it’s a beauty, too.

BEST CONVENTION

Wonderfest. ‘Natch.

ARTIST OF THE YEAR

I’m writing in Mark Maddox.

These are just a few of my favorites – the full ballot is now available online, and anyone can vote. The awards ceremony will be held again this year at Wonderfest in May, in Louisville, Kentucky. See you there.

 

Click the Rondo Banner below to be whisked to the website so that you may vote forthwith!

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Fiat Lux!

Opening salvo at the Taylorcosm!

I’ve got a new book out in January, a licensed Thunderbirds™ novel called Arctic Adventure! published by FTL Publications. Here’s a link to pre-order it:

Click Here to Order Arctic Adventure!

 

Arctic Adventure! Cover

Arctic Adventure! Cover

More on the book very soon!

 

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