2004 Raves
What a great idea, Doug, posting a rave instead of a rant. Well, here goes. These are my horror raves for 2004.
I had great times at NECON and Horrorfind this year, and the best part, as always, was meeting and re-meeting so many wonderful horror professionals. The authors, editors, artists, dealers, and others are a great group of people. Not a stuck-up one in the bunch.
I read many rave-alicious books in 2004. Some of them are (listed in chronological order of reading): The Necromancer and The Wicked, by Doug Clegg; The Hades Project, by Justin Gustainis (a firecracker of a debut novel); lost boy lost girl, by Peter Straub; Gateways, by F. Paul Wilson (gotta love that Repairman); Borderlands 5, edited by Tom and Elizabeth Monteleone (after reading this, I vowed to get nos. 1 through 4, and to get into no. 6); Peaceable Kingdom, by Jack Ketchum; Song of Susannah and The Dark Tower, by Stephen King; Out of the Light, by Holly Newstein and Ralph Bieber; The Burden of Indigo, by Gene O’Neill; Naming of Parts and Changing of Faces, by Tim Lebbon; Someone in the Dark, by August Derleth; The Fear Report, by Elizabeth Massie; and Family Inheritance, by Deborah LeBlanc (another terrific debut).
Books I acquired this year and didn’t read yet and can’t wait to: Deep in the Darkness, by Michael Laimo; The Blood of the Lamb, Eyes of the Virgin, and The Resurrectionist, by Tom Monteleone; Quietly Now, ed. by Kealan-Patrick Burke; The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Writing a Novel, by Tom Monteleone; The Taking, by Dean Koontz; The Attraction and Night Cage, by Doug Clegg; The Resort, by Bentley Little; Endless Night, by Richard Laymon; Cold River, by Rick Hautala; Stained, by Lee Thomas; The Manor, by Scott Nicholson; The Turtle Boy, by Kealan-Patrick Burke; Indigo, by Graham Joyce; and Fear of Gravity, by Brian Keene.
I also picked up some great horror art this year. I got a print of the cover art by Deena Holland Warner for Graveyard People: The Collected Cedar Hill Stories; a print of The Book of the Dead from The Evil Dead movie (which I bought from Tom Sullivan at Horrorfind); two wonderful drawings by Elizabeth Massie featuring Boo Boy, Bit o’ Boo, Stinky Square Eyes, and others; and As Dead As Leaves, an art book by Caniglia. And I finally got a Gak-o-Lantern! I’ve been wanting one for years, and I got it from GAK himself at Horrorfind. Oh yeah, and there’s the 12 Scary Guys calendar for 2005. What a great idea!
Read a lot of super magazines this year too: Cemetery Dance, of course, as well as Flesh & Blood, H.P. Lovecraft’s Magazine of Horror, and the fantastic new Inhuman.
I can rave about my new HWA mentor, Deborah LeBlanc, who’s been providing invaluable and friendly advice - and who gave a spellbinding reading at Horrorfind. Speaking of spellbinding readings, Matt Warner’s at Horrorfind will be hard to top. What can you say when security gets called because a writer’s enthusiastic reading made passers-by think there was a fight going on?
And thanks to all those authors and others sponsoring contests I’ve won this year. It’s hard keeping track of all the great prizes I got. (Thanks to Brian, Robert, Steve, Mark, Simon, Terry, Matt, Nancy, Scott, Suzanne, Dave, Doug, and Beth.)
Naturally, I’m sure I left plenty off these raves. It sure brings a smile to your face raving like this. Try it. You’ll like it.
Ron
I had great times at NECON and Horrorfind this year, and the best part, as always, was meeting and re-meeting so many wonderful horror professionals. The authors, editors, artists, dealers, and others are a great group of people. Not a stuck-up one in the bunch.
I read many rave-alicious books in 2004. Some of them are (listed in chronological order of reading): The Necromancer and The Wicked, by Doug Clegg; The Hades Project, by Justin Gustainis (a firecracker of a debut novel); lost boy lost girl, by Peter Straub; Gateways, by F. Paul Wilson (gotta love that Repairman); Borderlands 5, edited by Tom and Elizabeth Monteleone (after reading this, I vowed to get nos. 1 through 4, and to get into no. 6); Peaceable Kingdom, by Jack Ketchum; Song of Susannah and The Dark Tower, by Stephen King; Out of the Light, by Holly Newstein and Ralph Bieber; The Burden of Indigo, by Gene O’Neill; Naming of Parts and Changing of Faces, by Tim Lebbon; Someone in the Dark, by August Derleth; The Fear Report, by Elizabeth Massie; and Family Inheritance, by Deborah LeBlanc (another terrific debut).
Books I acquired this year and didn’t read yet and can’t wait to: Deep in the Darkness, by Michael Laimo; The Blood of the Lamb, Eyes of the Virgin, and The Resurrectionist, by Tom Monteleone; Quietly Now, ed. by Kealan-Patrick Burke; The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Writing a Novel, by Tom Monteleone; The Taking, by Dean Koontz; The Attraction and Night Cage, by Doug Clegg; The Resort, by Bentley Little; Endless Night, by Richard Laymon; Cold River, by Rick Hautala; Stained, by Lee Thomas; The Manor, by Scott Nicholson; The Turtle Boy, by Kealan-Patrick Burke; Indigo, by Graham Joyce; and Fear of Gravity, by Brian Keene.
I also picked up some great horror art this year. I got a print of the cover art by Deena Holland Warner for Graveyard People: The Collected Cedar Hill Stories; a print of The Book of the Dead from The Evil Dead movie (which I bought from Tom Sullivan at Horrorfind); two wonderful drawings by Elizabeth Massie featuring Boo Boy, Bit o’ Boo, Stinky Square Eyes, and others; and As Dead As Leaves, an art book by Caniglia. And I finally got a Gak-o-Lantern! I’ve been wanting one for years, and I got it from GAK himself at Horrorfind. Oh yeah, and there’s the 12 Scary Guys calendar for 2005. What a great idea!
Read a lot of super magazines this year too: Cemetery Dance, of course, as well as Flesh & Blood, H.P. Lovecraft’s Magazine of Horror, and the fantastic new Inhuman.
I can rave about my new HWA mentor, Deborah LeBlanc, who’s been providing invaluable and friendly advice - and who gave a spellbinding reading at Horrorfind. Speaking of spellbinding readings, Matt Warner’s at Horrorfind will be hard to top. What can you say when security gets called because a writer’s enthusiastic reading made passers-by think there was a fight going on?
And thanks to all those authors and others sponsoring contests I’ve won this year. It’s hard keeping track of all the great prizes I got. (Thanks to Brian, Robert, Steve, Mark, Simon, Terry, Matt, Nancy, Scott, Suzanne, Dave, Doug, and Beth.)
Naturally, I’m sure I left plenty off these raves. It sure brings a smile to your face raving like this. Try it. You’ll like it.
Ron