Stephen Jones - Best New Horror #26

American children’s writer Zilpha Keatley Snyderdied of complications from a stroke on October 8, aged 87. Best known for her Newbery Honor titles The Egypt Game , The Headless Cupid and The Witches of Worm , she published more than forty books, including Black and Blue Magic , The Changeling , A Fabulous Creature , Song of the Gargoyle , The Unseen and William’s Midsummer Dreams .

Brazilian comic book artist André Coelhodied in mid-October, aged 35. He worked for both Marvel and DC Comics on a number of titles, including X-Men , Suicide Squad , Ms Marvel and The Flash .

American screenwriter, producer and actor L.M. Kit Carson(Lewis Minor Carson) died after a long illness on October 20, aged 73. He scripted The Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2 and two episodes of TV’s The Hitchhiker , as well as co-producing The Crow: Wicked Prayer . Carson was married to actress Karen Black from 1977-83.

American SF author [John] Hayden Howarddied on October 23, aged 88. He made his debut in a 1952 issue of Planet Stories , and went on to contribute short fiction to If , The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction , Galaxy and Analog . Howard’s only book was the fix-up novel The Eskimo Invasion (1967).

Romanian author, editor, translator and radio host Stefan Ghidoveanudied on October 27, aged 59. For Romanian Public Radio he hosted the SF and fantasy show Exploratorii Lumii de Miine (Explorers of Tomorrow’s World) from 1990 onwards.

Belgium-born author and editor Michel[Patrick] Parrydied of cancer at his home in Banbury, England, on November 1. He was 67. He began his career in the 1960s as the British correspondent for the monster movie magazine Castle of Frankenstein (as “Mike Parry”), before editing his first anthology, Beware of the Cat: Weird Tales About Cats , in 1972. He followed it with The Hounds of Hell: Weird Tales About Dogs , Strange Ecstasies , Dream Trips , The Devil’s Children: Tales of Demons and Exorcists , Jack the Knife: Tales of Jack the Ripper , The Supernatural Solution , The Roots of Evil: Beyond the Secret Life of Plants (as “Carlos Cassaba”), The Devil’s Kisses and the controversial More Devil’s Kisses (both as “Linda Lovecraft”), Waves of Terror: Weird Stories About the Sea , Savage Heroes: Tales of Sorcery and Black Magic (as “Eric Pendragon”), The Rivals of Dracula: A Century of Vampire Fiction , The Rivals of Frankenstein: A Gallery of Monsters and The Rivals of King Kong: A Rampage of Beasts , Spaced Out , Superheroes and Sex in the 21st Century (with Milton Subotsky), along with the YA titles Santa 2000 and Ghostbreakers . With actor Christopher Lee, Parry compiled Christopher Lee’s ‘X’ Certificate , Archives of Evil , The Great Villains: An Omnibus of Evil and Lurking Fear , and he also edited six volumes of The Mayflower Book of Black Magic Stories (1974-77) and four volumes of Reign of Terror: The Corgi Book of Great Victorian Horror Stories (1976-78). He novelised the Hammer film Countess Dracula in 1971, and his other books include Sloane: Fastest Fist in the West and Sloane: Fistful of Hate (both as “Steve Lee”, with Steve Moore), Agro (as “Nick Fury”), and with Garry Rusoff he co-wrote the SF novels Chariots of Fire and Throne of Blood . Some of his short fiction was collected in the chapbook Three Demonic Tales . For several years Parry was a junior story editor at American International’s London office and worked as a part-time consultant for Anthony Cheetham’s Sphere Books. He wrote and directed the 1969 short film Hex ; scripted the 1977 anthology movie, The Uncanny , starring Peter Cushing, Ray Milland and Donald Pleasence; came up with the original story for Xtro (1982), and adapted Manly Wade Wellman’s story ‘Rouse Him Not’, starring Alex Cord as John Thunstone, for the TV series Monsters (1988).

American academic, critic and author George[Edgar] Slusserdied on November 4, aged 75. Co-founder and Curator Emeritus of The J. Lloyd Eaton Collection of Science Fiction & Fantasy Literature, amongst the books he wrote or edited are Robert A. Heinlein: Stranger in His Own Land , The Farthest Shore of Ursula K. Le Guin , The Bradbury Chronicles , Harlan Ellison: Unrepentant Harlequin , The Space Odysseys of Arthur C. Clarke , The Delany Intersection: Samuel R. Delany Considered as a Writer of Semi-Precious Words , and Nursery Realms: Children in the Worlds of Science Fiction, Fantasy and Horror . He taught the first courses in science fiction studies at UC Riverside and originated the Eaton Conference, which he chaired for more than twenty years. In 1986 Dr. Slusser was a recipient of the Pilgrim Award from the Science Fiction Research Association for Lifetime Achievement in the field of science fiction scholarship.

American actress turned scriptwriter Leigh Chapman(Rosa Lee Chapman), who portrayed Napoleon Solo’s secretary “Sarah Johnson” in six 1965 episodes of TV’s The Man from U.N.C.L.E. , died of cancer the same day, aged 75. Chapman scripted episodes of My Favorite Martian and The Wild Wild West , as well as several action-adventure movies.

Brazillian SF writer André Carneirodied of respiratory failure on November 4, aged 92. His stories were translated in such anthologies as The Best SF of the Year , The Penguin World Omnibus of Science Fiction and Tales from the Planet Earth .

German publisher and publicist Eckhard Schwettmann, who was head of publishing for the “Perry Rhodan” franchise, died the same day, aged 57.

45-year-old Karen Jones, who was the art director for the online magazines Lightspeed and Nightmare , was found dead of natural causes in her Brooklyn, New York, home in early November.

American writer and publisher R.(Raymond) A.(Almira) Montgomerydied on November 9, aged 78. As co-publisher of Crossroads Press with his former wife Constance Cappel, he was the first publisher of the series that eventually became Bantam Books’ best-selling “Choose Your Own Adventure” line. Montgomery also wrote more than thirty volumes in the series.

American horror writer and editor J.(Jesus) F. Gonzalezdied of cancer on November 10, aged 50. With Buddy Martinez he founded and edited the early 1990s horror fanzines Iniquities and Phantasm , which lasted for three and four issues respectively, before going on to publish many short stories and novels. Clickers , written with Mark Williams, was a tribute to Guy N. Smith’s “Crabs” series that led to three sequels written with Brian Keene. His other titles include Conversion , Shapeshifter , Maternal Instinct , Old Ghosts and Other Revenants , Survivor , Fetish , The Beloved , Bully , When the Darkness Falls , The Killings and Hero (both with Wrath James White), Primitive , The Corporation , The Summoning and Other Eldritch Tales , Back from the Dead and Libra Nigrum Scientia Secreta (with Keene again). Gonzalez also edited the 2002 anthology Tooth and Claw .